CFD Direct

The Architects of OpenFOAM

CFD Resources and Articles

CFDDFC® v8 Released

CFDDFC® v8 Released

CFD Direct is pleased to announce the release of version 8 of CFD Direct From the Cloud™ (CFDDFC®), available on Amazon Web Services (AWS) Marketplace as the standard CFDDFC product and CFDDFC (Arm). Standard CFDDFC v8 includes OpenFOAM v8, ParaView v5.6.0, OpenMPI v3.1.4 and FreeCAD v0.18.3, running on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. CFDDFC (Arm) is server-only including OpenFOAM v8 and OpenMPI v4.0.3, running on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. CFDDFC runs on single instances with up to 48 C5 Intel cores (c5.24xlarge) or 64 C6 Arm-based cores (c6g.16xlarge) and in clusters with with good parallel scaling on clusters of instances up to 1000 cores.

Interface Capturing in OpenFOAM

Interface Capturing in OpenFOAM

In July 2020, CFD Direct released a framework for surface interpolation in interface capturing for multiphase flows in OpenFOAM. All interpolation schemes, used for flux calculation in advection, operate with the MULES-based solvers, e.g. interFoam. The framework is easy to use, extensible, and robust due to bounded, conservative numerics. The new framework comes with a new family of interpolation schemes based on piecewise-linear interface calculation (PLIC). The PLIC schemes provide a promising alternative to standard interface compression, performing better for meshes with regions of cell refinement. All schemes are conservative, bounded and robust and can run efficiently with large time steps.

CFD Direct Year 5: 2019-2020

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.

OpenFOAM Training & COVID-19

OpenFOAM Training & COVID-19

Many countries have imposed travel restrictions, limited gatherings and encouraged people to self-isolate and work from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. CFD Direct is therefore re-scheduling some classroom OpenFOAM training as Virtual Training using a video conference between the instructor and participants. Participants work on CFD problems through a remote desktop to OpenFOAM running in the cloud. All machines are accessible to the instructor who can then assist with any problems. Virtual courses will run over a longer schedule and include an extra assistant to support participants during the training.

OpenFOAM v8 Training

CFD Direct Live Virtual Training

In Autumn 2020 – Winter/Spring 2021, 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 8 release of OpenFOAM. The training uses new features in OpenFOAM v8 for more productive and effective CFD. All courses are delivered as live virtual training due to Covid-19 travel restrictions in 2020 into 2021. Essential and Applied CFD courses are available: 28 Sep – 2 Oct, 19-23 Oct, 2-6 Nov and 1-5 Feb (2021). Programming CFD is available 22-24 Sep, 6-8 Oct and 26-28 Jan, 23-25 Feb (2021).

Maintaining a CFD Capability

Maintaining a CFD Capability

Your organisation has an expert in CFD with OpenFOAM. They deliver critical results to problems no one else can solve. They have worked there as long as you can remember. Then one day they announce they are leaving and years of experience and know-how walks out of the door. “That-person-left syndrome”, as we call it, is a failure in maintenance which CFD Direct can help with. We provide development, support, training and cloud services to limit the impact of that-person-left syndrome, building a sustainable CFD capability for our customers with OpenFOAM.