CFD Direct

The Architects of OpenFOAM

CFD Resources and Articles

OpenFOAM v12 Training

OpenFOAM v12 Training

In Autumn 2024, CFD Direct is running its OpenFOAM Training courses — Principles of CFD, Essential CFD, Applied CFD and Programming CFD — fully updated with the latest features of the new version 12 release of OpenFOAM. The training uses new features in OpenFOAM v12 for more productive and effective CFD, including: foamFind, unit conversion, coded and packaged function object, meshing multiple regions and coupling with boundary conditions. Productive CFD is available 16-19 Sep and 28-31 Oct. Essential and Applied CFD courses are available: 23-27 Sep, 7-11 Oct. Programming CFD is available 14-16 Oct, 5-7 Nov.

CFD Direct Year 9: 2023-2024

CFD Direct Year 9: 2023-2024

In Year 9 of CFD Direct, we built on the success modular solvers and non-conformal coupling in OpenFOAM. We replaced liquid film functionality and improved dynamic mesh, including mesh-to-mesh mapping, decomposition and redistribution, to the point that OpenFOAM can simulate internal combustion engines including piston and value motion. We managed the OpenFOAM Foundation, releasing OpenFOAM v11, packaging OpenFOAM-dev and publishing websites and documentation. We provided training and cloud services to OpenFOAM users, and began creating a new course “Productive CFD.”

IC Engines in OpenFOAM

IC Engines in OpenFOAM

March 2024: CFD Direct is pleased to announce that OpenFOAM can simulate internal combustion (IC) engines including piston and valve motion. The capability was produced in collaboration with Wärtsilä, Finland and partner organisations, starting in October 2021. It is publicly available from The OpenFOAM Foundation in the development line of OpenFOAM (OpenFOAM-dev, packaged here), with example cases in the ICengines repository. Wärtsilä plan to release new features in the ICengines repository in August each year, following each new version release of OpenFOAM in July.

OpenFOAM v11 Training 2024

OpenFOAM v11 Training 2024

In Spring/Summer 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. All courses are delivered as live virtual training. Essential and Applied CFD courses are available: 29 Jan-2 Feb, 4-8 Mar, 8-12 Apr, 13-17 May. Programming CFD is available 12-14 Feb, 18-20 Mar, 3-5 Jun, 24-26 Jun.

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.