Case Study: SEMTE (School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, Arizona State University) achieves streamlined Nek5000 hexahedral meshing and error‑reduced CFD exports with Altair HyperMesh

HyperMesh and Custom Export Template Streamline CFD Analysis in Research Projects at Arizona State University

SEMTE (the School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy at Arizona State University) needed a way to use the high-order spectral element CFD solver Nek5000, which requires 3D hexahedral meshes, while taking advantage of advanced meshing tools. The research group chose Altair’s HyperMesh as their meshing platform but faced the challenge that HyperMesh output needed to be converted into the specific Nek5000 format to be usable for their simulations.

To solve this, SEMTE developed a custom HyperMesh export template/converter that translates nodal coordinates, boundary conditions and mid‑side node data into Nek5000’s required structure, enabling direct import into the solver. Using Altair’s HyperMesh with the export template produced a more user‑friendly, less error‑prone workflow, sped up student onboarding, improved collaboration with external partners, and made it possible to evaluate complex geometries with Nek5000; SEMTE plans further optimization of the converter.

SEMTE

Philip Sakievich

Student and Research Assistant