Automatic Surface Repair Reference

Connected Surface Count Limit

The connected surface count limit provides a method of controlling which connected surfaces are kept (or conversely, which disconnected surfaces are deleted) based on the total number of connected/disconnected surfaces. For example, if you are expecting to retain two surfaces at the end of the surface remeshing and Automatic Surface Repair process, then a limit of 2 can be specified. The two surfaces with the largest face count or area are then retained and all other surfaces deleted.

The option to determine whether to use the face count or area specification is set using the Connected surface count limit property in the Automatic Surface Repair node.

By default, the None option is specified indicating that the feature is turned off. Selecting either the Keep Largest Face Counts or Keep Largest Areas option activates the feature and activates the Default Controls > Maximum # of Connected Surfaces node.

The default value of 1e9 effectively means that all surfaces are retained by default. Entering a value of 1 for example would specify that only one surface is retained after the Automatic Surface Repair process.

The Maximum # of Connected Surfaces property can also be set with a slider.

Connected Surface Size Limits

The connected surface size limit provides a method of controlling which connected surfaces are kept based on either the number of faces in the surface and/or the area of the surface. For example, if you only want to maintain surfaces with more than 100 faces, then a minimum limit of 100 faces can be specified. The Automatic Surface Repair process deletes any resultant surface with 100 or less faces in it.

By default, the None option is specified indicating that the feature is turned off. If either of the face count based options are selected, the Default Controls > Minimum Connected Surface Face Count node is activated.

The default value for Minimum Connected Surface Face Count is 0, meaning that all surfaces are retained. If a value of 1000 is entered for example, then the Automatic Surface Repair process automatically removes any disconnected surface with 1000 or less faces in it.

If either of the area-based options are selected, then the Default Controls > Minimum Connected Surface Area node is activated.

The default value for Minimum Connected Surface Area is 0, meaning that all surfaces are retained. If a value of 0.5 m² is entered for example, then the Automatic Surface Repair process automatically removes any disconnected surface with an area of less than 0.5 m². The value can be specified in any of the allowable units.

If both the area and face based limits are selected, both nodes (as discussed above) are activated and both an area and face based limit can be applied. In this instance, the disconnected surfaces are retained if they meet both criteria.

Minimum Face Quality

Simcenter STAR-CCM+ attempts to generate a surface mesh with a face quality equal to or greater than the specified Minimum Face Quality.

The quality of a triangular face is defined as:

$$\text{Face Quality}=2\left(\frac{r}{R}\right)$$

where $R$ is the radius of the circle that passes through the three corner points of the triangle and $r$ is the radius of the circle inscribed in the triangle. A value of 0 represents a degenerate, zero area face and 1 represents a face with perfect face quality.

For the Minimum Face Quality, you can specify a value in the range [0.0, 0.2]:

• Recommended values are in the range 0.01 to 0.2.
• Setting the value to 0 means that the mesher does not attempt to achieve a minimum face quality. This is not recommended when using the Quad Dominant or Enhanced Quality Triangle meshing method.

To achieve the minimum quality, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ is allowed to modify part curves to improve or remove faces whose quality is below the specified value.

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