Mesh

Initial Setup

Close the Design Modeler if you haven't already, and open ANSYS Mechanical by double clicking When ANSYS Mechanical opens, notice that there is a question mark next to Geometry in the Project Outline - this means that there is something missing in this section. Expand Geometry, expand Part and select Outer Surface.

Notice that Thickness is highlighted as it does not have a value specified. Although we will ultimately specify a varying thickness for the the wind turbine blade, for now we will specify a thickness so the geometry will mesh. We need to do this or ANSYS will fail when it tries to solve. For the Outer Surface, enter 1e-5 next to Thickness. Repeat with the same value for Spar.

There should no longer be a question mark next to Geometry.

Delete any Connections

ANSYS may create connections automatically - however they are not required for this simulation and will cause problems when meshing. Expand Connections and delete the folder titles Contacts by right clicking and selecting Delete,

Body Sizing

For this geometry, we will be using a body sizing. Click on Mesh in the Project Outline window to open up the Meshing Menu in the menu bar. To create a new sizing, go to Mesh Control > Sizing. Next, we need to select the geometry that the sizing will affect. We want to select the entire geometry. To do this, first select the body sizing filter . Next, hold down Ctrl and click on the outer surface of the wind turbine blade, as well as the spar on the inside of the blade.

We you have selected the two geometries, click Apply. Next to Geometry it should now say 2 Bodies. Specify the Element Size to 0.25. Finally, press Mesh > Generate Mesh to generate the mesh. The final result should look something like the image below.

Now that the geometry has been meshed, we are ready to setup the physics controlling the simulation.

Go to Step 4 - Setup (Physics)
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