FLITE Mesh Generation

The FLITE Mesh Generation suite of tools enable the automatic generation of high-quality unstructured 3D surface and volume meshes suitable for computational simulation. The FLITE mesh generators have been adopted by such companies as BAE Systems, iHPC Singapore and Airbus - where it was heavily used in the wing design process for the A380 and subsequent aircraft. The FLITE software also has a long history of being used in groundbreaking projects such as the land-speed record attempts - Thrust SSC and Bloodhound SSC.

The suite comprises two main tools:

• Surface Mesh Generator
• Volume Mesh Generator

Surface Mesh Generation

This tool enables the generation of high-quality, unstructured triangular meshes on the surfaces of a CAD model. It accepts input in a number of industry standard formats albeit, the model must be fully water-tight:

• IGES
• STEP
• CADFIX fbm format
• FLITE dat format (our original internal geometry format

There are a number of ways to control the density of the generated triangles. The method with least user interaction is Curvature Control. This allows the automatic refinement of the mesh in areas of the CAD model with high curvature. This ensures the mesh captures the features of the underlying model with sufficient fidelity. For regions which require a more refined mesh in order to capture features in the numerical simulation, sources can be utilised. These allow the mesh density to be controlled with greater precision.

Volume Mesh Generation

This enables the rapid generation of high-quality unstructured tetrahedra in the domain using Delaunay Triangulation. The mesh density is primarily controlled via sources as well as ensuring a smooth transition in spacing from the surface mesh.

For CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) calculations, there is often a requirement to capture the physics of the flow in a thin layer near the surface of the CAD model. This can be achieved through the generation of a series of layers comprising triangular, prismatic elements with the rest of the domain being filled using normal tetrahedral elements. The number and thickness of these layers is fully under user control.

The overall control of the mesh density in the volume is performed using a combination of Sources and Curvature Control. Curvature Control allows the automatic refinement of the mesh in areas of the CAD model that have high curvature. For areas that require refinement in order to capture