CF-MESH+
Automatic meshing for OpenFOAM® with cfMesh and CF-MESH+
From a surface geometry to a high-quality volume mesh with boundary layers in a single run. Use the CF-MESH+ graphical interface on a cloud desktop, or send your meshDict in batch and let cloudHPC generate the mesh on as many cores as you need.
CFD meshing made simple
cfMesh is an automatic mesher developed by Creative Fields and built on the OpenFOAM framework. Like snappyHexMesh it is driven by a dictionary, but it needs no background mesh and far fewer settings: you give it a surface geometry and a maximum cell size, and it returns a mesh with boundary layers that is ready for the solver. The open-source version is included in OpenFOAM (openfoam.com); CF-MESH+ is the commercial edition, with a GUI, more mesh types and advanced controls.
Four automatic meshing workflows
- Cartesian 2D and 3D – mostly hexahedral cells, with polyhedra only in the transitions between cell sizes
- Hexahedral – hex cells only CF-MESH+
- Tetrahedral – suitable for both CFD and FEA
- Polyhedral – arbitrary polyhedral cells
Boundary layers you control
- Generated automatically, on all walls or on selected patches
- Number of layers, thickness ratio, first-layer thickness for y+ control
- Layers switched off at inlets, outlets and symmetry planes
- Improved layers and layer quality optimisation CF-MESH+
Refinement where the flow needs it
- Local refinement on patches, edges, boxes, cones, spheres or auxiliary surfaces
- Automatic refinement driven by feature size and curvature
- Anisotropic refinement aligned with the expected flow direction
- Control of thin gaps: keep or remove the cells
- Adaptive mesh refinement based on discretisation error estimates, new in CF-MESH+ 5.7 CF-MESH+
Multi-domain meshes and baffles
- Several domains meshed together with conformal interfaces CF-MESH+
- Baffles and thin walls handled consistently, e.g. sails and fan blades
- Boundary layers kept across internal interfaces
- Ideal for conjugate heat transfer (CHT), heat exchangers and battery packs
Robust with imperfect geometry
- Works on STL surface triangulations; CAD import of STEP and IGES CF-MESH+
- Tolerates imperfect geometry as long as it defines a closed volume
- Patches defined on the surface are carried to the volume mesh
- Mesh can be inspected after each step to correct errors
Fast on multi-core machines
- All algorithms are parallelised and use every core of the machine by default
- Multi-threaded (shared memory): no decomposition and reconstruction of the mesh
- Output for OpenFOAM, plus ANSYS Fluent and CGNS CF-MESH+
cfMesh or CF-MESH+?
Both are available on cloudHPC. Start with the open-source version for straightforward external aerodynamics and internal flows; move to CF-MESH+ when you need a GUI, hexahedral or multi-domain meshes, CAD import or finer control of the boundary layers.
| Feature | cfMesh (open source) | CF-MESH+ |
|---|---|---|
| Cartesian 2D/3D, tetrahedral, polyhedral | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hexahedral meshing | – | ✓ |
| Boundary layers | Basic | Improved, with layer topology and quality control |
| Automatic cell sizing | Basic | Advanced |
| Multi-domain meshing and baffles | – | ✓ |
| CAD import | – | ✓ |
| Graphical interface | – | ✓ |
| Export to Fluent and CGNS | – | ✓ |
| How to run it on cloudHPC | Batch: cfMeshCartesian, cfMeshpMesh | Remote desktop: CF-MESH+-GUI-static |
Two ways to mesh in the cloud
Interactive: CF-MESH+ on a remote desktop
Start the CF-MESH+-GUI-static instance and open the CF-MESH+ graphical interface in your browser.
- Upload your STL, STEP or IGES file
- Follow the guided setup: patches, cell size, refinements, boundary layers
- Generate and inspect the mesh step by step on a machine with the cores and RAM you choose
Batch: cfMesh with no user interaction
Prepare the case on your computer and use cloudHPC only for the heavy lifting.
- Upload an OpenFOAM case with your surface file and
system/meshDict - Launch
cfMeshCartesian-v2212orcfMeshpMesh-v2212(older OpenFOAM versions also available) checkMeshruns automatically, andcreatePatchorchangeDictionaryif their dictionaries are present- Or launch the OpenFOAM solver directly: if the case has a
meshDictand no mesh, cfMesh runs first and the simulation starts right after
What changes in your OpenFOAM workflow
| Step | With snappyHexMesh | With cfMesh on cloudHPC |
|---|---|---|
| Setup | blockMeshDict for the background mesh, plus castellation, snapping and layer settings in snappyHexMeshDict | One meshDict with the surface file and a maximum cell size; refinements and layers added only where needed |
| Boundary layers | Layers added after snapping, often with patchy coverage on complex geometry | Layers built as part of the meshing process, with control of first-layer thickness and y+ |
| Parallel run | Domain decomposition and reconstruction of the mesh | Multi-threaded on one machine: no decomposition, no reconstruction |
| Multi-region | Separate meshes or splitMeshRegions | Conformal multi-domain meshes in one run with CF-MESH+ |
| Hardware | Limited by your workstation’s RAM | Up to 224 vCPU and 8 GB of RAM per vCPU, only while the mesh is being generated |
| Data transfer | Download the mesh, upload it again for the run | Mesh and solve on the same cloud storage – nothing to move |
Meshing and solving on the same platform
Ready to use
CF-MESH+, cfMesh and every recent OpenFOAM release are pre-installed and maintained. No installation, no licence server.
Many meshes at once
Run several meshes in parallel on separate machines, for mesh independence studies or design variants.
On-demand licence
CF-MESH+ is licensed by the hour, only while you use it: no annual licence to buy.
Your first cfMesh mesh in five steps
- Register on cloudHPC and activate your account.
- Upload your geometry (STL, STEP or IGES) or your OpenFOAM case with
meshDict. - Choose the CF-MESH+ desktop or a cfMesh batch script.
- Generate the mesh on the machine size you select.
- Run OpenFOAM on the same storage, or download the mesh.
Mesh your next OpenFOAM case in the cloud
Create your account and try cfMesh and CF-MESH+ on your own geometry.