A new closed advancing-layer method for generating high-aspect-ratio elements in the boundary-layer (BL) region is presented. This approach utilizes a recent changing topology moving mesh strategy for deforming the volume mesh as the BL is inflated. It handles very efficiently BL front collision and produces a natural smooth anisotropic blending between colliding layers. Moreover, it provides a robust strategy to couple unstructured anisotropic mesh adaptation and high-aspect-ratio elements pseudo-structured BL meshes. The proposed method is directly compared to a well established open advancing-layer method. Results for typical aerospace configurations are presented that provide a clear comparison between both methods as well as the effectiveness of the changing topology moving mesh strategy. They show that the closed method yields similar results in terms of mesh quality and efficiency, and that the considered moving mesh strategy is an efficient and effective method for deforming the unstructured volume mesh.