r/OpenFOAM

hello everyone, are there any documentation or guide manual for CfdOF?

thank you in advance..

Dear all,
I have recently (for about 6-months) started using openFOAM since I ran into limitations in Autodesk’s CFD.
For now, I have used pre made tutorial examples and tweaked them by using parts from the multiple OpenFOAM user manuals - I have V13.

But I still can not accurately determine the pressure and velocities of my gas flow inside a cylinder with a pressure drop from the mbar range to 1E-3 mbar range.

Does anyone have an idea of where I could start for this? Is there specific packages that are useful for this, which I don’t know of? I have so far used the basics. My geometry is a simple cylinder with an entrance of diatomic gas applied with few mBar’s and ending in the vacuum regime.

Thank you in advance:D

Hey Openfoamers,
I’ve been working on Prefoam, a meshing and case setup tool for OpenFOAM, and the beta is now available for download!
If you’ve ever wrestled with snappyHexMesh dictionaries by hand, this might save you some headaches. Here’s what it includes:
• CAD Interface
• snappyHexMesh Worksheet
• BlockMesher – structured hex grids with grading control (2D & 3D)
• Tet Mesher – native 2D triangulation + GMSH coupling for 3D tet grids (no gmsh shipped!)
• Mesh Viewer – inspect cell quality and catch problems before running
• Case Builder – boundary condition and physical property setup for OpenFOAM 13

There are also some specialized generators built in: airfoils, stirred tanks (turbines, baffles), and cyclone separators.
It’s free for personal/non-commercial use, Windows 64-bit, ~87 MB.

Website:
https://www.temiz-cfd.de/prefoam

YouTube channel for tutorials:
https://youtube.com/@temizcfd?si=HyTMjVjStxqeDybz

Does someone have an idea of the recommended dimension of the triangles of the stl geometry file in order to make high we quality mesh with snappy?

How the fuck do i open files in paraview from OPENFOAM? can anyone help? I have no idea how to use this thing

I am a MEng fresher with a passion for aerodynamics and fluid behavior. My interest in this field began with self study in high school and has grown into a focused career goal in Computational Fluid Dynamics.

I have already begun building my foundation by completing an aerodynamics study in OpenFOAM, specifically a square cylinder flow analysis at Re 100, 200, and 300, where I successfully achieved mesh independence. Additionally, I serve as an Aerodynamics and Chassis Engineer for my university's Formula SAE team, where I am currently learning ANSYS.

While I am dedicated to learning, I am finding the sheer volume of online resources overwhelming. To ensure I build a rigorous foundation, I would value your perspective on the following:* Learning Structure: How would you recommend a "fresher" structure their learning to transition from basic simulations to advanced CFD proficiency?

Project Selection: What types of projects should I prioritize to build a strong professional portfolio, and how should I approach them to demonstrate true technical depth?

Al Integration: Where do you see the most significant scope for Artificial Intelligence within the CFD workflow?

Skills & Pitfalls: Beyond software proficiency, what relevant skills are most critical for a CFD engineer today, and what common learning mistakes should I avoid?

Even a small piece of advice from your experience could be a major turning point for my career

Hey all, just wondering if someone could take some time to give me some assistance.
I'm new to OpenFoam and have been playing with tutorials and changing parts of them to see if i can do them without the full structure of the "tutorial".

I am using blockMesh, topoSet then refineMesh(a few iteration of the two), for my background mesh, works fine.

Extrude Mesh to make it 2D.

Translate (to recentre in Z axis)

snappyHexMesh for my STL geometry.

Extrude Mesh again because a tutorial did this. not sure what this does, my guess is makes it more uniform if the snappyHexMesh is being funky? i dont think its 100% 2D because extruding it by 1 only acts on the base cell? and snappy divides in in the z direction but i guess its close enough to be acting like it. its only cell number I'm trying to lower and isnt that important.

And i recentre it again in Z axis.

When i look at the mesh its as i expect and im not looking for it to be perfect as its more the functionality im trying to learn.

After my meshing it gives me folders 0,1,2,3. timesteps as my mesh gets iterated(dont fully understand this because i have "-overwrite" on my snappy and thought that just gives a singular final mesh?). the 0 folder overwrites the initial conditions folder. this is where my understanding goes out the window..

I decomposePar and copy my 0.orig folder and rename it "0" into all the processor* folders.

mpirun -np 8 simpleFoam -parallel
but it fails because it cant find 0/p

Could someone give some insight to the logic im obviously lacking. i will no doubt have follow up questions so be ready