OpenFOAM is leading software for computational fluid dynamics (CFD). It is licensed free and open source only under the GNU General Public Licence (GPL) by the OpenFOAM Foundation.
CFDDFC® v14 Released
CFD Direct announces the release of version 14 of CFD Direct From the Cloud™ (CFDDFC®), available as Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace products, Web CFDDFC and CFDDFC (Arm). CFDDFC v14 includes OpenFOAM v14, ParaView v5.11.2 and OpenMPI v4.1.7, running on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Both products are accessible using a remote desktop in a browser. A single instance can run CFDDFC and Web CFDDFC on up to 192 cores. Instances can be clustered to run with 1000 cores or more.
OpenFOAM v14 Training
In Autumn 2026, CFD Direct is running its OpenFOAM Training courses — Essential CFD, Applied CFD, Productive CFD and Programming CFD — fully updated with the latest features of the new version 14 release of OpenFOAM. The training uses new features in OpenFOAM v14 for more productive and effective CFD, including: field functions, units and the foamUnits utility, coded file input with the extended and improved set of directives, and modular Lagrangian. Productive CFD is available 19-22 Oct. Essential and Applied CFD courses are available: 21-25 Sep, 5-9 Oct. Programming CFD is available 13-15 Oct, 3-5 Nov.
The Best OpenFOAM is v14
OpenFOAM v14, produced by CFD Direct and released via The OpenFOAM Foundation, is the best version of OpenFOAM today. By “best” we mean the software which best meets the critical needs of users — availability, usability, robustness and extensibility. It is redesign work that has greatest impact on these criteria and which CFD Direct has provided time and again, delivering new, improved software components. Examples include modular solvers, NCC, modular Lagrangian, units, field functions, coded file input, bounded MULES, dynamic zones, improved dynamic meshes, snappyHexMeshConfig, fvModels and fvConstraints.
Units in OpenFOAM
In 2026, CFD Direct made units a standard feature of Foundation OpenFOAM. The feature allows users to accompany numerical parameters in input files with units, e.g. [ft/s] for feet per second. When the data is read with units, the numerical value is converted into the base unit, i.e.metres per second [m/s] for the default SI unit set. The new foamUnits utility makes units easy to use. Units provide both the flexibility to specify parameters in the units given in the real world problem, but they can also make us aware of the associated dimensions and ensure values we provide are dimensionally consistent. This gives the user greater certainty over correct specification of parameters.