ICEMCFD Grid Generation Strategy

1. Create initial block and roughly subdivide into multi-block grid topology
2. Associate block entities to geometry entities;
  • Block vertices to geometry points
  • Block edges to geometry curves
  • Block faces to geometry surfaces
3. Assign properties to block edges;
  • Number of nodes
  • Nodal distribution
4. Check grid quality;
  • "determinant check" tool
  • Visual inspection with "scan planes" tool
5. Export grid to file
6. Post process grid file outside of ICEMCFD;
  • Force nodes on symmetry plan to have y=0 with "symmetry" script
  • Create grid connectivity file with "create_connect" script
  • Create grid information file with "grid_info" script

ICEM Grid Generation Tutorials


There is a huge pdf containing many tutorials for ICEM CFD version 11. A copy can be found here:

/nfs/carv/d1/people/comp-aero/ICEMCFD_tutorial/icemtutorial_v11.pdf


As of Oct 2011, the CFD lab is using ICEM CFD version 13 but the version 11 tutorials are still useful. Of interest to our group is Section 4.2 on hexa meshing. The tutorials refer to ICEM input files that can be found here:

/nfs/carv/d1/people/comp-aero/ICEMCFD_tutorial/Tutorial_Files

ICEM Tips and Tricks


ICEM has some quirks that make some tasks difficult without knowing the right trick to get the job done. Here are a few tricks that might be helpful:

Splitting a Block Through a Prescribed Point


ICEM wants to put the split through the point closest to the selected block edge, even though that may not be the point you selected. The trick here is to rotate the view such that the selected block edge is closest to the point where you want the split.