OpenFOAM-version-7/C2/Overiew-of-OpenFOAM-7/English

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Title of the script: Overview of OpenFOAM

Author: Ashley Melvin

Keywords: OpenFOAM version 7, ParaView, CFD, computational fluid dynamics, blockMesh, snappyHexMesh, solver, FOSSEE, spoken tutorial, video tutorial


Visual Cue Narration
Slide: Opening Slide Hello and welcome to this tutorial on Overview of OpenFOAM.
Slide: Learning Objective


In this tutorial, we will learn about:
  • OpenFOAM and its capabilities
  • Basic OpenFOAM utilities, and
  • The content available in various tutorials in this series
Slide: Prerequisites


To work with OpenFOAM you should have basic knowledge of computational fluid dynamics.
Slide: System Specifications




Throughout this series, we will be using:
  • Ubuntu Linux OS version 18.04
  • OpenFOAM version 7
  • ParaView version 5.6.0, and
  • gedit Text editor

However, you may use any other text editor of your choice.

Slide: About OpenFOAM®




OpenFOAM® stands for
  • Open source Field Operation And Manipulation
  • It is licensed under GNU General Public Licence by OpenCFD Ltd.


Henceforth, in this series, whenever OpenFOAM is mentioned it indicates OpenFOAM®.

Slide: About OpenFOAM
  • OpenFOAM is an Open source Computational Fluid Dynamics software.
  • It is a CFD toolbox written in C++.
  • It has an Object Oriented Programming interface.
  • OpenFOAM is available for Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems.
Slide: OpenFOAM Capabilities
  • OpenFOAM is a Finite Volume based CFD software.
  • It uses both
    • Structured, and
    • Unstructured grid
Slide: Mesh Generation
  • OpenFOAM has an in-built mesh generation tool called blockMesh.
  • It is used for structured meshing of simple geometries.
  • OpenFOAM also has an advanced meshing tool called snappyHexMesh.
Slide: Mesh Conversion OpenFOAM allows importing mesh from other packages like:
  • ANSYS,
  • Fluent,
  • CFX,
  • Gmsh,
  • STAR-CD etc.


Imported mesh can be converted to the format OpenFOAM uses.


For example, a fluent mesh is converted using the fluentMeshToFoam utility.

Slide: Solvers Using OpenFOAM one can solve problems in:
  • Incompressible flows
  • Compressible flows
  • Multiphase flows
  • Heat transfer
  • Combustion systems
  • Molecular dynamics
  • Magnetohydrodynamic flows

and many other domains.

Slide: ParaView
  • Visualizing the simulated results comes under the post-processing stage.
  • ParaView is the most commonly used software for post-processing OpenFOAM results.
Only Narration Now, let’s briefly go through various tutorials available in this series.
Glimpse of Installing OpenFOAM in Ubuntu

(01: 50 - 01:55)

We first have the tutorial on installing OpenFOAM and ParaView in Ubuntu Linux OS.
Glimpse of Setting-up a Test Case in OpenFOAM

(04:20 - 04:25) >> (10:06 - 10:11)

After this, we’ll see how to set up and view the files of an OpenFOAM case.


We’ll also see how to run the case and visualise the results in ParaView.

Glimpse of Creating a 2D channel geometry in OpenFOAM

(05:40 - 05:45) >> (10:25 - 10:30)

In the next tutorial, we’ll see how to create a geometry and mesh using the blockMesh utility.


We’ll also see how to view the mesh in ParaView.

Glimpse of Multi-block Meshing of 2D Geometry in OpenFOAM

(03:17 - 03:22) >> (09:31 - 09:36)

This is followed by the tutorial on creating a geometry with multiple blocks.


We’ll see how to mesh each block separately and refine cells locally.

Glimpse of Creating 3D pipe geometry and mesh in OpenFOAM

(02:05 - 02:10) >> (06:14 - 06:19)

Next, we’ll see how to create a mesh for a cylindrical pipe.


We’ll see how curved edges are defined using the blockMesh utility.

Glimpse of Simulating Hagen-Poiseuille flow through a Pipe

(07:20 - 07:25) >> (12:04 - 12:09)

Then, we’ll simulate the flow through a pipe.


We’ll also compare the results from simulation with the analytical solution.

Glimpse of Basic Post-processing using ParaView

(04:23 - 04:26) >> (07:00 - 07:05)

The results from the pipe flow simulation are viewed in detail in ParaView in this tutorial.


We’ll also see how to plot the results in ParaView.

Glimpse of Simulation of Turbulent Flow in a 2D Channel in OpenFOAM

(07:00 - 07:05)

In the next tutorial, we’ll learn how to use a turbulence model in a simulation.
Glimpse of Turbulence Modelling in OpenFOAM

(12:00 - 12:05)

We will then compare the results from a simulation using three different turbulence models.
Glimpse of Grid Resolution and Convergence in OpenFOAM

(07:53 - 07:58)

We also have a tutorial detailing the steps to establish grid independence.
OpenFOAM version 7 Spoken Tutorial Page Later on, there will be more tutorials in this series.


Please check the Spoken Tutorial website regularly for the latest topics.

Only Narration With this we have come to the end of this tutorial.


Let’s summarize.

Slide: Summary In this tutorial, we have learnt about:
  • OpenFOAM and its capabilities
  • Basic OpenFOAM utilities, and
  • The content available in various tutorials in this series
Slide: About the Spoken Tutorial Project The video at the following link summarises the Spoken Tutorial project.

Please download and watch it.

Slide: Spoken Tutorial Workshops We conduct workshops using Spoken Tutorials and give certificates.

Please contact us.

Slide: Spoken Tutorial Forum




  • Do you have questions in THIS Spoken Tutorial?
  • Please visit this site.
  • Choose the minute and second where you have the question
  • Explain your question briefly
  • Someone from our team will answer them
  • You will have to register on this website to ask questions.
Slide: Forum to answer questions
  • Do you have any general/technical questions?
  • Please visit the forum given in this link.
Slide: Textbook Companion
  • The FOSSEE team coordinates solving feasible CFD problems of reasonable complexity using OpenFOAM.
  • We give honorarium and certificates to those who do this.
  • For more details, please visit these sites.
Slide: Acknowledgment The Spoken Tutorial project is supported by MHRD, Govt. of India.


The script for this tutorial is contributed by Ashley Melvin.


And this is Swetha Sridhar from IIT Bombay signing off.


Thank you for joining.

Contributors and Content Editors

Ashleymelvin, Nancyvarkey