OpenFOAM Resources: A Starter Pack
Hey there,
It’s Robin from CFD Engine & I’ve put together a little resource pack for you this week. I know it says “starter pack” but there are some gems in here, even if you’ve been ‘FOAMing for years.
There’s no shortage of OpenFOAM information around, some of it is showing it’s age, some of it’s not quite right, but some of it is really good stuff.
Finding the really good stuff can be tricky, especially when you’re just starting & have no point of reference, so I’ve tried to save you some time.
I’ve intentionally not tried to cover everything, this is a pared-down pack to get you moving. To help you get a couple of simulations under your belt & give you an understanding of how OpenFOAM works so that you can take your next steps.
It’s a small list, but there’s big content here. You’re not going to cover it all in one sitting, so break out your bookmarks & dig in…
Your Starter Pack
Installing OpenFOAM
I’m hoping you’ve already managed to navigate this non-trivial step 🤞 but if you need a hand with a Windows 10 / Ubuntu install then this video should help.
Your first simulation…
…in fact, your first 8 simulations – this tutorial series on OpenFOAM.com covers incompressible, compressible & multiphase flows, plus there’s even a stress analysis case.
Start with the lid-driven cavity it’s not exciting from a fluid dynamics perspective, but you’ll generate a mesh, set boundary conditions, solve it & do some post-pro – the main ingredients of every OpenFOAM case you’ll ever run.
If you prefer videos then check out this classic by József Nagy or a more recent playlist from DD Fluids.
Study Hall
If you like a more structured learning experience then here are the slides from Wolf Dynamics / Joel Guerrero’s OpenFOAM Introductory Training Course.
1054 slides to take you from “What’s OpenFOAM?” to programming your own boundary conditions via geometry creation, meshing, solving & post-pro – soup to nuts, as they say.
Note: before you click “Download All” on the above link, note that almost all of the 2.76GB download is OpenFOAM v9 & the examples – you might just want to download the slides initially.
ESI/OpenCFD, CFD.Direct & Wolf Dynamics (amongst others) also offer paid training courses (virtual & in-person) – I haven’t taken part, so I don’t know which is better value or how they differ, but they’ll be a great option for some.
snappyHexMesh
If you’re not sure what’s going on behind the scenes in snappyHexMesh or what all the various settings do, then you might like ENGYS’ comprehensive tour of snappyHexMesh which has been enlightening FOAMers for a decade.
Meshing with snappyHexMesh is also covered in the Wolf Dynamics course, including a couple of guided tutorials that cover pretty much all of the SHM features you’re ever likely to need.
Honourable Mentions
Håkan Nilsson shares much of his “CFD with OpenSource Software” course materials online. It’s a masters/PhD level course at Chalmers University that’s been running for 15 years & so there’s quite the back catalogue. Maybe start with the 2020 version (the latest one to include the lecture notes) & see how it goes?
If you’re a struggling command-line newbie, you might like the “Learn enough command-line to be dangerous” tutorial / book. You can read the first couple of chapters online & if you like it, then the ebook costs ~$5.
AirShaper have a bunch of OpenFOAM training PDFs on their site that are well worth a look.
In the final Wolf Dynamics mention of the day, you might like to check out their “crash” introduction to the finite-volume method. It has some great tips on selecting solvers & schemes in OpenFOAM (starting on pg. 31) which might ironically help you to avoid a crash.
Don’t Miss This
If you only click on one link in this email, make it this one:
Gerard Holzinger’s - OpenFOAM: A little user-manual
Not so little, at 446 pages it covers pretty much everything you need to know to “do” OpenFOAM. You’re probably not going to read it cover-to-cover but it’s arguably the most useful general purpose OpenFOAM reference on the internet 👏
Over to you
I was going to ask “What have I missed?” but that was part of the point, to pare back my recommendations to a minimum useful package. I probably need to do a similar thing for ParaView, but this should keep you busy for a while.
Don’t forget, a few of us are grabbing a virtual coffee & geeking out for a bit on Tuesday (24th May) – if you fancy joining us, fill out this quick form & I’ll send you an invite.
Until next time, stay safe,
