Mesh adaption in Ansys CFX is the process in which, once or more during a run, the mesh is selectively refined in areas that depend on the adaption criteria specified. This means that as the solution is calculated, the mesh can automatically be refined in locations where solution variables are changing most rapidly, in order to resolve the features of the flow in these regions.
More information on the mesh adaption process and controls is available in Mesh Adaption in the CFX-Pre User's Guide.
Within the mesh adaption step itself, three processes take place:
Adaption criteria are calculated for each mesh element.
The appropriate number of nodes are added to the existing mesh according to the adaption criteria calculated.
The solution already calculated on the older mesh is linearly interpolated onto the new mesh.
This section describes the details of exactly which elements are refined and how the refinement takes place.