The rapid and robust generation of efficient hybrid grids for rans simulations over complete aircraft

A description is given of a method capable of automatically forming efficient, high-quality hybrid meshes for viscous flow calculations over complete aircraft, given engineersʹ requirements on mesh density and first cell-height. Mixed quadrilateral/triangular surface grids are constructed using the moving-front approach, with point placement and connection optimized to ensure high-quality, anisotropic panels are generated. The volume mesh is built in two stages. A near field mesh is formed using the advancing-layer approach, significantly enhanced through the use of mesh enriching/collapsing techniques and layer-intersection detection/front-termination algorithms. The remainder of the domain is then covered by a cut-cell Cartesian mesh of varying density that conforms to the outer-surface of the near field mesh. Examples of meshes generated using the described methods are presented and the user-input discussed.