CFD Direct

The Architects of OpenFOAM

CFD Resources and Articles

CFDDFC® v11 Released

CFDDFC® v11 Released

CFD Direct announces the release of version 11 of CFD Direct From the Cloud™ (CFDDFC®), available on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace as the standard CFDDFC product, Web CFDDFC and CFDDFC (Arm). Standard CFDDFC v11 includes OpenFOAM v11, ParaView v5.10, OpenMPI v4.1.5 and FreeCAD v0.20, running on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Web CFDDFC has the same software running on Ubuntu 22.04. CFDDFC (Arm) is server-only including OpenFOAM v11 and OpenMPI v4.1.5, running on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. CFDDFC and Web CFDDFC run on single instances with up to 96 cores on Intel C7i instances (c7i.48xlarge) or C6a AMD instances (c6a.48xlarge) or in clusters with of instances up to 1000 cores or more.

Useful Tools in OpenFOAM 11

Useful Tools in OpenFOAM 11

In 2016 we published a guide of Useful Tools in OpenFOAM with tools we first released in OpenFOAM v4. The tools included the post-processing CLI and template cases, and applications such as foamDictionary. We extended the article following the release of new tools such as TAB completion in OpenFOAM v5 and again later with the introduction of new tools in subsequent versions of OpenFOAM. This article describe more significant new tools introduced in OpenFOAM version 11, notably foamToC and foamPostProcess, to provide compatibility with its modular solvers, while maintaining backward-compatibility with application solvers.

OpenFOAM v11 Training

OpenFOAM v11 Training

In Autumn 2023 – Spring 2024, CFD Direct is running its OpenFOAM Training courses — Essential CFD, Applied CFD and Programming CFD — fully updated with the latest features of the new version 11 release of OpenFOAM. The training uses new features in OpenFOAM v11 for more productive and effective CFD, including: modular solvers; the
snappyHexMeshConfig utility to simplify meshing; the foamToC utility to search OpenFOAM; updated post-processing functionality; and, enhancements to dictionary input syntax. Essential and Applied CFD courses are available: 18-22 Sep, 2-6 Oct, 29 Jan -2 Feb (2024), 4-8 Mar. Programming CFD is available 23-25 Oct, 14-16 Nov, 12-14 Feb, 18-20 Mar.

OpenFOAM User Guide

OpenFOAM User Guide

The OpenFOAM User Guide provides an introduction to OpenFOAM, through some basic tutorials, and some details about the general operation of OpenFOAM. OpenFOAM is a collection of approximately 250 applications built upon a collection of over 100 software libraries (modules). Each application performs a specific task, e.g the snappyHexMesh application can generate meshes for complex geometry, such as a vehicle. The simpleFoam application could then be used to simulate steady-state, turbulent, incompressible flow around the vehicle…

Liquid Films in OpenFOAM

Rivulet box with air flow, film height and panel temperature

CFD Direct have completely replaced the liquid film functionality in OpenFOAM. The new film functionality conserves mass, unlike its predecessor which was non-conservative and consequently inaccurate and unreliable for many problems.  It is implemented with the solver module framework, which enables coupling to other regions with gas flows, multiphase flows, particle clouds, solids etc, including calculations of conjugate heat transfer (CHT). As such, it is consistent with the rest of OpenFOAM so can use all the existing sub-modelling, e.g. thermodynamics, transport, etc.  The new implementation contains 50% of the code lines of the original one, despite being more functional. It is therefore cheaper and easier to maintain, while being more extensible and robust.

CFD Direct Year 8: 2022-2023

CFD Direct Year 8: 2022-2023

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.