Zipper layer method for linking two dissimilar structured meshes

A novel meshing method named the zipper layer method is presented, which links two topologically different multi-block structured meshes together without overlapping or hanging nodes. It can either locally or globally connect two dissimilar structured meshes with a small number of tetrahedra and pyramids on either side of the interface to form a conformal mesh. To test the method, the results using a zipper layer mesh and a fully structured mesh are compared regarding solution accuracy and convergence. This method has been demonstrated for several applications of turbomachinery interest, where quality multi-block structured meshes are connected and the numerical flow solutions on these zipper layer meshes are also shown.