Better Boundary Layer Resolution Added to Pointwise’s CFD Meshing Software

Fort Worth, TX – 23rd August, 2018. Pointwise has released a new, updated version of its computational fluid dynamics (CFD) mesh generation software.

Building on experiences gained through participation in CFD workshops, this new release includes the ability to customize the near-wall mesh for accurate and efficient boundary layer resolution.“Our involvement in several American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) workshops on CFD has allowed us to learn more not only about how to resolve boundary layers with the mesh but also about the flexibility our customers need in prescribing boundary layer regions,” said Carolyn Woeber, Pointwise’s manager of technical support. “Based on what we learned from CFD practitioners and solver authors, we added a feature called Growth Profiles for rapid setup of the boundary layer meshing attributes for our T-Rex (anisotropic tetrahedral extrusion) technique.”

Growth Profiles provide a rapid way to compute the meshing attributes for resolving laminar and turbulent boundary layers. Given three simple flowfield parameters, boundary layer theory is used to compute and apply the appropriate growth rate schedule for T-Rex. Advanced users can also create a completely customized cell growth schedule to meet the precise needs of their application that is built from spacing values, the desired number of constant layers, the desired number of accelerated layers, and growth rate acceleration.

You can find some of the technical details for this work in the paper: A Qualitative Study on the Effects of Mesh Guideline Modification for Unstructured Mesh Generation of the NASA High Lift Common Research Model (HL-CRM), by Ms. Woeber and William T. Jones of NASA (AIAA paper no. 2018-3401).

Pointwise Version 18.1 R2 also includes several smaller features and defect corrections. To download this update go to www.pointwise.com/downloads.

Pointwise, Inc. is solving the top problem facing computational fluid dynamics (CFD) today – reliably generating high-fidelity meshes. The company’s Pointwise software generates structured, unstructured, overset and hybrid meshes; interfaces with CFD solvers such as ANSYS FLUENT®, STAR-CCM+®, OpenFOAM®, and SU2 as well as many neutral formats, such as CGNS; runs on Windows, Linux, and Mac, and has a scripting language, Glyph, that can automate CFD meshing. Manufacturing firms and research organizations worldwide have relied on Pointwise as their complete CFD preprocessing solution since 1994.

Pointwise is a registered trademark of Pointwise, Inc. in the USA and the EU. Pointwise Glyph, T-Rex and Let’s Talk Meshing are trademarks of Pointwise, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their respective owner.