code_saturne User's Forum

Hello,

there was a thread in the old Code_Saturne forum about this topic, however, it’s two years old.
Do you have any new experiences in this?
Is Salome still your preferred preprocessing tool?
Did you evaluate other meshing tools?
Can you recommend Distenes GSH3D or Hexotic as Salome-plugins?
You are developing such amazing simulation tools at EDF, like Code_Aster, Code_Saturne or Syrthes. Why you are not working on your own meshing tools? I’m not a software developer. Are meshing algorithms much more complex than general purpose simulation software?
Thank you in advance!

Regards,

Martin

Hello,

I'll only give a short answer now, and possibly discuss this in more detail next week.

SALOME is "one" of our preferred mesh tools, and one in which EDF invests. Some algorithms are developped in it, so it is as close as we get to developing our own mesher.

The meshing community is much smaller than the simulation community, and different codes can have different mesh quality criteria, so developping a good all-around mesher is extremely difficult.

GHS3D is one of the best references in tetrahedral meshes (it is also used inside many major commercial codes), and HEXOTIC is newer, an can give mixed results: very intererestin in some cases, bad in others, but it is worth trying.

Some of our users use commercial tools such as ICEM CFD or StarCCM for meshing, and there are a number of other tools, such as Pointwise, Centaur, Hexpress, and Boxer which we did not evaluate (mainly for lack of time) but seem interesting .

Best regards,

Yvan