Our mission is to make computational fluid dynamics (CFD) accessible and inclusive by developing free, open source CFD software — OpenFOAM — and providing services to its users.
OpenFOAM Training
Unlock the power of OpenFOAM to deliver robust CFD solutions. Essential, Applied, Programming and Cloud OpenFOAM Training courses from the Architects of OpenFOAM.
OpenFOAM Development
Our team undertakes OpenFOAM Development projects and code customisation, with experience of managing and executing over 100 development projects.
OpenFOAM Support
OpenFOAM Support, direct from the founders and architect of OpenFOAM, covering software deployment and operation, CFD practice, and code customisation.
CFDDFC v7.0 Released
CFD Direct is pleased to announce the release of version 7.0 of CFD Direct From the Cloud™ (CFDDFC), the leading marketplace product for CFD on Amazon Web Services. CFDDFC v7.0 includes OpenFOAM v7, ParaView v5.6.0, OpenMPI v3.1.4 and FreeCAD v0.18.3, running on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. CFDDFC v7.0 supports Elastic Network Adapter and Elastic Fabric Adapter which provide higher network performance on C5n instances. This delivers good parallel scaling performance on clusters of instances up to 1000 cores. The command line interface includes new options from simple launch of clusters and monitoring of costs.
Learn Effective CFD
OpenFOAM provides leading CFD software to thousands of people within academia and industry for free. However, CFD is inherently complex and competency in CFD requires more than simply “learning the software package”. Our 4 OpenFOAM Training courses build CFD competency through a process of solution design with course prices equivalent to 1-2 weeks of payroll cost of a CFD engineer or 2% of a single core, commercial CFD licence. Our schedule includes classroom courses in UK, Germany and USA, with Live Virtual attendance worldwide, and on-site training for groups of 5 or more.
OpenFOAM v7 Training
In Autumn 2019, CFD Direct is running its OpenFOAM Training courses — Essential CFD, Applied CFD, Programming CFD and Cloud CFD — fully updated with the latest features of the new version 7 release of OpenFOAM. Essential and Applied CFD courses are available: 24-27 Sep, London UK; 15-18 Oct, Chicago USA; 30 Oct – 1 Nov and 5-7 Nov, Virtual Training; 12-15 Nov, Munich Germany. Programming CFD is available 11-13 Sep and 2-4 Oct as Virtual Training. We use new features in OpenFOAM v7 for more productive and effective CFD.
OpenFOAM HPC with AWS EFA
In November 2018, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announed Elastic Fabric Adapter, a network interface for HPC applications running on EC2. We previewed the EFA technology, running benchmark CFD simulations with OpenFOAM, presented previously: (1) strong scaling – 97 m total cells, external aerodynamics around a car; (2) weak scaling – 100 k cells per core, flow over a weir. At 1008 cores, EFA delivered linear scaling in the strong scaling test and ~70% scaling in the weak scaling test. With linear strong scaling, EFA enables faster solutions for the same cost simply by running on more cores. The combination of open source software, C5n instances and EFA provides impressive HPC, at a price accessible to all.