In Year 8 of CFD Direct, we made some very significant developments to OpenFOAM, including non-conformal coupling, modular solvers and redesign of the dynamic mesh functionality. We managed the OpenFOAM Foundation, releasing OpenFOAM v10, packaging OpenFOAM-dev and publishing websites and documentation. We provided 63 days of OpenFOAM Training to users around the world, supported by the release of our book, “Notes on Computational Fluid Dynamics: General Principles”. We released Web CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC®), providing OpenFOAM which can be accessed from a remote desktop running in a web browser.
CFD Direct
CFD Direct is the manager and primary developer of OpenFOAM, on behalf of the OpenFOAM Foundation, the copyright holder and licensor of OpenFOAM. It's Directors include: Henry Weller, the creator of OpenFOAM; and Chris Greenshields, OpenFOAM co-founder — both also Directors of the OpenFOAM Foundation. CFD Direct provides services for OpenFOAM, including the following
- CFD Direct From the Cloud: the leading CFD cloud solution using OpenFOAM.
- OpenFOAM Training, from its team led by Chris Greenshields, who has unrivalled experience and expertise.
- OpenFOAM Development and Support from its team led by Henry Weller, who has unrivalled experience and expertise.
Henry Weller
- Technical Director, CFD Direct.
- Co-founder/Director OpenFOAM Foundation.
- Architect of OpenFOAM.
- Co-founder of OpenFOAM project (2004).
- Created OpenFOAM (formerly “FOAM”).
- Author of Notes on Computational Fluid Dynamics: General Principles.
- over 30 years OpenFOAM experience.
- Chemical Engineer.
Chris Greenshields
- Managing Director, CFD Direct.
- Co-founder/Director OpenFOAM Foundation.
- Created OpenFOAM Training Courses.
- Delivered 850+ days of OpenFOAM Training.
- Author of Notes on Computational Fluid Dynamics: General Principles.
- Author of the http://openfoam.org website.
- Co-founder of OpenFOAM project (2004).
- Author of OpenFOAM User Guide.
- Over 25 years OpenFOAM experience.
- Mechanical Engineer.
Jenya Collings
- Operations Manager, CFD Direct.
- Operations support, OpenFOAM Foundation.
- Operations manager, OpenFOAM development.
- Managed 450+ OpenFOAM Training Courses.
- Manager, HPC Training.
- Accounting Technician.
Will Bainbridge
- OpenFOAM Developer, CFD Direct.
- Non-Conformal Couped (NCC) system.
- Barycentric particle-tracking.
- Generalised mass and volume sources.
- Phase change and reactions in Euler-Euler multiphase solvers.
- Mass-fraction-based chemistry system.
- Water wave modelling.
- Over 10 years OpenFOAM experience.
- Mechanical Engineer.
Aidan Wimshurst
- CFD Technologist.
- YouTube Channel ‘Fluid Mechanics 101’.
- 10 years of CFD experience.
- OpenFOAM contributions coming soon …
- Mechanical Engineer.
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Our Mission
CFD Direct was founded by the OpenFOAM experts, who share a belief in free, open source software and have a mission to make CFD accessible and inclusive. Through our management and development of OpenFOAM, we are producing software that:
- allows access to the implementation of scientific knowledge;
- allows access for those who could not otherwise afford it;
- encourages collaboration and advancement;
- covers as many CFD applications as possible.
CFD Direct enables delivery of successful, timely CFD analysis by providing services to users of OpenFOAM, including training, code development and support. We are interested in working with others who wish to join our mission and contribute to OpenFOAM.
CFD Direct Year 7: 2021-2022
In Year 7 of CFD Direct, our developments of OpenFOAM included a generalised load balancer for parallel running . We provided core maintenance, including standardisation of fluid properties, and repaired issues, e.g. to stablise multiphase simulations. We managed the OpenFOAM Foundation, releasing OpenFOAM v9, packaging OpenFOAM-dev and publishing websites and documentation. We produced our book , “Notes on Computational Fluid Dynamics: General Principles”, delivered 56 days of Live Virtual OpenFOAM Training, and provided cloud CFD with CFDDFC® to over 1000 subscribers.
CFD Direct Year 6: 2020-2021
In Year 6 of CFD Direct, our developments of OpenFOAM included new interface capturing methods and multicomponent transport models. We provided core maintenance, including redesign of fvOptions and transport modelling, and repaired issues, e.g. in meshing and conjugate heat transfer. We managed the OpenFOAM Foundation, releasing OpenFOAM v8, packaging OpenFOAM-dev and publishing websites and documentation. During the Covid restrictions, we delivered 67 days of Live Virtual OpenFOAM Training, and provided cloud CFD with CFDDFC® to over 700 subscribers.
CFD Direct Year 5: 2019-2020
In Year 5 of CFD Direct, we developed new functionality in OpenFOAM and maintained critical components of the code base. We managed the OpenFOAM Foundation: promoting sustainable development, releasing OpenFOAM v7, packaging OpenFOAM-dev and publishing websites and documentation. We delivered 60 days of OpenFOAM Training, and provided low-cost cloud CFD with CFD Direct From the Cloud™ to over 500 subscribers, including custom images to run 100s of automated production simulations.
CFD Direct Year 4: 2018-2019
In Year 4 of CFD Direct, we developed new functionality in OpenFOAM and maintained critical components of the code base, reducing the number of unresolved issues by 17%. We managed the OpenFOAM Foundation: promoting sustainable development, releasing OpenFOAM v6, packaging OpenFOAM-dev and publishing websites and documentation. We contributed 1383 man-hours of unfunded work in-kind to OpenFOAM, including organising and presenting at the OpenFOAM Open Day. We delivered 60 days of OpenFOAM Training, and provided low-cost cloud CFD with CFD Direct From the Cloud™, running 1.3 million core-hrs.
CFD Direct Year 3: 2017-2018
In Year 3 of CFD Direct, we developed new functionality in OpenFOAM and maintained critical components of the code base, reducing the number of unresolved issues by 45%. We managed the OpenFOAM Foundation: promoting sustainable development, releasing OpenFOAM v5, packaging OpenFOAM-dev and publishing websites and documentation. We delivered 60 days of OpenFOAM Training, introducing our new “hybrid” classroom-virtual courses to host participants in person and remotely. We launched the new Cloud CFD course to teach inexpensive, secure, efficient CFD with CFD Direct From the Cloud™.
CFD Direct Year 2: 2016-2017
At the end of Year 2 of CFD Direct, we summarise our principal activities as the primary contributor to OpenFOAM. We developed new functionality, producing OpenFOAM v4.0 and v4.1, maintaining the OpenFOAM code base, documentation, websites and other infrastructure — where we contributed 1300 man-hours of work in-kind. We delivered 55 days of OpenFOAM Training — Essential, Applied and Programming CFD — as scheduled classroom courses, live virtual training and on-site. We released new versions of our cloud CFD platform, CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC), and became and Advanced Technology Partner of Amazon Web Services.
CFD Direct Year 1: 2015-2016
On 25th March 2015, CFD Direct was launched by Henry Weller (creator of OpenFOAM), Chris Greenshields, and Jenya Collings. At the end of our first year, we summarise our principal activities as the primary contributor to OpenFOAM, producing 3 releases of OpenFOAM, maintaining the OpenFOAM code base, managing the OpenFOAM Foundation, creating a free documentation resource and engaging with the community. We launched 3 training courses — Essential, Applied and Programming CFD — which we deliver as scheduled classroom courses, live virtual training and on-site. We launched CFD Direct From the Cloud (CFDDFC), a complete CFD cloud computing platform using Amazon Web Services EC2.