o After importing the CAD file in FW, please perform geometry check operation through Tools-->Geometry-->Check . If you find geometrical errors reported there, then you can try repairing and smoothing it through Tools-->Geometry-->repair or Tools-->Geometry-->smooth. Then check the geometry again. You may want to try the repair/smooth operations 4-5 times to see if geometrical problems are eliminated or not. I will suggest to use PARASOLID format from Solidworks as Parasolid file from Solidworks gives a better geometry in FloWizard. Under "Advanced" options you should keep "Read Parasolid file directly" option ON.

o If the above operations doesn't help to overcome the geometrical problems, then use Automatic Repair Geometry option at the time of CAD file import. This option should be set in "Advanced" options, before importing the file. The Advanced options are available in Geometry Import panel below "Units" field. Once the advanced option is set ON, import the file again and check for geometrical problems. If you find geometrical problems, you may want to do the repair/smooth operations again till the errors are eliminated.


o If the input CAD geometry contains very short edges/faces, sharp angles, then for getting a good quality mesh, its necessary to clean the geometry. In order to do this, you need to select "yes" or "unknown" for geometry clean up options in Flowizard on Solution Settings Page. This operation will get rid of the sharp angles/short edges to ensure achieve good quality mesh. If you want to keep certain features in the geometry then you can specify the size of the smallest edge. This input is available when you select "Yes" for geometry clean up.

o It might be also possible that, the meshing parameters that you have selected in FW are not able to create a valid mesh. You may try using different accuracy level (Higher or lower) using Speed/Accuracy Slide bar on Solution Settings page.


o If the above operations result into an error free geometry, examine the critical components of the geometry visually in the graphics window to make sure that they are in correct shape/size. There is a possibility of some very thin fluid regions which are not getting meshed and because of this, volume meshing may fail. Please check for such regions and remove such thin regions in your CAD package or Gambit.

o Sometimes it is possible that the tolerance of your geometry is quiet high (10e-3) in your CAD package. In FW this may result in thin/small leakages or duplicacy of surfaces leading to mesh failure. This problem can be solved to a great extent by setting tightest possible tolerance in your CAD package before exporting the geometry.

o If your are still getting duplicacy of surfaces in FW even after setting tightest level of tolerance in CAD, you can type the following command in Console Window:
geom.modifySettings(tconnectTolerance=0.001)
This command will connect the duplicate faces within the specified tolerance. Tolerance of 0.001 stands good in most cases. However, you can use a much tighter value here.

o The other way to avoid this type of situation is to unite all the solid volumes in your CAD package itself. Now you do not need to worry about the connectivity as it is just one single solid volume. Presently one can not unite geometry in Solidworks assemblies. Geometries from SolidWorks can be imported in Gambit can be united there. Then this gambit file can be read in FW.

o CAD connections can be used as a tool to check for the gometrical errors in CAD packages itself. One can do various types of checks like clearance checks or intersection checks in CAD packages itself. One can also check for the correct fluid volume extraction in CAD itself. These tools help in detecting various geometric problems in CAD itself and hence prevent too much too and fro process between CAD and FloWizard. These also help in preparing geometry for correct fluid volume extraction. Also, the direct geometry export using CAD connection gives better results than other normally used export formats. Presently CAD connections are available for three packages, UG, Pro/E and Solidworks. More info can be found at

http://www.fluent.com/software/flowizard/cad_connection.htm