Proximity Size Function In ANSYS® Meshing(Illustrated Expression)

As we stated in the various article in Mechanicalland about ANSYS® Meshing, the shape of your geometry defines the general options and optimizations of the mesh structure. So the shape of the geometry used in Finite Element Methods(FEM) defines the mesh structure. ANSYS® also has very useful tools to define the mesh structure according to your geometric shape. One of them is the Proximity Size Function option in ANSYS® Meshing. In this article we will show;

• What is Proximity Size Function in ANSYS® Meshing,
• Where to use Proximity Size Function,
• How to adjust the Proximity Size Function in ANSYS® Meshing.

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Proximity Size Function Option In ANSYS® Meshing

The default option for Size Function in ANSYS® Meshing is ‘Adaptive’. In this option, the system defines the Size Function values according to your geometric shape and the default values of the selected Size Function are used in ANSYS® Meshing.
The proximity Size Function gives the advantage of defining the minimum element layers in the geometric features that includes ‘gaps’. So if there is an internal volumetric gap or area between two opposing faces, you can define the number of layers of mesh elements in these faces for accuracy.

You need to define the below properties for Proximity Size Function;

• Num Cells Across Gap: The minimum number of layers of mesh elements value that you need to define.
• Proximity Size Function Sources: This is the option where proximity calculations will be performed.
  • Faces: The only face-to-face proximities will be considered in proximity calculations.
  • Edges: The only edge-to-edge proximities will be considered in proximity calculations.
  • Faces And Edges: Face to face and edge to edge proximities will be considered, but not the face to edge proximities are considered.
• Proximity Min Size: You can enter a minimum size of elements that will be used in proximity calculations. The default equals the Min Size. But you can also define different values for this.
• Max Tet Size: The maximum element size the size function returns to the mesher.
• Growth Rate: Defines the growth of mesh elements in each successive layer. For example, if you enter the value of 1.5, the size will be grown 50% in each layer.

Conclusion

So the whole Proximity Size Function calculations will be performed according to these parameters that you entered in ANSYS® meshing.

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NOTE: All the screenshots and images are used for educational and informative purposes. Images used courtesy of ANSYS, Inc.