I've always been curious about good-quality open-source mesh generators out there, and I suppose that a good number of them exist, but just don't get enough publicity.

It would be great if members in this group could enumerate a few that they've had good experiences with, and possibly provide a few hints on getting them installed in a Linux environment.

Thanks!

Hello Sandeep,

A Good Evening to you!

Well... good quality open-source meshing tools.... which are also easy to use and are robust are not too easy to come by.

Here are a couple that I have tried, and use:

1. Netgen Mesher - Of course, this has to be the first in the list.... It is an open-source project by Prof. Joachim Schoeberl (Currently TU-Wien), and in my view, it is one of the most robust tet meshing tools available in the public domain. If I am not mistaken, you have already used this tool?
Link to the project: Netgen Mesher
Linux Installation: Makefile based compile (Unofficial RPMs available for OpenSUSE, and binaries for CentOS)


2. Gmsh - Again a very interesting candidate for tet-meshing. Maintained by Christophe Geuzaine / Jean-Francois Remacle (University of Liége)
Problem with Gmsh is the lack of fine control over the mesh generation (as far as I could see), compared to Netgen.
Link to the project: GMsh Mesher
Linux Installation: A simple static binary... Download the package, unzip it, and you are ready to go.


3. Tetgen - Personally, a little known project. I remember using it a long time ago before I found Netgen. It basically works on the the same concept of Delaunay Triangulation, but if I remember right, it does not give you too much choice on the type of geometry imports, and mesh export formats.
Maintained by Hang Si (WIAS Berlin)
Link to the project: Tetgen Mesher
Linux Installation: Needs to be compiled.


4. Engrid - Engrid has a good presence on the OpenFOAM® forum, and it uses (I think it still does) Netgen for creating the volume meshes, but has an in-built surface mesher as well as an in-built system for generating boundary layers / prism layers near walls.
I had used it a while ago while it was still in its infancy, and at that time, the wall layer creation phase was quite slow. I am not aware of the current state of the tool.
This tool is worth keeping an eye on, because it also has experimental support for polyhedral cells, and is also working on OpenFOAM® integration.
Maintained by Oliver Gloth
Link to the project: Engrid (Note: This site seems to be outdated... I don't know where the main development is taking place now... any ideas ?)
Linux Installation: Needs to be compiled.

If I am not mistaken, all the above meshing tools are available for both Linux and Windows platforms.

In addition, you might also want to look at the following website which gives a list of meshing tools (both public domain and commercial):
* List of Meshing Tools


Hope this helps.

Have a nice day!

Philippose

Hello,

Salome www.salome-platform.org/ uses Netgen and gmsh as its meshers (more/others could be included via plugins) but I think it is worth mentioned here as it is also taken for the VulaSHAKA project sourceforge.net/projects/vulashaka/
that Hrv Jasak mentions in his presentation
web.student.chalmers.se/groups/ofw5/Pres...eJasakSlidesOFW5.pdf

I would like to use discretizer-setup www.discretizer.org/ as a gui for snappyhexmesh.

For Engrid engits.eu/cms/index.php?id=4

Some people use Blender + Calculix capabilaties to create OF meshes. Read www.openfoamworkshop.org/08/presentation...thOpenFOAMCharts.pdf

There was The idea at the Openfoam Workshop at Gothenburg to create a meshing group and let people do some testcases with their favorite meshingtool (open source or commercial) and give a comparison so that a quick overview to make a choice for others which mesher might be good for me

guido