Henry Weller created OpenFOAM (formerly “FOAM”) in 1989. He has been its Architect and Principal Developer from then to the present day.
- Technical Director, CFD Direct.
- Co-founder and Director/Member OpenFOAM Foundation (2011).
- Architect of OpenFOAM.
- Co-founder of OpenFOAM project (2004).
- Created OpenFOAM (formerly “FOAM”) (1989).
- Author of Notes on Computational Fluid Dynamics: General Principles.
- Developed OpenFOAM expertise over 30 years.
- Chemical Engineer.
Positions
- CFD Direct Ltd, Co-founder, Technical Director, March 2015 – Present.
- The OpenFOAM Foundation, Co-founder, Director, August 2011 – Present.
- OpenCFD Ltd, Co-founder, Technical Director, November 2004 – September 2014.
OpenFOAM Architecture Highlights
- Programming language syntax the represents mathematical equations and operators.
- Runtime selection mechanism.
- Field algebra with automatic memory management.
- Face-addressing to handle arbitrary unstructured meshes of any shaped cell.
OpenFOAM Numerics Highlights
- Numerical schemes: mapping of NVD/TVD to unstructured meshes, V-limiters, filtered limited schemes, LUST.
- Pressure-velocity coupling: PIMPLE algorithm, ddtCorr, mesh motion handling.
- Reconstruction of cell-centre velocities from face fluxes for complex physics and multiphase solvers.
- Matrix solvers: GAMG solver, DIC smoothing, GAMG pre-conditioning, combined DIC/Gauss-Seidel.
- MULES algorithm to guarantee boundedness of conservative transport with higher-order schemes.
- Developed efficient and generalised Lagrangian tracking on arbitrary shaped meshes.
OpenFOAM Modelling Highlights
- VOF interface compression modelling using counter-gradient transport.
- Euler-Euler multiphase flow development for best consistency, boundedness, coupling, conservation, etc.
- Combustion modelling, including LES variants.
- Architecture and implementation of single turbulence modelling framework to handle incompressible/compressible and single-/multi-phase flows.
- Using magnetic pressure in MHD.
Education
- Imperial College London, Chemical Engineering, 1984 – 1988.