OpenFOAM Tutorial Standard Solvers
boundaryFoam
Steady-state solver for 1D turbulent flow,typically to generate boundary layer conditions at an inlet, for use in a simulation
Example Problems:
boundaryLaunderSharma model which has the ability to in model cases and predict by-pass transition, using the Launder equations.
boundaryWallFunctions solves a 1D turbulent model with two walls and one cyclic boundaries.
bubbleFoam
Solver for a system of two incompressible fluid phases with one phase dispersed, e.g. gas bubbles in a liquid
Example Problem:
bubbleColumnclassic bubble column problem with an inlet and outlet for the foam and bubbles and two walls.
buoyantFoam
Transient Solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer
Example Problem:
hotRoom 3D environment with one inlet, the “floor”, which the user can make any temperature and watch the thermal effects. i.e., thermal plume emanating from a 600 degree source on the floor
buoyantSimpleFoam
Steady-state solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer
Example Problem:
hotRoom same as the first hot room, however this solver is steady state, showing a longer process, rather than transient.
buoyantSimpleRadiationFoam
Steady-state solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible fluids with radiation, for ventilation and heat-transfer
Example Problem:
hotRadiationRoom a much finer mesh room than the previous two hotRoom cases, along with an elevated heating source, radiation
channelOodles
Incompressible LES solver for flow in a channel
Example Problem:
channel395 solves for channel flow, with several cyclic patches and only two top and bottom walls. Able to keep the mass flow rate in the channel constant, by calculating the velocity at each step, takes a long time to run.
chtMultiRegionFoam
Solver that couples conjugate heat transfer in a solid to a buoyancy-driven flow simulation
Example Problem:
multiRegionHeater same as the hotRoom example problems, however this has multiple sources for heat, not just one
compressibleLesInterFoam
Solver for 2 compressible, isothermal immiscible fluids using a volume of fluid (VOF) phase-fraction based interface capturing approach, with LES
Example Problems:
depthCharge2D modeled on a scale, a charge is blown in the mixture and the turbulence is modeled in a 2D environment based off the run time and a single momentum equation
depthCharge3D same thing as the first, but in a 3D environment.
coodles
Coodles is a generic single-phase compressible LES solver
Example Problem:
pitzDaily a simple 2D compression, inlet turbulence case with propane for the fluid, with an applicable mesh
dieselFoam
Diesel spray and combustion code
Example Problem:
aachenBomb block filled with air, a diesel injector is placed on the top center of the block and n-Heptane is injected, evaporates and combusts
dnsFoam
Direct numerical simulation solver for boxes of isotropic turbulence
Example Problem:
boxTurb16 a box made up of six cyclic patches to model isotropic turbulence
electrostaticFoam
Solver for electrostatics
Example Problem:
chargedWire an electrostatic solver with user input values for the electric field strength
engineFoam
Solver for internal combustion engines
Example Problem:
kivaTest a very complex mesh of a combustion engine of a cylinder four pistons
financialFoam
Solves the Black-Scholes equation to price commodities
Example Problem:
europeanCall gives the price C of the trading cost S, the mesh is 1D
gnemdFoam
General purpose molecular dynamics solver to simulate atoms in arbitrary shaped domains and average atomic/molecular quantities to the mesh to create field data
Example Problems:
constrictedChannel demonstrates multiple species, tethered molecules, field plots and the flexibility offered by molConfig
nanoNozzle a channel with a complex shape of solid walls, where a section of neon is driven along with mixes of argon, used to demonstrate molecule demonstration
icoDyMFoam
Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of Newtonian fluids with dynamic mesh
Example Problem:
movingCone a dynamic moving mesh that the user can manipulate to produce desired outcome, simplest moving mesh
icoFoam
Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of Newtonian fluids
Example Problems:
cavity enclosed square flow field with one moving boundary
cavityClipped the same cavity, but a square of length of 0.04 m is removed from the bottom right of the cavity
cavityGrade same as the cavity mesh, however there are now four individual blocks in the cavity
elbow models the same simulation as the cavity cases, however it is not the traditional block mesh, but bent into an elbow
interDyMFoam
Solver for 2 incompressible fluids, which captures the interface using a VOF method with optional mesh motion
Example Problems:
damBreakWithObstacle a wall of water falls, and crashes into an obstacle inside a 3D environment
sloshingTank2D a 2D environment that creates sloshing water to simulate crashing and oscillating waves
sloshingTank2D3DoF Couldn’t find anything
sloshingTank3D a 3D environment that created sloshing water to simulate crashing and oscillating waves
sloshingTank3D3DoF Couldn’t find anythingsloshingTank3D6DoF Couldn’t find anything
interFoam
Solver for 2 incompressible fluids, which captures the interface using a VOF method
Example Promblem:
damBreak simulation of a breaking wall, the water runs into an object and is projected around the 2D environment, modeled from user defined time steps
laplacianFoam
Solves a simple Laplace equation, e.g. for thermal diffusion in a solid
Example Problem:
flange a complex mesh of a flange, shows thermal diffusion through the solid
lesCavitatingFoam
Transient cavitation code with LES turbulence
Example Problems:
throttle a 2D mesh consisting of two main chambers and a small connecting tube, from the tube there is a thrusting source
throttle3D same case as seen in 3D
lesInterFoam
Solver for 2 incompressible fluids capturing the interface. Turbulence is modeled using a runtime selectable incompressible LES model
Example Problem:
nozzleFlow2D a nozzle is inserted into the bottom left of a wedge container, pouring in a liquid, very applicable but runs slower than rasInterFoam
mdEquilibrationFoam
Solver that equilibrates and/or preconditions molecular dynamics systems
Example Problem:
periodicCube a cubic domain with a periodic boundary in each direction, there is a lattice of molecules, each in a block, heated to a target temperature
mhdFoam
Solver for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD): incompressible, laminar flow of a conducting fluid under the influence of a magnetic field
Example Problem:
hartmann this solves the coupled Maxwell-Navier-Stokes equations for an incompressible fluid, with a presumed constant electrical conductivity
MRFSimpleFoam
Steady state solver for incompressible turbulent flow with Multiple Reference Frames regions
Example Problem:
mixerVessel2D a 2D rotator or impellor working in a constant flow, can work at any RPM
multiphaseInterFoam
Solver for an arbitrary number of incompressible immiscible fluids, capturing the multiple interfaces using a VOF method
Example Problem:
damBreak4phase same as the damBreak case, however this case contains different fluids at different levels in the mesh
damBreak4phaseFine same, just with a finer mesh for greater resolution
nonNewtonianIcoFoam
Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of non-Newtonian fluids
Example Problem:
offsetCylinder same as the icoFoam tutorial, however in the mesh there is a cylinder, and it is made to investigate laminar flow around the cylinder
oodles
Incompressible LES solver
Example Problems:
pitzDaily same as the coodles case with a very fine mesh, 244k cells. So it runs very slowly
pitzDailyDirectMapped the same as the pitzDaily case with a longer inlet, the mesh is still composed of mainly walls
potentialFoam
Simple potential flow solver which can be used to generate starting fields for full Navier-Stokes codes
Example Problems:
cylinder non-orthogonal mesh, investigate potential flow around a cylinder
pitzDaily same as the other pitzDaily examples however, this case considers the Navier-Stokes equations and can be any fluid
rasCavitatingFoam
Transient cavitation code with RAS turbulence
Example Problem:
throttle same thruster problem just as in lesCavitatingFoam, however, it doesn’t use LES turbulence for the thrust
rasInterFoam
Solver for 2 incompressible fluids capturing the interface. Turbulence is modeled using a runtime selectable incompressible RAS model
Example Problem:
damBreak same as the other damBreak cases, however this has a RAS liquid, therefore the turbulence isn’t as great from the other cases
rhoCentralFoam
Density-based compressible flow solver based on central-upwind schemes
Example Problems:
biconic25-55Run35 a rather simple mesh made for thermodynamics, with an and a field stream, this case contains a “perfect gas”
forwardStep a flow of Mach 3 at an inlet to a rectangular geometry with a step near the inlet region that generates shock waves, can generate a supersonic flow
LadenburgJet60psi Couldn’t Find Anything
obliqueShock 2D aerodynamic test problem, there is a supersonic inlet into the simple rectangular mesh, made to represent the reflection of an oblique shock, such as a plane going mach
shockTube traditional shock tube problem, a 2D environment in which a shock wave is produced and the high-pressure and temperature gasses are shown
wedge15Ma5 very similar to the oblique shock case, however the meshes bottom right side has been cut out, the supersonic inlet has now been moved to the vertex of the cut
rhoPimpleFoam
Transient solver for turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer
Example Problem:
angledDuct a simple mesh of a duct that is bent at an angle, gas is thrust through the inlet and makes its way to the outlet while heating the mesh as well
rhoPorousSimpleFoam
Steady-state solver for turbulent flow of compressible fluids with implicit or explicit porosity treatment
Example Problems:
angledDuctExplicit duct with a rectangular cross section with a sharp 45_ bend at the center. The porous media is added where the duct is bending and it goes halfway up the angled duct
angledDuctImplicit same as the other solver, the difference is the porosity of examples, this example has a finer mesh, and therefore is far more robust
rhopSonicFoam
Pressure-density-based compressible flow solver
Example Problems:
shockTube a one dimensional unsteady case where a discontinuity, normally in pressure, is introduced in the middle of the domain
wedge15Ma5 same as the first wedge case, without the upward scheme, as the solver is also pressure based
rhoSonicFoam
Density-based compressible flow solver
Example Problems:
forwardStep same as the first forward step without the applied upward scheme
shockTube same tube and solver again, however this one is neither pressure or central-upwind scheme based
rhoTurbFoam
Transient solver for compressible, turbulent flow
Example Problem:
cavity the same as the icoFoam case however this isn’t a laminar flow, as well the lid is no longer the transient side but the back wall
rhoTurbTwinParcelFoam
Transient solver for compressible, turbulent flow with two thermo-clouds
Example Problem:
simplifiedSiwek multiregion lagrangian clouds, in a squar 2D mesh with a long inlet in the top left corner, shows turbulent flow into compression of the gas
scalarTransportFoam
Solves a transport equation for a passive scalar
Example Problem:
pitzDaily scalar transport, swirl test: non-uniform initial field, using field algebra
settlingFoam
Solver for 2 incompressible fluids for simulating the settling of the dispersed phase
Example Problems:
dahl a very fine 2D mesh in which two 2 fluids are released, one one from the top and the other from the bottom, they then settle together
tank3D Couldn’t find anything
simpleFoam
Steady-state solver for incompressible, turbulent flow of non-Newtonian fluids
Example Problems:
airFoil2D a 2D airfoil in a large square mesh, that is put into the flow of turbulent non-Newtonian fluids
pitzDaily same as all the others, however this version has a turbulent flow
pitzDailyExptInlet same thing with a different inlet
simpleSRFFoam
Steady, incompressible, rotating reference frame
Example Problem:
mixer a large 3D rotor, can be applied in many different ways
snappyHexMesh
Automatic meshing tool
Example Problems:
iglooWithFridges exactly as advertised, an igloo with 2 fridges in it, simply used to show how the tool works
motorBike once again, simply here to show how the tool works
solidDisplacementFoam
Transient segregated finite-volume solver of linear-elastic, small-strain deformation of a solid body, with optional thermal diffusion and thermal stresses
Example Problem:
plateHole a square mesh with a quarter circle cut out of the bottom left corner, pressure is applied to the plate for stress analysis
solidEquilibriumDisplacementFoam
Steady-state segregated finite-volume solver of linear-elastic, small-strain deformation of a solid body
Example Problem:
beamEndLoad a rectangular beam is strained, testing the elastic properties of the material, as well stress is shown in the beam
sonicFoam
Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar flow of a compressible gas.
Example Problems:
forwardStep same as the other forwardStep problems, however this contains a laminar flow rather than turbo
shockTube another version of a shock tube problem with a laminar flow and compressible gas
sonicLiquidFoam
Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar flow of a compressible liquid
Example Problem:
decompressionTank a simple tank under high pressure becomes decompressed by a nozzle inserted in the side of the tank
sonicTurbFoam
Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, turbulent flow of a compressible gas
Example Problems:
nacaAirfoil a supersonic flow around a 2D NACA airfoil
prism a supersonic flow blown around a 2D prism
turbFoam
Transient solver for incompressible, turbulent flow
Example Problem:
cavity same as the last cavity case, however it contains incompressible gas
twoPhaseEulerFoam
Solver for a system of 2 incompressible fluid phases with one phase dispersed, e.g. gas bubbles in a liquid
Example Problems:
bed couldn’t find anything
bed2 couldn’t find anything
bubbleColumn couldn’t find anything
XiFoam
Compressible premixed/partially-premixed combustion solver with turbulence modeling
Example Problem:
moriyoshiHomogeneous couldn’t find anything
Xoodles
Compressible premixed/partially-premixed combustion solver with large-eddy simulation (LES) turbulence modeling
Example Problems:
pitzDaily couldn’t find anything
pitzDaily3D couldn’t find anything
