OpenFOAM

The Open Source CFD Toolbox

User Guide

Version v3.0+
8th January 2016

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c 2004-2011, 2016 OpenCFD Limited.
Copyright
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Contents
Copyright Notice

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Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported

Licence
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1. Definitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2. Fair Dealing Rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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3. License Grant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4. Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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5. Representations, Warranties and Disclaimer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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6. Limitation on Liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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7. Termination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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8. Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Trademarks

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Contents

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1 Introduction
2 Tutorials
2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.1 Pre-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.1.1 Mesh generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.1.2 Boundary and initial conditions . . . . . . . .
2.1.1.3 Physical properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.1.4 Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.1.5 Discretisation and linear-solver settings . . . .
2.1.2 Viewing the mesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.3 Running an application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.4 Post-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.4.1 Isosurface and contour plots . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.4.2 Vector plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.4.3 Streamline plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.5 Increasing the mesh resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.5.1 Creating a new case using an existing case . .
2.1.5.2 Creating the finer mesh . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.5.3 Mapping the coarse mesh results onto the fine
2.1.5.4 Control adjustments . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.5.5 Running the code as a background process . .
2.1.5.6 Vector plot with the refined mesh . . . . . . .
2.1.5.7 Plotting graphs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Contents

2.1.6

2.2

2.3

Introducing mesh grading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2.1.6.1 Creating the graded mesh . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.6.2 Changing time and time step . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.6.3 Mapping fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.7 Increasing the Reynolds number . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.7.1 Pre-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.7.2 Running the code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.8 High Reynolds number flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.8.1 Pre-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.8.2 Running the code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.9 Changing the case geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.1.10 Post-processing the modified geometry . . . . . . . . . .
Stress analysis of a plate with a hole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1 Mesh generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1.1 Boundary and initial conditions . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1.2 Mechanical properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1.3 Thermal properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1.4 Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.1.5 Discretisation schemes and linear-solver control
2.2.2 Running the code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.3 Post-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.4 Exercises . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.4.1 Increasing mesh resolution . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.4.2 Introducing mesh grading . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.2.4.3 Changing the plate size . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Breaking of a dam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.1 Mesh generation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.2 Boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.3 Setting initial field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.4 Fluid properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.5 Turbulence modelling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.6 Time step control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.7 Discretisation schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.8 Linear-solver control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.9 Running the code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.10 Post-processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.11 Running in parallel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
2.3.12 Post-processing a case run in parallel . . . . . . . . . . .

3 Applications and libraries

3.1 The programming language of OpenFOAM
3.1.1 Language in general . . . . . . . .
3.1.2 Object-orientation and C++ . . . .
3.1.3 Equation representation . . . . . .
3.1.4 Solver codes . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 Compiling applications and libraries . . . .
3.2.1 Header .H files . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.2 Compiling with wmake . . . . . . .
3.2.2.1 Including headers . . . . .
3.2.2.2 Linking to libraries . . . .
3.2.2.3 Source files to be compiled
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Contents

3.3
3.4

3.5
3.6
3.7

3.2.2.4 Running wmake . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

3.2.2.5 wmake environment variables . . . . . . . . . .
3.2.3 Removing dependency lists: wclean and rmdepall . . . . .
3.2.4 Compilation example: the pisoFoam application . . . . .
3.2.5 Debug messaging and optimisation switches . . . . . . .
3.2.6 Linking new user-defined libraries to existing applications
Running applications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Running applications in parallel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4.1 Decomposition of mesh and initial field data . . . . . . .
3.4.2 Running a decomposed case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4.3 Distributing data across several disks . . . . . . . . . . .
3.4.4 Post-processing parallel processed cases . . . . . . . . . .
3.4.4.1 Reconstructing mesh and data . . . . . . . . .
3.4.4.2 Post-processing decomposed cases . . . . . . . .
Standard solvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Standard utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Standard libraries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

4 OpenFOAM cases
4.1 File structure of OpenFOAM cases . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2 Basic input/output file format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.1 General syntax rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.2 Dictionaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.3 The data file header . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.4 Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.5 Scalars, vectors and tensors . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.6 Dimensional units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.7 Dimensioned types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.8 Fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.2.9 Directives and macro substitutions . . . . . . . . .
4.2.10 The #include and #inputMode directives . . . . .
4.2.11 The #codeStream directive . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.3 Time and data input/output control . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4 Numerical schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.1 Interpolation schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.1.1 Schemes for strictly bounded scalar fields
4.4.1.2 Schemes for vector fields . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.2 Surface normal gradient schemes . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.3 Gradient schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.4 Laplacian schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.5 Divergence schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.4.6 Time schemes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5 Solution and algorithm control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.1 Linear solver control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.1.1 Solution tolerances . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.1.2 Preconditioned conjugate gradient solvers
4.5.1.3 Smooth solvers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.1.4 Geometric-algebraic multi-grid solvers . .
4.5.2 Solution under-relaxation . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.3 PISO and SIMPLE algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . .
4.5.3.1 Pressure referencing . . . . . . . . . . . .

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U-73
U-73
U-73
U-74
U-77
U-77
U-78
U-79
U-79
U-80
U-82
U-82
U-83
U-83
U-83
U-90
U-101

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U-107
U-107
U-108
U-108
U-108
U-109
U-110
U-111
U-111
U-112
U-112
U-113
U-113
U-114
U-115
U-117
U-119
U-119
U-120
U-120
U-121
U-122
U-122
U-123
U-124
U-124
U-125
U-125
U-125
U-126
U-127
U-128
U-128

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-12

Contents

4.5.4

Other parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

5 Mesh generation and conversion

5.1 Mesh description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.1 Mesh specification and validity constraints . . . . . .
5.1.1.1 Points . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.1.2 Faces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.1.3 Cells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.1.4 Boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.2 The polyMesh description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.3 The cellShape tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.1.4 1- and 2-dimensional and axi-symmetric problems . .
5.2 Boundaries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.1 Specification of patch types in OpenFOAM . . . . . .
5.2.2 Base types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.3 Primitive types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.2.4 Derived types . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3 Mesh generation with the blockMesh utility . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.1 Writing a blockMeshDict file . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.1.1 The vertices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.1.2 The edges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.1.3 The blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.1.4 The boundary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.2 Multiple blocks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.3.3 Creating blocks with fewer than 8 vertices . . . . . .
5.3.4 Running blockMesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4 Mesh generation with the snappyHexMesh utility . . . . . . .
5.4.1 The mesh generation process of snappyHexMesh . . .
5.4.2 Creating the background hex mesh . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.3 Cell splitting at feature edges and surfaces . . . . . .
5.4.4 Cell removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.5 Cell splitting in specified regions . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.6 Snapping to surfaces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.7 Mesh layers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.4.8 Mesh quality controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5 Mesh conversion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.1 fluentMeshToFoam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.2 starToFoam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.2.1 General advice on conversion . . . . . . . .
5.5.2.2 Eliminating extraneous data . . . . . . . . .
5.5.2.3 Removing default boundary conditions . . .
5.5.2.4 Renumbering the model . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.2.5 Writing out the mesh data . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.2.6 Problems with the .vrt file . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.2.7 Converting the mesh to OpenFOAM format
5.5.3 gambitToFoam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.4 ideasToFoam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.5.5 cfx4ToFoam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.6 Mapping fields between different geometries . . . . . . . . .
5.6.1 Mapping consistent fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5.6.2 Mapping inconsistent fields . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

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U-128
U-129
U-129
U-129
U-130
U-130
U-130
U-131
U-131
U-132
U-132
U-134
U-134
U-136
U-137
U-137
U-138
U-140
U-141
U-141
U-142
U-143
U-144
U-146
U-146
U-147
U-147
U-148
U-149
U-151
U-151
U-152
U-152
U-154
U-154
U-155
U-155
U-156
U-156
U-157
U-158
U-158
U-159
U-159
U-160
U-160
U-160
U-161
U-161
U-161

U-13

Contents

5.6.3

Mapping parallel cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

U-162

6 Post-processing
6.1 paraFoam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.1 Overview of paraFoam . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.2 The Properties panel . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.3 The Display panel . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.4 The button toolbars . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.5 Manipulating the view . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.5.1 View settings . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.5.2 General settings . . . . . . . .
6.1.6 Contour plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.6.1 Introducing a cutting plane . .
6.1.7 Vector plots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.7.1 Plotting at cell centres . . . . .
6.1.8 Streamlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.9 Image output . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.1.10 Animation output . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.2 Post-processing with Fluent . . . . . . . . . . .
6.3 Post-processing with Fieldview . . . . . . . . . .
6.4 Post-processing with EnSight . . . . . . . . . . .
6.4.1 Converting data to EnSight format . . .
6.4.2 The ensight74FoamExec reader module .
6.4.2.1 Configuration of EnSight for the
6.4.2.2 Using the reader module . . . .
6.5 Sampling data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6.6 Monitoring and managing jobs . . . . . . . . . .
6.6.1 The foamJob script for running jobs . . .
6.6.2 The foamLog script for monitoring jobs .

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U-165
U-165
U-165
U-166
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U-169
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U-171
U-171
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U-172
U-173
U-173
U-174
U-174
U-174
U-174
U-175
U-177
U-179
U-179

7 Models and physical properties

7.1 Thermophysical models . . . . .
7.1.1 Thermophysical property
7.2 Turbulence models . . . . . . .
7.2.1 Model coefficients . . . .
7.2.2 Wall functions . . . . . .

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U-181
U-181
U-183
U-185
U-186
U-186

Index

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data
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U-187

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-14

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Contents

Chapter 1
Introduction
This guide accompanies the release of version v3.0+ of the Open Source Field Operation
and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) C++ libraries. It provides a description of the basic
operation of OpenFOAM, first through a set of tutorial exercises in chapter 2 and later
by a more detailed description of the individual components that make up OpenFOAM.
OpenFOAM is first and foremost a C++ library, used primarily to create executables, known as applications. The applications fall into two categories: solvers, that are
each designed to solve a specific problem in continuum mechanics; and utilities, that are
designed to perform tasks that involve data manipulation. The OpenFOAM distribution
contains numerous solvers and utilities covering a wide range of problems, as described
in chapter 3.
One of the strengths of OpenFOAM is that new solvers and utilities can be created
by its users with some pre-requisite knowledge of the underlying method, physics and
programming techniques involved.
OpenFOAM is supplied with pre- and post-processing environments. The interface
to the pre- and post-processing are themselves OpenFOAM utilities, thereby ensuring
consistent data handling across all environments. The overall structure of OpenFOAM is
shown in Figure 1.1. The pre-processing and running of OpenFOAM cases is described
Open Source Field Operation and Manipulation (OpenFOAM) C++ Library

Pre-processing

Utilities

Meshing
Tools

Solving

User
Standard
Applications Applications

Post-processing

ParaView

Others
e.g.EnSight

Figure 1.1: Overview of OpenFOAM structure.

in chapter 4. In chapter 5, we cover both the generation of meshes using the mesh
generators supplied with OpenFOAM and conversion of mesh data generated by thirdparty products. Post-processing is described in chapter 6.

U-16

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Introduction

Chapter 2
Tutorials
In this chapter we shall describe in detail the process of setup, simulation and postprocessing for some OpenFOAM test cases, with the principal aim of introducing a user to
the basic procedures of running OpenFOAM. The $FOAM TUTORIALS directory contains
many more cases that demonstrate the use of all the solvers and many utilities supplied
with OpenFOAM. Before attempting to run the tutorials, the user must first make sure
that they have installed OpenFOAM correctly.
The tutorial cases describe the use of the blockMesh pre-processing tool, case setup
and running OpenFOAM solvers and post-processing using paraFoam. Those users with
access to third-party post-processing tools supported in OpenFOAM have an option:
either they can follow the tutorials using paraFoam; or refer to the description of the use
of the third-party product in chapter 6 when post-processing is required.
Copies of all tutorials are available from the tutorials directory of the OpenFOAM
installation. The tutorials are organised into a set of directories according to the type
of flow and then subdirectories according to solver. For example, all the icoFoam cases
are stored within a subdirectory incompressible/icoFoam, where incompressible indicates
the type of flow. If the user wishes to run a range of example cases, it is recommended
that the user copy the tutorials directory into their local run directory. They can be easily
copied by typing:

mkdir -p $FOAM RUN

cp -r $FOAM TUTORIALS $FOAM RUN

2.1

Lid-driven cavity flow

This tutorial will describe how to pre-process, run and post-process a case involving
isothermal, incompressible flow in a two-dimensional square domain. The geometry is
shown in Figure 2.1 in which all the boundaries of the square are walls. The top wall
moves in the x-direction at a speed of 1 m/s while the other 3 are stationary. Initially,
the flow will be assumed laminar and will be solved on a uniform mesh using the icoFoam
solver for laminar, isothermal, incompressible flow. During the course of the tutorial, the
effect of increased mesh resolution and mesh grading towards the walls will be investigated.
Finally, the flow Reynolds number will be increased and the pisoFoam solver will be used
for turbulent, isothermal, incompressible flow.

U-18

Tutorials

Ux = 1 m/s

d = 0.1 m
y
x
Figure 2.1: Geometry of the lid driven cavity.

2.1.1

Pre-processing

Cases are setup in OpenFOAM by editing case files. Users should select an editor of
choice with which to do this, such as emacs, vi, gedit, kate, nedit, etc. Editing files is
possible in OpenFOAM because the I/O uses a dictionary format with keywords that
convey sufficient meaning to be understood by even the least experienced users.
A case being simulated involves data for mesh, fields, properties, control parameters,
etc. As described in section 4.1, in OpenFOAM this data is stored in a set of files within
a case directory rather than in a single case file, as in many other CFD packages. The
case directory is given a suitably descriptive name, e.g. the first example case for this
tutorial is simply named cavity. In preparation of editing case files and running the first
cavity case, the user should change to the case directory
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity
2.1.1.1

Mesh generation

OpenFOAM always operates in a 3 dimensional Cartesian coordinate system and all

geometries are generated in 3 dimensions. OpenFOAM solves the case in 3 dimensions
by default but can be instructed to solve in 2 dimensions by specifying a special empty
boundary condition on boundaries normal to the (3rd) dimension for which no solution
is required.
The cavity domain consists of a square of side length d = 0.1 m in the x-y plane. A
uniform mesh of 20 by 20 cells will be used initially. The block structure is shown in
Figure 2.2. The blockMesh mesh generator supplied with OpenFOAM generates meshes
from a description specified in an input dictionary, blockMeshDict located in the system
directory for a given case. The blockMeshDict entries for this case are as follows:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\

| =========
|
|
| \\
/ F ield
| OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox
|
| \\
/
O peration
| Version: v3.0+
|
|
\\ /
A nd
| Web:
www.OpenFOAM.com
|
|
\\/
M anipulation |
|
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
version
2.0;
format
ascii;

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-19

2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

2
7

y
0

x
z

1
5

Figure 2.2: Block structure of the mesh for the cavity.

12
13
14
15
16
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20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
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30
31
32
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35
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57
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59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69

class
object

dictionary;
blockMeshDict;

}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //
convertToMeters 0.1;
vertices
(
(0 0
(1 0
(1 1
(0 1
(0 0
(1 0
(1 1
(0 1
);

0)
0)
0)
0)
0.1)
0.1)
0.1)
0.1)

blocks
(
hex (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7) (20 20 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
);
edges
(
);
boundary
(
movingWall
{
type wall;
faces
(
(3 7 6 2)
);
}
fixedWalls
{
type wall;
faces
(
(0 4 7 3)
(2 6 5 1)
(1 5 4 0)
);
}
frontAndBack
{
type empty;
faces
(
(0 3 2 1)
(4 5 6 7)
);
}
);

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-20
70
71
72
73
74
75

Tutorials

mergePatchPairs
(
);
// ************************************************************************* //

The file first contains header information in the form of a banner (lines 1-7), then file
information contained in a FoamFile sub-dictionary, delimited by curly braces ({...}).
For the remainder of the manual:
For the sake of clarity and to save space, file headers, including the banner and
FoamFile sub-dictionary, will be removed from verbatim quoting of case files
The file first specifies coordinates of the block vertices; it then defines the blocks
(here, only 1) from the vertex labels and the number of cells within it; and finally, it defines
the boundary patches. The user is encouraged to consult section 5.3 to understand the
meaning of the entries in the blockMeshDict file.
The mesh is generated by running blockMesh on this blockMeshDict file. From within
the case directory, this is done, simply by typing in the terminal:
blockMesh
The running status of blockMesh is reported in the terminal window. Any mistakes in
the blockMeshDict file are picked up by blockMesh and the resulting error message directs
the user to the line in the file where the problem occurred. There should be no error
messages at this stage.
2.1.1.2

Boundary and initial conditions

Once the mesh generation is complete, the user can look at this initial fields set up for
this case. The case is set up to start at time t = 0 s, so the initial field data is stored in
a 0 sub-directory of the cavity directory. The 0 sub-directory contains 2 files, p and U,
one for each of the pressure (p) and velocity (U) fields whose initial values and boundary
conditions must be set. Let us examine file p:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30

dimensions

[0 2 -2 0 0 0 0];

internalField

uniform 0;

boundaryField
{
movingWall
{
type
}

31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39

zeroGradient;

fixedWalls
{
type
}

zeroGradient;

frontAndBack
{
type
}

empty;

// ************************************************************************* //

There are 3 principal entries in field data files:

dimensions specifies the dimensions of the field, here kinematic pressure, i.e. m2 s2 (see
section 4.2.6 for more information);
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internalField the internal field data which can be uniform, described by a single value;
or nonuniform, where all the values of the field must be specified (see section 4.2.8
for more information);
boundaryField the boundary field data that includes boundary conditions and data for
all the boundary patches (see section 4.2.8 for more information).
For this case cavity, the boundary consists of walls only, split into 2 patches named: (1)
fixedWalls for the fixed sides and base of the cavity; (2) movingWall for the moving top
of the cavity. As walls, both are given a zeroGradient boundary condition for p, meaning
the normal gradient of pressure is zero. The frontAndBack patch represents the front
and back planes of the 2D case and therefore must be set as empty.
In this case, as in most we encounter, the initial fields are set to be uniform. Here the
pressure is kinematic, and as an incompressible case, its absolute value is not relevant, so
is set to uniform 0 for convenience.
The user can similarly examine the velocity field in the 0/U file. The dimensions are
those expected for velocity, the internal field is initialised as uniform zero, which in the
case of velocity must be expressed by 3 vector components, i.e.uniform (0 0 0) (see
section 4.2.5 for more information).
The boundary field for velocity requires the same boundary condition for the frontAndBack patch. The other patches are walls: a no-slip condition is assumed on the
fixedWalls, hence a fixedValue condition with a value of uniform (0 0 0). The top
surface moves at a speed of 1 m/s in the x-direction so requires a fixedValue condition
also but with uniform (1 0 0).
2.1.1.3

Physical properties

The physical properties for the case are stored in dictionaries whose names are given the
suffix . . . Properties, located in the Dictionaries directory tree. For an icoFoam case,
the only property that must be specified is the kinematic viscosity which is stored from
the transportProperties dictionary. The user can check that the kinematic viscosity is
set correctly by opening the transportProperties dictionary to view/edit its entries. The
keyword for kinematic viscosity is nu, the phonetic label for the Greek symbol by which
it is represented in equations. Initially this case will be run with a Reynolds number of
10, where the Reynolds number is defined as:
Re =

d|U|

(2.1)

where d and |U| are the characteristic length and velocity respectively and is the
kinematic viscosity. Here d = 0.1 m, |U| = 1 m s1 , so that for Re = 10, = 0.01 m2 s1 .
The correct file entry for kinematic viscosity is thus specified below:
17
18
19
20
21

nu

[0 2 -1 0 0 0 0] 0.01;

// ************************************************************************* //

2.1.1.4

Control

Input data relating to the control of time and reading and writing of the solution data are
read in from the controlDict dictionary. The user should view this file; as a case control
file, it is located in the system directory.
The start/stop times and the time step for the run must be set. OpenFOAM offers
great flexibility with time control which is described in full in section 4.3. In this tutorial
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we wish to start the run at time t = 0 which means that OpenFOAM needs to read field
data from a directory named 0 see section 4.1 for more information of the case file
structure. Therefore we set the startFrom keyword to startTime and then specify the
startTime keyword to be 0.
For the end time, we wish to reach the steady state solution where the flow is circulating around the cavity. As a general rule, the fluid should pass through the domain 10
times to reach steady state in laminar flow. In this case the flow does not pass through
this domain as there is no inlet or outlet, so instead the end time can be set to the time
taken for the lid to travel ten times across the cavity, i.e. 1 s; in fact, with hindsight, we
discover that 0.5 s is sufficient so we shall adopt this value. To specify this end time, we
must specify the stopAt keyword as endTime and then set the endTime keyword to 0.5.
Now we need to set the time step, represented by the keyword deltaT. To achieve
temporal accuracy and numerical stability when running icoFoam, a Courant number of
less than 1 is required. The Courant number is defined for one cell as:
t|U|
x

Co =

(2.2)

where t is the time step, |U| is the magnitude of the velocity through that cell and x
is the cell size in the direction of the velocity. The flow velocity varies across the domain
and we must ensure Co < 1 everywhere. We therefore choose t based on the worst case:
the maximum Co corresponding to the combined effect of a large flow velocity and small
cell size. Here, the cell size is fixed across the domain so the maximum Co will occur next
to the lid where the velocity approaches 1 m s1 . The cell size is:
x =

d
0.1
=
= 0.005 m
n
20

(2.3)

Therefore to achieve a Courant number less than or equal to 1 throughout the domain
the time step deltaT must be set to less than or equal to:
t =

Co x
1 0.005
=
= 0.005 s
|U|
1

(2.4)

As the simulation progresses we wish to write results at certain intervals of time that
we can later view with a post-processing package. The writeControl keyword presents
several options for setting the time at which the results are written; here we select the
timeStep option which specifies that results are written every nth time step where the
value n is specified under the writeInterval keyword. Let us decide that we wish to
write our results at times 0.1, 0.2,. . . , 0.5 s. With a time step of 0.005 s, we therefore
need to output results at every 20th time time step and so we set writeInterval to 20.
OpenFOAM creates a new directory named after the current time, e.g. 0.1 s, on each
occasion that it writes a set of data, as discussed in full in section 4.1. In the icoFoam
solver, it writes out the results for each field, U and p, into the time directories. For this
case, the entries in the controlDict are shown below:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29

application

icoFoam;

startFrom

startTime;

startTime

0;

stopAt

endTime;

endTime

0.5;

deltaT

0.005;

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2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49

writeControl

timeStep;

writeInterval

20;

purgeWrite

0;

writeFormat

ascii;

writePrecision

6;

writeCompression off;
timeFormat

general;

timePrecision

6;

runTimeModifiable true;
// ************************************************************************* //

2.1.1.5

Discretisation and linear-solver settings

The user specifies the choice of finite volume discretisation schemes in the fvSchemes
dictionary in the system directory. The specification of the linear equation solvers and
tolerances and other algorithm controls is made in the fvSolution dictionary, similarly in
the system directory. The user is free to view these dictionaries but we do not need to
discuss all their entries at this stage except for pRefCell and pRefValue in the PISO
sub-dictionary of the fvSolution dictionary. In a closed incompressible system such as the
cavity, pressure is relative: it is the pressure range that matters not the absolute values.
In cases such as this, the solver sets a reference level by pRefValue in cell pRefCell. In
this example both are set to 0. Changing either of these values will change the absolute
pressure field, but not, of course, the relative pressures or velocity field.

2.1.2

Viewing the mesh

Before the case is run it is a good idea to view the mesh to check for any errors. The mesh
is viewed in paraFoam, the post-processing tool supplied with OpenFOAM. The paraFoam
post-processing is started by typing in the terminal from within the case directory
paraFoam
Alternatively, it can be launched from another directory location with an optional
-case argument giving the case directory, e.g.
paraFoam -case $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity
This launches the ParaView window as shown in Figure 6.1. In the Pipeline Browser,
the user can see that ParaView has opened cavity.OpenFOAM, the module for the cavity
case. Before clicking the Apply button, the user needs to select some geometry from
the Mesh Parts panel. Because the case is small, it is easiest to select all the data by
checking the box adjacent to the Mesh Parts panel title, which automatically checks all
individual components within the respective panel. The user should then click the Apply
button to load the geometry into ParaView. Some general settings are applied as described
in section 6.1.5.1. Please consult this section about these settings.
The user should then open the Display panel that controls the visual representation
of the selected module. Within the Display panel the user should do the following as
shown in Figure 2.3: (1) set Color By Solid Color; (2) click Set Ambient Color and
select an appropriate colour e.g. black (for a white background); (3) in the Style panel,
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select Wireframe from the Representation menu. The background colour can be set by
selecting View Settings... from Edit in the top menu panel.
Open Display panel
Select Color by Solid Color
Set Solid Color, e.g. black
Select Wireframe

Figure 2.3: Viewing the mesh in paraFoam.

Especially the first time the user starts ParaView, it is recommended that they
manipulate the view as described in section 6.1.5. In particular, since this is a 2D case,
it is recommended that Use Parallel Projection is selected in the General panel of View
Settings window selected from the Edit menu. The Orientation Axes can be toggled on
and off in the Annotation window or moved by drag and drop with the mouse.

2.1.3

Running an application

Like any UNIX/Linux executable, OpenFOAM applications can be run in two ways: as
a foreground process, i.e. one in which the shell waits until the command has finished
before giving a command prompt; as a background process, one which does not have to
be completed before the shell accepts additional commands.
On this occasion, we will run icoFoam in the foreground. The icoFoam solver is executed either by entering the case directory and typing
icoFoam
at the command prompt, or with the optional -case argument giving the case directory,
e.g.
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2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

icoFoam -case $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity

The progress of the job is written to the terminal window. It tells the user the current
time, maximum Courant number, initial and final residuals for all fields.

2.1.4

Post-processing

As soon as results are written to time directories, they can be viewed using paraFoam.
Return to the paraFoam window and select the Properties panel for the cavity.OpenFOAM
case module. If the correct window panels for the case module do not seem to be present
at any time, please ensure that: cavity.OpenFOAM is highlighted in blue; eye button
alongside it is switched on to show the graphics are enabled;
To prepare paraFoam to display the data of interest, we must first load the data at
the required run time of 0.5 s. If the case was run while ParaView was open, the output
data in time directories will not be automatically loaded within ParaView. To load the
data the user should click Refresh Times in the Properties window. The time data will be
loaded into ParaView.
2.1.4.1

Isosurface and contour plots

To view pressure, the user should open the Display panel since it controls the visual
representation of the selected module. To make a simple plot of pressure, the user should
select the following, as described in detail in Figure 2.4: in the Style panel, select Surface
from the Representation menu; in the Color panel, select Color by
and Rescale to
Data Range. Now in order to view the solution at t = 0.5 s, the user can use the VCR
Controls or Current Time Controls to change the current time to 0.5. These are
located in the toolbars below the menus at the top of the ParaView window, as shown in
Figure 6.4. The pressure field solution has, as expected, a region of low pressure at the
top left of the cavity and one of high pressure at the top right of the cavity as shown in
Figure 2.5.
With the point icon ( ) the pressure field is interpolated across each cell to give a
continuous appearance. Instead if the user selects the cell icon,
, from the Color by
menu, a single value for pressure will be attributed to each cell so that each cell will be
denoted by a single colour with no grading.
A colour bar can be included by either by clicking the Toggle Color Legend Visibility
button in the Active Variable Controls toolbar, or by selecting Show Color Legend
from the View menu. Clicking the Edit Color Map button, either in the Active Variable
Controls toolbar or in the Color panel of the Display window, the user can set a range
of attributes of the colour bar, such as text size, font selection and numbering format for
the scale. The colour bar can be located in the image window by drag and drop with the
mouse.
New versions of ParaView default to using a colour scale of blue to white to red rather
than the more common blue to green to red (rainbow). Therefore the first time that the
user executes ParaView, they may wish to change the colour scale. This can be done by
selecting Choose Preset in the Color Scale Editor and selecting Blue to Red Rainbow. After
clicking the OK confirmation button, the user can click the Make Default button so that
ParaView will always adopt this type of colour bar.
If the user rotates the image, they can see that they have now coloured the complete
geometry surface by the pressure. In order to produce a genuine contour plot the user
should first create a cutting plane, or slice, through the geometry using the Slice filter
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Open Display panel

Select Color by interpolated p
Rescale to Data Range
Select Surface

Figure 2.4: Displaying pressure contours for the cavity case.

Figure 2.5: Pressures in the cavity case.

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2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

U-27

as described in section 6.1.6.1. The cutting plane should be centred at (0.05, 0.05, 0.005)
and its normal should be set to (0, 0, 1) (click the Z Normal button). Having generated
the cutting plane, the contours can be created using by the Contour filter described in
section 6.1.6.
2.1.4.2

Vector plots

Before we start to plot the vectors of the flow velocity, it may be useful to remove other
modules that have been created, e.g. using the Slice and Contour filters described above.
These can: either be deleted entirely, by highlighting the relevant module in the Pipeline
Browser and clicking Delete in their respective Properties panel; or, be disabled by toggling
the eye button for the relevant module in the Pipeline Browser.
We now wish to generate a vector glyph for velocity at the centre of each cell. We
first need to filter the data to cell centres as described in section 6.1.7.1. With the
cavity.OpenFOAM module highlighted in the Pipeline Browser, the user should select Cell
Centers from the Filter->Alphabetical menu and then click Apply.
With these Centers highlighted in the Pipeline Browser, the user should then select
Glyph from the Filter->Alphabetical menu. The Properties window panel should appear as shown in Figure 2.6. In the resulting Properties panel, the velocity field, U, is
automatically selected in the vectors menu, since it is the only vector field present. By
default the Scale Mode for the glyphs will be Vector Magnitude of velocity but, since
the we may wish to view the velocities throughout the domain, the user should instead select off and Set Scale Factor to 0.005. On clicking Apply, the glyphs appear but, probably
as a single colour, e.g. white. The user should colour the glyphs by velocity magnitude
which, as usual, is controlled by setting Color by U in the Display panel. The user should
also select Show Color Legend in Edit Color Map. The output is shown in Figure 2.7, in
which uppercase Times Roman fonts are selected for the Color Legend headings and the
labels are specified to 2 fixed significant figures by deselecting Automatic Label Format and
entering %-#6.2f in the Label Format text box. The background colour is set to white in
the General panel of View Settings as described in section 6.1.5.1.
Note that at the left and right walls, glyphs appear to indicate flow through the walls.
On closer examination, however, the user can see that while the flow direction is normal
to the wall, its magnitude is 0. This slightly confusing situation is caused by ParaView
choosing to orientate the glyphs in the x-direction when the glyph scaling off and the
velocity magnitude is 0.
2.1.4.3

Streamline plots

Again, before the user continues to post-process in ParaView, they should disable modules
such as those for the vector plot described above. We now wish to plot streamlines of
velocity as described in section 6.1.8.
With the cavity.OpenFOAM module highlighted in the Pipeline Browser, the user
should then select Stream Tracer from the Filter menu and then click Apply. The
Properties window panel should appear as shown in Figure 2.8. The Seed points should
be specified along a Line Source running vertically through the centre of the geometry,
i.e. from (0.05, 0, 0.005) to (0.05, 0.1, 0.005). For the image in this guide we used: a point
Resolution of 21; Max Propagation by Length 0.5; Initial Step Length by Cell Length 0.01;
and, Integration Direction BOTH. The Runge-Kutta 2 IntegratorType was used with
default parameters.
On clicking Apply the tracer is generated. The user should then select Tube from the
Filter menu to produce high quality streamline images. For the image in this report, we
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Open Parameters panel

Specify Set Scale Factor 0.005
Select Scale Mode off
Select Glyph Type Arrow

Figure 2.6: Properties panel for the Glyph filter.

Figure 2.7: Velocities in the cavity case.

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2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

Open Parameters panel

Set Max Propagation to Length 0.5
Set Initial Step Length to Cell Length 0.01
Set Integration Direction to BOTH
Specify Line Source and set points and resolution

Figure 2.8: Properties panel for the Stream Tracer filter.

Figure 2.9: Streamlines in the cavity case.

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Tutorials

used: Num. sides 6; Radius 0.0003; and, Radius factor 10. The streamtubes are coloured
by velocity magnitude. On clicking Apply the image in Figure 2.9 should be produced.

2.1.5

Increasing the mesh resolution

The mesh resolution will now be increased by a factor of two in each direction. The results
from the coarser mesh will be mapped onto the finer mesh to use as initial conditions for
the problem. The solution from the finer mesh will then be compared with those from
the coarser mesh.
2.1.5.1

Creating a new case using an existing case

We now wish to create a new case named cavityFine that is created from cavity. The user
should therefore clone the cavity case and edit the necessary files. First the user should
create a new case directory at the same directory level as the cavity case, e.g.
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam
mkdir cavityFine
The user should then copy the base directories from the cavity case into cavityFine, and
then enter the cavityFine case.
cp -r cavity/constant cavityFine
cp -r cavity/system cavityFine
cd cavityFine
2.1.5.2

Creating the finer mesh

We now wish to increase the number of cells in the mesh by using blockMesh. The user
should open the blockMeshDict file in an editor and edit the block specification. The blocks
are specified in a list under the blocks keyword. The syntax of the block definitions is
described fully in section 5.3.1.3; at this stage it is sufficient to know that following hex
is first the list of vertices in the block, then a list (or vector) of numbers of cells in each
direction. This was originally set to (20 20 1) for the cavity case. The user should now
change this to (40 40 1) and save the file. The new refined mesh should then be created
by running blockMesh as before.
2.1.5.3

Mapping the coarse mesh results onto the fine mesh

The mapFields utility maps one or more fields relating to a given geometry onto the corresponding fields for another geometry. In our example, the fields are deemed consistent
because the geometry and the boundary types, or conditions, of both source and target fields are identical. We use the -consistent command line option when executing
mapFields in this example.
The field data that mapFields maps is read from the time directory specified by
startFrom/startTime in the controlDict of the target case, i.e. those into which the
results are being mapped. In this example, we wish to map the final results of the coarser
mesh from case cavity onto the finer mesh of case cavityFine. Therefore, since these results are stored in the 0.5 directory of cavity, the startTime should be set to 0.5 s in the
controlDict dictionary and startFrom should be set to startTime.
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2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

The case is ready to run mapFields. Typing mapFields -help quickly shows that mapFields requires the source case directory as an argument. We are using the -consistent
option, so the utility is executed from within the cavityFine directory by
mapFields ../cavity -consistent
The utility should run with output to the terminal including:
Source: ".." "cavity"
Target: "." "cavityFine"
Create databases as time
Source time: 0.5
Target time: 0.5
Create meshes
Source mesh size: 400

Target mesh size: 1600

Consistently creating and mapping fields for time 0.5

interpolating p
interpolating U
End

2.1.5.4

Control adjustments

To maintain a Courant number of less that 1, as discussed in section 2.1.1.4, the time
step must now be halved since the size of all cells has halved. Therefore deltaT should
be set to to 0.0025 s in the controlDict dictionary. Field data is currently written out at
an interval of a fixed number of time steps. Here we demonstrate how to specify data
output at fixed intervals of time. Under the writeControl keyword in controlDict, instead
of requesting output by a fixed number of time steps with the timeStep entry, a fixed
amount of run time can be specified between the writing of results using the runTime
entry. In this case the user should specify output every 0.1 and therefore should set
writeInterval to 0.1 and writeControl to runTime. Finally, since the case is starting
with a the solution obtained on the coarse mesh we only need to run it for a short period
to achieve reasonable convergence to steady-state. Therefore the endTime should be set
to 0.7 s. Make sure these settings are correct and then save the file.
2.1.5.5

Running the code as a background process

The user should experience running icoFoam as a background process, redirecting the
terminal output to a log file that can be viewed later. From the cavityFine directory, the
user should execute:
icoFoam > log &
cat log
2.1.5.6

Vector plot with the refined mesh

The user can open multiple cases simultaneously in ParaView; essentially because each new
case is simply another module that appears in the Pipeline Browser. There is one minor
inconvenience when opening a new case in ParaView because there is a prerequisite that
the selected data is a file with a name that has an extension. However, in OpenFOAM,
each case is stored in a multitude of files with no extensions within a specific directory
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Open Display panel

Select Ux from Line Series
Select arc length
Select Scatter Plot

Figure 2.10: Selecting fields for graph plotting.

structure. The solution, that the paraFoam script performs automatically, is to create
a dummy file with the extension .OpenFOAM hence, the cavity case module is called
cavity.OpenFOAM.
However, if the user wishes to open another case directly from within ParaView, they
need to create such a dummy file. For example, to load the cavityFine case the file would
be created by typing at the command prompt:
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam
touch cavityFine/cavityFine.OpenFOAM
Now the cavityFine case can be loaded into ParaView by selecting Open from the File
menu, and having navigated the directory tree, selecting cavityFine.OpenFOAM. The user
can now make a vector plot of the results from the refined mesh in ParaView. The plot can
be compared with the cavity case by enabling glyph images for both case simultaneously.
2.1.5.7

Plotting graphs

The user may wish to visualise the results by extracting some scalar measure of velocity
and plotting 2-dimensional graphs along lines through the domain. OpenFOAM is well
equipped for this kind of data manipulation. There are numerous utilities that do specialised data manipulations, and some, simpler calculations are incorporated into a single
utility foamCalc. As a utility, it is unique in that it is executed by
foamCalc <calcType> <fieldName1 ... fieldNameN>
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The calculator operation is specified in <calcType>; at the time of writing, the following
operations are implemented: addSubtract; randomise; div; components; mag; magGrad;
magSqr; interpolate. The user can obtain the list of <calcType> by deliberately calling
one that does not exist, so that foamCalc throws up an error message and lists the types
available, e.g.
>> foamCalc xxxx
--> FOAM FATAL ERROR:
Unknown calcType type xxxx
Valid calcType selections are:
8
(
addSubtract
components
div
interpolate
mag
magGrad
magSqr
randomise
)

The components and mag calcTypes provide useful scalar measures of velocity. When
foamCalc components U is run on a case, say cavity, it reads in the velocity vector field
from each time directory and, in the corresponding time directories, writes scalar fields
Ux, Uy and Uz representing the x, y and z components of velocity. Similarly foamCalc
mag U writes a scalar field magU to each time directory representing the magnitude of
velocity.
The user can run foamCalc with the components calcType on both cavity and cavityFine
cases. For example, for the cavity case the user should do into the cavity directory and
execute foamCalc as follows:
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavity
foamCalc components U
The individual components can be plotted as a graph in ParaView. It is quick, convenient and has reasonably good control over labelling and formatting, so the printed
output is a fairly good standard. However, to produce graphs for publication, users may
prefer to write raw data and plot it with a dedicated graphing tool, such as gnuplot or
Grace/xmgr. To do this, we recommend using the sample utility, described in section 6.5
and section 2.2.3.
Before commencing plotting, the user needs to load the newly generated Ux, Uy and
Uz fields into ParaView. To do this, the user should click the Refresh Times at the top
of the Properties panel for the cavity.OpenFOAM module which will cause the new fields
to be loaded into ParaView and appear in the Volume Fields window. Ensure the new
fields are selected and the changes are applied, i.e. click Apply again if necessary. Also,
data is interpolated incorrectly at boundaries if the boundary regions are selected in the
Mesh Parts panel. Therefore the user should deselect the patches in the Mesh Parts panel,
i.e.movingWall, fixedWall and frontAndBack, and apply the changes.
Now, in order to display a graph in ParaView the user should select the module of interest, e.g.cavity.OpenFOAM and apply the Plot Over Line filter from the Filter->Data
Analysis menu. This opens up a new XY Plot window below or beside the existing 3D
View window. A PlotOverLine module is created in which the user can specify the end
points of the line in the Properties panel. In this example, the user should position the
line vertically up the centre of the domain, i.e. from (0.05, 0, 0.005) to (0.05, 0.1, 0.005),
in the Point1 and Point2 text boxes. The Resolution can be set to 100.
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Figure 2.11: Plotting graphs in ParaView.

On clicking Apply, a graph is generated in the XY Plot window. In the Display panel,
the user should set Attribute Mode to Point Data. The Use Data Array option can
be selected for the X Axis Data, taking the arc length option so that the x-axis of the
graph represents distance from the base of the cavity.
The user can choose the fields to be displayed in the Line Series panel of the Display
window. From the list of scalar fields to be displayed, it can be seen that the magnitude
and components of vector fields are available by default, e.g. displayed as U:X, so that
it was not necessary to create Ux using foamCalc. Nevertheless, the user should deselect
all series except Ux (or U:x). A square colour box in the adjacent column to the selected
series indicates the line colour. The user can edit this most easily by a double click of the
mouse over that selection.
In order to format the graph, the user should modify the settings below the Line Series
panel, namely Line Color, Line Thickness, Line Style, Marker Style and Chart
Axes.
Also the user can click one of the buttons above the top left corner of the XY Plot.
The third button, for example, allows the user to control View Settings in which the user
can set title and legend for each axis, for example. Also, the user can set font, colour and
alignment of the axes titles, and has several options for axis range and labels in linear or
logarithmic scales.
Figure 2.11 is a graph produced using ParaView. The user can produce a graph
however he/she wishes. For information, the graph in Figure 2.11 was produced with the
options for axes of: Standard type of Notation; Specify Axis Range selected; titles in Sans
Serif 12 font. The graph is displayed as a set of points rather than a line by activating
the Enable Line Series button in the Display window. Note: if this button appears to be
inactive by being greyed out, it can be made active by selecting and deselecting the
sets of variables in the Line Series panel. Once the Enable Line Series button is selected,
the Line Style and Marker Style can be adjusted to the users preference.

2.1.6

Introducing mesh grading

The error in any solution will be more pronounced in regions where the form of the
true solution differ widely from the form assumed in the chosen numerical schemes. For
example a numerical scheme based on linear variations of variables over cells can only
generate an exact solution if the true solution is itself linear in form. The error is largest
in regions where the true solution deviates greatest from linear form, i.e. where the change
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-35

2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

in gradient is largest. Error decreases with cell size.

It is useful to have an intuitive appreciation of the form of the solution before setting
up any problem. It is then possible to anticipate where the errors will be largest and
to grade the mesh so that the smallest cells are in these regions. In the cavity case the
large variations in velocity can be expected near a wall and so in this part of the tutorial
the mesh will be graded to be smaller in this region. By using the same number of cells,
greater accuracy can be achieved without a significant increase in computational cost.
A mesh of 20 20 cells with grading towards the walls will be created for the liddriven cavity problem and the results from the finer mesh of section 2.1.5.2 will then be
mapped onto the graded mesh to use as an initial condition. The results from the graded
mesh will be compared with those from the previous meshes. Since the changes to the
blockMeshDict dictionary are fairly substantial, the case used for this part of the tutorial,
cavityGrade, is supplied in the $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam directory.
2.1.6.1

Creating the graded mesh

The mesh now needs 4 blocks as different mesh grading is needed on the left and right and
top and bottom of the domain. The block structure for this mesh is shown in Figure 2.12.
The user can view the blockMeshDict file in the system subdirectory of cavityGrade; for
6

7
15

8
16

2
3

17
3

4
12

5
13

y
0

x
z

14
1

2
10

11

Figure 2.12: Block structure of the graded mesh for the cavity (block numbers encircled).
completeness the key elements of the blockMeshDict file are also reproduced below. Each
block now has 10 cells in the x and y directions and the ratio between largest and smallest
cells is 2.
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convertToMeters 0.1;
vertices
(
(0 0 0)
(0.5 0 0)
(1 0 0)
(0 0.5 0)
(0.5 0.5 0)
(1 0.5 0)
(0 1 0)
(0.5 1 0)
(1 1 0)
(0 0 0.1)
(0.5 0 0.1)
(1 0 0.1)
(0 0.5 0.1)
(0.5 0.5 0.1)
(1 0.5 0.1)
(0 1 0.1)

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Tutorials

);

(0.5 1 0.1)
(1 1 0.1)

blocks
(
hex
hex
hex
hex
);

(0
(1
(3
(4

1
2
4
5

4
5
7
8

3
4
6
7

9 10 13 12) (10 10 1) simpleGrading (2 2 1)

10 11 14 13) (10 10 1) simpleGrading (0.5 2 1)
12 13 16 15) (10 10 1) simpleGrading (2 0.5 1)
13 14 17 16) (10 10 1) simpleGrading (0.5 0.5 1)

edges
(
);
boundary
(
movingWall
{
type wall;
faces
(
(6 15 16 7)
(7 16 17 8)
);
}
fixedWalls
{
type wall;
faces
(
(3 12 15 6)
(0 9 12 3)
(0 1 10 9)
(1 2 11 10)
(2 5 14 11)
(5 8 17 14)
);
}
frontAndBack
{
type empty;
faces
(
(0 3 4 1)
(1 4 5 2)
(3 6 7 4)
(4 7 8 5)
(9 10 13 12)
(10 11 14 13)
(12 13 16 15)
(13 14 17 16)
);
}
);
mergePatchPairs
(
);
// ************************************************************************* //

Once familiar with the blockMeshDict file for this case, the user can execute blockMesh
from the command line. The graded mesh can be viewed as before using paraFoam as
described in section 2.1.2.
2.1.6.2

Changing time and time step

The highest velocities and smallest cells are next to the lid, therefore the highest Courant
number will be generated next to the lid, for reasons given in section 2.1.1.4. It is therefore
useful to estimate the size of the cells next to the lid to calculate an appropriate time
step for this case.
When a nonuniform mesh grading is used, blockMesh calculates the cell sizes using a
geometric progression. Along a length l, if n cells are requested with a ratio of R between
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-37

2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

the last and first cells, the size of the smallest cell, xs , is given by:
xs = l

r1
r 1

(2.5)

where r is the ratio between one cell size and the next which is given by:
1

(2.6)

r = R n1
and
=

R
1 rn + r1

for R > 1,
for R < 1.

(2.7)

For the cavityGrade case the number of cells in each direction in a block is 10, the ratio
between largest and smallest cells is 2 and the block height and width is 0.05 m. Therefore
the smallest cell length is 3.45 mm. From Equation 2.2, the time step should be less than
3.45 ms to maintain a Courant of less than 1. To ensure that results are written out
at convenient time intervals, the time step deltaT should be reduced to 2.5 ms and the
writeInterval set to 40 so that results are written out every 0.1 s. These settings can
be viewed in the cavityGrade/system/controlDict file.
The startTime needs to be set to that of the final conditions of the case cavityFine,
i.e.0.7. Since cavity and cavityFine converged well within the prescribed run time, we can
set the run time for case cavityGrade to 0.1 s, i.e. the endTime should be 0.8.
2.1.6.3

Mapping fields

As in section 2.1.5.3, use mapFields to map the final results from case cavityFine onto the
mesh for case cavityGrade. Enter the cavityGrade directory and execute mapFields by:
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavityGrade
mapFields ../cavityFine -consistent
Now run icoFoam from the case directory and monitor the run time information. View
the converged results for this case and compare with other results using post-processing
tools described previously in section 2.1.5.6 and section 2.1.5.7.

2.1.7

Increasing the Reynolds number

The cases solved so far have had a Reynolds number of 10. This is very low and leads to
a stable solution quickly with only small secondary vortices at the bottom corners of the
cavity. We will now increase the Reynolds number to 100, at which point the solution
takes a noticeably longer time to converge. The coarsest mesh in case cavity will be used
initially. The user should make a copy of the cavity case and name it cavityHighRe by
typing:
cd $FOAM_RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam
cp -r cavity cavityHighRe
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-38

Tutorials

2.1.7.1

Pre-processing

Enter the cavityHighRe case and edit the transportProperties dictionary. Since the Reynolds
number is required to be increased by a factor of 10, decrease the kinematic viscosity by
a factor of 10, i.e. to 1 103 m2 s1 . We can now run this case by restarting from the
solution at the end of the cavity case run. To do this we can use the option of setting the
startFrom keyword to latestTime so that icoFoam takes as its initial data the values
stored in the directory corresponding to the most recent time, i.e. 0.5. The endTime
should be set to 2 s.
2.1.7.2

Running the code

Run icoFoam for this case from the case directory and view the run time information.
When running a job in the background, the following UNIX commands can be useful:
nohup enables a command to keep running after the user who issues the command has
logged out;
nice changes the priority of the job in the kernels scheduler; a niceness of -20 is the
highest priority and 19 is the lowest priority.
This is useful, for example, if a user wishes to set a case running on a remote machine
and does not wish to monitor it heavily, in which case they may wish to give it low
priority on the machine. In that case the nohup command allows the user to log out of a
remote machine he/she is running on and the job continues running, while nice can set
the priority to 19. For our case of interest, we can execute the command in this manner
as follows:
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavityHighRe
nohup nice -n 19 icoFoam > log &
cat log
In previous runs you may have noticed that icoFoam stops solving for velocity U quite
quickly but continues solving for pressure p for a lot longer or until the end of the run.
In practice, once icoFoam stops solving for U and the initial residual of p is less than
the tolerance set in the fvSolution dictionary (typically 106 ), the run has effectively
converged and can be stopped once the field data has been written out to a time directory.
For example, at convergence a sample of the log file from the run on the cavityHighRe
case appears as follows in which the velocity has already converged after 1.62 s and
initial pressure residuals are small; No Iterations 0 indicates that the solution of U has
stopped:
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Time = 1.63
Courant Number mean: 0.221985 max: 0.839923
smoothSolver: Solving for Ux, Initial residual = 3.64032e-06, Final residual = 3.64032e-06, No Iterations 0
smoothSolver: Solving for Uy, Initial residual = 4.20677e-06, Final residual = 4.20677e-06, No Iterations 0
DICPCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 2.11678e-06, Final residual = 7.25303e-07, No Iterations 3
time step continuity errors : sum local = 7.25166e-09, global = 4.96308e-19, cumulative = -1.28342e-17
DICPCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 1.36075e-06, Final residual = 7.94478e-07, No Iterations 1
time step continuity errors : sum local = 7.77548e-09, global = -4.78772e-19, cumulative = -1.3313e-17
ExecutionTime = 0.38 s ClockTime = 0 s
Time = 1.635
Courant Number mean: 0.221986 max: 0.839923
smoothSolver: Solving for Ux, Initial residual = 3.56036e-06, Final residual = 3.56036e-06, No Iterations 0
smoothSolver: Solving for Uy, Initial residual = 4.11726e-06, Final residual = 4.11726e-06, No Iterations 0
DICPCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 2.03881e-06, Final residual = 8.18692e-07, No Iterations 3
time step continuity errors : sum local = 8.38471e-09, global = -6.27334e-19, cumulative = -1.39403e-17
DICPCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 1.36655e-06, Final residual = 7.94623e-07, No Iterations 1
time step continuity errors : sum local = 8.25673e-09, global = 5.87298e-20, cumulative = -1.38816e-17
ExecutionTime = 0.38 s ClockTime = 0 s

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-39

2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

2.1.8

High Reynolds number flow

View the results in paraFoam and display the velocity vectors. The secondary vortices in
the corners have increased in size somewhat. The user can then increase the Reynolds
number further by decreasing the viscosity and then rerun the case. The number of
vortices increases so the mesh resolution around them will need to increase in order to
resolve the more complicated flow patterns. In addition, as the Reynolds number increases
the time to convergence increases. The user should monitor residuals and extend the
endTime accordingly to ensure convergence.
The need to increase spatial and temporal resolution then becomes impractical as
the flow moves into the turbulent regime, where problems of solution stability may also
occur. Of course, many engineering problems have very high Reynolds numbers and it
is infeasible to bear the huge cost of solving the turbulent behaviour directly. Instead
Reynolds-averaged simulation (RAS) turbulence models are used to solve for the mean
flow behaviour and calculate the statistics of the fluctuations. The standard k model
with wall functions will be used in this tutorial to solve the lid-driven cavity case with
a Reynolds number of 104 . Two extra variables are solved for: k, the turbulent kinetic
energy; and, , the turbulent dissipation rate. The additional equations and models for
turbulent flow are implemented into a OpenFOAM solver called pisoFoam.
2.1.8.1

Pre-processing

Change directory to the cavity case in the $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/pisoFoam/ras directory (N.B: the pisoFoam/ras directory). Generate the mesh by running blockMesh
as before. Mesh grading towards the wall is not necessary when using the standard k
model with wall functions since the flow in the near wall cell is modelled, rather than
having to be resolved.
A range of wall function models is available in OpenFOAM that are applied as boundary conditions on individual patches. This enables different wall function models to be
applied to different wall regions. The choice of wall function models are specified through
the turbulent viscosity field, t in the 0/nut file:
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41

dimensions

[0 2 -1 0 0 0 0];

internalField

uniform 0;

boundaryField
{
movingWall
{
type
value
}
fixedWalls
{
type
value
}
frontAndBack
{
type
}
}

nutkWallFunction;
uniform 0;
nutkWallFunction;
uniform 0;
empty;

// ************************************************************************* //

This case uses standard wall functions, specified by the nutWallFunction keyword entry
on the movingWall and fixedWalls patches. Other wall function models include the
rough wall functions, specified though the nutRoughWallFunction keyword.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-40

Tutorials

The user should now open the field files for k and (0/k and 0/epsilon) and examine
their boundary conditions. For a wall boundary condition, is assigned a epsilonWallFunction boundary condition and a kqRwallFunction boundary condition is assigned to k.
The latter is a generic boundary condition that can be applied to any field that are of a
turbulent kinetic energy type, e.g. k, q or Reynolds Stress R. The initial values for k and
are set using an estimated fluctuating component of velocity U and a turbulent length
scale, l. k and are defined in terms of these parameters as follows:
1
k = U U
2
C0.75 k 1.5
=
l

(2.8)
(2.9)

where C is a constant of the k model equal to 0.09. For a Cartesian coordinate

system, k is given by:
1
k = (Ux 2 + Uy 2 + Uz 2 )
2

(2.10)

where Ux 2 , Uy 2 and Uz 2 are the fluctuating components of velocity in the x, y and z

directions respectively. Let us assume the initial turbulence is isotropic, i.e. Ux 2 = Uy 2 =
Uz 2 , and equal to 5% of the lid velocity and that l, is equal to 20% of the box width, 0.1
m, then k and are given by:
5
1 m s1
Ux = Uy = Uz =
100

2
5
3
m2 s2 = 3.75 103 m2 s2
k=
2 100
C0.75 k 1.5
=
7.65 104 m2 s3
l

(2.11)
(2.12)
(2.13)

These form the initial conditions for k and . The initial conditions for U and p are
(0, 0, 0) and 0 respectively as before.
Turbulence modelling includes a range of methods, e.g. RAS or large-eddy simulation
(LES), that are provided in OpenFOAM. In most transient solvers, the choice of turbulence modelling method is selectable at run-time through the simulationType keyword
in turbulenceProperties dictionary. The user can view this file in the constant directory:
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simulationType
RAS
{

RAS;

RASModel

kOmega;

turbulence

on;

printCoeffs

on;

}
// ************************************************************************* //

The options for simulationType are laminar, RAS and LES. With RAS selected in this
case, the choice of RAS modelling is specified in a turbulenceProperties subdictionary, also
in the constant directory. The turbulence model is selected by the RASModel entry from a
long list of available models that are listed in Table 3.9. The kEpsilon model should be
selected which is is the standard k model; the user should also ensure that turbulence
calculation is switched on.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

U-41

The coefficients for each turbulence model are stored within the respective code with
a set of default values. Setting the optional switch called printCoeffs to on will make
the default values be printed to standard output, i.e. the terminal, when the model is
called at run time. The coefficients are printed out as a sub-dictionary whose name
is that of the model name with the word Coeffs appended, e.g. kEpsilonCoeffs in
the case of the kEpsilon model. The coefficients of the model, e.g. kEpsilon, can be
modified by optionally including (copying and pasting) that sub-dictionary within the
turbulenceProperties file and adjusting values accordingly.
The user should next set the laminar kinematic viscosity in the transportProperties
dictionary. To achieve a Reynolds number of 104 , a kinematic viscosity of 105 m is
required based on the Reynolds number definition given in Equation 2.1.
Finally the user should set the startTime, stopTime, deltaT and the writeInterval
in the controlDict. Set deltaT to 0.005 s to satisfy the Courant number restriction and
the endTime to 10 s.
2.1.8.2

Running the code

Execute pisoFoam by entering the case directory and typing pisoFoam in a terminal.
In this case, where the viscosity is low, the boundary layer next to the moving lid is
very thin and the cells next to the lid are comparatively large so the velocity at their
centres are much less than the lid velocity. In fact, after 100 time steps it becomes
apparent that the velocity in the cells adjacent to the lid reaches an upper limit of around
0.2 m s1 hence the maximum Courant number does not rise much above 0.2. It is sensible
to increase the solution time by increasing the time step to a level where the Courant
number is much closer to 1. Therefore reset deltaT to 0.02 s and, on this occasion, set
startFrom to latestTime. This instructs pisoFoam to read the start data from the latest
time directory, i.e.10.0. The endTime should be set to 20 s since the run converges a lot
slower than the laminar case. Restart the run as before and monitor the convergence of
the solution. View the results at consecutive time steps as the solution progresses to see
if the solution converges to a steady-state or perhaps reaches some periodically oscillating
state. In the latter case, convergence may never occur but this does not mean the results
are inaccurate.

2.1.9

Changing the case geometry

A user may wish to make changes to the geometry of a case and perform a new simulation.
It may be useful to retain some or all of the original solution as the starting conditions
for the new simulation. This is a little complex because the fields of the original solution
are not consistent with the fields of the new case. However the mapFields utility can map
fields that are inconsistent, either in terms of geometry or boundary types or both.
As an example, let us go to the cavityClipped case in the icoFoam directory which
consists of the standard cavity geometry but with a square of length 0.04 m removed from
the bottom right of the cavity, according to the blockMeshDict below:
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convertToMeters 0.1;
vertices
(
(0 0 0)
(0.6 0 0)
(0 0.4 0)
(0.6 0.4 0)
(1 0.4 0)
(0 1 0)
(0.6 1 0)
(1 1 0)

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

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(0 0 0.1)
(0.6 0 0.1)
(0 0.4 0.1)
(0.6 0.4 0.1)
(1 0.4 0.1)
(0 1 0.1)
(0.6 1 0.1)
(1 1 0.1)
);
blocks
(
hex (0 1 3 2 8 9 11 10) (12 8 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
hex (2 3 6 5 10 11 14 13) (12 12 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
hex (3 4 7 6 11 12 15 14) (8 12 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
);
edges
(
);
boundary
(
lid
{

);

type wall;
faces
(
(5 13 14 6)
(6 14 15 7)
);

}
fixedWalls
{
type wall;
faces
(
(0 8 10 2)
(2 10 13 5)
(7 15 12 4)
(4 12 11 3)
(3 11 9 1)
(1 9 8 0)
);
}
frontAndBack
{
type empty;
faces
(
(0 2 3 1)
(2 5 6 3)
(3 6 7 4)
(8 9 11 10)
(10 11 14 13)
(11 12 15 14)
);
}

mergePatchPairs
(
);
// ************************************************************************* //

Generate the mesh with blockMesh. The patches are set accordingly as in previous cavity
cases. For the sake of clarity in describing the field mapping process, the upper wall patch
is renamed lid, previously the movingWall patch of the original cavity.
In an inconsistent mapping, there is no guarantee that all the field data can be mapped
from the source case. The remaining data must come from field files in the target case
itself. Therefore field data must exist in the time directory of the target case before
mapping takes place. In the cavityClipped case the mapping is set to occur at time 0.5 s,
since the startTime is set to 0.5 s in the controlDict. Therefore the user needs to copy
initial field data to that directory, e.g. from time 0:
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam/cavityClipped
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-43

2.1 Lid-driven cavity flow

cp -r 0 0.5
Before mapping the data, the user should view the geometry and fields at 0.5 s.
Now we wish to map the velocity and pressure fields from cavity onto the new fields
of cavityClipped. Since the mapping is inconsistent, we need to edit the mapFieldsDict
dictionary, located in the system directory. The dictionary contains 2 keyword entries:
patchMap and cuttingPatches. The patchMap list contains a mapping of patches from
the source fields to the target fields. It is used if the user wishes a patch in the target
field to inherit values from a corresponding patch in the source field. In cavityClipped, we
wish to inherit the boundary values on the lid patch from movingWall in cavity so we
must set the patchMap as:
patchMap
(
lid movingWall
);
The cuttingPatches list contains names of target patches whose values are to be
mapped from the source internal field through which the target patch cuts. In this case
we will include the fixedWalls to demonstrate the interpolation process.
cuttingPatches
(
fixedWalls
);
Now the user should run mapFields, from within the cavityClipped directory:
mapFields ../cavity
The user can view the mapped field as shown in Figure 2.13. The boundary patches
have inherited values from the source case as we expected. Having demonstrated this,
however, we actually wish to reset the velocity on the fixedWalls patch to (0, 0, 0). Edit
the U field, go to the fixedWalls patch and change the field from nonuniform to uniform
(0, 0, 0). The nonuniform field is a list of values that requires deleting in its entirety. Now
run the case with icoFoam.

2.1.10

Post-processing the modified geometry

Velocity glyphs can be generated for the case as normal, first at time 0.5 s and later at
time 0.6 s, to compare the initial and final solutions. In addition, we provide an outline of
the geometry which requires some care to generate for a 2D case. The user should select
Extract Block from the Filter menu and, in the Parameter panel, highlight the patches
of interest, namely the lid and fixedWalls. On clicking Apply, these items of geometry can
be displayed by selecting Wireframe in the Display panel. Figure 2.14 displays the patches
in black and shows vortices forming in the bottom corners of the modified geometry.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-44

Tutorials

Figure 2.13: cavity solution velocity field mapped onto cavityClipped.

Figure 2.14: cavityClipped solution for velocity field.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-45

2.2 Stress analysis of a plate with a hole

2.2

Stress analysis of a plate with a hole

This tutorial describes how to pre-process, run and post-process a case involving linearelastic, steady-state stress analysis on a square plate with a circular hole at its centre.
The plate dimensions are: side length 4 m and radius R = 0.5 m. It is loaded with a
uniform traction of = 10 kPa over its left and right faces as shown in Figure 2.15. Two
symmetry planes can be identified for this geometry and therefore the solution domain
need only cover a quarter of the geometry, shown by the shaded area in Figure 2.15.

y
symmetry plane

R = 0.5 m

= 10 kPa

symmetry plane

= 10 kPa

4.0 m
Figure 2.15: Geometry of the plate with a hole.
The problem can be approximated as 2-dimensional since the load is applied in the
plane of the plate. In a Cartesian coordinate system there are two possible assumptions
to take in regard to the behaviour of the structure in the third dimension: (1) the plane
stress condition, in which the stress components acting out of the 2D plane are assumed
to be negligible; (2) the plane strain condition, in which the strain components out of
the 2D plane are assumed negligible. The plane stress condition is appropriate for solids
whose third dimension is thin as in this case; the plane strain condition is applicable for
solids where the third dimension is thick.
An analytical solution exists for loading of an infinitely large, thin plate with a circular
hole. The solution for the stress normal to the vertical plane of symmetry is

(xx )x=0

2
4
1 + R + 3R
for |y| R
2y 2
2y 4
=

0
for |y| < R

(2.14)

Results from the simulation will be compared with this solution. At the end of the
tutorial, the user can: investigate the sensitivity of the solution to mesh resolution and
mesh grading; and, increase the size of the plate in comparison to the hole to try to
estimate the error in comparing the analytical solution for an infinite plate to the solution
of this problem of a finite plate.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-46

Tutorials

2.2.1

Mesh generation

The domain consists of four blocks, some of which have arc-shaped edges. The block
structure for the part of the mesh in the x y plane is shown in Figure 2.16. As already
mentioned in section 2.1.1.1, all geometries are generated in 3 dimensions in OpenFOAM
even if the case is to be as a 2 dimensional problem. Therefore a dimension of the block
in the z direction has to be chosen; here, 0.5 m is selected. It does not affect the solution
since the traction boundary condition is specified as a stress rather than a force, thereby
making the solution independent of the cross-sectional area.
up

up

right

left
4
x2
9

x1

left

x2
0
x2

10

4
x1

5
hole

x1
2

right

1
x2
0

x2
x1
down

x1

down

Figure 2.16: Block structure of the mesh for the plate with a hole.
The user should change into the plateHole case in the $FOAM RUN/tutorials/stressAnalysis/solidDisplacementFoam directory and open the system/blockMeshDict file in an
editor, as listed below
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convertToMeters 1;
vertices
(
(0.5 0 0)
(1 0 0)
(2 0 0)
(2 0.707107 0)
(0.707107 0.707107 0)
(0.353553 0.353553 0)
(2 2 0)
(0.707107 2 0)
(0 2 0)
(0 1 0)
(0 0.5 0)
(0.5 0 0.5)
(1 0 0.5)
(2 0 0.5)
(2 0.707107 0.5)
(0.707107 0.707107 0.5)

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-47

2.2 Stress analysis of a plate with a hole

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);

(0.353553 0.353553 0.5)

(2 2 0.5)
(0.707107 2 0.5)
(0 2 0.5)
(0 1 0.5)
(0 0.5 0.5)

blocks
(
hex
hex
hex
hex
hex
);
edges
(
arc
arc
arc
arc
arc
arc
arc
arc
);
boundary
(
left
{

(5
(0
(1
(4
(9

4
1
2
3
4

9
4
3
6
7

10 16 15 20 21) (10 10 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)

5 11 12 15 16) (10 10 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
4 12 13 14 15) (20 10 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
7 15 14 17 18) (20 20 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
8 20 15 18 19) (10 20 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)

0 5 (0.469846 0.17101 0)
5 10 (0.17101 0.469846 0)
1 4 (0.939693 0.34202 0)
4 9 (0.34202 0.939693 0)
11 16 (0.469846 0.17101 0.5)
16 21 (0.17101 0.469846 0.5)
12 15 (0.939693 0.34202 0.5)
15 20 (0.34202 0.939693 0.5)

type symmetryPlane;
faces
(
(8 9 20 19)
(9 10 21 20)
);

}
right
{
type patch;
faces
(
(2 3 14 13)
(3 6 17 14)
);
}
down
{
type symmetryPlane;
faces
(
(0 1 12 11)
(1 2 13 12)
);
}
up
{
type patch;
faces
(
(7 8 19 18)
(6 7 18 17)
);
}
hole
{
type patch;
faces
(
(10 5 16 21)
(5 0 11 16)
);
}
frontAndBack
{
type empty;
faces
(
(10 9 4 5)
(5 4 1 0)
(1 4 3 2)
(4 7 6 3)

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-48
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Tutorials

);

);

(4 9 8
(21 16
(16 11
(12 13
(15 14
(15 18

7)
15
12
14
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19

20)
15)
15)
18)
20)

mergePatchPairs
(
);
// ************************************************************************* //

Until now, we have only specified straight edges in the geometries of previous tutorials but
here we need to specify curved edges. These are specified under the edges keyword entry
which is a list of non-straight edges. The syntax of each list entry begins with the type
of curve, including arc, simpleSpline, polyLine etc., described further in section 5.3.1.
In this example, all the edges are circular and so can be specified by the arc keyword
entry. The following entries are the labels of the start and end vertices of the arc and a
point vector through which the circular arc passes.
The blocks in this blockMeshDict do not all have the same orientation. As can be seen
in Figure 2.16 the x2 direction of block 0 is equivalent to the x1 direction for block 4.
This means care must be taken when defining the number and distribution of cells in each
block so that the cells match up at the block faces.
6 patches are defined: one for each side of the plate, one for the hole and one for the
front and back planes. The left and down patches are both a symmetry plane. Since this
is a geometric constraint, it is included in the definition of the mesh, rather than being
purely a specification on the boundary condition of the fields. Therefore they are defined
as such using a special symmetryPlane type as shown in the blockMeshDict.
The frontAndBack patch represents the plane which is ignored in a 2D case. Again
this is a geometric constraint so is defined within the mesh, using the empty type as shown
in the blockMeshDict. For further details of boundary types and geometric constraints,
the user should refer to section 5.2.1.
The remaining patches are of the regular patch type. The mesh should be generated
using blockMesh and can be viewed in paraFoam as described in section 2.1.2. It should
appear as in Figure 2.17.

Figure 2.17: Mesh of the hole in a plate problem.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

2.2 Stress analysis of a plate with a hole

2.2.1.1

U-49

Boundary and initial conditions

Once the mesh generation is complete, the initial field with boundary conditions must be
set. For a stress analysis case without thermal stresses, only displacement D needs to be
set. The 0/D is as follows:
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dimensions

[0 1 0 0 0 0 0];

internalField

uniform (0 0 0);

boundaryField
{
left
{
type
}
right
{
type
traction
pressure
value
}
down
{
type
}
up
{
type
traction
pressure
value
}
hole
{
type
traction
pressure
value
}
frontAndBack
{
type
}
}

symmetryPlane;

tractionDisplacement;
uniform (10000 0 0);
uniform 0;
uniform (0 0 0);
symmetryPlane;

tractionDisplacement;
uniform (0 0 0);
uniform 0;
uniform (0 0 0);
tractionDisplacement;
uniform (0 0 0);
uniform 0;
uniform (0 0 0);
empty;

// ************************************************************************* //

Firstly, it can be seen that the displacement initial conditions are set to (0, 0, 0) m. The
left and down patches must be both of symmetryPlane type since they are specified
as such in the mesh description in the constant/polyMesh/boundary file. Similarly the
frontAndBack patch is declared empty.
The other patches are traction boundary conditions, set by a specialist traction boundary type. The traction boundary conditions are specified by a linear combination of: (1)
a boundary traction vector under keyword traction; (2) a pressure that produces a traction normal to the boundary surface that is defined as negative when pointing out of
the surface, under keyword pressure. The up and hole patches are zero traction so the
boundary traction and pressure are set to zero. For the right patch the traction should
be (1e4, 0, 0) Pa and the pressure should be 0 Pa.
2.2.1.2

Mechanical properties

The physical properties for the case are set in the mechanicalProperties dictionary in the
constant directory. For this problem, we need to specify the mechanical properties of
steel given in Table 2.1. In the mechanical properties dictionary, the user must also set
planeStress to yes.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-50

Tutorials

Property
Units
Density
kg m3
Youngs modulus
Pa
Poissons ratio

Keyword
rho
E
nu

Value
7854
2 1011
0.3

Table 2.1: Mechanical properties for steel

2.2.1.3

Thermal properties

The temperature field variable T is present in the solidDisplacementFoam solver since the
user may opt to solve a thermal equation that is coupled with the momentum equation
through the thermal stresses that are generated. The user specifies at run time whether
OpenFOAM should solve the thermal equation by the thermalStress switch in the thermalProperties dictionary. This dictionary also sets the thermal properties for the case,
e.g. for steel as listed in Table 2.2.
Property
Specific heat capacity
Thermal conductivity
Thermal expansion coeff.

Units
Jkg1 K1
Wm1 K1
K1

Keyword
C
k
alpha

Value
434
60.5
1.1 105

Table 2.2: Thermal properties for steel

In this case we do not want to solve for the thermal equation. Therefore we must set
the thermalStress keyword entry to no in the thermalProperties dictionary.
2.2.1.4

Control

As before, the information relating to the control of the solution procedure are read in
from the controlDict dictionary. For this case, the startTime is 0 s. The time step is
not important since this is a steady state case; in this situation it is best to set the time
step deltaT to 1 so it simply acts as an iteration counter for the steady-state case. The
endTime, set to 100, then acts as a limit on the number of iterations. The writeInterval
can be set to 20.
The controlDict entries are as follows:
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application

solidDisplacementFoam;

startFrom

startTime;

startTime

0;

stopAt

endTime;

endTime

100;

deltaT

1;

writeControl

timeStep;

writeInterval

20;

purgeWrite

0;

writeFormat

ascii;

writePrecision

6;

writeCompression off;
timeFormat

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

general;

2.2 Stress analysis of a plate with a hole

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timePrecision

6;

graphFormat

raw;

U-51

runTimeModifiable true;
// ************************************************************************* //

2.2.1.5

Discretisation schemes and linear-solver control

Let us turn our attention to the fvSchemes dictionary. Firstly, the problem we are
analysing is steady-state so the user should select SteadyState for the time derivatives
in timeScheme. This essentially switches off the time derivative terms. Not all solvers,
especially in fluid dynamics, work for both steady-state and transient problems but solidDisplacementFoam does work, since the base algorithm is the same for both types of
simulation.
The momentum equation in linear-elastic stress analysis includes several explicit terms
containing the gradient of displacement. The calculations benefit from accurate and
smooth evaluation of the gradient. Normally, in the finite volume method the discretisation is based on Gausss theorem The Gauss method is sufficiently accurate for most
purposes but, in this case, the least squares method will be used. The user should therefore open the fvSchemes dictionary in the system directory and ensure the leastSquares
method is selected for the grad(U) gradient discretisation scheme in the gradSchemes
sub-dictionary:
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d2dt2Schemes
{
default
}

steadyState;

ddtSchemes
{
default
}

Euler;

gradSchemes
{
default
grad(D)
grad(T)
}

leastSquares;
leastSquares;
leastSquares;

divSchemes
{
default
div(sigmaD)
}

none;
Gauss linear;

laplacianSchemes
{
default
none;
laplacian(DD,D) Gauss linear corrected;
laplacian(DT,T) Gauss linear corrected;
}
interpolationSchemes
{
default
linear;
}
snGradSchemes
{
default
}

none;

// ************************************************************************* //

The fvSolution dictionary in the system directory controls the linear equation solvers and
algorithms used in the solution. The user should first look at the solvers sub-dictionary
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-52

Tutorials

and notice that the choice of solver for D is GAMG. The solver tolerance should be set to
106 for this problem. The solver relative tolerance, denoted by relTol, sets the required
reduction in the residuals within each iteration. It is uneconomical to set a tight (low)
relative tolerance within each iteration since a lot of terms in each equation are explicit
and are updated as part of the segregated iterative procedure. Therefore a reasonable
value for the relative tolerance is 0.01, or possibly even higher, say 0.1, or in some cases
even 0.9 (as in this case).
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solvers
{
"(D|T)"
{
solver
GAMG;
tolerance
1e-06;
relTol
0.9;
smoother
GaussSeidel;
cacheAgglomeration true;
nCellsInCoarsestLevel 20;
agglomerator
faceAreaPair;
mergeLevels
1;
}
}
stressAnalysis
{
compactNormalStress yes;
nCorrectors
1;
D
1e-06;
}
// ************************************************************************* //

The fvSolution dictionary contains a sub-dictionary, stressAnalysis that contains some control parameters specific to the application solver. Firstly there is nCorrectors which
specifies the number of outer loops around the complete system of equations, including
traction boundary conditions within each time step. Since this problem is steady-state,
we are performing a set of iterations towards a converged solution with the time step
acting as an iteration counter. We can therefore set nCorrectors to 1.
The D keyword specifies a convergence tolerance for the outer iteration loop, i.e. sets
a level of initial residual below which solving will cease. It should be set to the desired
solver tolerance specified earlier, 106 for this problem.

2.2.2

Running the code

The user should run the code here in the background from the command line as specified
below, so he/she can look at convergence information in the log file afterwards.
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/stressAnalysis/solidDisplacementFoam/plateHole
solidDisplacementFoam > log &
The user should check the convergence information by viewing the generated log file which
shows the number of iterations and the initial and final residuals of the displacement in
each direction being solved. The final residual should always be less than 0.9 times the
initial residual as this iteration tolerance set. Once both initial residuals have dropped
below the convergence tolerance of 106 the run has converged and can be stopped by
killing the batch job.

2.2.3

Post-processing

Post processing can be performed as in section 2.1.4. The solidDisplacementFoam solver

outputs the stress field as a symmetric tensor field sigma. This is consistent with the
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-53

2.2 Stress analysis of a plate with a hole

way variables are usually represented in OpenFOAM solvers by the mathematical symbol
by which they are represented; in the case of Greek symbols, the variable is named
phonetically.
For post-processing individual scalar field components, xx , xy etc., can be generated
by running the foamCalc utility as before in section 2.1.5.7, this time on sigma:
foamCalc components sigma
Components named sigmaxx, sigmaxy etc. are written to time directories of the case.
The xx stresses can be viewed in paraFoam as shown in Figure 2.18.
30

xx (kPa)

25
20
15
10
5
0
Figure 2.18: xx stress field in the plate with hole.
We would like to compare the analytical solution of Equation 2.14 to our solution.
We therefore must output a set of data of xx along the left edge symmetry plane of
our domain. The user may generate the required graph data using the sample utility.
The utility uses a sampleDict dictionary located in the system directory, whose entries are
summarised in Table 6.3. The sample line specified in sets is set between (0.0, 0.5, 0.25)
and (0.0, 2.0, 0.25), and the fields are specified in the fields list:
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interpolationScheme cellPoint;
setFormat
sets
(
leftPatch
{
type
axis
start
end
nPoints
}
);
fields

raw;

uniform;
y;
(0 0.5 0.25);
(0 2 0.25);
100;
(sigmaEq);

// ************************************************************************* //

The user should execute sample as normal. The writeFormat is raw 2 column format.
The data is written into files within time subdirectories of a sets directory, e.g. the data
at t = 100 s is found within the file sets/100/leftPatch sigmaxx.xy. In an application such
as GnuPlot, one could type the following at the command prompt would be sufficient to
plot both the numerical data and analytical solution:
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-54

Tutorials

Stress (xx )x=0 (kPa)

35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
0.6

0.8

1.0

1.2

1.4

1.6

1.8

2.0

Distance, y (m)
Numerical prediction

Analytical solution

Figure 2.19: Normal stress along the vertical symmetry (xx )x=0

plot [0.5:2] [0:] 'sets/100/leftPatch sigmaxx.xy',

1e4*(1+(0.125/(x**2))+(0.09375/(x**4)))
An example plot is shown in Figure 2.19.

2.2.4

Exercises

The user may wish to experiment with solidDisplacementFoam by trying the following
exercises:
2.2.4.1

Increasing mesh resolution

Increase the mesh resolution in each of the x and y directions. Use mapFields to map the
final coarse mesh results from section 2.2.3 to the initial conditions for the fine mesh.
2.2.4.2

Introducing mesh grading

Grade the mesh so that the cells near the hole are finer than those away from the hole.
Design the mesh so that the ratio of sizes between adjacent cells is no more than 1.1
and so that the ratio of cell sizes between blocks is similar to the ratios within blocks.
Mesh grading is described in section 2.1.6. Again use mapFields to map the final coarse
mesh results from section 2.2.3 to the initial conditions for the graded mesh. Compare
the results with those from the analytical solution and previous calculations. Can this
solution be improved upon using the same number of cells with a different solution?
2.2.4.3

Changing the plate size

The analytical solution is for an infinitely large plate with a finite sized hole in it. Therefore this solution is not completely accurate for a finite sized plate. To estimate the error,
increase the plate size while maintaining the hole size at the same value.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-55

2.3 Breaking of a dam

2.3

Breaking of a dam

In this tutorial we shall solve a problem of simplified dam break in 2 dimensions using
the interFoam.The feature of the problem is a transient flow of two fluids separated by
a sharp interface, or free surface. The two-phase algorithm in interFoam is based on the
volume of fluid (VOF) method in which a specie transport equation is used to determine
the relative volume fraction of the two phases, or phase fraction , in each computational
cell. Physical properties are calculated as weighted averages based on this fraction. The
nature of the VOF method means that an interface between the species is not explicitly
computed, but rather emerges as a property of the phase fraction field. Since the phase
fraction can have any value between 0 and 1, the interface is never sharply defined, but
occupies a volume around the region where a sharp interface should exist.
The test setup consists of a column of water at rest located behind a membrane on
the left side of a tank. At time t = 0 s, the membrane is removed and the column of
water collapses. During the collapse, the water impacts an obstacle at the bottom of the
tank and creates a complicated flow structure, including several captured pockets of air.
The geometry and the initial setup is shown in Figure 2.20.
0.584 m

water column

0.584 m

0.292 m

0.048 m
0.1461 m 0.1459 m

0.024 m

Figure 2.20: Geometry of the dam break.

2.3.1

Mesh generation

The user should go to the damBreak case in their $FOAM RUN/tutorials/multiphase/interFoam/laminar directory. Generate the mesh running blockMesh as described previously.
The damBreak mesh consist of 5 blocks; the blockMeshDict entries are given below.
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21
22
23
24
25

convertToMeters 0.146;
vertices
(
(0 0 0)
(2 0 0)
(2.16438 0 0)
(4 0 0)
(0 0.32876 0)

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-56
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Tutorials

);

(2 0.32876 0)
(2.16438 0.32876 0)
(4 0.32876 0)
(0 4 0)
(2 4 0)
(2.16438 4 0)
(4 4 0)
(0 0 0.1)
(2 0 0.1)
(2.16438 0 0.1)
(4 0 0.1)
(0 0.32876 0.1)
(2 0.32876 0.1)
(2.16438 0.32876 0.1)
(4 0.32876 0.1)
(0 4 0.1)
(2 4 0.1)
(2.16438 4 0.1)
(4 4 0.1)

blocks
(
hex
hex
hex
hex
hex
);

(0
(2
(4
(5
(6

1
3
5
6
7

5 4 12 13 17 16) (23 8 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)

7 6 14 15 19 18) (19 8 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
9 8 16 17 21 20) (23 42 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
10 9 17 18 22 21) (4 42 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)
11 10 18 19 23 22) (19 42 1) simpleGrading (1 1 1)

edges
(
);
boundary
(
leftWall
{
type wall;
faces
(
(0 12 16 4)
(4 16 20 8)
);
}
rightWall
{
type wall;
faces
(
(7 19 15 3)
(11 23 19 7)
);
}
lowerWall
{
type wall;
faces
(
(0 1 13 12)
(1 5 17 13)
(5 6 18 17)
(2 14 18 6)
(2 3 15 14)
);
}
atmosphere
{
type patch;
faces
(
(8 20 21 9)
(9 21 22 10)
(10 22 23 11)
);
}
);
mergePatchPairs
(
);
// ************************************************************************* //

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

2.3 Breaking of a dam

2.3.2

U-57

Boundary conditions

The user can examine the boundary geometry generated by blockMesh by viewing the
boundary file in the constant/polyMesh directory. The file contains a list of 5 boundary
patches: leftWall, rightWall, lowerWall, atmosphere and defaultFaces. The user
should notice the type of the patches. The atmosphere is a standard patch, i.e. has no
special attributes, merely an entity on which boundary conditions can be specified. The
defaultFaces patch is empty since the patch normal is in the direction we will not solve
in this 2D case. The leftWall, rightWall and lowerWall patches are each a wall. Like
the plain patch, the wall type contains no geometric or topological information about the
mesh and only differs from the plain patch in that it identifies the patch as a wall, should
an application need to know, e.g. to apply special wall surface modelling.
A good example is that the interFoam solver includes modelling of surface tension
at the contact point between the interface and wall surface. The models are applied
by specifying the alphaContactAngle boundary condition on the alpha.water () field.
With it, the user must specify the following: a static contact angle, theta0 0 ; leading
and trailing edge dynamic contact angles, thetaA A and thetaR R respectively; and a
velocity scaling function for dynamic contact angle, uTheta.
In this tutorial we would like to ignore surface tension effects between the wall and
interface. We can do this by setting the static contact angle, 0 = 90 and the velocity
scaling function to 0. However, the simpler option which we shall choose here is to specify
a zeroGradient type on alpha.water, rather than use the alphaContactAngle boundary
condition.
The top boundary is free to the atmosphere so needs to permit both outflow and inflow
according to the internal flow. We therefore use a combination of boundary conditions
for pressure and velocity that does this while maintaining stability. They are:
totalPressure which is a fixedValue condition calculated from specified total pressure
p0 and local velocity U;
pressureInletOutletVelocity, which applies zeroGradient on all components, except
where there is inflow, in which case a fixedValue condition is applied to the tangential
component;
inletOutlet, which is a zeroGradient condition when flow outwards, fixedValue when
flow is inwards.
At all wall boundaries, the buoyantPressure boundary condition is applied to the pressure
field, which calculates the normal gradient from the local density gradient.
The defaultFaces patch representing the front and back planes of the 2D problem,
is, as usual, an empty type.

2.3.3

Setting initial field

Unlike the previous cases, we shall now specify a non-uniform initial condition for the
water phase fraction, , where
(
1 for the liquid phase
(2.15)
=
0 for the gas phase
This is achieved by running the setFields utility. It requires a setFieldsDict dictionary,
located in the system directory, whose entries for this case are shown below.
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Tutorials

defaultFieldValues
(
volScalarFieldValue alpha.water 0
);
regions
(
boxToCell
{
box (0 0 -1) (0.1461 0.292 1);
fieldValues
(
volScalarFieldValue alpha.water 1
);
}
);
// ************************************************************************* //

The defaultFieldValues sets the default value of the fields, i.e. the value the field
takes unless specified otherwise in the regions sub-dictionary. That sub-dictionary contains a list of subdictionaries containing fieldValues that override the defaults in a
specified region. The region is expressed in terms of a topoSetSource that creates a set
of points, cells or faces based on some topological constraint. Here, boxToCell creates
a bounding box within a vector minimum and maximum to define the set of cells of the
liquid region. The phase fraction is defined as 1 in this region.
The setFields utility reads fields from file and, after re-calculating those fields, will write
them back to file. Because the files are then overridden, it is recommended that a backup
is made before setFields is executed. In the damBreak tutorial, the alpha.water field is
initially stored as a backup only, named alpha.water.org. Before running setFields, the
user first needs to copy alpha.water.org to alpha.water, e.g. by typing:
cp 0/alpha.water.org 0/alpha.water
The user should then execute setFields as any other utility is executed. Using paraFoam,
check that the initial alpha.water field corresponds to the desired distribution as in Figure 2.21.
Phase fraction, 1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
Figure 2.21: Initial conditions for phase fraction alpha.water.

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2.3 Breaking of a dam

2.3.4

Fluid properties

Let us examine the transportProperties file in the constant directory. Its dictionary contains the material properties for each fluid, separated into two subdictionaries phase1
and phase2. The transport model for each phase is selected by the transportModel
keyword. The user should select Newtonian in which case the kinematic viscosity is single valued and specified under the keyword nu. The viscosity parameters for the other
models, e.g.CrossPowerLaw, are specified within subdictionaries with the generic name
<model>Coeffs, i.e.CrossPowerLawCoeffs in this example. The density is specified under
the keyword rho.
The surface tension between the two phases is specified under the keyword sigma.
The values used in this tutorial are listed in Table 2.3.
phase1 properties
Kinematic viscosity
Density

m2 s1
kg m3

nu
rho

1.0 106
1.0 103

phase2 properties
Kinematic viscosity
Density

m2 s1
kg m3

nu
rho

1.48 105
1.0

sigma

0.07

Properties of both phases

Surface tension
N m1

Table 2.3: Fluid properties for the damBreak tutorial

Gravitational acceleration is uniform across the domain and is specified in a file named
g in the constant directory. Unlike a normal field file, e.g. U and p, g is a uniformDimensionedVectorField and so simply contains a set of dimensions and a value that represents
(0, 9.81, 0) m s2 for this tutorial:
17
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22

dimensions
value

[0 1 -2 0 0 0 0];
(0 -9.81 0);

// ************************************************************************* //

2.3.5

Turbulence modelling

As in the cavity example, the choice of turbulence modelling method is selectable at runtime through the simulationType keyword in turbulenceProperties dictionary. In this
example, we wish to run without turbulence modelling so we set laminar:
17
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21

simulationType

laminar;

// ************************************************************************* //

2.3.6

Time step control

Time step control is an important issue in free surface tracking since the surface-tracking
algorithm is considerably more sensitive to the Courant number Co than in standard fluid
flow calculations. Ideally, we should not exceed an upper limit Co 0.5 in the region
of the interface. In some cases, where the propagation velocity is easy to predict, the
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Tutorials

user should specify a fixed time-step to satisfy the Co criterion. For more complex cases,
this is considerably more difficult. interFoam therefore offers automatic adjustment of the
time step as standard in the controlDict. The user should specify adjustTimeStep to be
on and the the maximum Co for the phase fields, maxAlphaCo, and other fields, maxCo,
to be 0.5. The upper limit on time step maxDeltaT can be set to a value that will not be
exceeded in this simulation, e.g. 1.0.
By using automatic time step control, the steps themselves are never rounded to a
convenient value. Consequently if we request that OpenFOAM saves results at a fixed
number of time step intervals, the times at which results are saved are somewhat arbitrary.
However even with automatic time step adjustment, OpenFOAM allows the user to specify
that results are written at fixed times; in this case OpenFOAM forces the automatic time
stepping procedure to adjust time steps so that it hits on the exact times specified for
write output. The user selects this with the adjustableRunTime option for writeControl
in the controlDict dictionary. The controlDict dictionary entries should be:
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application

interFoam;

startFrom

startTime;

startTime

0;

stopAt

endTime;

endTime

1;

deltaT

0.001;

writeControl

adjustableRunTime;

writeInterval

0.05;

purgeWrite

0;

writeFormat

ascii;

writePrecision

6;

writeCompression uncompressed;
timeFormat

general;

timePrecision

6;

runTimeModifiable yes;
adjustTimeStep

yes;

maxCo
maxAlphaCo

1;
1;

maxDeltaT

1;

// ************************************************************************* //

2.3.7

Discretisation schemes

The interFoam solver uses the multidimensional universal limiter for explicit solution
(MULES) method, created by OpenCFD, to maintain boundedness of the phase fraction
independent of underlying numerical scheme, mesh structure, etc. The choice of schemes
for convection are therefore not restricted to those that are strongly stable or bounded,
e.g. upwind differencing.
The convection schemes settings are made in the divSchemes sub-dictionary of the
fvSchemes dictionary. In this example, the convection term in the momentum equation ( (UU)), denoted by the div(rhoPhi,U) keyword, uses Gauss linearUpwind
grad(U) to produce good accuracy. The (U) term, represented by the div(phi,alpha)
keyword uses the vanLeer scheme. The (Urb ) term, represented by the div(phirb,alpha)
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2.3 Breaking of a dam

keyword, can similarly use the vanLeer scheme, but generally produces smoother interfaces using the linear scheme.
The other discretised terms use commonly employed schemes so that the fvSchemes
dictionary entries should therefore be:
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ddtSchemes
{
default
}
gradSchemes
{
default
}

Euler;

Gauss linear;

divSchemes
{
div(rhoPhi,U) Gauss linearUpwind grad(U);
div(phi,alpha) Gauss vanLeer;
div(phirb,alpha) Gauss linear;
div(((rho*nuEff)*dev2(T(grad(U))))) Gauss linear;
}
laplacianSchemes
{
default
}

Gauss linear corrected;

interpolationSchemes
{
default
linear;
}
snGradSchemes
{
default
}

corrected;

// ************************************************************************* //

2.3.8

Linear-solver control

In the fvSolution, the PISO sub-dictionary contains elements that are specific to interFoam.
There are the usual correctors to the momentum equation but also correctors to a PISO
loop around the phase equation. Of particular interest are the nAlphaSubCycles and
cAlpha keywords. nAlphaSubCycles represents the number of sub-cycles within the
equation; sub-cycles are additional solutions to an equation within a given time step. It
is used to enable the solution to be stable without reducing the time step and vastly
increasing the solution time. Here we specify 2 sub-cycles, which means that the
equation is solved in 2 half length time steps within each actual time step.
The cAlpha keyword is a factor that controls the compression of the interface where: 0
corresponds to no compression; 1 corresponds to conservative compression; and, anything
larger than 1, relates to enhanced compression of the interface. We generally recommend
a value of 1.0 which is employed in this example.

2.3.9

Running the code

Running of the code has been described in detail in previous tutorials. Try the following,
that uses tee, a command that enables output to be written to both standard output and
files:
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/multiphase/interFoam/laminar/damBreak
interFoam | tee log
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Tutorials

The code will now be run interactively, with a copy of output stored in the log file.

2.3.10

Post-processing

Post-processing of the results can now be done in the usual way. The user can monitor
the development of the phase fraction alpha.water in time, e.g. see Figure 2.22.

2.3.11

Running in parallel

The results from the previous example are generated using a fairly coarse mesh. We now
wish to increase the mesh resolution and re-run the case. The new case will typically
take a few hours to run with a single processor so, should the user have access to multiple
processors, we can demonstrate the parallel processing capability of OpenFOAM.
The user should first make a copy of the damBreak case, e.g. by
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/multiphase/interFoam/laminar
mkdir damBreakFine
cp -r damBreak/0 damBreakFine
cp -r damBreak/system damBreakFine
cp -r damBreak/constant damBreakFine
Enter the new case directory and change the blocks description in the blockMeshDict
dictionary to
blocks
(
hex
hex
hex
hex
hex
);

(0
(2
(4
(5
(6

1
3
5
6
7

5 4 12 13 17 16) (46 10 1) simpleGrading (1 1

7 6 14 15 19 18) (40 10 1) simpleGrading (1 1
9 8 16 17 21 20) (46 76 1) simpleGrading (1 2
10 9 17 18 22 21) (4 76 1) simpleGrading (1 2
11 10 18 19 23 22) (40 76 1) simpleGrading (1

1)
1)
1)
1)
2 1)

Here, the entry is presented as printed from the blockMeshDict file; in short the user must
change the mesh densities, e.g. the 46 10 1 entry, and some of the mesh grading entries
to 1 2 1. Once the dictionary is correct, generate the mesh.
As the mesh has now changed from the damBreak example, the user must re-initialise
the phase field alpha.water in the 0 time directory since it contains a number of elements
that is inconsistent with the new mesh. Note that there is no need to change the U and
p rgh fields since they are specified as uniform which is independent of the number of
elements in the field. We wish to initialise the field with a sharp interface, i.e. it elements
would have = 1 or = 0. Updating the field with mapFields may produce interpolated
values 0 < < 1 at the interface, so it is better to rerun the setFields utility. There is a
backup copy of the initial uniform field named 0/alpha.water.org that the user should
copy to 0/alpha.water before running setFields:
cd $FOAM RUN/tutorials/multiphase/interFoam/laminar/damBreakFine
cp -r 0/alpha.water.org 0/alpha.water
setFields
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2.3 Breaking of a dam

Phase fraction, 1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
(a) At t = 0.25 s.

Phase fraction, 1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
(b) At t = 0.50 s.

Figure 2.22: Snapshots of liquid phase .

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Tutorials

The method of parallel computing used by OpenFOAM is known as domain decomposition, in which the geometry and associated fields are broken into pieces and
allocated to separate processors for solution. The first step required to run a parallel
case is therefore to decompose the domain using the decomposePar utility. There is a
dictionary associated with decomposePar named decomposeParDict which is located in
the system directory of the tutorial case; also, like with many utilities, a default dictionary can be found in the directory of the source code of the specific utility, i.e. in
$FOAM UTILITIES/parallelProcessing/decomposePar for this case.
The first entry is numberOfSubdomains which specifies the number of subdomains into
which the case will be decomposed, usually corresponding to the number of processors
available for the case.
In this tutorial, the method of decomposition should be simple and the corresponding
simpleCoeffs should be edited according to the following criteria. The domain is split
into pieces, or subdomains, in the x, y and z directions, the number of subdomains in
each direction being given by the vector n. As this geometry is 2 dimensional, the 3rd
direction, z, cannot be split, hence nz must equal 1. The nx and ny components of n
split the domain in the x and y directions and must be specified so that the number
of subdomains specified by nx and ny equals the specified numberOfSubdomains, i.e.
nx ny = numberOfSubdomains. It is beneficial to keep the number of cell faces adjoining
the subdomains to a minimum so, for a square geometry, it is best to keep the split
between the x and y directions should be fairly even. The delta keyword should be set
to 0.001.
For example, let us assume we wish to run on 4 processors. We would set numberOfSubdomains to 4 and n = (2, 2, 1). When running decomposePar, we can see from the
screen messages that the decomposition is distributed fairly even between the processors.
The user should consult section 3.4 for details of how to run a case in parallel; in
this tutorial we merely present an example of running in parallel. We use the openMPI
implementation of the standard message-passing interface (MPI). As a test here, the user
can run in parallel on a single node, the local host only, by typing:
mpirun -np 4 interFoam -parallel > log &
The user may run on more nodes over a network by creating a file that lists the host
names of the machines on which the case is to be run as described in section 3.4.2. The
case should run in the background and the user can follow its progress by monitoring the
log file as usual.

2.3.12

Post-processing a case run in parallel

Once the case has completed running, the decomposed fields and mesh must be reassembled for post-processing using the reconstructPar utility. Simply execute it from the command line. The results from the fine mesh are shown in Figure 2.24. The user can see
that the resolution of interface has improved significantly compared to the coarse mesh.
The user may also post-process a segment of the decomposed domain individually by
simply treating the individual processor directory as a case in its own right. For example
if the user starts paraFoam by
paraFoam -case processor1
then processor1 will appear as a case module in ParaView. Figure 2.23 shows the mesh
from processor 1 following the decomposition of the domain using the simple method.
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2.3 Breaking of a dam

Figure 2.23: Mesh of processor 2 in parallel processed case.

Phase fraction, 1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
(a) At t = 0.25 s.

Phase fraction, 1
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
(b) At t = 0.50 s.

Figure 2.24: Snapshots of liquid phase with refined mesh.

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Tutorials

Chapter 3
Applications and libraries
We should reiterate from the outset that OpenFOAM is a C++ library used primarily to
create executables, known as applications. OpenFOAM is distributed with a large set of
precompiled applications but users also have the freedom to create their own or modify
existing ones. Applications are split into two main categories:
solvers that are each designed to solve a specific problem in computational continuum
mechanics;
utilities that perform simple pre-and post-processing tasks, mainly involving data manipulation and algebraic calculations.
OpenFOAM is divided into a set of precompiled libraries that are dynamically linked
during compilation of the solvers and utilities. Libraries such as those for physical models
are supplied as source code so that users may conveniently add their own models to the
libraries. This chapter gives an overview of solvers, utilities and libraries, their creation,
modification, compilation and execution.

3.1

The programming language of OpenFOAM

In order to understand the way in which the OpenFOAM library works, some background
knowledge of C++, the base language of OpenFOAM, is required; the necessary information will be presented in this chapter. Before doing so, it is worthwhile addressing the
concept of language in general terms to explain some of the ideas behind object-oriented
programming and our choice of C++ as the main programming language of OpenFOAM.

3.1.1

Language in general

The success of verbal language and mathematics is based on efficiency, especially in

expressing abstract concepts. For example, in fluid flow, we use the term velocity field,
which has meaning without any reference to the nature of the flow or any specific velocity
data. The term encapsulates the idea of movement with direction and magnitude and
relates to other physical properties. In mathematics, we can represent velocity field by
a single symbol, e.g. U, and express certain concepts using symbols, e.g. the field of
velocity magnitude by |U|. The advantage of mathematics over verbal language is its
greater efficiency, making it possible to express complex concepts with extreme clarity.
The problems that we wish to solve in continuum mechanics are not presented in
terms of intrinsic entities, or types, known to a computer, e.g. bits, bytes, integers. They
are usually presented first in verbal language, then as partial differential equations in 3

U-68

Applications and libraries

dimensions of space and time. The equations contain the following concepts: scalars,
vectors, tensors, and fields thereof; tensor algebra; tensor calculus; dimensional units.
The solution to these equations involves discretisation procedures, matrices, solvers, and
solution algorithms.

3.1.2

Object-orientation and C++

Programming languages that are object-oriented, such as C++, provide the mechanism
classes to declare types and associated operations that are part of the verbal and
mathematical languages used in science and engineering. Our velocity field introduced
earlier can be represented in programming code by the symbol U and the field of velocity
magnitude can be mag(U). The velocity is a vector field for which there should exist,
in an object-oriented code, a vectorField class. The velocity field U would then be an
instance, or object, of the vectorField class; hence the term object-oriented.
The clarity of having objects in programming that represent physical objects and
abstract entities should not be underestimated. The class structure concentrates code
development to contained regions of the code, i.e. the classes themselves, thereby making
the code easier to manage. New classes can be derived or inherit properties from other
classes, e.g. the vectorField can be derived from a vector class and a Field class. C++
provides the mechanism of template classes such that the template class Field<Type> can
represent a field of any <Type>, e.g.scalar, vector, tensor. The general features of the
template class are passed on to any class created from the template. Templating and
inheritance reduce duplication of code and create class hierarchies that impose an overall
structure on the code.

3.1.3

Equation representation

A central theme of the OpenFOAM design is that the solver applications, written using the
OpenFOAM classes, have a syntax that closely resembles the partial differential equations
being solved. For example the equation
U
+ U U = p
t
is represented by the code
solve
(
fvm::ddt(rho, U)
+ fvm::div(phi, U)
- fvm::laplacian(mu, U)
==
- fvc::grad(p)
);
This and other requirements demand that the principal programming language of OpenFOAM has object-oriented features such as inheritance, template classes, virtual functions
and operator overloading. These features are not available in many languages that purport to be object-orientated but actually have very limited object-orientated capability,
such as FORTRAN-90. C++, however, possesses all these features while having the additional advantage that it is widely used with a standard specification so that reliable
compilers are available that produce efficient executables. It is therefore the primary
language of OpenFOAM.
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3.2 Compiling applications and libraries

3.1.4

Solver codes

Solver codes are largely procedural since they are a close representation of solution algorithms and equations, which are themselves procedural in nature. Users do not need a
deep knowledge of object-orientation and C++ programming to write a solver but should
know the principles behind object-orientation and classes, and to have a basic knowledge
of some C++ code syntax. An understanding of the underlying equations, models and
solution method and algorithms is far more important.
There is often little need for a user to immerse themselves in the code of any of the
OpenFOAM classes. The essence of object-orientation is that the user should not have
to; merely the knowledge of the class existence and its functionality are sufficient to use
the class. A description of each class, its functions etc. is supplied with the OpenFOAM
distribution in HTML documentation generated with Doxygen at $WM PROJECT DIR/doc/Doxygen/html/index.html.

3.2

Compiling applications and libraries

Compilation is an integral part of application development that requires careful management since every piece of code requires its own set instructions to access dependent
components of the OpenFOAM library. In UNIX/Linux systems these instructions are often organised and delivered to the compiler using the standard UNIXmake utility. OpenFOAM, however, is supplied with the wmake compilation script that is based on make but
is considerably more versatile and easier to use; wmake can, in fact, be used on any code,
not simply the OpenFOAM library. To understand the compilation process, we first need
to explain certain aspects of C++ and its file structure, shown schematically in Figure 3.1.
A class is defined through a set of instructions such as object construction, data storage
and class member functions. The file containing the class definition takes a .C extension,
e.g. a class nc would be written in the file nc.C. This file can be compiled independently
of other code into a binary executable library file known as a shared object library with
the .so file extension, i.e.nc.so. When compiling a piece of code, say newApp.C, that uses
the nc class, nc.C need not be recompiled, rather newApp.C calls nc.so at runtime. This
is known as dynamic linking.
Main code
newApp.C
#include "nc.H"
int main()
{
...
...
return(0);
}

nc class
Header file
-I option

nc.H
Definition...

nc.C
#include "nc.H"
Code...

Compiled

Compiled

newApp
Executable

Linked
-l option

nc.so
Library

Figure 3.1: Header files, source files, compilation and linking

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3.2.1

Applications and libraries

Header .H files

As a means of checking errors, the piece of code being compiled must know that the classes
it uses and the operations they perform actually exist. Therefore each class requires a
class declaration, contained in a header file with a .H file extension, e.g.nc.H, that includes
the names of the class and its functions. This file is included at the beginning of any piece
of code using the class, including the class declaration code itself. Any piece of .C code
can resource any number of classes and must begin with all the .H files required to declare
these classes. The classes in turn can resource other classes and begin with the relevant
.H files. By searching recursively down the class hierarchy we can produce a complete list
of header files for all the classes on which the top level .C code ultimately depends; these
.H files are known as the dependencies. With a dependency list, a compiler can check
whether the source files have been updated since their last compilation and selectively
compile only those that need to be.
Header files are included in the code using # include statements, e.g.
# include "otherHeader.H";
causes the compiler to suspend reading from the current file to read the file specified.
Any self-contained piece of code can be put into a header file and included at the relevant location in the main code in order to improve code readability. For example, in
most OpenFOAM applications the code for creating fields and reading field input data is
included in a file createFields.H which is called at the beginning of the code. In this way,
header files are not solely used as class declarations. It is wmake that performs the task
of maintaining file dependency lists amongst other functions listed below.
Automatic generation and maintenance of file dependency lists, i.e. lists of files
which are included in the source files and hence on which they depend.
Multi-platform compilation and linkage, handled through appropriate directory
structure.
Multi-language compilation and linkage, e.g. C, C++, Java.
Multi-option compilation and linkage, e.g. debug, optimised, parallel and profiling.
Support for source code generation programs, e.g. lex, yacc, IDL, MOC.
Simple syntax for source file lists.
Automatic creation of source file lists for new codes.
Simple handling of multiple shared or static libraries.
Extensible to new machine types.
Extremely portable, works on any machine with: make; sh, ksh or csh; lex, cc.
Has been tested on Apollo, SUN, SGI, HP (HPUX), Compaq (DEC), IBM (AIX),
Cray, Ardent, Stardent, PC Linux, PPC Linux, NEC, SX4, Fujitsu VP1000.
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3.2 Compiling applications and libraries

3.2.2

Compiling with wmake

OpenFOAM applications are organised using a standard convention that the source code
of each application is placed in a directory whose name is that of the application. The
top level source file takes the application name with the .C extension. For example, the
source code for an application called newApp would reside is a directory newApp and the
top level file would be newApp.C as shown in Figure 3.2. The directory must also contain
newApp
newApp.C
otherHeader.H
Make
files
options
Figure 3.2: Directory structure for an application
a Make subdirectory containing 2 files, options and files, that are described in the following
sections.
3.2.2.1

Including headers

The compiler searches for the included header files in the following order, specified with
the -I option in wmake:
1. the $WM PROJECT DIR/src/OpenFOAM/lnInclude directory;
2. a local lnInclude directory, i.e.newApp/lnInclude;
3. the local directory, i.e.newApp;
4. platform dependent paths set in files in the $WM PROJECT DIR/wmake/rules/$WM ARCH/ directory, e.g./usr/X11/include and $(MPICH ARCH PATH)/include;
5. other directories specified explicitly in the Make/options file with the -I option.
The Make/options file contains the full directory paths to locate header files using the
syntax:
EXE INC = \
-I<directoryPath1> \
-I<directoryPath2> \
...
\
-I<directoryPathN>
Notice first that the directory names are preceeded by the -I flag and that the syntax
uses the \ to continue the EXE INC across several lines, with no \ after the final entry.
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3.2.2.2

Applications and libraries

Linking to libraries

The compiler links to shared object library files in the following directory paths, specified
with the -L option in wmake:
1. the $FOAM LIBBIN directory;
2. platform dependent paths set in files in the $WM DIR/rules/$WM ARCH/ directory,
e.g./usr/X11/lib and $(MPICH ARCH PATH)/lib;
3. other directories specified in the Make/options file.
The actual library files to be linked must be specified using the -l option and removing
the lib prefix and .so extension from the library file name, e.g.libnew.so is included with
the flag -lnew. By default, wmake loads the following libraries:
1. the libOpenFOAM.so library from the $FOAM LIBBIN directory;
2. platform dependent libraries specified in set in files in the $WM DIR/rules/$WM ARCH/
directory, e.g.libm.so from /usr/X11/lib and liblam.so from $(LAM ARCH PATH)/lib;
3. other libraries specified in the Make/options file.
The Make/options file contains the full directory paths and library names using the syntax:
EXE LIBS = \
-L<libraryPath1> \
-L<libraryPath2> \
...
\
-L<libraryPathN> \
-l<library1>
\
-l<library2>
\
...
\
-l<libraryN>
Let us reiterate that the directory paths are preceeded by the -L flag, the library names
are preceeded by the -l flag.
3.2.2.3

Source files to be compiled

The compiler requires a list of .C source files that must be compiled. The list must contain
the main .C file but also any other source files that are created for the specific application
but are not included in a class library. For example, users may create a new class or
some new functionality to an existing class for a particular application. The full list of
.C source files must be included in the Make/files file. As might be expected, for many
applications the list only includes the name of the main .C file, e.g.newApp.C in the case
of our earlier example.
The Make/files file also includes a full path and name of the compiled executable,
specified by the EXE = syntax. Standard convention stipulates the name is that of the application, i.e.newApp in our example. The OpenFOAM release offers two useful choices for
path: standard release applications are stored in $FOAM APPBIN; applications developed
by the user are stored in $FOAM USER APPBIN.
If the user is developing their own applications, we recommend they create an applications subdirectory in their $WM PROJECT USER DIR directory containing the source
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3.2 Compiling applications and libraries

code for personal OpenFOAM applications. As with standard applications, the source
code for each OpenFOAM application should be stored within its own directory. The
only difference between a user application and one from the standard release is that the
Make/files file should specify that the users executables are written into their $FOAM USER APPBIN directory. The Make/files file for our example would appear as follows:
newApp.C
EXE = $(FOAM_USER_APPBIN)/newApp
3.2.2.4

Running wmake

The wmake script is executed by typing:

wmake <optionalArguments> <optionalDirectory>

The <optionalDirectory> is the directory path of the application that is being compiled. Typically, wmake is executed from within the directory of the application being
compiled, in which case <optionalDirectory> can be omitted.
If a user wishes to build an application executable or dynamic library, then no <optionalArguments>
are required. However <optionalArguments> may be specified for building libraries etc.
as described in Table 3.1.
Argument
all
exe
lib
libo
libso
dep

Type of compilation
wmake all subdirectories, running Allwmake files if present
Compile statically linked executable
Compile statically linked archive lib (.a)
Compile statically linked lib (.o)
Compile dynamically linked lib (.so)
Compile lnInclude and dependencies only

Table 3.1: Optional compilation arguments to wmake.

3.2.2.5

wmake environment variables

For information, the environment variable settings used by wmake are listed in Table 3.2.

3.2.3

Removing dependency lists: wclean and rmdepall

On execution, wmake builds a dependency list file with a .dep file extension, e.g.newApp.dep
in our example, and a list of files in a Make/$WM OPTIONS directory. If the user wishes
to remove these files, perhaps after making code changes, the user can run the wclean
script by typing:
wclean <optionalArguments> <optionalDirectory>
Again, the <optionalDirectory> is a path to the directory of the application that is
being compiled. Typically, wclean is executed from within the directory of the application,
in which case the path can be omitted.
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Applications and libraries

Main paths
$WM PROJECT INST DIR
$WM PROJECT
$WM PROJECT
$WM PROJECT
$WM PROJECT

Full
path
to
installation
directory,
e.g.$HOME/OpenFOAM
Name of the project being compiled: OpenFOAM
VERSION Version of the project being compiled: v3.0+
DIR
Full path to locate binary executables of OpenFOAM
release, e.g.$HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-v3.0+
USER DIR Full path to locate binary executables of the user
e.g.$HOME/OpenFOAM/${USER}-v3.0+

Other paths/settings
$WM ARCH
$WM ARCH OPTION
$WM CC
$WM COMPILER
$WM
$WM
$WM
$WM
$WM

$WM

Machine architecture: Linux, SunOS

32 or 64 bit architecture
Compiler command, e.g.gcc, clang
Compiler tag being used, e.g.Gcc - gcc 4.5.x, Clang, ICC
- Intel
COMPILER LIB ARCH Compiler 32 or 64 bit architecture
COMPILE OPTION
Compilation option: Debug - debugging, Opt optimisation.
DIR
Full path of the wmake directory
MPLIB
Parallel communications library: OPENMPI, MPICH
OPTIONS
= $WM ARCH$WM COMPILER...
...$WM COMPILE OPTION$WM MPLIB
e.g.linux64ClangDPInt32Opt
PRECISION OPTION Precision of the compiled binaries, SP, single precision or
DP, double precision
Table 3.2: Environment variable settings for wmake.

If a user wishes to remove the dependency files and files from the Make directory, then
no <optionalArguments> are required. However if lib is specified in <optionalArguments>
a local lnInclude directory will be deleted also.
An additional script, rmdepall removes all dependency .dep files recursively down the
directory tree from the point at which it is executed. This can be useful when updating
OpenFOAM libraries.

3.2.4

Compilation example: the pisoFoam application

The source code for application pisoFoam is in the $FOAM APP/solvers/incompressible/pisoFoam

directory and the top level source file is named pisoFoam.C. The pisoFoam.C source code
is:
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/*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*\
=========
|
\\
/ F ield
| OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox
\\
/
O peration
|
\\ /
A nd
| Copyright (C) 2011-2015 OpenFOAM Foundation
\\/
M anipulation |
------------------------------------------------------------------------------License
This file is part of OpenFOAM.
OpenFOAM is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by

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3.2 Compiling applications and libraries

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the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or

(at your option) any later version.
OpenFOAM is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT
ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License
for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
along with OpenFOAM. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
Application
pisoFoam
Group
grpIncompressibleSolvers
Description
Transient solver for incompressible flow.
\heading Solver details
The solver uses the PISO algorithm to solve the continuity equation:
\f[
\f]

and momentum equation:

\f[

\ddt{\vec{U}} + \div \left( \vec{U} \vec{U} \right) - \div \gvec{R}

= - \grad p
\f]

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\div \vec{U} = 0

Where:
\vartable
\vec{U} | Velocity
p
| Pressure
\vec{R} | Stress tensor
\endvartable
Sub-models include:
- turbulence modelling, i.e. laminar, RAS or LES
- run-time selectable MRF and finite volume options, e.g. explicit porosity
\heading Required fields
\plaintable
U
| Velocity [m/s]
p
| Kinematic pressure, p/rho [m2/s2]
\<turbulence fields\> | As required by user selection
\endplaintable
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
#include
#include
#include
#include
#include

"fvCFD.H"
"singlePhaseTransportModel.H"
"turbulentTransportModel.H"
"pisoControl.H"
"fvOptions.H"

// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //
int main(int
{
#include
#include
#include

argc, char *argv[])

"setRootCase.H"
"createTime.H"
"createMesh.H"

pisoControl piso(mesh);
#include
#include
#include
#include

"createFields.H"
"createMRF.H"
"createFvOptions.H"
"initContinuityErrs.H"

turbulence->validate();
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //
Info<< "\nStarting time loop\n" << endl;
while (runTime.loop())
{
Info<< "Time = " << runTime.timeName() << nl << endl;

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Applications and libraries

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#include "CourantNo.H"
// Pressure-velocity PISO corrector
{
#include "UEqn.H"

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laminarTransport.correct();
turbulence->correct();

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// --- PISO loop

while (piso.correct())
{
#include "pEqn.H"
}

runTime.write();

Info<< "ExecutionTime = " << runTime.elapsedCpuTime() << " s"

<< " ClockTime = " << runTime.elapsedClockTime() << " s"
<< nl << endl;

Info<< "End\n" << endl;

}

return 0;

// ************************************************************************* //

The code begins with a brief description of the application contained within comments
over 1 line (//) and multiple lines (/*...*/). Following that, the code contains several
# include statements, e.g.# include "fvCFD.H", which causes the compiler to suspend
reading from the current file, pisoFoam.C to read the fvCFD.H.
pisoFoam resources the incompressibleRASModels, incompressibleLESModels and incompressibleTransportModels libraries and therefore requires the necessary header files, specified by the EXE INC = -I... option, and links to the libraries with the EXE LIBS =
-l... option. The Make/options therefore contains the following:
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EXE_INC = \
-I$(LIB_SRC)/TurbulenceModels/turbulenceModels/lnInclude \
-I$(LIB_SRC)/TurbulenceModels/incompressible/lnInclude \
-I$(LIB_SRC)/transportModels \
-I$(LIB_SRC)/transportModels/incompressible/singlePhaseTransportModel \
-I$(LIB_SRC)/finiteVolume/lnInclude \
-I$(LIB_SRC)/meshTools/lnInclude \
-I$(LIB_SRC)/sampling/lnInclude
EXE_LIBS = \
-lturbulenceModels \
-lincompressibleTurbulenceModels \
-lincompressibleTransportModels \
-lfiniteVolume \
-lmeshTools \
-lfvOptions \
-lsampling

pisoFoam contains only the pisoFoam.C source and the executable is written to the $FOAM APPBIN
directory as all standard applications are. The Make/files therefore contains:
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pisoFoam.C
EXE = $(FOAM_APPBIN)/pisoFoam

The user can compile pisoFoam by going to the $FOAM SOLVERS/incompressible/pisoFoam

directory and typing:
wmake
The code should compile and produce a message similar to the following
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-77

3.2 Compiling applications and libraries

.../OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-v3.0+/applications/solvers/incompressible/pisoFoam
Making dependency list for source file pisoFoam.C
clang++ -m64 -D<options> -W<options> -I<options> -c pisoFoam.C
-o .../platforms/linux64/applications/solvers/incompressible/pisoFoam/pisoFoam.o
clang++ -m64 -D<options> -W<options> -I<options>
.../platforms/linux64/applications/solvers/incompressible/pisoFoam/pisoFoam.o
-L<library-paths> -l<libraries>
-o .../platforms/linux64/bin/pisoFoam

The user can now try recompiling and will receive a message similar to the following to
say that the executable is up to date and compiling is not necessary:
.../OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-v3.0+/applications/solvers/incompressible/pisoFoam
make: '.../platforms/linux64/bin/pisoFoam' is up to date.

The user can compile the application from scratch by removing the dependency list with
wclean
and running wmake.

3.2.5

Debug messaging and optimisation switches

OpenFOAM provides a system of messaging that is written during runtime, most of

which are to help debugging problems encountered during running of a OpenFOAM
case. The switches are listed in the $WM PROJECT DIR/etc/controlDict file; should the
user wish to change the settings they should make a copy to their $HOME directory,
i.e.$HOME/.OpenFOAM/v3.0+/controlDict file. The list of possible switches is extensive
and can be viewed by running the foamDebugSwitches application. Most of the switches
correspond to a class or range of functionality and can be switched on by their inclusion
in the controlDict file, and by being set to 1. For example, OpenFOAM can perform the
checking of dimensional units in all calculations by setting the dimensionSet switch to
1. There are some switches that control messaging at a higher level than most, listed in
Table 3.3.
In addition, there are some switches that control certain operational and optimisation issues. These switches are also listed in Table 3.3. Of particular importance is
fileModificationSkew. OpenFOAM scans the write time of data files to check for modification. When running over a NFS with some disparity in the clock settings on different
machines, field data files appear to be modified ahead of time. This can cause a problem
if OpenFOAM views the files as newly modified and attempting to re-read this data. The
fileModificationSkew keyword is the time in seconds that OpenFOAM will subtract
from the file write time when assessing whether the file has been newly modified.

3.2.6

Linking new user-defined libraries to existing applications

The situation may arise that a user creates a new library, say new, and wishes the features
within that library to be available across a range of applications. For example, the
user may create a new boundary condition, compiled into new, that would need to be
recognised by a range of solver applications, pre- and post-processing utilities, mesh tools,
etc. Under normal circumstances, the user would need to recompile every application with
the new linked to it.
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U-78

Applications and libraries

High level debugging switches - sub-dictionary DebugSwitches

level
Overall level of debugging messaging for OpenFOAM- - 3 levels 0,
1, 2
lduMatrix
Messaging for solver convergence during a run - 3 levels 0, 1, 2
Optimisation switches - sub-dictionary OptimisationSwitches
fileModificA time in seconds that should be set higher than the maximum
ationSkew
delay in NFS updates and clock difference for running OpenFOAM
over a NFS.
fileModificMethod of checking whether files have been modified during a
ationChecking simulation, either reading the timeStamp or using inotify; versions that read only master-node data exist, timeStampMaster,
inotifyMaster.
commsType
Parallel communications type:
nonBlocking, scheduled,
blocking.
floatTransfer If 1, will compact numbers to float precision before transfer; default is 0
nProcsSimpleSum Optimises global sum for parallel processing; sets number of processors above which hierarchical sum is performed rather than a
linear sum (default 16)
Table 3.3: Runtime message switches.

Instead there is a simple mechanism to link one or more shared object libraries dynamically at run-time in OpenFOAM. Simply add the optional keyword entry libs to
the controlDict file for a case and enter the full names of the libraries within a list (as
quoted string entries). For example, if a user wished to link the libraries new1 and new2
at run-time, they would simply need to add the following to the case controlDict file:
libs
(
"libnew1.so"
"libnew2.so"
);

3.3

Running applications

Each application is designed to be executed from a terminal command line, typically

reading and writing a set of data files associated with a particular case. The data files
for a case are stored in a directory named after the case as described in section 4.1; the
directory name with full path is here given the generic name <caseDir>.
For any application, the form of the command line entry for any can be found by
simply entering the application name at the command line with the -help option, e.g.
typing
blockMesh -help
returns the usage
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3.4 Running applications in parallel

Usage: blockMesh [OPTIONS]

options:
-blockTopology
write block edges and centres as .obj files
-case <dir>
specify alternate case directory, default is the cwd
-dict <file>
specify alternative dictionary for the blockMesh description
-noFunctionObjects
do not execute functionObjects
-region <name>
specify alternative mesh region
-srcDoc
display source code in browser
-doc
display application documentation in browser
-help
print the usage
The arguments in square brackets, [ ], are optional flags. If the application is executed from within a case directory, it will operate on that case. Alternatively, the -case
<caseDir> option allows the case to be specified directly so that the application can be
executed from anywhere in the filing system.
Like any UNIX/Linux executable, applications can be run as a background process,
i.e. one which does not have to be completed before the user can give the shell additional
commands. If the user wished to run the blockMesh example as a background process
and output the case progress to a log file, they could enter:
blockMesh > log &

3.4

Running applications in parallel

This section describes how to run OpenFOAM in parallel on distributed processors. The
method of parallel computing used by OpenFOAM is known as domain decomposition, in
which the geometry and associated fields are broken into pieces and allocated to separate
processors for solution. The process of parallel computation involves: decomposition of
mesh and fields; running the application in parallel; and, post-processing the decomposed
case as described in the following sections. The parallel running uses the public domain
openMPI implementation of the standard message passing interface (MPI).

3.4.1

Decomposition of mesh and initial field data

The mesh and fields are decomposed using the decomposePar utility. The underlying
aim is to break up the domain with minimal effort but in such a way to guarantee a
fairly economic solution. The geometry and fields are broken up according to a set of
parameters specified in a dictionary named decomposeParDict that must be located in
the system directory of the case of interest. An example decomposeParDict dictionary can
be copied from the interFoam/damBreak tutorial if the user requires one; the dictionary
entries within it are reproduced below:
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numberOfSubdomains 4;
method
simpleCoeffs
{
n
delta
}

simple;

(2 2 1);
0.001;

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U-80
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Applications and libraries

hierarchicalCoeffs
{
n
delta
order
}

(1 1 1);
0.001;
xyz;

manualCoeffs
{
dataFile
}

"";

distributed

no;

roots

( );

// ************************************************************************* //

The user has a choice of four methods of decomposition, specified by the method keyword
as described below.
simple Simple geometric decomposition in which the domain is split into pieces by direction, e.g. 2 pieces in the x direction, 1 in y etc.
hierarchical Hierarchical geometric decomposition which is the same as simple except
the user specifies the order in which the directional split is done, e.g. first in the
y-direction, then the x-direction etc.
scotch Scotch decomposition which requires no geometric input from the user and attempts to minimise the number of processor boundaries. The user can specify a
weighting for the decomposition between processors, through an optional processorWeights keyword which can be useful on machines with differing performance
between processors. There is also an optional keyword entry strategy that controls the decomposition strategy through a complex string supplied to Scotch. For
more information, see the source code file: $FOAM SRC/decompositionMethods/decompositionMethods/scotchDecomp/scotchDecomp.C
manual Manual decomposition, where the user directly specifies the allocation of each
cell to a particular processor.
For each method there are a set of coefficients specified in a sub-dictionary of decompositionDict, named <method>Coeffs as shown in the dictionary listing. The full set of
keyword entries in the decomposeParDict dictionary are explained in Table 3.4.
The decomposePar utility is executed in the normal manner by typing
decomposePar
On completion, a set of subdirectories will have been created, one for each processor, in
the case directory. The directories are named processorN where N = 0, 1, . . . represents a
processor number and contains a time directory, containing the decomposed field descriptions, and a constant/polyMesh directory containing the decomposed mesh description.

3.4.2

Running a decomposed case

A decomposed OpenFOAM case is run in parallel using the openMPI implementation of

MPI.
openMPI can be run on a local multiprocessor machine very simply but when running on machines across a network, a file must be created that contains the host names
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3.4 Running applications in parallel

Compulsory entries
numberOfSubdomains Total number of subdomains
method
Method of decomposition

simpleCoeffs entries
n
Number of subdomains in x, y, z
delta
Cell skew factor
hierarchicalCoeffs
n
delta
order

entries
Number of subdomains in x, y, z
Cell skew factor
Order of decomposition

N
simple/
hierarchical/
scotch/
metis/
manual/

(nx ny nz )
Typically, 103

(nx ny nz )
Typically, 103
xyz/xzy/yxz. . .

scotchCoeffs entries
processorWeights
List of weighting factors for allocation (<wt1>...<wtN>)
(optional)
of cells to processors; <wt1> is the
weighting factor for processor 1, etc.;
weights are normalised so can take any
range of values.
strategy
Decomposition strategy (optional); defaults to "b"
manualCoeffs entries
dataFile
Name of file containing data of allocation of cells to processors

"<fileName>"

Distributed data entries (optional) see section 3.4.3

distributed
Is the data distributed across several yes/no
disks?
roots
Root paths to case directories; <rt1> (<rt1>...<rtN>)
is the root path for node 1, etc.
Table 3.4: Keywords in decompositionDict dictionary.

of the machines. The file can be given any name and located at any path. In the following description we shall refer to such a file by the generic name, including full path,
<machines>.
The <machines> file contains the names of the machines listed one machine per line.
The names must correspond to a fully resolved hostname in the /etc/hosts file of the
machine on which the openMPI is run. The list must contain the name of the machine
running the openMPI. Where a machine node contains more than one processor, the node
name may be followed by the entry cpu=n where n is the number of processors openMPI
should run on that node.
For example, let us imagine a user wishes to run openMPI from machine aaa on the
following machines: aaa; bbb, which has 2 processors; and ccc. The <machines> would
contain:
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Applications and libraries

aaa
bbb cpu=2
ccc
An application is run in parallel using mpirun.
mpirun --hostfile <machines> -np <nProcs>
<foamExec> <otherArgs> -parallel > log &
where: <nProcs> is the number of processors; <foamExec> is the executable, e.g.icoFoam;
and, the output is redirected to a file named log. For example, if icoFoam is run on 4
nodes, specified in a file named machines, on the cavity tutorial in the $FOAM RUN/tutorials/incompressible/icoFoam directory, then the following command should be executed:
mpirun --hostfile machines -np 4 icoFoam -parallel > log &

3.4.3

Distributing data across several disks

Data files may need to be distributed if, for example, if only local disks are used in
order to improve performance. In this case, the user may find that the root path to the
case directory may differ between machines. The paths must then be specified in the
decomposeParDict dictionary using distributed and roots keywords. The distributed
entry should read
distributed

yes;

and the roots entry is a list of root paths, <root0>, <root1>, . . . , for each node
roots
<nRoots>
(
"<root0>"
"<root1>"
...
);
where <nRoots> is the number of roots.
Each of the processorN directories should be placed in the case directory at each of
the root paths specified in the decomposeParDict dictionary. The system directory and
files within the constant directory must also be present in each case directory. Note: the
files in the constant directory are needed, but the polyMesh directory is not.

3.4.4

Post-processing parallel processed cases

When post-processing cases that have been run in parallel the user has two options:
reconstruction of the mesh and field data to recreate the complete domain and fields,
which can be post-processed as normal;
post-processing each segment of decomposed domain individually.
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3.5 Standard solvers

3.4.4.1

Reconstructing mesh and data

After a case has been run in parallel, it can be reconstructed for post-processing. The case
is reconstructed by merging the sets of time directories from each processorN directory into
a single set of time directories. The reconstructPar utility performs such a reconstruction
by executing the command:
reconstructPar
When the data is distributed across several disks, it must be first copied to the local case
directory for reconstruction.
3.4.4.2

Post-processing decomposed cases

The user may post-process decomposed cases using the paraFoam post-processor, described in section 6.1. The whole simulation can be post-processed by reconstructing the
case or alternatively it is possible to post-process a segment of the decomposed domain
individually by simply treating the individual processor directory as a case in its own
right.

3.5

Standard solvers

The solvers with the OpenFOAM distribution are in the $FOAM SOLVERS directory,
reached quickly by typing app at the command line. This directory is further subdivided
into several directories by category of continuum mechanics, e.g. incompressible flow,
combustion and solid body stress analysis. Each solver is given a name that is reasonably
descriptive, e.g.icoFoam solves incompressible, laminar flow. The current list of solvers
distributed with OpenFOAM is given in Table 3.5.
Basic CFD codes
laplacianFoam

Laplace equation solver for a scalar quantity

potentialFoam

Potential flow solver

scalarTransportFoam

Passive scalar transport equation solver

Incompressible flow
adjointShapeSteady-state solver for incompressible, turbulent flow of nonOptimizationFoam
Newtonian fluids with optimisation of duct shape by applying
blockage in regions causing pressure loss as estimated using
an adjoint formulation
boundaryFoam

Steady-state solver for incompressible, 1D turbulent flow, typically to generate boundary layer conditions at an inlet

icoFoam

Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of Newtonian

fluids
Continued on next page
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Applications and libraries

Continued from previous page

nonNewtonianIcoFoam

Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of nonNewtonian fluids

pimpleFoam

Large time-step transient solver for incompressible, flow using

the PIMPLE (merged PISO-SIMPLE) algorithm

pimpleDyMFoam

Transient solver for incompressible, flow of Newtonian fluids on a moving mesh using the PIMPLE (merged PISOSIMPLE) algorithm

SRFPimpleFoam

Large time-step transient solver for incompressible, flow in

a single rotating frame using the PIMPLE (merged PISOSIMPLE) algorithm

pisoFoam

Transient solver for incompressible flow

shallowWaterFoam

Transient solver for inviscid shallow-water equations with rotation

simpleFoam

Steady-state solver for incompressible flows with turbulence

modelling

porousSimpleFoam

Steady-state solver for incompressible, turbulent flow with implicit or explicit porosity treatment and support for multiple
reference frames (MRF)

SRFSimpleFoam

Steady-state solver for incompressible, turbulent flow of nonNewtonian fluids in a single rotating frame

Compressible flow
rhoCentralFoam

Density-based compressible flow solver based on centralupwind schemes of Kurganov and Tadmor

rhoCentralDyMFoam

Density-based compressible flow solver based on centralupwind schemes of Kurganov and Tadmor with support for
mesh-motion and topology changes

rhoPimpleFoam

Transient solver for laminar or turbulent flow of compressible

fluids for HVAC and similar applications

rhoPimpleDyMFoam

Transient solver for laminar or turbulent flow of compressible

fluids for HVAC and similar applications

rhoSimpleFoam

Steady-state SIMPLE solver for laminar or turbulent RANS

flow of compressible fluids
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rhoPorousSimpleFoam

Steady-state solver for turbulent flow of compressible fluids

with RANS turbulence modelling, implicit or explicit porosity
treatment and run-time selectable finite volume sources

sonicFoam

Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar or turbulent flow of a compressible gas

sonicDyMFoam

Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar or turbulent flow of a compressible gas with mesh motion

sonicLiquidFoam

Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar flow of a

compressible liquid

Multiphase flow
cavitatingFoam

Transient cavitation code based on the homogeneous equilibrium model from which the compressibility of the liquid/vapour mixture is obtained

cavitatingDyMFoam

Transient cavitation code based on the homogeneous equilibrium model from which the compressibility of the liquid/vapour mixture is obtained

compressibleInterFoam

Solver for 2 compressible, non-isothermal immiscible fluids

using a VOF (volume of fluid) phase-fraction based interface
capturing approach

compressibleInterDyMFoam

Solver for 2 compressible, non-isothermal immiscible fluids using a VOF (volume of fluid) phase-fraction based interface
capturing approach, with optional mesh motion and mesh
topology changes including adaptive re-meshing

compressibleMultiphaseInterFoam

Solver for n compressible, non-isothermal immiscible fluids

using a VOF (volume of fluid) phase-fraction based interface
capturing approach

driftFluxFoam

Solver for 2 incompressible fluids using the mixture approach

with the drift-flux approximation for relative motion of the
phases

interFoam

Solver for 2 incompressible, isothermal immiscible fluids using a VOF (volume of fluid) phase-fraction based interface
capturing approach

interDyMFoam

Solver for 2 incompressible, isothermal immiscible fluids using

a VOF (volume of fluid) phase-fraction based interface capturing approach, with optional mesh motion and mesh topology
changes including adaptive re-meshing
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interMixingFoam

Solver for 3 incompressible fluids, two of which are miscible,

using a VOF method to capture the interface

interPhaseChangeFoam

Solver for 2 incompressible, isothermal immiscible fluids with

phase-change (e.g. cavitation). Uses a VOF (volume of fluid)
phase-fraction based interface capturing approach

interPhaseChangeDyMFoam

Solver for 2 incompressible, isothermal immiscible fluids with

phase-change (e.g. cavitation). Uses a VOF (volume of fluid)
phase-fraction based interface capturing approach, with optional mesh motion and mesh topology changes including
adaptive re-meshing

multiphaseEulerFoam

Solver for a system of many compressible fluid phases including heat-transfer

multiphaseInterFoam

Solver for n incompressible fluids which captures the interfaces

and includes surface-tension and contact-angle effects for each
phase

multiphaseInterDyMFoam

Solver for n incompressible fluids which captures the interfaces

and includes surface-tension and contact-angle effects for each
phase

potentialFreeSurfaceFoam

Incompressible Navier-Stokes solver with inclusion of a wave

height field to enable single-phase free-surface approximations

potentialFreeSurfaceDyMFoam

Incompressible Navier-Stokes solver with inclusion of a wave

height field to enable single-phase free-surface approximations

reactingMultiphaseEulerFoam

Solver for a system of any number of compressible fluid phases

with a common pressure, but otherwise separate properties.
The type of phase model is run time selectable and can optionally represent multiple species and in-phase reactions. The
phase system is also run time selectable and can optionally
represent different types of momentun, heat and mass transfer

reactingTwoPhaseEulerFoam

Solver for a system of 2 compressible fluid phases with a common pressure, but otherwise separate properties. The type of
phase model is run time selectable and can optionally represent multiple species and in-phase reactions. The phase system is also run time selectable and can optionally represent
different types of momentun, heat and mass transfer

twoLiquidMixingFoam

Solver for mixing 2 incompressible fluids

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twoPhaseEulerFoam

Solver for a system of 2 compressible fluid phases with one

phase dispersed, e.g. gas bubbles in a liquid including heattransfer

Direct numerical simulation (DNS)

dnsFoam
Direct numerical simulation solver for boxes of isotropic turbulence

Combustion
chemFoam

Solver for chemistry problems designed for use on single cell

cases to provide comparison against other chemistry solvers

coldEngineFoam

Solver for cold-flow in internal combustion engines

engineFoam

Solver for internal combustion engines

fireFoam

Transient PIMPLE solver for fires and turbulent diffusion

flames with reacting Lagrangian parcels, surface film and pyrolysis modelling

PDRFoam

Solver for compressible premixed/partially-premixed combustion with turbulence modelling

reactingFoam

Solver for combustion with chemical reactions

rhoReactingBuoyantFoam

Solver for combustion with chemical reactions using density

based thermodynamics package, using enahanced buoyancy
treatment

rhoReactingFoam

Solver for combustion with chemical reactions using density

based thermodynamics package

XiFoam

Solver for compressible premixed/partially-premixed combustion with turbulence modelling

XiDyMFoam

Solver for compressible premixed/partially-premixed combustion with turbulence modelling

Heat transfer and buoyancy-driven flows

buoyantBoussinesqTransient solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of incompressible
PimpleFoam
fluids
buoyantBoussinesqSimpleFoam

Steady-state solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of incompressible fluids

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buoyantPimpleFoam

Transient solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible

fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer

buoyantSimpleFoam

Steady-state solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible

fluids, including radiation, for ventilation and heat-transfer

chtMultiRegionFoam

Combination of heatConductionFoam and buoyantFoam for

conjugate heat transfer between solid regions and fluid regions

chtMultiRegionSimpleFoam

Steady-state version of chtMultiRegionFoam

thermoFoam

Evolves the thermodynamics on a frozen flow field

Particle-tracking flows
coalChemistryFoam
Transient PIMPLE solver for compressible, laminar or turbulent flow with coal and thermodynamic parcels, and combustion
DPMFoam

Transient solver for the coupled transport of a single kinematic

particle cloud including the effect of the volume fraction of
particles on the continuous phase

MPPICFoam

Transient solver for the coupled transport of a single kinematic

particle cloud including the effect of the volume fraction of
particles on the continuous phase. Multi-Phase Particle In
Cell (MPPIC) modeling is used to represent collisions without
resolving particle-particle interactions

icoUncoupledKinematicParcelFoam

Transient solver for the passive transport of a single kinematic

particle cloud

icoUncoupledKinematicParcelDyMFoam

Transient solver for the passive transport of a single kinematic

particle cloud

reactingParcelFilmFoam

Transient PIMPLE solver for compressible, laminar or turbulent flow with reacting Lagrangian parcels, and surface film
modelling

reactingParcelFoam

Transient PIMPLE solver for compressible, laminar or turbulent flow with reacting multiphase Lagrangian parcels

simpleReactingParcelFoam

Steady state SIMPLE solver for compressible, laminar or turbulent flow with reacting multiphase Lagrangian parcels, including run-time selectable finite volume options, e.g. sources,
constraints
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simpleCoalParcelFoam

Steady state SIMPLE solver for laminar or turbulent flow with

coal Lagrangian parcels

sprayFoam

Transient PIMPLE solver for compressible, laminar or turbulent flow with spray parcels

sprayDyMFoam

Transient PIMPLE solver for compressible, laminar or turbulent flow with spray parcels and support for moving meshes

sprayEngineFoam

Transient PIMPLE solver for compressible, laminar or turbulent engine flow swith spray parcels

uncoupledKinematicParcelFoam

Transient solver for the passive transport of a single kinematic

particle cloud

Molecular dynamics methods

mdEquilibrationFoam
Equilibrates and/or preconditions molecular dynamics systems
mdFoam

Molecular dynamics solver for fluid dynamics

Direct simulation Monte Carlo methods

dsmcFoam
Direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) solver for 3D, transient, multi- species flows

Electromagnetics
electrostaticFoam

Solver for electrostatics

magneticFoam

Solver for the magnetic field generated by permanent magnets

mhdFoam

Solver for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD): incompressible,

laminar flow of a conducting fluid under the influence of a
magnetic field

Stress analysis of solids

solidDisplacementTransient segregated finite-volume solver of linear-elastic,
Foam
small-strain deformation of a solid body, with optional thermal diffusion and thermal stresses
solidEquilibriumDisplacementFoam

Steady-state segregated finite-volume solver of linear-elastic,

small-strain deformation of a solid body, with optional thermal diffusion and thermal stresses

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Finance
financialFoam

Solves the Black-Scholes equation to price commodities

Table 3.5: Standard library solvers.

3.6

Standard utilities

The utilities with the OpenFOAM distribution are in the $FOAM UTILITIES directory,
reached quickly by typing util at the command line. Again the names are reasonably
descriptive, e.g.ideasToFoam converts mesh data from the format written by I-DEAS to
the OpenFOAM format. The current list of utilities distributed with OpenFOAM is given
in Table 3.6.
Pre-processing
applyBoundaryLayer

Apply a simplified boundary-layer model to the velocity and

turbulence fields based on the 1/7th power-law

boxTurb

Makes a box of turbulence which conforms to a given energy

spectrum and is divergence free

changeDictionary

Utility to change dictionary entries, e.g. can be used to change

the patch type in the field and polyMesh/boundary files

createExternalCoupledPatchGeometry

Application to generate the patch geometry (points and faces)

for use with the externalCoupled functionObject

createZeroDirectory

Creates a zero directory with fields appropriate for the chosen

solver and turbulence model. Operates on both single and
multi-region cases

dsmcInitialise

Initialise a case for dsmcFoam by reading the initialisation

dictionary system/dsmcInitialise

engineSwirl

Generates a swirling flow for engine calulations

faceAgglomerate

Agglomerate boundary
Agglomeration algorithm

foamUpgradeCyclics

Tool to upgrade mesh and fields for split cyclics

mapFields

Maps volume fields from one mesh to another, reading and

interpolating all fields present in the time directory of both
cases

faces

using

the

pairPatch-

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mapFieldsPar

Maps volume fields from one mesh to another, reading and

interpolating all fields present in the time directory of both
cases

mdInitialise

Initialises fields for a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation

setFields

Set values on a selected set of cells/patchfaces through a dictionary

viewFactorsGen

View factors are calculated based on a face agglomeration

array (finalAgglom generated by faceAgglomerate utility)

wallFunctionTable

Generates a table suitable for use by tabulated wall functions

Mesh generation
blockMesh

A multi-block mesh generator

extrude2DMesh

Takes 2D mesh (all faces 2 points only, no front and back

faces) and creates a 3D mesh by extruding with specified
thickness

foamyHexMesh

Conformal Voronoi automatic mesh generator

foamyHexMeshBackgroundMesh

Writes out background mesh as constructed by foamyHexMesh and constructs distanceSurface

foamyHexMeshSurfaceSimplify

Simplifies surfaces by resampling

foamyQuadMesh

Conformal-Voronoi 2D extruding automatic mesher with grid

or read initial points and point position relaxation with optional squarification

snappyHexMesh

Automatic split hex mesher. Refines and snaps to surface

Mesh conversion
ansysToFoam

Converts an ANSYS input mesh file, exported from I-DEAS,

to OpenFOAM format

cfx4ToFoam

Converts a CFX 4 mesh to OpenFOAM format

datToFoam

Reads in a datToFoam mesh file and outputs a points file.

Used in conjunction with blockMesh

fluent3DMeshToFoam

Converts a Fluent mesh to OpenFOAM format

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fluentMeshToFoam

Converts a Fluent mesh to OpenFOAM format including multiple region and region boundary handling

foamMeshToFluent

Writes out the OpenFOAM mesh in Fluent mesh format

foamToStarMesh

Reads an OpenFOAM mesh and writes a PROSTAR (v4)

bnd/cel/vrt format

foamToSurface

Reads an OpenFOAM mesh and writes the boundaries in a

surface format

gambitToFoam

Converts a GAMBIT mesh to OpenFOAM format

gmshToFoam

Reads .msh file as written by Gmsh

ideasUnvToFoam

I-Deas unv format mesh conversion

kivaToFoam

Converts a KIVA grid to OpenFOAM format

mshToFoam

Converts .msh file generated by the Adventure system

netgenNeutralToFoam

Converts neutral file format as written by Netgen v4.4

ccm26ToFoam

Reads CCM files as written by Prostar/ccm using ccm 2.6

(not 2.4)

plot3dToFoam

Plot3d mesh (ascii/formatted format) converter

sammToFoam

Converts a STAR-CD (v3) SAMM mesh to OpenFOAM format

star3ToFoam

Converts a STAR-CD (v3) PROSTAR mesh into OpenFOAM

format

star4ToFoam

Converts a STAR-CD (v4) PROSTAR mesh into OpenFOAM

format

tetgenToFoam

Converts .ele and .node and .face files, written by tetgen

vtkUnstructuredToFoam

Converts ascii .vtk (legacy format) file generated by

vtk/paraview

writeMeshObj

For mesh debugging: writes mesh as three separate OBJ files

which can be viewed with e.g. javaview

Mesh manipulation
attachMesh
Attach topologically detached mesh using prescribed mesh
modifiers
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autoPatch

Divides external faces into patches based on (user supplied)

feature angle

checkMesh

Checks validity of a mesh

createBaffles

Makes internal faces into boundary faces. Does not duplicate

points, unlike mergeOrSplitBaffles

createPatch

Utility to create patches out of selected boundary faces. Faces

come either from existing patches or from a faceSet

deformedGeom

Deforms a polyMesh using a displacement field U and a scaling

factor supplied as an argument

flattenMesh

Flattens the front and back planes of a 2D cartesian mesh

insideCells

Picks up cells with cell centre inside of surface. Requires

surface to be closed and singly connected

mergeMeshes

Merges two meshes

mergeOrSplitBaffles

Detects faces that share points (baffles). Either merge them

or duplicate the points

mirrorMesh

Mirrors a mesh around a given plane

moveDynamicMesh

Mesh motion and topological mesh changes utility

moveEngineMesh

Solver for moving meshes for engine calculations

moveMesh

Solver for moving meshes

objToVTK

Read obj line (not surface!) file and convert into vtk

orientFaceZone

Corrects orientation of faceZone

polyDualMesh

Calculates the dual of a polyMesh. Adheres to all the feature

and patch edges

refineMesh

Utility to refine cells in multiple directions

renumberMesh

Renumbers the cell list in order to reduce the bandwidth,

reading and renumbering all fields from all the time directories

rotateMesh

Rotates the mesh and fields from the direction n1 to direction

n2

setSet

Manipulate a cell/face/point/ set or zone interactively

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setsToZones

Add pointZones/faceZones/cellZones to the mesh from similar

named pointSets/faceSets/cellSets

singleCellMesh

Reads all fields and maps them to a mesh with all internal
faces removed (singleCellFvMesh) which gets written to region singleCell

splitMesh

Splits mesh by making internal faces external. Uses attachDetach

splitMeshRegions

Splits mesh into multiple regions

stitchMesh

Stitches a mesh

subsetMesh

Selects a section of mesh based on a cellSet

topoSet

Operates on cellSets/faceSets/pointSets through a dictionary

transformPoints

Transforms the mesh points in the polyMesh directory according to the translate, rotate and scale options

zipUpMesh

Reads in a mesh with hanging vertices and zips up the cells

to guarantee that all polyhedral cells of valid shape are closed

Other mesh tools

autoRefineMesh

Utility to refine cells near to a surface

collapseEdges

Collapses short edges and combines edges that are in line

combinePatchFaces

Checks for multiple patch faces on same cell and combines

them. Multiple patch faces can result from e.g. removal of
refined neighbouring cells, leaving 4 exposed faces with same
owner

modifyMesh

Manipulates mesh elements

PDRMesh

Mesh and field preparation utility for PDR type simulations

refineHexMesh

Refines a hex mesh by 2x2x2 cell splitting

refinementLevel

Tries to figure out what the refinement level is on refined

cartesian meshes. Run before snapping

refineWallLayer

Utility to refine cells next to patches

removeFaces

Utility to remove faces (combines cells on both sides)

selectCells

Select cells in relation to surface

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splitCells

Utility to split cells with flat faces

Post-processing
foamCalc

Generic wrapper for calculating a quantity at each time

noise

Utility to perform noise analysis of pressure data using the

noiseFFT library

Post-processing graphics
ensightFoamReader
EnSight reader module
PV3FoamReader

ParaView 3 reader module

PV4blockMeshReader

ParaView 4 blockMesh reader module

PV4FoamReader

ParaView 4 reader module

Post-processing data converters

foamDataToFluent
Translates OpenFOAM data to Fluent format
foamToEnsight

Translates OpenFOAM data to EnSight format

foamToEnsightParts

Translates OpenFOAM data to Ensight format. An Ensight

part is created for each cellZone and patch

foamToGMV

Translates foam output to GMV readable files

foamToTecplot360

Tecplot binary file format writer

foamToTetDualMesh

Converts polyMesh results to tetDualMesh

foamToVTK

Legacy VTK file format writer

smapToFoam

Translates a STAR-CD SMAP data file into OpenFOAM field

format

Post-processing velocity fields

Co
Configurable graph drawing program
enstrophy

Calculates and writes the enstrophy of the velocity field U

flowType

Calculates and writes the flowType of velocity field U

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Lambda2

Calculates and writes the second largest eigenvalue of the sum

of the square of the symmetrical and anti-symmetrical parts
of the velocity gradient tensor

Mach

Calculates and optionally writes the local Mach number from

the velocity field U at each time

Pe

Calculates the Peclet number Pe from the flux phi and writes
the maximum value, the surfaceScalarField Pef and volScalarField Pe

Calculates and writes the second invariant of the velocity gradient tensor

streamFunction

Calculates and writes the stream function of velocity field U

at each time

uprime

Calculates and writes the scalar field of uprime (

vorticity

Calculates and writes the vorticity of velocity field U

p
2k/3)

Post-processing stress fields

stressComponents
Calculates and writes the scalar fields of the six components
of the stress tensor sigma for each time

Post-processing scalar fields

pPrime2
Calculates and writes the scalar field of pPrime2 ([p p]2 ) at
each time

Post-processing at walls
wallGradU
Calculates and writes the gradient of U at the wall
wallHeatFlux

Calculates and writes the heat flux for all patches as the
boundary field of a volScalarField and also prints the integrated flux for all wall patches

wallShearStress

Calculates and reports wall shear stress for all patches, for the
specified times when using RAS turbulence models

yPlus

Calculates and reports yPlus for the near-wall cells of all wall
patches, for the specified times for laminar, LES and RAS

Post-processing turbulence
createTurbulenceFields Creates a full set of turbulence fields
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Calculates and writes the Reynolds stress R for the current

time step

Post-processing patch data

patchAverage
Calculates the average of the specified field over the specified
patch
patchIntegrate

Calculates the integral of the specified field over the specified

patch

Post-processing Lagrangian simulation

particleTracks
Generates a VTK file of particle tracks for cases that were
computed using a tracked-parcel-type cloud
steadyParticleTracks

Generates a VTK file of particle tracks for cases that were

computed using a steady-state cloud

Sampling post-processing
probeLocations
Probe locations
sample

Sample field data with a choice of interpolation schemes, sampling options and write formats

Generic field post-processing

foamCalc
Generic wrapper for calculating a quantity at each time

Miscellaneous post-processing
dsmcFieldsCalc
Calculate intensive fields (U and T) from averaged extensive
fields from a DSMC calculation
engineCompRatio

Calculate the geometric compression ratio

execFlowFunctionObjects

Execute the set of functionObjects specified in the selected

dictionary (which defaults to system/controlDict) for the selected set of times. Alternative dictionaries should be placed
in the system/ directory

foamListTimes

List times using timeSelector

pdfPlot

Generates a graph of a probability distribution function

postChannel

Post-processes data from channel flow calculations

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ptot

For each time: calculate the total pressure

temporalInterpolate

Interpolate fields between time-steps e.g. for animation

wdot

Calculates and writes wdot for each time

writeCellCentres

Write the three components of the cell centres as volScalarFields so they can be used in postprocessing in thresholding

Surface mesh (e.g. STL) tools

surfaceAdd
Add two surfaces. Does geometric merge on points. Does not
check for overlapping/intersecting triangles
surfaceBooleanFeatures

Generates the extendedFeatureEdgeMesh for the interface between a boolean operation on two surfaces

surfaceCheck

Checks geometric and topological quality of a surface

surfaceClean

Utility to clean surfaces

surfaceCoarsen

Surface coarsening using bunnylod

surfaceConvert

Converts from one surface mesh format to another

surfaceFeatureConvert

Convert between edgeMesh formats

surfaceFeatureExtract

Extracts and writes surface features to file. All but the basic
feature extraction is WIP

surfaceFind

Finds nearest face and vertex

surfaceHookUp

Find close open edges and stitches the surface along them

surfaceInertia

Calculates the inertia tensor, principal axes and moments of

a command line specified triSurface

surfaceInflate

Inflates surface. WIP. Checks for overlaps and locally lowers

inflation distance

surfaceLambdaMuSmooth

Smooths a surface using lambda/mu smoothing

surfaceMeshConvert

Converts between surface formats with optional scaling or

transformations (rotate/translate) on a coordinateSystem

surfaceMeshConvertTesting

Converts from one surface mesh format to another, but primarily used for testing functionality
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surfaceMeshExport

Export from surfMesh to various third-party surface formats

with optional scaling or transformations (rotate/translate) on
a coordinateSystem

surfaceMeshImport

Import from various third-party surface formats into surfMesh

with optional scaling or transformations (rotate/translate) on
a coordinateSystem

surfaceMeshInfo

Miscellaneous information about surface meshes

surfaceMeshTriangulate

Extracts surface from a polyMesh. Depending on output surface format triangulates faces

surfaceOrient

Set normal consistent with respect to a user provided outside

point. If the -inside option is used the point is considered
inside

surfacePatch

Patches (regionises) a surface using a user-selectable method

surfacePointMerge

Merges points on surface if they are within absolute distance.

Since absolute distance use with care!

surfaceRedistributePar

(Re)distribution of triSurface. Either takes an undecomposed

surface or an already decomposed surface and redistributes it
so that each processor has all triangles that overlap its mesh

surfaceRefineRedGreen

Refine by splitting all three edges of triangle (red refinement)

surfaceSplitByPatch

Writes regions of triSurface to separate files

surfaceSplitByTopology

Strips any baffle parts of a surface

surfaceSplitNonManifolds

Takes multiply connected surface and tries to split surface at

multiply connected edges by duplicating points

surfaceSubset

A surface analysis tool which sub-sets the triSurface to choose

only a part of interest. Based on subsetMesh

surfaceToPatch

Reads surface and applies surface regioning to a mesh. Uses

boundaryMesh to do the hard work

surfaceTransformPoints

Transform (scale/rotate) a surface. Like transformPoints but

for surfaces

Parallel processing
decomposePar

Automatically decomposes a mesh and fields of a case for

parallel execution of OpenFOAM
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reconstructPar

Reconstructs fields of a case that is decomposed for parallel

execution of OpenFOAM

reconstructParMesh

Reconstructs a mesh using geometric information only

redistributePar

Redistributes existing decomposed mesh and fields according

to the current settings in the decomposeParDict file

Thermophysical-related utilities
adiabaticFlameT
Calculates the adiabatic flame temperature for a given fuel
over a range of unburnt temperatures and equivalence ratios
chemkinToFoam

Converts CHEMKIN 3 thermodynamics and reaction data files

into OpenFOAM format

equilibriumCO

Calculates the equilibrium level of carbon monoxide

equilibriumFlameT

Calculates the equilibrium flame temperature for a given fuel

and pressure for a range of unburnt gas temperatures and
equivalence ratios; the effects of dissociation on O2 , H2 O and
CO2 are included

mixtureAdiabaticFlameT

Calculates the adiabatic flame temperature for a given mixture at a given temperature

Miscellaneous utilities
expandDictionary
Read the dictionary provided as an argument, expand the
macros etc. and write the resulting dictionary to standard
output
foamDebugSwitches

Write out all library debug switches

foamFormatConvert

Converts all IOobjects associated with a case into the format

specified in the controlDict

foamHelp

Top level wrapper utility around foam help utilities

foamInfoExec

Interrogates a case and prints information to stdout

patchSummary

Writes fields and boundary condition info for each patch at

each requested time instance

Table 3.6: Standard library utilities.

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3.7 Standard libraries

3.7

Standard libraries

The libraries with the OpenFOAM distribution are in the $FOAM LIB/$WM OPTIONS
directory, reached quickly by typing lib at the command line. Again, the names are
prefixed by lib and reasonably descriptive, e.g. incompressibleTransportModels contains
the library of incompressible transport models. For ease of presentation, the libraries are
separated into two types:
General libraries those that provide general classes and associated functions listed in
Table 3.7;
Model libraries those that specify models used in computational continuum mechanics,
listed in Table 3.8, Table 3.9 and Table 3.10.

Library of basic OpenFOAM tools OpenFOAM

algorithms
Algorithms
containers
Container classes
db
Database classes
dimensionedTypes
dimensioned<Type> class and derivatives
dimensionSet
dimensionSet class
fields
Field classes
global
Global settings
graph
graph class
interpolations
Interpolation schemes
matrices
Matrix classes
memory
Memory management tools
meshes
Mesh classes
primitives
Primitive classes
Finite volume method library finiteVolume
cfdTools
CFD tools
fields
Volume, surface and patch field classes; includes boundary
conditions
finiteVolume
Finite volume discretisation
fvMatrices
Matrices for finite volume solution
fvMesh
Meshes for finite volume discretisation
interpolation
Field interpolation and mapping
surfaceMesh
Mesh surface data for finite volume discretisation
volMesh
Mesh volume (cell) data for finite volume discretisation
Post-processing libraries
fieldFunctionObjects
Field function objects including field averaging, min/max, etc.
foamCalcFunctions
Functions for the foamCalc utility
forces
Tools for post-processing force/lift/drag data with function
objects
jobControl
Tools for controlling job running with a function object
postCalc
For using functionality of a function object as a postprocessing activity
sampling
Tools for sampling field data at prescribed locations in a domain
Continued on next page
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Applications and libraries

Continued from previous page

systemCall
utilityFunctionObjects

General function object for making system calls while running

a case
Utility function objects

Solution and mesh manipulation libraries

autoMesh
Library of functionality for the snappyHexMesh utility
blockMesh
Library of functionality for the blockMesh utility
dynamicMesh
For solving systems with moving meshes
dynamicFvMesh
Library for a finite volume mesh that can move and undergo
topological changes
edgeMesh
For handling edge-based mesh descriptions
fvMotionSolvers
Finite volume mesh motion solvers
ODE
Solvers for ordinary differential equations
meshTools
Tools for handling a OpenFOAM mesh
surfMesh
Library for handling surface meshes of different formats
triSurface
For handling standard triangulated surface-based mesh descriptions
topoChangerFvMesh
Topological changes functionality (largely redundant)
Lagrangian particle
basic
coalCombustion
distributionModels
dsmc
intermediate

tracking libraries
Basic Lagrangian, or particle-tracking, solution scheme
Coal dust combustion modelling
Particle distribution function modelling
Direct simulation Monte Carlo method modelling
Particle-tracking kinematics, thermodynamics, multispecies
reactions, particle forces, etc.
molecule
Molecule classes for molecular dynamics
molecularMeasurements For making measurements in molecular dynamics
potential
Intermolecular potentials for molecular dynamics
solidParticle
Solid particle implementation
spray
Liquid spray and injection modelling
Miscellaneous libraries
conversion
Tools for mesh and data conversions
decompositionMethods Tools for domain decomposition
engine
Tools for engine calculations
fileFormats
Core routines for reading/writing data in some third-party
formats
genericFvPatchField
A generic patch field
MGridGenGAMGLibrary for cell agglomeration using the MGridGen algorithm
Agglomeration
pairPatchAgglomPrimitive pair patch agglomeration method
eration
OSspecific
Operating system specific functions
randomProcesses
Tools for analysing and generating random processes
Parallel libraries
distributed
reconstruct

Tools for searching and IO on distributed surfaces

Mesh/field reconstruction library
Continued on next page

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3.7 Standard libraries

Continued from previous page

scotchDecomp
ptsotchDecomp

Scotch domain decomposition library

PTScotch domain decomposition library
Table 3.7: Shared object libraries for general use.

Basic thermophysical models basicThermophysicalModels

hePsiThermo
General thermophysical model calculation based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and compressibility
heRhoThermo
General thermophysical model calculation based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and density
pureMixture

General thermophysical model calculation for passive gas

mixtures

Reaction models reactionThermophysicalModels

hePsiMixtureThermo
Calculates enthalpy for combustion mixture based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and
heRhoMixtureThermo
Calculates enthalpy for combustion mixture based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and
heheuMixtureThermo
Calculates enthalpy h or internal energy e for unburnt u
gas and combustion mixture
homogeneousMixture

Combustion mixture based on normalised fuel mass fraction b

inhomogeneousMixture
Combustion mixture based on b and total fuel mass fraction
ft
veryInhomogeneousMixture Combustion mixture based on b, ft and unburnt fuel mass
fraction fu
dieselMixture
Combustion mixture based on ft and fu
basicMultiComponentBasic mixture based on multiple components
Mixture
multiComponentMixture
Derived mixture based on multiple components
reactingMixture
Combustion mixture using thermodynamics and reaction
schemes
egrMixture
Exhaust gas recirculation mixture

Radiation models radiationModels

fvDOM
Finite volume discrete ordinate method
P1
P1 model
solarLoad
Solar load radiation model
viewFactor
View factor radiation model
Laminar flame speed models laminarFlameSpeedModels
constLaminarFlameSpeed Constant laminar flame speed
GuldersLaminarFlameSpeed Gulders laminar flame speed model
Continued on next page
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Applications and libraries

Continued from previous page

GuldersEGRLaminarFlameSpeed

Gulders laminar flame speed model with exhaust gas recirculation modelling

Barotropic compressibility models barotropicCompressibilityModels

linear
Linear compressibility model
Chung
Chung compressibility model
Wallis
Wallis compressibility model
Thermophysical properties of gaseous species specie
icoPolynomial
Incompressible polynomial equation of state, e.g. for liquids
perfectGas
Perfect gas equation of state
eConstThermo
Constant specific heat cp model with evaluation of internal
energy e and entropy s
hConstThermo
Constant specific heat cp model with evaluation of enthalpy
h and entropy s
hPolynomialThermo
cp evaluated by a function with coefficients from polynomials, from which h, s are evaluated
janafThermo
cp evaluated by a function with coefficients from JANAF
thermodynamic tables, from which h, s are evaluated
specieThermo
Thermophysical properties of species, derived from cp , h
and/or s
constTransport
Constant transport properties
polynomialTransport
Polynomial based temperature-dependent transport properties
sutherlandTransport
Sutherlands formula for temperature-dependent transport
properties
Functions/tables of thermophysical properties thermophysicalFunctions
NSRDSfunctions
National Standard Reference Data System (NSRDS) American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AICHE) data
compilation tables
APIfunctions
American Petroleum Institute (API) function for vapour
mass diffusivity
Chemistry model chemistryModel
chemistryModel
Chemical reaction model
chemistrySolver
Chemical reaction solver
Other libraries
liquidProperties
liquidMixtureProperties
basicSolidThermo
solid
SLGThermo
solidProperties
solidMixtureProperties
thermalPorousZone

Thermophysical properties of liquids

Thermophysical properties of liquid mixtures
Thermophysical models of solids
Thermodynamics of solid species
Thermodynamic package for solids, liquids and gases
Thermophysical properties of solids
Thermophysical properties of solid mixtures
Porous zone definition based on cell zones that includes
terms for energy equations
Continued on next page

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3.7 Standard libraries

Continued from previous page

Table 3.8: Libraries of thermophysical models.

RAS turbulence models RASModels

laminar
Dummy turbulence model for laminar flow
kEpsilon
Standard k model
kOmega
k model
kOmegaSST
k SST model
kOmegaSSTSAS
k SST SAS model
LaunderSharmaKE
Launder-Sharma low-Re k model
LRR
Launder-Reece-Rodi RSTM
realizableKE
Realizable k model
RNGkEpsilon
RN G k model
SpalartAllmaras
Spalart-Allmaras 1-eqn mixing-length model
SSG
Speziale, Sarkar and Gatski Reynolds-stress model
v2f
v2 f model
Large-eddy simulation
laplaceFilter
simpleFilter
anisotropicFilter

(LES) filters LESfilters

Laplace filters
Simple filter
Anisotropic filter

Large-eddy simulation
PrandtlDelta
cubeRootVolDelta
maxDeltaxyz
smoothDelta

deltas LESdeltas
Prandtl delta
Cube root of cell volume delta
Maximum of x, y and z; for structured hex cells only
Smoothing of delta

LES turbulence models LESModels

DeardorffDiffStress
Differential SGS Stress model
dynamicKEqn
Dynamic one equation eddy-viscosity
dynamicLagrangian
Dynamic SGS model with Lagrangian averaging
kEqn
One equation eddy-viscosity model
Smagorinsky
Smagorinsky SGS model
WALE
Wall-adapting local eddy-viscosity (WALE) model
DES turbulence models DESModels
kOmegaSSTDES
k omega SST delayed eddy simulation (DES) model
kOmegaSSTDDES
k omega SST delayed detached eddy simulation
(DDES) model
kOmegaSSTIDDES
k omega SST improved delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES) model
SpalartAllmarasDES
Spalart-Allmaras delayed eddy simulation (DES) model
SpalartAllmarasDDES
Spalart-Allmaras delayed detached eddy simulation
(DDES) model
SpalartAllmarasIDDES
Spalart-Allmaras improved delayed detached eddy simulation (DDES) model
Continued on next page
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Applications and libraries

Continued from previous page

Table 3.9: Libraries of RAS and LES turbulence models.

Transport models for incompressible fluids incompressibleTransportModels

Newtonian
Linear viscous fluid model
CrossPowerLaw
Cross Power law nonlinear viscous model
BirdCarreau
Bird-Carreau nonlinear viscous model
HerschelBulkley
Herschel-Bulkley nonlinear viscous model
powerLaw
Power-law nonlinear viscous model
interfaceProperties
Models for the interface, e.g. contact angle, in multiphase
simulations
Miscellaneous transport modelling libraries
interfaceProperties
Calculation of interface properties
twoPhaseInterfaceProperties Two phase interface properties models, including boundary
conditions
surfaceFilmModels
Surface film models
Table 3.10: Shared object libraries of transport models.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Chapter 4
OpenFOAM cases
This chapter deals with the file structure and organisation of OpenFOAM cases. Normally, a user would assign a name to a case, e.g. the tutorial case of flow in a cavity
is simply named cavity. This name becomes the name of a directory in which all the
case files and subdirectories are stored. The case directories themselves can be located
anywhere but we recommend they are within a run subdirectory of the users project directory, i.e.$HOME/OpenFOAM/${USER}-v3.0+ as described at the beginning of chapter 2. One advantage of this is that the $FOAM RUN environment variable is set to
$HOME/OpenFOAM/${USER}-v3.0+/run by default; the user can quickly move to that
directory by executing a preset alias, run, at the command line.
The tutorial cases that accompany the OpenFOAM distribution provide useful examples of the case directory structures. The tutorials are located in the $FOAM TUTORIALS
directory, reached quickly by executing the tut alias at the command line. Users can view
tutorial examples at their leisure while reading this chapter.

4.1

File structure of OpenFOAM cases

The basic directory structure for a OpenFOAM case, that contains the minimum set of
files required to run an application, is shown in Figure 4.1 and described as follows:
A constant directory that contains a full description of the case mesh in a subdirectory polyMesh and files specifying physical properties for the application concerned,
e.g.transportProperties.
A system directory for setting parameters associated with the solution procedure itself.
It contains at least the following 3 files: controlDict where run control parameters are
set including start/end time, time step and parameters for data output; fvSchemes
where discretisation schemes used in the solution may be selected at run-time; and,
fvSolution where the equation solvers, tolerances and other algorithm controls are
set for the run.
The time directories containing individual files of data for particular fields. The
data can be: either, initial values and boundary conditions that the user must
specify to define the problem; or, results written to file by OpenFOAM. Note that
the OpenFOAM fields must always be initialised, even when the solution does not
strictly require it, as in steady-state problems. The name of each time directory is
based on the simulated time at which the data is written and is described fully in
section 4.3. It is sufficient to say now that since we usually start our simulations
at time t = 0, the initial conditions are usually stored in a directory named 0 or

U-108

OpenFOAM cases
<case>

system
controlDict
fvSchemes
fvSolution

see section 4.3

see section 4.4
see section 4.5

constant
. . . Properties
polyMesh

see chapter 7
see section 5.1.2

boundary
faces
neighbour
owner
points
time directories

see section 4.2.8

Figure 4.1: Case directory structure

0.000000e+00, depending on the name format specified. For example, in the cavity
tutorial, the velocity field U and pressure field p are initialised from files 0/U and
0/p respectively.

4.2

Basic input/output file format

OpenFOAM needs to read a range of data structures such as strings, scalars, vectors,
tensors, lists and fields. The input/output (I/O) format of files is designed to be extremely
flexible to enable the user to modify the I/O in OpenFOAM applications as easily as
possible. The I/O follows a simple set of rules that make the files extremely easy to
understand, in contrast to many software packages whose file format may not only be
difficult to understand intuitively but also not be published anywhere. The description
of the OpenFOAM file format is described in the following sections.

4.2.1

General syntax rules

The format follows some of the general principles of C++ source code.
Files have free form, with no particular meaning assigned to any column and no
need to indicate continuation across lines.
Lines have no particular meaning except to a // comment delimiter which makes
OpenFOAM ignore any text that follows it until the end of line.
A comment over multiple lines is done by enclosing the text between /* and */
delimiters.

4.2.2

Dictionaries

OpenFOAM uses dictionaries as the most common means of specifying data. A dictionary
is an entity that contains a set of data entries that can be retrieved by the I/O by means
of keywords. The keyword entries follow the general format
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4.2 Basic input/output file format

<keyword>

<dataEntry1> ... <dataEntryN>;

Most entries are single data entries of the form:

<keyword>

<dataEntry>;

Most OpenFOAM data files are themselves dictionaries containing a set of keyword entries. Dictionaries provide the means for organising entries into logical categories and can
be specified hierarchically so that any dictionary can itself contain one or more dictionary
entries. The format for a dictionary is to specify the dictionary name followed the entries
enclosed in curly braces {} as follows
<dictionaryName>

... keyword entries ...

4.2.3

The data file header

All data files that are read and written by OpenFOAM begin with a dictionary named
FoamFile containing a standard set of keyword entries, listed in Table 4.1. The table
Keyword
version
format
location
class
object

Description
Entry
I/O format version
2.0
Data format
ascii / binary
Path to the file, in "..."
(optional)
OpenFOAM class constructed from the typically dictionary or a
data file concerned
field, e.g.volVectorField
Filename
e.g.controlDict
Table 4.1: Header keywords entries for data files.

provides brief descriptions of each entry, which is probably sufficient for most entries with
the notable exception of class. The class entry is the name of the C++ class in the
OpenFOAM library that will be constructed from the data in the file. Without knowledge
of the underlying code which calls the file to be read, and knowledge of the OpenFOAM
classes, the user will probably be unable to surmise the class entry correctly. However,
most data files with simple keyword entries are read into an internal dictionary class and
therefore the class entry is dictionary in those cases.
The following example shows the use of keywords to provide data for a case using the
types of entry described so far. The extract, from an fvSolution dictionary file, contains
2 dictionaries, solvers and PISO. The solvers dictionary contains multiple data entries for
solver and tolerances for each of the pressure and velocity equations, represented by the
p and U keywords respectively; the PISO dictionary contains algorithm controls.
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24

solvers
{
p
{

solver
preconditioner
tolerance

PCG;
DIC;
1e-06;

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25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46

OpenFOAM cases

}
U
{

}
PISO
{

relTol

0;

solver
smoother
tolerance
relTol

smoothSolver;
symGaussSeidel;
1e-05;
0;

nCorrectors
2;
nNonOrthogonalCorrectors 0;
pRefCell
0;
pRefValue
0;

}
// ************************************************************************* //

4.2.4

Lists

OpenFOAM applications contain lists, e.g. a list of vertex coordinates for a mesh description. Lists are commonly found in I/O and have a format of their own in which the
entries are contained within round braces ( ). There is also a choice of format preceeding
the round braces:
simple the keyword is followed immediately by round braces
<listName>

(
... entries ...
);
numbered the keyword is followed by the number of elements <n> in the list
<listName>
<n >

(
... entries ...
);
token identifier the keyword is followed by a class name identifier Label<Type> where
<Type> states what the list contains, e.g. for a list of scalar elements is
<listName>
List<scalar>
<n >
// optional

(
... entries ...
);
Note that <scalar> in List<scalar> is not a generic name but the actual text that
should be entered.
The simple format is a convenient way of writing a list. The other formats allow
the code to read the data faster since the size of the list can be allocated to memory
in advance of reading the data. The simple format is therefore preferred for short lists,
where read time is minimal, and the other formats are preferred for long lists.
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4.2 Basic input/output file format

4.2.5

Scalars, vectors and tensors

A scalar is a single number represented as such in a data file. A vector is a VectorSpace

of rank 1 and dimension 3, and since the number of elements is always fixed to 3, the
simple List format is used. Therefore a vector (1.0, 1.1, 1.2) is written:
(1.0 1.1 1.2)
In OpenFOAM, a tensor is a VectorSpace of rank 2 and dimension 3 and therefore the
data entries are always fixed to 9 real numbers. Therefore the identity tensor can be
written:
(
1 0 0
0 1 0
0 0 1
)
This example demonstrates the way in which OpenFOAM ignores the line return is so
that the entry can be written over multiple lines. It is treated no differently to listing the
numbers on a single line:
( 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 )

4.2.6

Dimensional units

In continuum mechanics, properties are represented in some chosen units, e.g. mass in
kilograms (kg), volume in cubic metres (m3 ), pressure in Pascals (kg m1 s2 ). Algebraic
operations must be performed on these properties using consistent units of measurement;
in particular, addition, subtraction and equality are only physically meaningful for properties of the same dimensional units. As a safeguard against implementing a meaningless
operation, OpenFOAM attaches dimensions to field data and physical properties and
performs dimension checking on any tensor operation.
The I/O format for a dimensionSet is 7 scalars delimited by square brackets, e.g.
[0 2 -1 0 0 0 0]
No.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Property
Mass
Length
Time
Temperature
Quantity
Current
Luminous intensity

SI unit
USCS unit
kilogram (kg)
pound-mass (lbm)
metre (m)
foot (ft)

second (s)

Kelvin (K)
degree Rankine ( R)
kilogram-mole (kgmol) pound-mole (lbmol)

ampere (A)

candela (cd)

Table 4.2: Base units for SI and USCS

where each of the values corresponds to the power of each of the base units of measurement listed in Table 4.2. The table gives the base units for the Syst`eme International
(SI) and the United States Customary System (USCS) but OpenFOAM can be used
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OpenFOAM cases

with any system of units. All that is required is that the input data is correct for the
chosen set of units. It is particularly important to recognise that OpenFOAM requires
some dimensioned physical constants, e.g. the Universal Gas Constant R, for certain calculations, e.g. thermophysical modelling. These dimensioned constants are specified in
a DimensionedConstant sub-dictionary of main controlDict file of the OpenFOAM installation ($WM PROJECT DIR/etc/controlDict). By default these constants are set in SI
units. Those wishing to use the USCS or any other system of units should modify these
constants to their chosen set of units accordingly.

4.2.7

Dimensioned types

Physical properties are typically specified with their associated dimensions. These entries
have the format that the following example of a dimensionedScalar demonstrates:
nu

nu

[0 2 -1 0 0 0 0]

1;

The first nu is the keyword; the second nu is the word name stored in class word, usually
chosen to be the same as the keyword; the next entry is the dimensionSet and the final
entry is the scalar value.

4.2.8

Fields

Much of the I/O data in OpenFOAM are tensor fields, e.g. velocity, pressure data, that
are read from and written into the time directories. OpenFOAM writes field data using
keyword entries as described in Table 4.3.
Keyword
dimensions
internalField
boundaryField

Description
Dimensions of field
Value of internal field
Boundary field

Example
[1 1 -2 0 0 0 0]
uniform (1 0 0)
see file listing in section 4.2.8

Table 4.3: Main keywords used in field dictionaries.

The data begins with an entry for its dimensions. Following that, is the internalField,
described in one of the following ways.
Uniform field a single value is assigned to all elements within the field, taking the form:
internalField uniform <entry>;
Nonuniform field each field element is assigned a unique value from a list, taking the
following form where the token identifier form of list is recommended:
internalField nonuniform <List>;
The boundaryField is a dictionary containing a set of entries whose names correspond
to each of the names of the boundary patches listed in the boundary file in the polyMesh
directory. Each patch entry is itself a dictionary containing a list of keyword entries.
The compulsory entry, type, describes the patch field condition specified for the field.
The remaining entries correspond to the type of patch field condition selected and can
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4.2 Basic input/output file format

typically include field data specifying initial conditions on patch faces. A selection of
patch field conditions available in OpenFOAM are listed in Table 5.3 and Table 5.4 with
a description and the data that must be specified with it. Example field dictionary entries
for velocity U are shown below:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

dimensions

[0 1 -1 0 0 0 0];

internalField

uniform (0 0 0);

boundaryField
{
movingWall
{
type
value
}

32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41

fixedValue;
uniform (1 0 0);

fixedWalls
{
type
value
}

fixedValue;
uniform (0 0 0);

frontAndBack
{
type
}

empty;

// ************************************************************************* //

4.2.9

Directives and macro substitutions

There is additional file syntax that offers great flexibility for the setting up of OpenFOAM
case files, namely directives and macro substitutions. Directives are commands that can
be contained within case files that begin with the hash (#) symbol. Macro substitutions
begin with the dollar ($) symbol.
At present there are 4 directive commands available in OpenFOAM:
#include "<fileName>" (or #includeIfPresent "<fileName>" reads the file of name
<fileName>;
#inputMode has two options: merge, which merges keyword entries in successive dictionaries, so that a keyword entry specified in one place will be overridden by a later
specification of the same keyword entry; overwrite, which overwrites the contents
of an entire dictionary; generally, use merge;
#remove <keywordEntry> removes any included keyword entry; can take a word or
regular expression;
#codeStream followed by verbatim C++ code, compiles, loads and executes the code
on-the-fly to generate the entry.

4.2.10

The #include and #inputMode directives

For example, let us say a user wishes to set an initial value of pressure once to be used
as the internal field and initial value at a boundary. We could create a file, e.g. named
initialConditions, which contains the following entries:
pressure 1e+05;
#inputMode merge
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OpenFOAM cases

In order to use this pressure for both the internal and initial boundary fields, the user
would simply include the following macro substitutions in the pressure field file p:
#include "initialConditions"
internalField uniform $pressure;
boundaryField
{
patch1
{
type fixedValue;
value $internalField;
}
}
This is a fairly trivial example that simply demonstrates how this functionality works.
However, the functionality can be used in many, more powerful ways particularly as a
means of generalising case data to suit the users needs. For example, if a user has a set
of cases that require the same RAS turbulence model settings, a single file can be created
with those settings which is simply included in the turbulenceProperties file of each case.
Macro substitutions can extend well beyond a single value so that, for example, sets of
boundary conditions can be predefined and called by a single macro. The extent to which
such functionality can be used is almost endless.

4.2.11

The #codeStream directive

The #codeStream directive takes C++ code which is compiled and executed to deliver
the dictionary entry. The code and compilation instructions are specified through the
following keywords.
code: specifies the code, called with arguments OStream& os and const dictionary&
dict which the user can use in the code, e.g. to lookup keyword entries from within
the current case dictionary (file).
codeInclude (optional): specifies additional C++ #include statements to include
OpenFOAM files.
codeOptions (optional): specifies any extra compilation flags to be added to EXE INC
in Make/options.
codeLibs (optional): specifies any extra compilation flags to be added to LIB LIBS
in Make/options.
Code, like any string, can be written across multiple lines by enclosing it within hashbracket delimiters, i.e. #{...#}. Anything in between these two delimiters becomes a
string with all newlines, quotes, etc. preserved.
An example of #codeStream is given below. The code in the controlDict file looks up
dictionary entries and does a simple calculation for the write interval:
startTime
endTime
...
writeInterval
{
code
#{

0;
100;
#codeStream

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4.3 Time and data input/output control

scalar start = readScalar(dict.lookup("startTime"));
scalar end = readScalar(dict.lookup("endTime"));
label nDumps = 5;
os << ((end - start)/nDumps);
#};
};

4.3

Time and data input/output control

The OpenFOAM solvers begin all runs by setting up a database. The database controls
I/O and, since output of data is usually requested at intervals of time during the run, time
is an inextricable part of the database. The controlDict dictionary sets input parameters
essential for the creation of the database. The keyword entries in controlDict are listed in
Table 4.4. Only the time control and writeInterval entries are truly compulsory, with
the database taking default values indicated by in Table 4.4 for any of the optional
entries that are omitted.

Time control
startFrom
- firstTime
- startTime
- latestTime

Controls the start time of the simulation.

Earliest time step from the set of time directories.
Time specified by the startTime keyword entry.
Most recent time step from the set of time directories.

startTime

Start time for the simulation with startFrom startTime;

stopAt
- endTime
- writeNow

endTime

Controls the end time of the simulation.

Time specified by the endTime keyword entry.
Stops simulation on completion of current time step and writes
data.
Stops simulation on completion of current time step and does not
write out data.
Stops simulation on completion of next scheduled write time, specified by writeControl.
End time for the simulation when stopAt endTime; is specified.

deltaT

Time step of the simulation.

- noWriteNow
- nextWrite

Time step control

adjustTimeStep yes/no to adjust time step according to maximum Courant number in transient simulation.
maxCo

Maximum Courant number allowed.

maxDeltaT

Maximum time step allowed in transient simulation.

Data writing
writeControl
- timeStep
- runTime

Controls the timing of write output to file.

Writes data every writeInterval time steps.
Writes data every writeInterval seconds of simulated time.
Continued on next page
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OpenFOAM cases

Continued from previous page

- adjustableRunTime Writes data every writeInterval seconds of simulated time,

adjusting the time steps to coincide with the writeInterval if
necessary used in cases with automatic time step adjustment.
- cpuTime
Writes data every writeInterval seconds of CPU time.
- clockTime
Writes data out every writeInterval seconds of real time.
writeInterval

Scalar used in conjunction with writeControl described above.

purgeWrite

Integer representing a limit on the number of time directories that

are stored by overwriting time directories on a cyclic basis. Example of t0 = 5s, t = 1s and purgeWrite 2;: data written into 2
directories, 6 and 7, before returning to write the data at 8 s in 6,
data at 9 s into 7, etc.
To disable the time directory limit, specify purgeWrite 0;
For steady-state solutions, results from previous iterations can be
continuously overwritten by specifying purgeWrite 1;

writeFormat
- ascii
- binary

Specifies the format of the data files.

ASCII format, written to writePrecision significant figures.
Binary format.

writePrecision Integer used in conjunction with writeFormat described above, 6

by default
writeCompression Specifies the compression of the data files.
- uncompressed No compression.
- compressed gzip compression.
timeFormat
- fixed
- scientific
- general

Choice of format of the naming of the time directories.

m.dddddd where the number of ds is set by timePrecision.
m.ddddddexx where the number of ds is set by timePrecision.
Specifies scientific format if the exponent is less than -4 or
greater than or equal to that specified by timePrecision.

timePrecision

Integer used in conjunction with timeFormat described above, 6

by default

graphFormat
- raw
- gnuplot
- xmgr
- jplot

Format for graph data written by an application.

Raw ASCII format in columns.
Data in gnuplot format.
Data in Grace/xmgr format.
Data in jPlot format.

Data reading
runTimeModifiable yes/no switch for whether dictionaries, e.g.controlDict, are reread by OpenFOAM at the beginning of each time step.
Continued on next page

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-117

4.4 Numerical schemes

Continued from previous page

Run-time loadable functionality

libs
List of additional libraries (on $LD LIBRARY PATH) to be loaded
at run-time, e.g.( "libUser1.so" "libUser2.so" )
functions
List of functions, e.g. probes to be loaded at run-time; see examples
in $FOAM TUTORIALS
denotes default entry if associated keyword is omitted.
Table 4.4: Keyword entries in the controlDict dictionary.

Example entries from a controlDict dictionary are given below:

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4.4

application

icoFoam;

startFrom

startTime;

startTime

0;

stopAt

endTime;

endTime

0.5;

deltaT

0.005;

writeControl

timeStep;

writeInterval

20;

purgeWrite

0;

writeFormat

ascii;

writePrecision

6;

writeCompression off;
timeFormat

general;

timePrecision

6;

runTimeModifiable true;
// ************************************************************************* //

Numerical schemes

The fvSchemes dictionary in the system directory sets the numerical schemes for terms,
such as derivatives in equations, that appear in applications being run. This section
describes how to specify the schemes in the fvSchemes dictionary.
The terms that must typically be assigned a numerical scheme in fvSchemes range from
derivatives, e.g. gradient , and interpolations of values from one set of points to another.
The aim in OpenFOAM is to offer an unrestricted choice to the user. For example, while
linear interpolation is effective in many cases, OpenFOAM offers complete freedom to
choose from a wide selection of interpolation schemes for all interpolation terms.
The derivative terms further exemplify this freedom of choice. The user first has a
choice of discretisation practice where standard Gaussian finite volume integration is the
common choice. Gaussian integration is based on summing values on cell faces, which
must be interpolated from cell centres. The user again has a completely free choice
of interpolation scheme, with certain schemes being specifically designed for particular
derivative terms, especially the convection divergence terms.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-118

OpenFOAM cases

The set of terms, for which numerical schemes must be specified, are subdivided within
the fvSchemes dictionary into the categories listed in Table 4.5. Each keyword in Table 4.5
is the name of a sub-dictionary which contains terms of a particular type, e.g.gradSchemes
contains all the gradient derivative terms such as grad(p) (which represents p). Further
examples can be seen in the extract from an fvSchemes dictionary below:
Keyword
interpolationSchemes
snGradSchemes
gradSchemes
divSchemes
laplacianSchemes
timeScheme

Category of mathematical terms

Point-to-point interpolations of values
Component of gradient normal to a cell face
Gradient
Divergence
Laplacian 2
First and second time derivatives /t, 2 / 2 t

Table 4.5: Main keywords used in fvSchemes.

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ddtSchemes
{
default
}

Euler;

gradSchemes
{
default
grad(p)
}

Gauss linear;
Gauss linear;

divSchemes
{
default
div(phi,U)
}

none;
Gauss linear;

laplacianSchemes
{
default
}

Gauss linear orthogonal;

interpolationSchemes
{
default
linear;
}
snGradSchemes
{
default
}

orthogonal;

// ************************************************************************* //

The example shows that the fvSchemes dictionary comprises . . . Schemes sub-dictionaries
containing keyword entries for each term specified within, including: a default entry;
other entries whose names correspond to a word identifier for the particular term specified,
e.g.grad(p) for p
If a default scheme is specified in a particular . . . Schemes sub-dictionary, it is assigned to all of the terms to which the sub-dictionary refers, e.g. specifying a default
in gradSchemes sets the scheme for all gradient terms in the application, e.g. p, U.
When a default is specified, it is not necessary to specify each specific term itself in that
sub-dictionary, i.e. the entries for grad(p), grad(U) in this example. However, if any
of these terms are included, the specified scheme overrides the default scheme for that
term.
Alternatively the user may insist on no default scheme by the none entry. In this
instance the user is obliged to specify all terms in that sub-dictionary individually. Setting
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4.4 Numerical schemes

U-119

default to none may appear superfluous since default can be overridden. However,
specifying none forces the user to specify all terms individually which can be useful to
remind the user which terms are actually present in the application.
The following sections describe the choice of schemes for each of the categories of
terms in Table 4.5.

4.4.1

Interpolation schemes

The interpolationSchemes sub-dictionary contains terms that are interpolations of values typically from cell centres to face centres. A selection of interpolation schemes in
OpenFOAM are listed in Table 4.6, being divided into 4 categories: 1 category of general schemes; and, 3 categories of schemes used primarily in conjunction with Gaussian
discretisation of convection (divergence) terms in fluid flow, described in section 4.4.5.
It is highly unlikely that the user would adopt any of the convection-specific schemes
for general field interpolations in the interpolationSchemes sub-dictionary, but, as valid
interpolation schemes, they are described here rather than in section 4.4.5. Note that
additional schemes such as UMIST are available in OpenFOAM but only those schemes
that are generally recommended are listed in Table 4.6.
A general scheme is simply specified by quoting the keyword and entry, e.g. a linear
scheme is specified as default by:
default linear;
The convection-specific schemes calculate the interpolation based on the flux of the
flow velocity. The specification of these schemes requires the name of the flux field
on which the interpolation is based; in most OpenFOAM applications this is phi, the
name commonly adopted for the surfaceScalarField velocity flux . The 3 categories of
convection-specific schemes are referred to in this text as: general convection; normalised
variable (NV); and, total variation diminishing (TVD). With the exception of the blended
scheme, the general convection and TVD schemes are specified by the scheme and flux,
e.g. an upwind scheme based on a flux phi is specified as default by:
default upwind phi;
Some TVD/NVD schemes require a coefficient , 0 1 where = 1 corresponds
to TVD conformance, usually giving best convergence and = 0 corresponds to best
accuracy. Running with = 1 is generally recommended. A limitedLinear scheme
based on a flux phi with = 1.0 is specified as default by:
default limitedLinear 1.0 phi;
4.4.1.1

Schemes for strictly bounded scalar fields

There are enhanced versions of some of the limited schemes for scalars that need to be
strictly bounded. To bound between user-specified limits, the scheme name should be
prepended by the word limited and followed by the lower and upper limits respectively.
For example, to bound the vanLeer scheme strictly between -2 and 3, the user would
specify:
default limitedVanLeer -2.0 3.0;
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U-120

OpenFOAM cases

There are specialised versions of these schemes for scalar fields that are commonly bounded
between 0 and 1. These are selected by adding 01 to the name of the scheme. For example,
to bound the vanLeer scheme strictly between 0 and 1, the user would specify:
default vanLeer01;
Strictly bounded versions are available for the following schemes: limitedLinear, vanLeer,
Gamma, limitedCubic, MUSCL and SuperBee.
4.4.1.2

Schemes for vector fields

There are improved versions of some of the limited schemes for vector fields in which
the limiter is formulated to take into account the direction of the field. These schemes
are selected by adding V to the name of the general scheme, e.g.limitedLinearV for
limitedLinear. V versions are available for the following schemes: limitedLinearV,
vanLeerV, GammaV, limitedCubicV and SFCDV.

Centred schemes
linear
Linear interpolation (central differencing)
cubicCorrection Cubic scheme
midPoint
Linear interpolation with symmetric weighting
Upwinded convection schemes
upwind
Upwind differencing
linearUpwind
Linear upwind differencing
skewLinear
Linear with skewness correction
filteredLinear2 Linear with filtering for high-frequency ringing
TVD schemes
limitedLinear
vanLeer
MUSCL
limitedCubic

limited linear differencing

van Leer limiter
MUSCL limiter
Cubic limiter

NVD schemes
SFCD
Gamma

Self-filtered central differencing

Gamma differencing

Table 4.6: Interpolation schemes.

4.4.2

Surface normal gradient schemes

The snGradSchemes sub-dictionary contains surface normal gradient terms. A surface

normal gradient is evaluated at a cell face; it is the component, normal to the face, of the
gradient of values at the centres of the 2 cells that the face connects. A surface normal
gradient may be specified in its own right and is also required to evaluate a Laplacian
term using Gaussian integration.
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4.4 Numerical schemes

The available schemes are listed in Table 4.7 and are specified by simply quoting the
keyword and entry, with the exception of limited which requires a coefficient , 0
1 where

0
corresponds to uncorrected,

0.333 non-orthogonal correction 0.5 orthogonal part,

=
(4.1)

0.5
non-orthogonal
correction

orthogonal
part,

1
corresponds to corrected.
A limited scheme with = 0.5 is therefore specified as default by:
default limited 0.5;
Scheme
corrected
uncorrected
limited
bounded
fourth

Description
Explicit non-orthogonal correction
No non-orthogonal correction
Limited non-orthogonal correction
Bounded correction for positive scalars
Fourth order

Table 4.7: Surface normal gradient schemes.

4.4.3

Gradient schemes

The gradSchemes sub-dictionary contains gradient terms. The discretisation scheme for
each term can be selected from those listed in Table 4.8.
Discretisation scheme
Gauss <interpolationScheme>
leastSquares
fourth
cellLimited <gradScheme>
faceLimited <gradScheme>

Description
Second order, Gaussian integration
Second order, least squares
Fourth order, least squares
Cell limited version of one of the above schemes
Face limited version of one of the above schemes

Table 4.8: Discretisation schemes available in gradSchemes.

The discretisation scheme is sufficient to specify the scheme completely in the cases
of leastSquares and fourth, e.g.
grad(p) leastSquares;
The Gauss keyword specifies the standard finite volume discretisation of Gaussian
integration which requires the interpolation of values from cell centres to face centres.
Therefore, the Gauss entry must be followed by the choice of interpolation scheme from
Table 4.6. It would be extremely unusual to select anything other than general interpolation schemes and in most cases the linear scheme is an effective choice, e.g.
grad(p) Gauss linear;
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OpenFOAM cases

Limited versions of any of the 3 base gradient schemes Gauss, leastSquares and
fourth can be selected by preceding the discretisation scheme by cellLimited (or
faceLimited), e.g. a cell limited Gauss scheme
grad(p) cellLimited Gauss linear 1;

4.4.4

Laplacian schemes

The laplacianSchemes sub-dictionary contains Laplacian terms. Let us discuss the syntax
of the entry in reference to a typical Laplacian term found in fluid dynamics, (U),
given the word identifier laplacian(nu,U). The Gauss scheme is the only choice of discretisation and requires a selection of both an interpolation scheme for the diffusion
coefficient, i.e. in our example, and a surface normal gradient scheme, i.e. U. To
summarise, the entries required are:
Gauss <interpolationScheme> <snGradScheme>
The interpolation scheme is selected from Table 4.6, the typical choices being from the
general schemes and, in most cases, linear. The surface normal gradient scheme is
selected from Table 4.7; the choice of scheme determines numerical behaviour as described
in Table 4.9. A typical entry for our example Laplacian term would be:
laplacian(nu,U) Gauss linear corrected;

Scheme
corrected
uncorrected
limited
bounded
fourth

Numerical behaviour
Unbounded, second order, conservative
Bounded, first order, non-conservative
Blend of corrected and uncorrected
First order for bounded scalars
Unbounded, fourth order, conservative

Table 4.9: Behaviour of surface normal schemes used in laplacianSchemes.

4.4.5

Divergence schemes

The divSchemes sub-dictionary contains divergence terms. Let us discuss the syntax of
the entry in reference to a typical convection term found in fluid dynamics (UU),
which in OpenFOAM applications is commonly given the identifier div(phi,U), where
phi refers to the flux = U.
The Gauss scheme is the only choice of discretisation and requires a selection of the
interpolation scheme for the dependent field, i.e. U in our example. To summarise, the
entries required are:
Gauss <interpolationScheme>
The interpolation scheme is selected from the full range of schemes in Table 4.6, both
general and convection-specific. The choice critically determines numerical behaviour as
described in Table 4.10. The syntax here for specifying convection-specific interpolation
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-123

4.4 Numerical schemes

schemes does not include the flux as it is already known for the particular term, i.e. for
div(phi,U), we know the flux is phi so specifying it in the interpolation scheme would
only invite an inconsistency. Specification of upwind interpolation in our example would
therefore be:
div(phi,U) Gauss upwind;

Scheme
linear
skewLinear
cubicCorrected
upwind
linearUpwind
QUICK
TVD schemes
SFCD
NVD schemes

Numerical behaviour
Second order, unbounded
Second order, (more) unbounded, skewness correction
Fourth order, unbounded
First order, bounded
First/second order, bounded
First/second order, bounded
First/second order, bounded
Second order, bounded
First/second order, bounded

Table 4.10: Behaviour of interpolation schemes used in divSchemes.

4.4.6

Time schemes

The first time derivative (/t) terms are specified in the ddtSchemes sub-dictionary. The
discretisation scheme for each term can be selected from those listed in Table 4.11.
There is an off-centering coefficient with the CrankNicholson scheme that blends
it with the Euler scheme. A coefficient of = 1 corresponds to pure CrankNicholson
and and = 0 corresponds to pure Euler. The blending coefficient can help to improve
stability in cases where pure CrankNicholson are unstable.
Scheme
Euler
localEuler
CrankNicholson
backward
steadyState

Description
First order, bounded, implicit
Local-time step, first order, bounded, implicit
Second order, bounded, implicit
Second order, implicit
Does not solve for time derivatives

Table 4.11: Discretisation schemes available in ddtSchemes.

When specifying a time scheme it must be noted that an application designed for
transient problems will not necessarily run as steady-state and visa versa. For example
the solution will not converge if steadyState is specified when running icoFoam, the
transient, laminar incompressible flow code; rather, simpleFoam should be used for steadystate, incompressible flow.
Any second time derivative ( 2 /t2 ) terms are specified in the d2dt2Schemes subdictionary. Only the Euler scheme is available for d2dt2Schemes.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-124

4.5

OpenFOAM cases

Solution and algorithm control

The equation solvers, tolerances and algorithms are controlled from the fvSolution dictionary in the system directory. Below is an example set of entries from the fvSolution
dictionary required for the icoFoam solver.
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solvers
{
p
{

}
U
{

}
PISO
{

solver
preconditioner
tolerance
relTol

PCG;
DIC;
1e-06;
0;

solver
smoother
tolerance
relTol

smoothSolver;
symGaussSeidel;
1e-05;
0;

nCorrectors
2;
nNonOrthogonalCorrectors 0;
pRefCell
0;
pRefValue
0;

}
// ************************************************************************* //

fvSolution contains a set of subdictionaries that are specific to the solver being run. However, there is a small set of standard subdictionaries that cover most of those used by
the standard solvers. These subdictionaries include solvers, relaxationFactors, PISO and
SIMPLE which are described in the remainder of this section.

4.5.1

Linear solver control

The first sub-dictionary in our example, and one that appears in all solver applications,
is solvers. It specifies each linear-solver that is used for each discretised equation; it
is emphasised that the term linear-solver refers to the method of number-crunching to
solve the set of linear equations, as opposed to application solver which describes the set
of equations and algorithms to solve a particular problem. The term linear-solver is
abbreviated to solver in much of the following discussion; we hope the context of the
term avoids any ambiguity.
The syntax for each entry within solvers uses a keyword that is the word relating to the
variable being solved in the particular equation. For example, icoFoam solves equations
for velocity U and pressure p, hence the entries for U and p. The keyword is followed
by a dictionary containing the type of solver and the parameters that the solver uses.
The solver is selected through the solver keyword from the choice in OpenFOAM, listed
in Table 4.12. The parameters, including tolerance, relTol, preconditioner, etc. are
described in following sections.
The solvers distinguish between symmetric matrices and asymmetric matrices. The
symmetry of the matrix depends on the structure of the equation being solved and, while
the user may be able to determine this, it is not essential since OpenFOAM will produce
an error message to advise the user if an inappropriate solver has been selected, e.g.
--> FOAM FATAL IO ERROR : Unknown asymmetric matrix solver PCG
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-125

4.5 Solution and algorithm control

Solver
Keyword
Preconditioned (bi-)conjugate gradient
PCG/PBiCG
Solver using a smoother
smoothSolver
Generalised geometric-algebraic multi-grid GAMG
Diagonal solver for explicit systems
diagonal
PCG for symmetric matrices, PBiCG for asymmetric
Table 4.12: Linear solvers.
Valid asymmetric matrix solvers are :
3
(
PBiCG
smoothSolver
GAMG
)
4.5.1.1

Solution tolerances

The sparse matrix solvers are iterative, i.e. they are based on reducing the equation
residual over a succession of solutions. The residual is ostensibly a measure of the error
in the solution so that the smaller it is, the more accurate the solution. More precisely,
the residual is evaluated by substituting the current solution into the equation and taking
the magnitude of the difference between the left and right hand sides; it is also normalised
in to make it independent of the scale of problem being analysed.
Before solving an equation for a particular field, the initial residual is evaluated based
on the current values of the field. After each solver iteration the residual is re-evaluated.
The solver stops if either of the following conditions are reached:
the residual falls below the solver tolerance, tolerance;
the ratio of current to initial residuals falls below the solver relative tolerance,
relTol;
the number of iterations exceeds a maximum number of iterations, maxIter;
The solver tolerance should represent the level at which the residual is small enough
that the solution can be deemed sufficiently accurate. The solver relative tolerance limits
the relative improvement from initial to final solution. In transient simulations, it is usual
to set the solver relative tolerance to 0 to force the solution to converge to the solver
tolerance in each time step. The tolerances, tolerance and relTol must be specified in
the dictionaries for all solvers; maxIter is optional.
4.5.1.2

Preconditioned conjugate gradient solvers

There are a range of options for preconditioning of matrices in the conjugate gradient
solvers, represented by the preconditioner keyword in the solver dictionary. The preconditioners are listed in Table 4.13.
4.5.1.3

Smooth solvers

The solvers that use a smoother require the smoother to be specified. The smoother
options are listed in Table 4.14. Generally GaussSeidel is the most reliable option, but for
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-126

OpenFOAM cases

Preconditioner
Diagonal incomplete-Cholesky (symmetric)
Faster diagonal incomplete-Cholesky (DIC with caching)
Diagonal incomplete-LU (asymmetric)
Diagonal
Geometric-algebraic multi-grid
No preconditioning

Keyword
DIC
FDIC
DILU
diagonal
GAMG
none

Table 4.13: Preconditioner options.

bad matrices DIC can offer better convergence. In some cases, additional post-smoothing
using GaussSeidel is further beneficial, i.e. the method denoted as DICGaussSeidel
Smoother
Gauss-Seidel
Diagonal incomplete-Cholesky (symmetric)
Diagonal incomplete-Cholesky with Gauss-Seidel (symmetric)

Keyword
GaussSeidel
DIC
DICGaussSeidel

Table 4.14: Smoother options.

The user must also specify the number of sweeps, by the nSweeps keyword, before the
residual is recalculated, following the tolerance parameters.
4.5.1.4

Geometric-algebraic multi-grid solvers

The generalised method of geometric-algebraic multi-grid (GAMG) uses the principle of:
generating a quick solution on a mesh with a small number of cells; mapping this solution
onto a finer mesh; using it as an initial guess to obtain an accurate solution on the fine
mesh. GAMG is faster than standard methods when the increase in speed by solving first
on coarser meshes outweighs the additional costs of mesh refinement and mapping of field
data. In practice, GAMG starts with the mesh specified by the user and coarsens/refines
the mesh in stages. The user is only required to specify an approximate mesh size at the
most coarse level in terms of the number of cells nCoarsestCells.
The agglomeration of cells is performed by the algorithm specified by the agglomerator
keyword. Presently we recommend the faceAreaPair method. It is worth noting there is
an MGridGen option that requires an additional entry specifying the shared object library
for MGridGen:
geometricGamgAgglomerationLibs ("libMGridGenGamgAgglomeration.so");
In the experience of OpenCFD, the MGridGen method offers no obvious benefit over the
faceAreaPair method. For all methods, agglomeration can be optionally cached by the
cacheAgglomeration switch.
Smoothing is specified by the smoother as described in section 4.5.1.3. The number
of sweeps used by the smoother at different levels of mesh density are specified by the
nPreSweeps, nPostSweeps and nFinestSweeps keywords. The nPreSweeps entry is used
as the algorithm is coarsening the mesh, nPostSweeps is used as the algorithm is refining,
and nFinestSweeps is used when the solution is at its finest level.
The mergeLevels keyword controls the speed at which coarsening or refinement levels
is performed. It is often best to do so only at one level at a time, i.e. set mergeLevels
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4.5 Solution and algorithm control

U-127

1. In some cases, particularly for simple meshes, the solution can be safely speeded up
by coarsening/refining two levels at a time, i.e. setting mergeLevels 2.

4.5.2

Solution under-relaxation

A second sub-dictionary of fvSolution that is often used in OpenFOAM is relaxationFactors

which controls under-relaxation, a technique used for improving stability of a computation, particularly in solving steady-state problems. Under-relaxation works by limiting
the amount which a variable changes from one iteration to the next, either by modifying
the solution matrix and source prior to solving for a field or by modifying the field directly. An under-relaxation factor , 0 < 1 specifies the amount of under-relaxation,
ranging from none at all for = 1 and increasing in strength as 0. The limiting case
where = 0 represents a solution which does not change at all with successive iterations.
An optimum choice of is one that is small enough to ensure stable computation but
large enough to move the iterative process forward quickly; values of as high as 0.9
can ensure stability in some cases and anything much below, say, 0.2 are prohibitively
restrictive in slowing the iterative process.
The user can specify the relaxation factor for a particular field by specifying first the
word associated with the field, then the factor. The user can view the relaxation factors
used in a tutorial example of simpleFoam for incompressible, laminar, steady-state flows.
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19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31

solvers
{
p
{

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45
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50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66

solver
GAMG;
tolerance
1e-06;
relTol
0.1;
smoother
GaussSeidel;
nPreSweeps
0;
nPostSweeps
2;
cacheAgglomeration on;
agglomerator
faceAreaPair;
nCellsInCoarsestLevel 10;
mergeLevels
1;

"(U|k|epsilon|omega|f|v2)"
{
solver
smoothSolver;
smoother
symGaussSeidel;
tolerance
1e-05;
relTol
0.1;
}

SIMPLE
{
nNonOrthogonalCorrectors 0;
consistent
yes;

residualControl
{
p
1e-2;
U
1e-3;
"(k|epsilon|omega|f|v2)" 1e-3;
}

relaxationFactors
{
equations
{
U
".*"
}
}

0.9; // 0.9 is more stable but 0.95 more convergent

0.9; // 0.9 is more stable but 0.95 more convergent

// ************************************************************************* //

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-128

4.5.3

OpenFOAM cases

PISO and SIMPLE algorithms

Most fluid dynamics solver applications in OpenFOAM use the pressure-implicit splitoperator (PISO) or semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations (SIMPLE) algorithms. These algorithms are iterative procedures for solving equations for velocity and
pressure, PISO being used for transient problems and SIMPLE for steady-state.
Both algorithms are based on evaluating some initial solutions and then correcting
them. SIMPLE only makes 1 correction whereas PISO requires more than 1, but typically
not more than 4. The user must therefore specify the number of correctors in the PISO
dictionary by the nCorrectors keyword as shown in the example on page U-124.
An additional correction to account for mesh non-orthogonality is available in both
SIMPLE and PISO in the standard OpenFOAM solver applications. A mesh is orthogonal
if, for each face within it, the face normal is parallel to the vector between the centres of
the cells that the face connects, e.g. a mesh of hexahedral cells whose faces are aligned
with a Cartesian coordinate system. The number of non-orthogonal correctors is specified
by the nNonOrthogonalCorrectors keyword as shown in the examples above and on
page U-124. The number of non-orthogonal correctors should correspond to the mesh for
the case being solved, i.e. 0 for an orthogonal mesh and increasing with the degree of
non-orthogonality up to, say, 20 for the most non-orthogonal meshes.
4.5.3.1

Pressure referencing

In a closed incompressible system, pressure is relative: it is the pressure range that matters
not the absolute values. In these cases, the solver sets a reference level of pRefValue in
cell pRefCell where p is the name of the pressure solution variable. Where the pressure
is p rgh, the names are p rhgRefValue and p rhgRefCell respectively. These entries are
generally stored in the PISO/SIMPLE sub-dictionary and are used by those solvers that
require them when the case demands it. If omitted, the solver will not run, but give a
message to alert the user to the problem.

4.5.4

Other parameters

The fvSolutions dictionaries in the majority of standard OpenFOAM solver applications

contain no other entries than those described so far in this section. However, in general
the fvSolution dictionary may contain any parameters to control the solvers, algorithms,
or in fact anything. For a given solver, the user can look at the source code to find the
parameters required. Ultimately, if any parameter or sub-dictionary is missing when an
solver is run, it will terminate, printing a detailed error message. The user can then add
missing parameters accordingly.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Chapter 5
Mesh generation and conversion
This chapter describes all topics relating to the creation of meshes in OpenFOAM: section 5.1 gives an overview of the ways a mesh may be described in OpenFOAM; section 5.3
covers the blockMesh utility for generating simple meshes of blocks of hexahedral cells;
section 5.4 covers the snappyHexMesh utility for generating complex meshes of hexahedral
and split-hexahedral cells automatically from triangulated surface geometries; section 5.5
describes the options available for conversion of a mesh that has been generated by a
third-party product into a format that OpenFOAM can read.

5.1

Mesh description

This section provides a specification of the way the OpenFOAM C++ classes handle a
mesh. The mesh is an integral part of the numerical solution and must satisfy certain
criteria to ensure a valid, and hence accurate, solution. During any run, OpenFOAM
checks that the mesh satisfies a fairly stringent set of validity constraints and will cease
running if the constraints are not satisfied. The consequence is that a user may experience
some frustration in correcting a large mesh generated by third-party mesh generators
before OpenFOAM will run using it. This is unfortunate but we make no apology for
OpenFOAM simply adopting good practice to ensure the mesh is valid; otherwise, the
solution is flawed before the run has even begun.
By default OpenFOAM defines a mesh of arbitrary polyhedral cells in 3-D, bounded
by arbitrary polygonal faces, i.e. the cells can have an unlimited number of faces where,
for each face, there is no limit on the number of edges nor any restriction on its alignment.
A mesh with this general structure is known in OpenFOAM as a polyMesh. This type
of mesh offers great freedom in mesh generation and manipulation in particular when
the geometry of the domain is complex or changes over time. The price of absolute
mesh generality is, however, that it can be difficult to convert meshes generated using
conventional tools. The OpenFOAM library therefore provides cellShape tools to manage
conventional mesh formats based on sets of pre-defined cell shapes.

5.1.1

Mesh specification and validity constraints

Before describing the OpenFOAM mesh format, polyMesh, and the cellShape tools, we
will first set out the validity constraints used in OpenFOAM. The conditions that a mesh
must satisfy are:

U-130
5.1.1.1

Mesh generation and conversion

Points

A point is a location in 3-D space, defined by a vector in units of metres (m). The points
are compiled into a list and each point is referred to by a label, which represents its
position in the list, starting from zero. The point list cannot contain two different points
at an exactly identical position nor any point that is not part at least one face.
5.1.1.2

Faces

A face is an ordered list of points, where a point is referred to by its label. The ordering
of point labels in a face is such that each two neighbouring points are connected by an
edge, i.e. you follow points as you travel around the circumference of the face. Faces are
compiled into a list and each face is referred to by its label, representing its position in
the list. The direction of the face normal vector is defined by the right-hand rule, i.e.
looking towards a face, if the numbering of the points follows an anti-clockwise path, the
normal vector points towards you, as shown in Figure 5.1.
3

Sf
4
0
Figure 5.1: Face area vector from point numbering on the face
There are two types of face:
Internal faces Those faces that connect two cells (and it can never be more than two).
For each internal face, the ordering of the point labels is such that the face normal
points into the cell with the larger label, i.e. for cells 2 and 5, the normal points
into 5;
Boundary faces Those belonging to one cell since they coincide with the boundary
of the domain. A boundary face is therefore addressed by one cell(only) and a
boundary patch. The ordering of the point labels is such that the face normal
points outside of the computational domain.
Faces are generally expected to be convex; at the very least the face centre needs to
be inside the face. Faces are allowed to be warped, i.e. not all points of the face need to
be coplanar.
5.1.1.3

Cells

A cell is a list of faces in arbitrary order. Cells must have the properties listed below.
Contiguous The cells must completely cover the computational domain and must not
overlap one another.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-131

5.1 Mesh description

Convex Every cell must be convex and its cell centre inside the cell.
Closed Every cell must be closed, both geometrically and topologically where:
geometrical closedness requires that when all face area vectors are oriented to
point outwards of the cell, their sum should equal the zero vector to machine
accuracy;
topological closedness requires that all the edges in a cell are used by exactly
two faces of the cell in question.
Orthogonality For all internal faces of the mesh, we define the centre-to-centre vector
as that connecting the centres of the 2 cells that it adjoins oriented from the centre of the cell with smaller label to the centre of the cell with larger label. The
orthogonality constraint requires that for each internal face, the angle between the
face area vector, oriented as described above, and the centre-to-centre vector must
always be less than 90 .
5.1.1.4

Boundary

A boundary is a list of patches, each of which is associated with a boundary condition.

A patch is a list of face labels which clearly must contain only boundary faces and no
internal faces. The boundary is required to be closed, i.e. the sum all boundary face area
vectors equates to zero to machine tolerance.

5.1.2

The polyMesh description

The constant directory contains a full description of the case polyMesh in a subdirectory
polyMesh. The polyMesh description is based around faces and, as already discussed,
internal cells connect 2 cells and boundary faces address a cell and a boundary patch.
Each face is therefore assigned an owner cell and neighbour cell so that the connectivity
across a given face can simply be described by the owner and neighbour cell labels. In
the case of boundaries, the connected cell is the owner and the neighbour is assigned the
label -1. With this in mind, the I/O specification consists of the following files:
points a list of vectors describing the cell vertices, where the first vector in the list represents vertex 0, the second vector represents vertex 1, etc.;
faces a list of faces, each face being a list of indices to vertices in the points list, where
again, the first entry in the list represents face 0, etc.;
owner a list of owner cell labels, the index of entry relating directly to the index of the
face, so that the first entry in the list is the owner label for face 0, the second entry
is the owner label for face 1, etc;
neighbour a list of neighbour cell labels;
boundary a list of patches, containing a dictionary entry for each patch, declared using
the patch name, e.g.
movingWall
{
type patch;
nFaces 20;
startFace 760;
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-132

Mesh generation and conversion

}
The startFace is the index into the face list of the first face in the patch, and
nFaces is the number of faces in the patch.
Note that if the user wishes to know how many cells are in their domain, there is a
note in the FoamFile header of the owner file that contains an entry for nCells.

5.1.3

The cellShape tools

We shall describe the alternative cellShape tools that may be used particularly when
converting some standard (simpler) mesh formats for the use with OpenFOAM library.
The vast majority of mesh generators and post-processing systems support only a
fraction of the possible polyhedral cell shapes in existence. They define a mesh in terms
of a limited set of 3D cell geometries, referred to as cell shapes. The OpenFOAM library
contains definitions of these standard shapes, to enable a conversion of such a mesh into
the polyMesh format described in the previous section.
The cellShape models supported by OpenFOAM are shown in Table 5.1. The shape is
defined by the ordering of point labels in accordance with the numbering scheme contained
in the shape model. The ordering schemes for points, faces and edges are shown in
Table 5.1. The numbering of the points must not be such that the shape becomes twisted
or degenerate into other geometries, i.e. the same point label cannot be used more that
once is a single shape. Moreover it is unnecessary to use duplicate points in OpenFOAM
since the available shapes in OpenFOAM cover the full set of degenerate hexahedra.
The cell description consists of two parts: the name of a cell model and the ordered
list of labels. Thus, using the following list of points
8
(
(0
(1
(1
(0
(0
(1
(1
(0

0
0
1
1
0
0
1
1

0)
0)
0)
0)
0.5)
0.5)
0.5)
0.5)

A hexahedral cell would be written as:

(hex 8(0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7))
Here the hexahedral cell shape is declared using the keyword hex. Other shapes are
described by the keywords listed in Table 5.1.

5.1.4

1- and 2-dimensional and axi-symmetric problems

OpenFOAM is designed as a code for 3-dimensional space and defines all meshes as
such. However, 1- and 2- dimensional and axi-symmetric problems can be simulated
in OpenFOAM by generating a mesh in 3 dimensions and applying special boundary
conditions on any patch in the plane(s) normal to the direction(s) of interest. More
specifically, 1- and 2- dimensional problems use the empty patch type and axi-symmetric
problems use the wedge type. The use of both are described in section 5.2.2 and the
generation of wedge geometries for axi-symmetric problems is discussed in section 5.3.3.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-133

5.2 Boundaries

Cell type

Keyword

Vertex numbering Face numbering Edge numbering

7

Hexahedron

hex

5
0
10

8
1

3
2

5
3

2
0

wedge

Wedge

10

11

3
3

3
1

8
4

Prism

prism

7
0

Pyramid

pyr

4
0

7
2

3
5

2
2

Tetrahedron

tet

0
3

1 0

tetWedge

0
3

Tet-wedge

5
2

6
1

Table 5.1: Vertex, face and edge numbering for cellShapes.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-134

5.2

Mesh generation and conversion

Boundaries

In this section we discuss the way in which boundaries are treated in OpenFOAM. The
subject of boundaries is a little involved because their role in modelling is not simply that
of a geometric entity but an integral part of the solution and numerics through boundary
conditions or inter-boundary connections. A discussion of boundaries sits uncomfortably
between a discussion on meshes, fields, discretisation, computational processing etc. Its
placement in this Chapter on meshes is a choice of convenience.
We first need to consider that, for the purpose of applying boundary conditions, a
boundary is generally broken up into a set of patches. One patch may include one or
more enclosed areas of the boundary surface which do not necessarily need to be physically
connected.
There are three attributes associated with a patch that are described below in their
natural hierarchy and Figure 5.2 shows the names of different patch types introduced
at each level of the hierarchy. The hierarchy described below is very similar, but not
identical, to the class hierarchy used in the OpenFOAM library.
Base type The type of patch described purely in terms of geometry or a data communication link.
Primitive type The base numerical patch condition assigned to a field variable on the
patch.
Derived type A complex patch condition, derived from the primitive type, assigned to
a field variable on the patch.

Base type

patch
wall

symmetry
empty
wedge
cyclic
processor

Primitive type

fixedValue
fixedGradient
zeroGradient
mixed
directionMixed
calculated

Derived type

e.g. inletOutlet
Figure 5.2: Patch attributes

5.2.1

Specification of patch types in OpenFOAM

The patch types are specified in the mesh and field files of a OpenFOAM case. More
precisely:
the base type is specified under the type keyword for each patch in the boundary
file, located in the constant/polyMesh directory;
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-135

5.2 Boundaries

the numerical patch type, be it a primitive or derived type, is specified under the
type keyword for each patch in a field file.
An example boundary file is shown below for a sonicFoam case, followed by a pressure
field file, p, for the same case:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34

6
(

35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47

inlet
{
type
nFaces
startFace
}
outlet
{
type
nFaces
startFace
}
bottom
{
type
inGroups
nFaces
startFace
}
top
{
type
inGroups
nFaces
startFace
}
obstacle
{
type
nFaces
startFace
}
defaultFaces
{
type
inGroups
nFaces
startFace
}

patch;
50;
10325;
patch;
40;
10375;
symmetryPlane;
1(symmetryPlane);
25;
10415;

symmetryPlane;
1(symmetryPlane);
125;
10440;
patch;
110;
10565;
empty;
1(empty);
10500;
10675;

// ************************************************************************* //
dimensions

[1 -1 -2 0 0 0 0];

internalField

uniform 1;

boundaryField
{
inlet
{
type
value
}

fixedValue;
uniform 1;

outlet
{
type
field
phi
rho
psi
gamma
fieldInf
lInf
value
}

waveTransmissive;
p;
phi;
rho;
thermo:psi;
1.4;
1;
3;
uniform 1;

bottom
{
type
}

symmetryPlane;

top

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-136

Mesh generation and conversion

48
49

50
51
52
53
54

55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63

type

symmetryPlane;

obstacle
{
type
}

zeroGradient;

defaultFaces
{
type
}

empty;

// ************************************************************************* //

The type in the boundary file is patch for all patches except those patches that have
some geometrical constraint applied to them, i.e. the symmetryPlane and empty patches.
The p file includes primitive types applied to the inlet and bottom faces, and a more
complex derived type applied to the outlet. Comparison of the two files shows that the
base and numerical types are consistent where the base type is not a simple patch, i.e.
for the symmetryPlane and empty patches.

5.2.2

Base types

The base and geometric types are described below; the keywords used for specifying these
types in OpenFOAM are summarised in Table 5.2.
wedge patch 2

<5

Axis of symmetry

wedge patch 1

wedge aligned along

coordinate plane
Figure 5.3: Axi-symmetric geometry using the wedge patch type.
patch The basic patch type for a patch condition that contains no geometric or topological
information about the mesh (with the exception of wall), e.g. an inlet or an outlet.
wall There are instances where a patch that coincides with a wall needs to be identifiable
as such, particularly where specialist modelling is applied at wall boundaries. A
good example is wall turbulence modelling where a wall must be specified with a
wall patch type, so that the distance from the wall of the cell centres next to the
wall are stored as part of the patch.
symmetryPlane For a symmetry plane.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-137

5.2 Boundaries

Selection Key
patch
symmetryPlane
empty
wedge
cyclic
wall
processor

Description
generic patch
plane of symmetry
front and back planes of a 2D geometry
wedge front and back for an axi-symmetric geometry
cyclic plane
wall used for wall functions in turbulent flows
inter-processor boundary
Table 5.2: Basic patch types.

empty While OpenFOAM always generates geometries in 3 dimensions, it can be instructed to solve in 2 (or 1) dimensions by specifying a special empty condition on
each patch whose plane is normal to the 3rd (and 2nd) dimension for which no
solution is required.
wedge For 2 dimensional axi-symmetric cases, e.g. a cylinder, the geometry is specified
as a wedge of small angle (e.g. < 5 ) and 1 cell thick running along the plane of
symmetry, straddling one of the coordinate planes, as shown in Figure 5.3. The
axi-symmetric wedge planes must be specified as separate patches of wedge type.
The details of generating wedge-shaped geometries using blockMesh are described
in section 5.3.3.
cyclic Enables two patches to be treated as if they are physically connected; used for
repeated geometries, e.g. heat exchanger tube bundles. One cyclic patch is linked
to another through a neighbourPatch keyword in the boundary file. Each pair
of connecting faces must have similar area to within a tolerance given by the
matchTolerance keyword in the boundary file. Faces do not need to be of the
same orientation.
processor If a code is being run in parallel, on a number of processors, then the mesh
must be divided up so that each processor computes on roughly the same number
of cells. The boundaries between the different parts of the mesh are called processor
boundaries.

5.2.3

Primitive types

The primitive types are listed in Table 5.3.

5.2.4

Derived types

There are numerous derived types of boundary conditions in OpenFOAM, too many to
list here. Instead a small selection is listed in Table 5.4. If the user wishes to obtain a
list of all available models, they should consult the OpenFOAM source code. Derived
boundary condition source code can be found at the following locations:
in $FOAM SRC/finiteVolume/fields/fvPatchFields/derived
within certain model libraries, that can be located by typing the following command
in a terminal window
find $FOAM SRC -name "*derivedFvPatch*"
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-138

Mesh generation and conversion

Type
fixedValue
fixedGradient
zeroGradient
calculated
mixed

Description of condition for patch field

Value of is specified
Normal gradient of is specified
Normal gradient of is zero
Boundary field derived from other fields
Mixed fixedValue/ fixedGradient condition depending on the value in valueFraction

Data to specify
value
gradient

refValue,
refGradient,
valueFraction,
value
directionMixed A mixed condition with tensorial valueFraction, refValue,
e.g. for different levels of mixing in normal and refGradient,
tangential directions
valueFraction,
value
Table 5.3: Primitive patch field types.

within certain solvers, that can be located by typing the following command in a
terminal window
find $FOAM SOLVERS -name "*fvPatch*"

5.3

Mesh generation with the blockMesh utility

This section describes the mesh generation utility, blockMesh, supplied with OpenFOAM.
The blockMesh utility creates parametric meshes with grading and curved edges.
The mesh is generated from a dictionary file named blockMeshDict located in the
constant/polyMesh directory of a case. blockMesh reads this dictionary, generates the
mesh and writes out the mesh data to points and faces, cells and boundary files in the
same directory.
The principle behind blockMesh is to decompose the domain geometry into a set of 1
or more three dimensional, hexahedral blocks. Edges of the blocks can be straight lines,
arcs or splines. The mesh is ostensibly specified as a number of cells in each direction of
the block, sufficient information for blockMesh to generate the mesh data.
Each block of the geometry is defined by 8 vertices, one at each corner of a hexahedron.
The vertices are written in a list so that each vertex can be accessed using its label,
remembering that OpenFOAM always uses the C++ convention that the first element of
the list has label 0. An example block is shown in Figure 5.4 with each vertex numbered
according to the list. The edge connecting vertices 1 and 5 is curved to remind the reader
that curved edges can be specified in blockMesh.
It is possible to generate blocks with less than 8 vertices by collapsing one or more
pairs of vertices on top of each other, as described in section 5.3.3.
Each block has a local coordinate system (x1 , x2 , x3 ) that must be right-handed. A
right-handed set of axes is defined such that to an observer looking down the Oz axis,
with O nearest them, the arc from a point on the Ox axis to a point on the Oy axis is in
a clockwise sense.
The local coordinate system is defined by the order in which the vertices are presented
in the block definition according to:
the axis origin is the first entry in the block definition, vertex 0 in our example;
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

surfaceNormalFixedValue
totalPressure
turbulentInlet

Data to specify
value
value
value,
inletDirection
Specifies a vector boundary condition, normal to the patch, by its magnitude; +ve value
for vectors pointing out of the domain
Total pressure p0 = p + 21 |U|2 is fixed; when U changes, p is adjusted accordingly p0
Calculates a fluctuating variable based on a scale of a mean value
referenceField,
fluctuationScale

Types derived from fixedGradient/zeroGradient

fluxCorrectedVelocity
Calculates normal component of U at inlet from flux
wallBuoyantPressure
Sets fixedGradient pressure based on the atmospheric pressure gradient
Types derived from mixed
inletOutlet
Switches U and p between fixedValue and zeroGradient depending on direction of U
outletInlet
Switches U and p between fixedValue and zeroGradient depending on direction of U
pressureInletOutletVelocity
pressureDirectedInletOutletVelocity
pressureTransmissive
supersonicFreeStream

Combination of pressureInletVelocity and inletOutlet

Combination of pressureDirectedInletVelocity and inletOutlet
Transmits supersonic pressure waves to surrounding pressure p
Transmits oblique shocks to surroundings at p , T , U

zeroGradient if is a scalar; if is a vector, normal component is fixedValue zero,

tangential components are zeroGradient
partialSlip
Mixed zeroGradient/ slip condition depending on the valueFraction; = 0 for slip
Note: p is pressure, U is velocity
Table 5.4: Derived patch field types.

inletValue, value
outletValue,
value
value
value,
inletDirection
pInf
pInf, TInf, UInf

valueFraction
U-139

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Other types
slip

value

5.3 Mesh generation with the blockMesh utility

Types derived from fixedValue

movingWallVelocity
Replaces the normal of the patch value so the flux across the patch is zero
pressureInletVelocity
When p is known at inlet, U is evaluated from the flux, normal to the patch
pressureDirectedInletVelocity When p is known at inlet, U is calculated from the flux in the inletDirection

U-140

Mesh generation and conversion

the x1 direction is described by moving from vertex 0 to vertex 1;

the x2 direction is described by moving from vertex 1 to vertex 2;
vertices 0, 1, 2, 3 define the plane x3 = 0;
vertex 4 is found by moving from vertex 0 in the x3 direction;
vertices 5,6 and 7 are similarly found by moving in the x3 direction from vertices
1,2 and 3 respectively.
6

5
4

3
10

11
9
8

3
x3
x2
0

x1

5
0

Figure 5.4: A single block

Keyword
Description
convertToMeters Scaling factor for the vertex
coordinates
vertices
List of vertex coordinates
edges
Used to describe arc or
spline edges
block
Ordered list of vertex labels
and mesh size
patches

List of patches

mergePatchPairs List of patches to be merged

Example/selection
0.001 scales to mm
(0 0 0)
arc 1 4 (0.939 0.342 -0.5)
hex (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
(10 10 1)
simpleGrading (1.0 1.0 1.0)
symmetryPlane base
( (0 1 2 3) )
see section 5.3.2

Table 5.5: Keywords used in blockMeshDict.

5.3.1

Writing a blockMeshDict file

The blockMeshDict file is a dictionary using keywords described in Table 5.5. The
convertToMeters keyword specifies a scaling factor by which all vertex coordinates in
the mesh description are multiplied. For example,
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-141

5.3 Mesh generation with the blockMesh utility

convertToMeters

0.001;

means that all coordinates are multiplied by 0.001, i.e. the values quoted in the blockMeshDict file are in mm.
5.3.1.1

The vertices

The vertices of the blocks of the mesh are given next as a standard list named vertices,
e.g. for our example block in Figure 5.4, the vertices are:
vertices
(
( 0
0
( 1
0
( 1.1 1
( 0
1
(-0.1 -0.1
( 1.3 0
( 1.4 1.1
( 0
1
);
5.3.1.2

0 )
0.1)
0.1)
0.1)
1 )
1.2)
1.3)
1.1)

//
//
//
//
//
//
//
//

vertex
vertex
vertex
vertex
vertex
vertex
vertex
vertex

number
number
number
number
number
number
number
number

0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7

The edges

Each edge joining 2 vertex points is assumed to be straight by default. However any edge
may be specified to be curved by entries in a list named edges. The list is optional; if
the geometry contains no curved edges, it may be omitted.
Each entry for a curved edge begins with a keyword specifying the type of curve from
those listed in Table 5.6.
Keyword selection
arc
simpleSpline
polyLine
polySpline
line

Description
Circular arc
Spline curve
Set of lines
Set of splines
Straight line

Additional entries
Single interpolation point
List of interpolation points
List of interpolation points
List of interpolation points

Table 5.6: Edge types available in the blockMeshDict dictionary.

The keyword is then followed by the labels of the 2 vertices that the edge connects.
Following that, interpolation points must be specified through which the edge passes.
For a arc, a single interpolation point is required, which the circular arc will intersect.
For simpleSpline, polyLine and polySpline, a list of interpolation points is required.
The line edge is directly equivalent to the option executed by default, and requires no
interpolation points. Note that there is no need to use the line edge but it is included
for completeness. For our example block in Figure 5.4 we specify an arc edge connecting
vertices 1 and 5 as follows through the interpolation point (1.1, 0.0, 0.5):
edges
(
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-142

Mesh generation and conversion

arc 1 5 (1.1 0.0 0.5)

);

5.3.1.3

The blocks

The block definitions are contained in a list named blocks. Each block definition is a
compound entry consisting of a list of vertex labels whose order is described in section 5.3,
a vector giving the number of cells required in each direction, the type and list of cell
expansion ratio in each direction.
Then the blocks are defined as follows:
blocks
(
hex (0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7)
(10 10 10)
simpleGrading (1 2 3)
);

// vertex numbers
// numbers of cells in each direction
// cell expansion ratios

The definition of each block is as follows:

Vertex numbering The first entry is the shape identifier of the block, as defined in
the .OpenFOAM-v3.0+/cellModels file. The shape is always hex since the blocks are
always hexahedra. There follows a list of vertex numbers, ordered in the manner
described on page U-138.
Number of cells The second entry gives the number of cells in each of the x1 x2 and
x3 directions for that block.
Cell expansion ratios The third entry gives the cell expansion ratios for each direction
in the block. The expansion ratio enables the mesh to be graded, or refined, in
specified directions. The ratio is that of the width of the end cell e along one edge
of a block to the width of the start cell s along that edge, as shown in Figure 5.5.
Each of the following keywords specify one of two types of grading specification
available in blockMesh.
simpleGrading The simple description specifies uniform expansions in the local x1 ,
x2 and x3 directions respectively with only 3 expansion ratios, e.g.
simpleGrading (1 2 3)
edgeGrading The full cell expansion description gives a ratio for each edge of the
block, numbered according to the scheme shown in Figure 5.4 with the arrows
representing the direction from first cell. . . to last cell e.g. something like
edgeGrading (1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 3)
This means the ratio of cell widths along edges 0-3 is 1, along edges 4-7 is 2
and along 8-11 is 3 and is directly equivalent to the simpleGrading example
given above.

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Expansion ratio =

e
s

Expansion direction
Figure 5.5: Mesh grading along a block edge
5.3.1.4

The boundary

The boundary of the mesh is given in a list named boundary. The boundary is broken
into patches (regions), where each patch in the list has its name as the keyword, which
is the choice of the user, although we recommend something that conveniently identifies
the patch, e.g.inlet; the name is used as an identifier for setting boundary conditions in
the field data files. The patch information is then contained in sub-dictionary with:
type: the patch type, either a generic patch on which some boundary conditions
are applied or a particular geometric condition, as listed in Table 5.2 and described
in section 5.2.2;
faces: a list of block faces that make up the patch and whose name is the choice of
the user, although we recommend something that conveniently identifies the patch,
e.g.inlet; the name is used as an identifier for setting boundary conditions in the
field data files.
blockMesh collects faces from any boundary patch that is omitted from the boundary
list and assigns them to a default patch named defaultFaces of type empty. This means
that for a 2 dimensional geometry, the user has the option to omit block faces lying in
the 2D plane, knowing that they will be collected into an empty patch as required.
Returning to the example block in Figure 5.4, if it has an inlet on the left face, an
output on the right face and the four other faces are walls then the patches could be
defined as follows:
boundary
(
inlet
{
type patch;
faces
(
(0 4 7 3);
);
}
outlet
{
type patch;
faces
(
(1 2 6 5)
);
}

// keyword
// patch name
// patch type for patch 0

// block face in this patch

// end of 0th patch definition
// patch name
// patch type for patch 1

walls
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);

type wall;
faces
(
(0 1 5
(0 3 2
(3 7 6
(4 5 6
);

4)
1)
2)
7)

Each block face is defined by a list of 4 vertex numbers. The order in which the vertices
are given must be such that, looking from inside the block and starting with any vertex,
the face must be traversed in a clockwise direction to define the other vertices.
When specifying a cyclic patch in blockMesh, the user must specify the name of the
related cyclic patch through the neighbourPatch keyword. For example, a pair of cyclic
patches might be specified as follows:
left
{
type
neighbourPatch
faces
}
right
{
type
neighbourPatch
faces
}

5.3.2

cyclic;
right;
((0 4 7 3));

cyclic;
left;
((1 5 6 2));

Multiple blocks

A mesh can be created using more than 1 block. In such circumstances, the mesh is
created as has been described in the preceeding text; the only additional issue is the
connection between blocks, in which there are two distinct possibilities:
face matching the set of faces that comprise a patch from one block are formed from
the same set of vertices as a set of faces patch that comprise a patch from another
block;
face merging a group of faces from a patch from one block are connected to another
group of faces from a patch from another block, to create a new set of internal faces
connecting the two blocks.
To connect two blocks with face matching, the two patches that form the connection
should simply be ignored from the patches list. blockMesh then identifies that the faces
do not form an external boundary and combines each collocated pair into a single internal
faces that connects cells from the two blocks.
The alternative, face merging, requires that the block patches to be merged are first
defined in the patches list. Each pair of patches whose faces are to be merged must then
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be included in an optional list named mergePatchPairs. The format of mergePatchPairs

is:
mergePatchPairs
(
( <masterPatch> <slavePatch> ) // merge patch pair 0
( <masterPatch> <slavePatch> ) // merge patch pair 1
...
)
The pairs of patches are interpreted such that the first patch becomes the master and
the second becomes the slave. The rules for merging are as follows:
the faces of the master patch remain as originally defined, with all vertices in their
original location;
the faces of the slave patch are projected onto the master patch where there is some
separation between slave and master patch;
the location of any vertex of a slave face might be adjusted by blockMesh to eliminate
any face edge that is shorter than a minimum tolerance;
if patches overlap as shown in Figure 5.6, each face that does not merge remains as
an external face of the original patch, on which boundary conditions must then be
applied;
if all the faces of a patch are merged, then the patch itself will contain no faces and
is removed.

patch 1

patch 2

region of internal connecting faces

region of external boundary faces
Figure 5.6: Merging overlapping patches
The consequence is that the original geometry of the slave patch will not necessarily be
completely preserved during merging. Therefore in a case, say, where a cylindrical block
is being connected to a larger block, it would be wise to the assign the master patch to the
cylinder, so that its cylindrical shape is correctly preserved. There are some additional
recommendations to ensure successful merge procedures:
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in 2 dimensional geometries, the size of the cells in the third dimension, i.e. out of
the 2D plane, should be similar to the width/height of cells in the 2D plane;
it is inadvisable to merge a patch twice, i.e. include it twice in mergePatchPairs;
where a patch to be merged shares a common edge with another patch to be merged,
both should be declared as a master patch.

5.3.3

Creating blocks with fewer than 8 vertices

It is possible to collapse one or more pair(s) of vertices onto each other in order to create
a block with fewer than 8 vertices. The most common example of collapsing vertices is
when creating a 6-sided wedge shaped block for 2-dimensional axi-symmetric cases that
use the wedge patch type described in section 5.2.2. The process is best illustrated by
using a simplified version of our example block shown in Figure 5.7. Let us say we wished
to create a wedge shaped block by collapsing vertex 7 onto 4 and 6 onto 5. This is simply
done by exchanging the vertex number 7 by 4 and 6 by 5 respectively so that the block
numbering would become:
hex (0 1 2 3 4 5 5 4)
7

Figure 5.7: Creating a wedge shaped block with 6 vertices

The same applies to the patches with the main consideration that the block face
containing the collapsed vertices, previously (4 5 6 7) now becomes (4 5 5 4). This
is a block face of zero area which creates a patch with no faces in the polyMesh, as the
user can see in a boundary file for such a case. The patch should be specified as empty
in the blockMeshDict and the boundary condition for any fields should consequently be
empty also.

5.3.4

Running blockMesh

As described in section 3.3, the following can be executed at the command line to run
blockMesh for a case in the <case> directory:
blockMesh -case <case>
The blockMeshDict file must exist in subdirectory constant/polyMesh.
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5.4

Mesh generation with the snappyHexMesh utility

This section describes the mesh generation utility, snappyHexMesh, supplied with OpenFOAM. The snappyHexMesh utility generates 3-dimensional meshes containing hexahedra
(hex) and split-hexahedra (split-hex) automatically from triangulated surface geometries
in Stereolithography (STL) format. The mesh approximately conforms to the surface
by iteratively refining a starting mesh and morphing the resulting split-hex mesh to the
surface. An optional phase will shrink back the resulting mesh and insert cell layers. The
specification of mesh refinement level is very flexible and the surface handling is robust
with a pre-specified final mesh quality. It runs in parallel with a load balancing step every
iteration.

STL surface

Figure 5.8: Schematic 2D meshing problem for snappyHexMesh

5.4.1

The mesh generation process of snappyHexMesh

The process of generating a mesh using snappyHexMesh will be described using the
schematic in Figure 5.8. The objective is to mesh a rectangular shaped region (shaded
grey in the figure) surrounding an object described by and STL surface, e.g. typical for
an external aerodynamics simulation. Note that the schematic is 2-dimensional to make
it easier to understand, even though the snappyHexMesh is a 3D meshing tool.
In order to run snappyHexMesh, the user requires the following:
surface data files in STL format, either binary or ASCII, located in a constant/triSurface
sub-directory of the case directory;
a background hex mesh which defines the extent of the computational domain and
a base level mesh density; typically generated using blockMesh, discussed in section 5.4.2.
a snappyHexMeshDict dictionary, with appropriate entries, located in the system
sub-directory of the case.
The snappyHexMeshDict dictionary includes: switches at the top level that control the
various stages of the meshing process; and, individual sub-directories for each process.
The entries are listed in Table 5.7.
All the geometry used by snappyHexMesh is specified in a geometry sub-dictionary
in the snappyHexMeshDict dictionary. The geometry can be specified through an STL
surface or bounding geometry entities in OpenFOAM. An example is given below:
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Keyword
castellatedMesh
snap
doLayers
mergeTolerance

Description
Example
Create the castellated mesh?
true
Do the surface snapping stage?
true
Add surface layers?
true
Merge tolerance as fraction of bounding box 1e-06
of initial mesh
debug
Controls writing of intermediate meshes and
screen printing
Write final mesh only
0
Write intermediate meshes
1
Write volScalarField with cellLevel for 2
post-processing
Write current intersections as .obj files
4
geometry
Sub-dictionary of all surface geometry used
castellatedMeshControls Sub-dictionary of controls for castellated mesh
snapControls
Sub-dictionary of controls for surface snapping
addLayersControls
Sub-dictionary of controls for layer addition
meshQualityControls
Sub-dictionary of controls for mesh quality
Table 5.7: Keywords at the top level of snappyHexMeshDict.

geometry
{
sphere.stl // STL filename
{
type triSurfaceMesh;
regions
{
secondSolid
// Named region in the STL file
{
name mySecondPatch; // User-defined patch name
}
// otherwise given sphere.stl_secondSolid
}
}
box1x1x1
{
type
min
max
}

// User defined region name

searchableBox;
(1.5 1 -0.5);
(3.5 2 0.5);

// region defined by bounding box

sphere2 // User defined region name

{
type
searchableSphere;
// region defined by bounding sphere
centre (1.5 1.5 1.5);
radius 1.03;
}
};

5.4.2

Creating the background hex mesh

Before snappyHexMesh is executed the user must create a background mesh of hexahedral
cells that fills the entire region within by the external boundary as shown in Figure 5.9.
This can be done simply using blockMesh. The following criteria must be observed when
creating the background mesh:
the mesh must consist purely of hexes;
the cell aspect ratio should be approximately 1, at least near surfaces at which
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Figure 5.9: Initial mesh generation in snappyHexMesh meshing process

the subsequent snapping procedure is applied, otherwise the convergence of the
snapping procedure is slow, possibly to the point of failure;
there must be at least one intersection of a cell edge with the STL surface, i.e. a
mesh of one cell will not work.

Figure 5.10: Cell splitting by feature edge in snappyHexMesh meshing process

5.4.3

Cell splitting at feature edges and surfaces

Cell splitting is performed according to the specification supplied by the user in the
castellatedMeshControls sub-dictionary in the snappyHexMeshDict. The entries for castellatedMeshControls are presented in Table 5.8.
The splitting process begins with cells being selected according to specified edge features first within the domain as illustrated in Figure 5.10. The features list in the
castellatedMeshControls sub-dictionary permits dictionary entries containing a name of an
edgeMesh file and the level of refinement, e.g.:
features
(
{
file "features.eMesh"; // file containing edge mesh
level 2;
// level of refinement
}
);

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Keyword
locationInMesh

Description
Location vector inside the region to be meshed
N.B. vector must not coincide with a cell face
either before or during refinement
maxLocalCells
Maximum number of cells per processor during refinement
maxGlobalCells
Overall cell limit during refinement (i.e. before
removal)
minRefinementCells
If number of cells to be refined, surface refinement stops
maxLoadUnbalance
Maximum processor imbalance during refinement where a value of 0 represents a perfect
balance
nCellsBetweenLevels
Number of buffer layers of cells between different levels of refinement
resolveFeatureAngle
Applies maximum level of refinement to cells
that can see intersections whose angle exceeds
this
allowFreeStandingZoneFaces Allow the generation of free-standing zone
faces
features
List of features for refinement
refinementSurfaces
Dictionary of surfaces for refinement
refinementRegions
Dictionary of regions for refinement

Example
(5 0 0)

1e+06
2e+06
0
0.1

1
30

flase

Table 5.8: Keywords in the castellatedMeshControls sub-dictionary of snappyHexMeshDict.

The edgeMesh containing the features can be extracted from the STL geometry file using
surfaceFeatureExtract, e.g.
surfaceFeatureExtract -includedAngle 150 surface.stl features
Following feature refinement, cells are selected for splitting in the locality of specified
surfaces as illustrated in Figure 5.11. The refinementSurfaces dictionary in castellatedMeshControls requires dictionary entries for each STL surface and a default level
specification of the minimum and maximum refinement in the form (<min> <max>).
The minimum level is applied generally across the surface; the maximum level is applied to cells that can see intersections that form an angle in excess of that specified by
resolveFeatureAngle.
The refinement can optionally be overridden on one or more specific region of an STL
surface. The region entries are collected in a regions sub-dictionary. The keyword for
each region entry is the name of the region itself and the refinement level is contained
within a further sub-dictionary. An example is given below:
refinementSurfaces
{
sphere.stl
{
level (2 2); // default (min max) refinement for whole surface
regions
{
secondSolid
{
level (3 3); // optional refinement for secondSolid region
}

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}
}
}

5.4.4

Cell removal

Once the feature and surface splitting is complete a process of cell removal begins. Cell
removal requires one or more regions enclosed entirely by a bounding surface within the
domain. The region in which cells are retained are simply identified by a location vector
within that region, specified by the locationInMesh keyword in castellatedMeshControls.
Cells are retained if, approximately speaking, 50% or more of their volume lies within the
region. The remaining cells are removed accordingly as illustrated in Figure 5.12.

5.4.5

Cell splitting in specified regions

Those cells that lie within one or more specified volume regions can be further split as illustrated in Figure 5.13 by a rectangular region shown by dark shading. The refinementRegions sub-dictionary in castellatedMeshControls contains entries for refinement of the
volume regions specified in the geometry sub-dictionary. A refinement mode is applied to
each region which can be:
inside refines inside the volume region;
outside refines outside the volume region
distance refines according to distance to the surface; and can accommodate different levels at multiple distances with the levels keyword.
For the refinementRegions, the refinement level is specified by the levels list of entries
with the format(<distance> <level>). In the case of inside and outside refinement,
the <distance> is not required so is ignored (but it must be specified). Examples are
shown below:
refinementRegions
{
box1x1x1
{
mode inside;
levels ((1.0 4));
}

// refinement level 4 (1.0 entry ignored)

Figure 5.11: Cell splitting by surface in snappyHexMesh meshing process

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Figure 5.12: Cell removal in snappyHexMesh meshing process

sphere.stl
{
// refinement level 5 within 1.0 m
mode distance;
// refinement level 3 within 2.0 m
levels ((1.0 5) (2.0 3)); // levels must be ordered nearest first
}
}

5.4.6

Snapping to surfaces

The next stage of the meshing process involves moving cell vertex points onto surface
geometry to remove the jagged castellated surface from the mesh. The process is:
1. displace the vertices in the castellated boundary onto the STL surface;
2. solve for relaxation of the internal mesh with the latest displaced boundary vertices;
3. find the vertices that cause mesh quality parameters to be violated;
4. reduce the displacement of those vertices from their initial value (at 1) and repeat
from 2 until mesh quality is satisfied.
The method uses the settings in the snapControls sub-dictionary in snappyHexMeshDict,
listed in Table 5.9. An example is illustrated in the schematic in Figure 5.14 (albeit with
mesh motion that looks slightly unrealistic).

5.4.7

Mesh layers

The mesh output from the snapping stage may be suitable for the purpose, although it
can produce some irregular cells along boundary surfaces. There is an optional stage of
the meshing process which introduces additional layers of hexahedral cells aligned to the
boundary surface as illustrated by the dark shaded cells in Figure 5.15.
The process of mesh layer addition involves shrinking the existing mesh from the
boundary and inserting layers of cells, broadly as follows:
1. the mesh is projected back from the surface by a specified thickness in the direction
normal to the surface;
2. solve for relaxation of the internal mesh with the latest projected boundary vertices;
3. check if validation criteria are satisfied otherwise reduce the projected thickness and
return to 2; if validation cannot be satisfied for any thickness, do not insert layers;
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Figure 5.13: Cell splitting by region in snappyHexMesh meshing process

Figure 5.14: Surface snapping in snappyHexMesh meshing process

Figure 5.15: Layer addition in snappyHexMesh meshing process

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Keyword
nSmoothPatch

Description
Number of patch smoothing iterations before
finding correspondence to surface
tolerance
Ratio of distance for points to be attracted
by surface feature point or edge, to local
maximum edge length
nSolveIter
Number of mesh displacement relaxation iterations
nRelaxIter
Maximum number of snapping relaxation iterations
nFeatureSnapIter
Number of feature edge snapping iterations
implicitFeatureSnap
Detect (geometric only) features by sampling
the surface
explicitFeatureSnap
Use castellatedMeshControls features
multiRegionFeatureSnap Detect features between multiple surfaces
when using the explicitFeatureSnap

Example
3
4.0

30
5
10
false
true
false

Table 5.9: Keywords in the snapControls dictionary of snappyHexMeshDict.

4. if the validation criteria can be satisfied, insert mesh layers;

5. the mesh is checked again; if the checks fail, layers are removed and we return to 2.
The layer addition procedure uses the settings in the addLayersControls sub-dictionary
in snappyHexMeshDict; entries are listed in Table 5.10. The layers sub-dictionary contains entries for each patch on which the layers are to be applied and the number of
surface layers required. The patch name is used because the layers addition relates to the
existing mesh, not the surface geometry; hence applied to a patch, not a surface region.
An example layers entry is as follows:
layers
{
sphere.stl_firstSolid
{
nSurfaceLayers 1;
}
maxY
{
nSurfaceLayers 1;
}
}

5.4.8

Mesh quality controls

The mesh quality is controlled by the entries in the meshQualityControls sub-dictionary

in snappyHexMeshDict; entries are listed in Table 5.11.

5.5

Mesh conversion

The user can generate meshes using other packages and convert them into the format
that OpenFOAM uses. There are numerous mesh conversion utilities listed in Table 3.6.
Some of the more popular mesh converters are listed below and their use is presented in
this section.
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fluentMeshToFoam reads a Fluent.msh mesh file, working for both 2-D and 3-D cases;
starToFoam reads STAR-CD/PROSTAR mesh files.
gambitToFoam reads a GAMBIT.neu neutral file;
ideasToFoam reads an I-DEAS mesh written in ANSYS.ans format;
cfx4ToFoam reads a CFX mesh written in .geo format;

5.5.1

fluentMeshToFoam

Fluent writes mesh data to a single file with a .msh extension. The file must be written
in ASCII format, which is not the default option in Fluent. It is possible to convert
single-stream Fluent meshes, including the 2 dimensional geometries. In OpenFOAM, 2
dimensional geometries are currently treated by defining a mesh in 3 dimensions, where
the front and back plane are defined as the empty boundary patch type. When reading
a 2 dimensional Fluent mesh, the converter automatically extrudes the mesh in the third
direction and adds the empty patch, naming it frontAndBackPlanes.
The following features should also be observed.
The OpenFOAM converter will attempt to capture the Fluent boundary condition
definition as much as possible; however, since there is no clear, direct correspondence
between the OpenFOAM and Fluent boundary conditions, the user should check the
boundary conditions before running a case.
Creation of axi-symmetric meshes from a 2 dimensional mesh is currently not supported but can be implemented on request.
Multiple material meshes are not permitted. If multiple fluid materials exist, they
will be converted into a single OpenFOAM mesh; if a solid region is detected, the
converter will attempt to filter it out.
Fluent allows the user to define a patch which is internal to the mesh, i.e. consists
of the faces with cells on both sides. Such patches are not allowed in OpenFOAM
and the converter will attempt to filter them out.
There is currently no support for embedded interfaces and refinement trees.
The procedure of converting a Fluent.msh file is first to create a new OpenFOAM case
by creating the necessary directories/files: the case directory containing a controlDict file
in a system subdirectory. Then at a command prompt the user should execute:
fluentMeshToFoam <meshFile>
where <meshFile> is the name of the .msh file, including the full or relative path.

5.5.2

starToFoam

This section describes how to convert a mesh generated on the STAR-CD code into a form
that can be read by OpenFOAM mesh classes. The mesh can be generated by any of the
packages supplied with STAR-CD, i.e.PROSTAR, SAMM, ProAM and their derivatives.
The converter accepts any single-stream mesh including integral and arbitrary couple
matching and all cell types are supported. The features that the converter does not
support are:
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multi-stream mesh specification;

baffles, i.e. zero-thickness walls inserted into the domain;
partial boundaries, where an uncovered part of a couple match is considered to be
a boundary face;
sliding interfaces.
For multi-stream meshes, mesh conversion can be achieved by writing each individual
stream as a separate mesh and reassemble them in OpenFOAM.
OpenFOAM adopts a policy of only accepting input meshes that conform to the
fairly stringent validity criteria specified in section 5.1. It will simply not run using
invalid meshes and cannot convert a mesh that is itself invalid. The following sections
describe steps that must be taken when generating a mesh using a mesh generating
package supplied with STAR-CD to ensure that it can be converted to OpenFOAM format.
To avoid repetition in the remainder of the section, the mesh generation tools supplied
with STAR-CD will be referred to by the collective name STAR-CD.
5.5.2.1

General advice on conversion

We strongly recommend that the user run the STAR-CD mesh checking tools before
attempting a starToFoam conversion and, after conversion, the checkMesh utility should
be run on the newly converted mesh. Alternatively, starToFoam may itself issue warnings
containing PROSTAR commands that will enable the user to take a closer look at cells with
problems. Problematic cells and matches should be checked and fixed before attempting
to use the mesh with OpenFOAM. Remember that an invalid mesh will not run with
OpenFOAM, but it may run in another environment that does not impose the validity
criteria.
Some problems of tolerance matching can be overcome by the use of a matching
tolerance in the converter. However, there is a limit to its effectiveness and an apparent
need to increase the matching tolerance from its default level indicates that the original
mesh suffers from inaccuracies.
5.5.2.2

Eliminating extraneous data

When mesh generation in is completed, remove any extraneous vertices and compress the
cells boundary and vertex numbering, assuming that fluid cells have been created and all
other cells are discarded. This is done with the following PROSTAR commands:
CSET NEWS FLUID
CSET INVE
The CSET should be empty. If this is not the case, examine the cells in CSET and adjust
the model. If the cells are genuinely not desired, they can be removed using the PROSTAR
command:
CDEL CSET
Similarly, vertices will need to be discarded as well:
CSET NEWS FLUID
VSET NEWS CSET
VSET INVE
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Before discarding these unwanted vertices, the unwanted boundary faces have to be collected before purging:
CSET
VSET
BSET
BSET

NEWS FLUID
NEWS CSET
NEWS VSET ALL
INVE

If the BSET is not empty, the unwanted boundary faces can be deleted using:
BDEL BSET
At this time, the model should contain only the fluid cells and the supporting vertices,
as well as the defined boundary faces. All boundary faces should be fully supported by the
vertices of the cells, if this is not the case, carry on cleaning the geometry until everything
is clean.
5.5.2.3

Removing default boundary conditions

By default, STAR-CD assigns wall boundaries to any boundary faces not explicitly associated with a boundary region. The remaining boundary faces are collected into a default
boundary region, with the assigned boundary type 0. OpenFOAM deliberately does not
have a concept of a default boundary condition for undefined boundary faces since it
invites human error, e.g. there is no means of checking that we meant to give all the
unassociated faces the default condition.
Therefore all boundaries for each OpenFOAM mesh must be specified for a mesh to
be successfully converted. The default boundary needs to be transformed into a real
one using the procedure described below:
1. Plot the geometry with Wire Surface option.
2. Define an extra boundary region with the same parameters as the default region
0 and add all visible faces into the new region, say 10, by selecting a zone option
in the boundary tool and drawing a polygon around the entire screen draw of the
model. This can be done by issuing the following commands in PROSTAR:
RDEF 10 WALL
BZON 10 ALL
3. We shall remove all previously defined boundary types from the set. Go through
the boundary regions:
BSET NEWS REGI 1
BSET NEWS REGI 2
... 3, 4, ...
Collect the vertices associated with the boundary set and then the boundary faces
associated with the vertices (there will be twice as many of them as in the original
set).
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BSET
VSET
BSET
BSET
REPL

NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
DELE

REGI 1
BSET
VSET ALL
REGI 1

This should give the faces of boundary Region 10 which have been defined on top
of boundary Region 1. Delete them with BDEL BSET. Repeat these for all regions.
5.5.2.4

Renumbering the model

Renumber and check the model using the commands:

CSET NEW FLUID
CCOM CSET
VSET
VSET
VSET
VCOM

NEWS CSET
INVE (Should be empty!)
INVE
VSET

BSET
BSET
BSET
BCOM

NEWS VSET ALL

INVE (Should be empty also!)
INVE
BSET

CHECK ALL
GEOM
Internal PROSTAR checking is performed by the last two commands, which may reveal
some other unforeseeable error(s). Also, take note of the scaling factor because PROSTAR
only applies the factor for STAR-CD and not the geometry. If the factor is not 1, use the
scalePoints utility in OpenFOAM.
5.5.2.5

Writing out the mesh data

Once the mesh is completed, place all the integral matches of the model into the couple
type 1. All other types will be used to indicate arbitrary matches.
CPSET NEWS TYPE INTEGRAL
CPMOD CPSET 1
The components of the computational grid must then be written to their own files. This
is done using PROSTAR for boundaries by issuing the command
BWRITE
by default, this writes to a .23 file (versions prior to 3.0) or a .bnd file (versions 3.0 and
higher). For cells, the command
CWRITE
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-159

5.5 Mesh conversion

outputs the cells to a .14 or .cel file and for vertices, the command
VWRITE
outputs to file a .15 or .vrt file. The current default setting writes the files in ASCII
format. If couples are present, an additional couple file with the extension .cpl needs to
be written out by typing:
CPWRITE
After outputting to the three files, exit PROSTAR or close the files. Look through
the panels and take note of all STAR-CD sub-models, material and fluid properties used
the material properties and mathematical model will need to be set up by creating and
editing OpenFOAM dictionary files.
The procedure of converting the PROSTAR files is first to create a new OpenFOAM
case by creating the necessary directories. The PROSTAR files must be stored within the
same directory and the user must change the file extensions: from .23, .14 and .15 (below
STAR-CD version 3.0), or .pcs, .cls and .vtx (STAR-CD version 3.0 and above); to .bnd,
.cel and .vrt respectively.
5.5.2.6

Problems with the .vrt file

The .vrt file is written in columns of data of specified width, rather than free format. A
typical line of data might be as follows, giving a vertex number followed by the coordinates:
19422

-0.105988957

-0.413711881E-02 0.000000000E+00

If the ordinates are written in scientific notation and are negative, there may be no space
between values, e.g.:
19423

-0.953953117E-01-0.338810333E-02 0.000000000E+00

The starToFoam converter reads the data using spaces to delimit the ordinate values and
will therefore object when reading the previous example. Therefore, OpenFOAM includes
a simple script, foamCorrectVrt to insert a space between values where necessary, i.e. it
would convert the previous example to:
19423

-0.953953117E-01 -0.338810333E-02 0.000000000E+00

The foamCorrectVrt script should therefore be executed if necessary before running the
starToFoam converter, by typing:
foamCorrectVrt <file>.vrt
5.5.2.7

Converting the mesh to OpenFOAM format

The translator utility starToFoam can now be run to create the boundaries, cells and
points files necessary for a OpenFOAM run:
starToFoam <meshFilePrefix>
where <meshFilePrefix> is the name of the prefix of the mesh files, including the full or
relative path. After the utility has finished running, OpenFOAM boundary types should
be specified by editing the boundary file by hand.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-160

5.5.3

Mesh generation and conversion

gambitToFoam

GAMBIT writes mesh data to a single file with a .neu extension. The procedure of converting a GAMBIT.neu file is first to create a new OpenFOAM case, then at a command
prompt, the user should execute:
gambitToFoam <meshFile>
where <meshFile> is the name of the .neu file, including the full or relative path.
The GAMBIT file format does not provide information about type of the boundary
patch, e.g. wall, symmetry plane, cyclic. Therefore all the patches have been created as
type patch. Please reset after mesh conversion as necessary.

5.5.4

ideasToFoam

OpenFOAM can convert a mesh generated by I-DEAS but written out in ANSYS format
as a .ans file. The procedure of converting the .ans file is first to create a new OpenFOAM
case, then at a command prompt, the user should execute:
ideasToFoam <meshFile>
where <meshFile> is the name of the .ans file, including the full or relative path.

5.5.5

cfx4ToFoam

CFX writes mesh data to a single file with a .geo extension. The mesh format in CFX is
block-structured, i.e. the mesh is specified as a set of blocks with glueing information and
the vertex locations. OpenFOAM will convert the mesh and capture the CFX boundary
condition as best as possible. The 3 dimensional patch definition in CFX, containing
information about the porous, solid regions etc. is ignored with all regions being converted
into a single OpenFOAM mesh. CFX supports the concept of a default patch, where
each external face without a defined boundary condition is treated as a wall. These faces
are collected by the converter and put into a defaultFaces patch in the OpenFOAM
mesh and given the type wall; of course, the patch type can be subsequently changed.
Like, OpenFOAM 2 dimensional geometries in CFX are created as 3 dimensional
meshes of 1 cell thickness. If a user wishes to run a 2 dimensional case on a mesh created
by CFX, the boundary condition on the front and back planes should be set to empty;
the user should ensure that the boundary conditions on all other faces in the plane of the
calculation are set correctly. Currently there is no facility for creating an axi-symmetric
geometry from a 2 dimensional CFX mesh.
The procedure of converting a CFX.geo file is first to create a new OpenFOAM case,
then at a command prompt, the user should execute:
cfx4ToFoam <meshFile>
where <meshFile> is the name of the .geo file, including the full or relative path.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

5.6 Mapping fields between different geometries

5.6

U-161

Mapping fields between different geometries

The mapFields utility maps one or more fields relating to a given geometry onto the
corresponding fields for another geometry. It is completely generalised in so much as
there does not need to be any similarity between the geometries to which the fields relate.
However, for cases where the geometries are consistent, mapFields can be executed with
a special option that simplifies the mapping process.
For our discussion of mapFields we need to define a few terms. First, we say that
the data is mapped from the source to the target. The fields are deemed consistent if
the geometry and boundary types, or conditions, of both source and target fields are
identical. The field data that mapFields maps are those fields within the time directory
specified by startFrom/startTime in the controlDict of the target case. The data is read
from the equivalent time directory of the source case and mapped onto the equivalent
time directory of the target case.

5.6.1

Mapping consistent fields

A mapping of consistent fields is simply performed by executing mapFields on the (target)

case using the -consistent command line option as follows:
mapFields <source dir> -consistent

5.6.2

Mapping inconsistent fields

When the fields are not consistent, as shown in Figure 5.16, mapFields requires a mapFieldsDict dictionary in the system directory of the target case. The following rules apply
to the mapping:
the field data is mapped from source to target wherever possible, i.e. in our example
all the field data within the target geometry is mapped from the source, except those
in the shaded region which remain unaltered;
the patch field data is left unaltered unless specified otherwise in the mapFieldsDict
dictionary.
The mapFieldsDict dictionary contain two lists that specify mapping of patch data. The
first list is patchMap that specifies mapping of data between pairs of source and target
patches that are geometrically coincident, as shown in Figure 5.16. The list contains
each pair of names of source and target patch. The second list is cuttingPatches that
contains names of target patches whose values are to be mapped from the source internal
field through which the target patch cuts. In the situation where the target patch only
cuts through part of the source internal field, e.g. bottom left target patch in our example,
those values within the internal field are mapped and those outside remain unchanged.
An example mapFieldsDict dictionary is shown below:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23

patchMap

( lid movingWall );

cuttingPatches

( fixedWalls );

// ************************************************************************* //

mapFields <source dir>

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-162

Mesh generation and conversion

Coincident patches:
can be mapped using patchMap
Internal target patches:
can be mapped using cuttingPatches
Source field geometry
Target field geometry
Figure 5.16: Mapping inconsistent fields

5.6.3

Mapping parallel cases

If either or both of the source and target cases are decomposed for running in parallel,
additional options must be supplied when executing mapFields:
-parallelSource if the source case is decomposed for parallel running;
-parallelTarget if the target case is decomposed for parallel running.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-163

5.6 Mapping fields between different geometries

Keyword
layers
relativeSizes
expansionRatio
finalLayerThickness

firstLayerThickness
thickness
minThickness
nGrow

featureAngle
maxFaceThicknessRatio
nSmoothSurfaceNormals
nSmoothThickness
minMedialAxisAngle
maxThicknessToMedialRatio
maxThicknessToMedialRatio
nSmoothNormals
nRelaxIter
nBufferCellsNoExtrude
nLayerIter
nRelaxedIter

Description
Dictionary of layers
Are layer thicknesses relative to undistorted cell
size outside layer or absolute?
Expansion factor for layer mesh
Thickness of layer furthest from the wall, either relative or absolute according to the
relativeSizes entry
Thickness of layer closest to the wall, either relative or absolute according to
Overall thickness of all layers
Minimum overall thickness of all layers, below
which surface is not extruded
Number of layers of connected faces that are not
grown if points are not extruded; helps convergence of layer addition close to features
Angle above which surface is not extruded
Face thickness ratio above which surface is not
extruded, useful for warped cells
Number of smoothing iterations of surface normals
Smooth layer thickness over surface patches
Angle used to pick up medial axis points
Reduce layer growth where ratio thickness to medial distance is large
Reduce layer growth where ratio thickness to medial distance is large
Number of smoothing iterations of interior mesh
movement direction
Maximum number of snapping relaxation iterations
Create buffer region for new layer terminations

Example
true/false
1.0
1

0.3
0.3
0.1
1

60
0.5
1
10
90
0.3
0.3
3
5
0

Overall max number of layer addition iterations 50

Max number of iterations after which the 20
controls in the relaxed sub dictionary of
meshQuality are used

Table 5.10: Keywords in the addLayersControls sub-dictionary of snappyHexMeshDict.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-164

Keyword
maxNonOrtho

Mesh generation and conversion

Description
Maximum non-orthogonality allowed; 180 disables
maxBoundarySkewness Max boundary face skewness allowed; <0 disables
maxInternalSkewness Max internal face skewness allowed; <0 disables
maxConcave
Max concaveness allowed; 180 disables
minFlatness
Ratio of minimum projected area to actual area;
-1 disables
minVol
Minimum pyramid volume; large negative number, e.g.-1e30 disables
minTetQuality
Minimum quality of the tetrahedron formed by
the face-centre and variable base point minimum decomposition triangles and the cell centre; set to very negative number, e.g.-1e30 to
disable
minArea
Minimum face area; <0 disables
minTwist
Minimum face twist; <-1 disables
minDeterminant
Minimum normalised cell determinant; 1 = hex;
0 illegal cell
minFaceWeight
00.5
minVolRatio
01.0
minTriangleTwist
>0 for Fluent compatability
nSmoothScale
Number of error distribution iterations
errorReduction
Amount to scale back displacement at error
points
relaxed
Sub-dictionary that can include modified values
for the above keyword entries to be used when
nRelaxedIter is exceeded in the layer addition
process

Example
65
20
4
80
0.5
1e-13
1e-13

-1
0.05
0.001
0.05
0.01
-1
4
0.75
relaxed
{
...
}

Table 5.11: Keywords in the meshQualityControls sub-dictionary of snappyHexMeshDict.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Chapter 6
Post-processing
This chapter describes options for post-processing with OpenFOAM. OpenFOAM is supplied with a post-processing utility paraFoam that uses ParaView, an open source visualisation application described in section 6.1.
Other methods of post-processing using third party products are offered, including
EnSight, Fieldview and the post-processing supplied with Fluent.

6.1

paraFoam

The main post-processing tool provided with OpenFOAM is a reader module to run
with ParaView, an open-source, visualization application. The module is compiled into 2
libraries, PV4FoamReader and vtkPV4Foam using version 4.4.0 of ParaView supplied with
the OpenFOAM release (PV3FoamReader and vtkPV3Foam in ParaView version 3.x). It
is recommended that this version of ParaView is used, although it is possible that the
latest binary release of the software will run adequately. Further details about ParaView
can be found at http://www.paraview.org and further documentation is available at
http://www.kitware.com/products/books/paraview.html.
ParaView uses the Visualisation Toolkit (VTK) as its data processing and rendering
engine and can therefore read any data in VTK format. OpenFOAM includes the foamToVTK utility to convert data from its native format to VTK format, which means that
any VTK-based graphics tools can be used to post-process OpenFOAM cases. This provides an alternative means for using ParaView with OpenFOAM. For users who wish
to experiment with advanced, parallel visualisation, there is also the free VisIt software,
available at http://www.llnl.gov/visit.
In summary, we recommend the reader module for ParaView as the primary postprocessing tool for OpenFOAM. Alternatively OpenFOAM data can be converted into
VTK format to be read by ParaView or any other VTK -based graphics tools.

6.1.1

Overview of paraFoam

paraFoam is strictly a script that launches ParaView using the reader module supplied
with OpenFOAM. It is executed like any of the OpenFOAM utilities either by the single
command from within the case directory or with the -case option with the case path as
an argument, e.g.:
paraFoam -case <caseDir>
ParaView is launched and opens the window shown in Figure 6.1. The case is controlled
from the left panel, which contains the following:

U-166

Post-processing

Figure 6.1: The paraFoam window

Pipeline Browser lists the modules opened in ParaView, where the selected modules are
highlighted in blue and the graphics for the given module can be enabled/disabled
by clicking the eye button alongside;
Properties panel contains the input selections for the case, such as times, regions and
fields;
Display panel controls the visual representation of the selected module, e.g. colours;
Information panel gives case statistics such as mesh geometry and size.
ParaView operates a tree-based structure in which data can be filtered from the toplevel case module to create sets of sub-modules. For example, a contour plot of, say,
pressure could be a sub-module of the case module which contains all the pressure data.
The strength of ParaView is that the user can create a number of sub-modules and display
whichever ones they feel to create the desired image or animation. For example, they
may add some solid geometry, mesh and velocity vectors, to a contour plot of pressure,
switching any of the items on and off as necessary.
The general operation of the system is based on the user making a selection and then
clicking the green Apply button in the Properties panel. The additional buttons are: the
Reset button which is used to reset the GUI if necessary; and, the Delete button that will
delete the active module.

6.1.2

The Properties panel

The Properties panel for the case module contains the settings for time step, regions and
fields. The controls are described in Figure 6.2. It is particularly worth noting that
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-167

6.1 paraFoam

The user can select internalMesh

region and/or individual patches

The user can select the fields

read into the case module

Figure 6.2: The Properties panel for the case module

in the current reader module, data in all time directories are loaded into ParaView (in
the reader module for ParaView 4.4.0, a set of check boxes controlled the time that were
displayed). In the current reader module, the buttons in the Current Time Controls
and VCR Controls toolbars select the time data to be displayed, as shown is section 6.1.4.
As with any operation in paraFoam, the user must click Apply after making any changes
to any selections. The Apply button is highlighted in green to alert the user if changes have
been made but not accepted. This method of operation has the advantage of allowing the
user to make a number of selections before accepting them, which is particularly useful
in large cases where data processing is best kept to a minimum.
There are occasions when the case data changes on file and ParaView needs to load the
changes, e.g. when field data is written into new time directories. To load the changes,
the user should check the Update GUI button at the top of the Properties panel and then
apply the changes.

6.1.3

The Display panel

The Display panel contains the settings for visualising the data for a given case module.
The following points are particularly important:
the data range may not be automatically updated to the max/min limits of a field,
so the user should take care to select Rescale to Data Range at appropriate intervals,
in particular after loading the initial case module;
clicking the Edit Color Map button, brings up a window in which there are two
panels:
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-168

Post-processing

View case data

Colour geometry/entity by...

Set colour map range/appearance

Outline, surface, wireframe or points

Data interpolation method

Change image opacity

e.g. to make transluscent

Geometry manipulation tools

Figure 6.3: The Display panel

1. The Color Scale panel in which the colours within the scale can be chosen. The
standard blue to red colour scale for CFD can be selected by clicking Choose
Preset and selecting Blue to Red Rainbox HSV.
2. The Color Legend panel has a toggle switch for a colour bar legend and contains
settings for the layout of the legend, e.g. font.
the underlying mesh can be represented by selecting Wireframe in the Representation menu of the Style panel;
the geometry, e.g. a mesh (if Wireframe is selected), can be visualised as a single
colour by selecting Solid Color from the Color By menu and specifying the colour
in the Set Ambient Color window;
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-169

6.1 paraFoam

the image can be made translucent by editing the value in the Opacity text box (1
= solid, 0 = invisible) in the Style panel.

6.1.4

The button toolbars

ParaView duplicates functionality from pull-down menus at the top of the main window
and the major panels, within the toolbars below the main pull-down menus. The displayed
toolbars can be selected from Toolbars in the main View menu. The default layout with
all toolbars is shown in Figure 6.4 with each toolbar labelled. The function of many of
the buttons is clear from their icon and, with tooltips enabled in the Help menu, the user
is given a concise description of the function of any button.
Main controls

Undo/Redo Controls
Selection Controls
VCR Controls

Current Time Controls

Common Filters
Camera Controls
Active Variable Controls | Representation
Centre Axes Controls

Figure 6.4: Toolbars in ParaView

6.1.5

Manipulating the view

This section describes operations for setting and manipulating the view of objects in
paraFoam.
6.1.5.1

View settings

The View Settings are selected from the Edit menu, which opens a View Settings (Render
View) window with a table of 3 items: General, Lights and Annotation. The General panel
includes the following items which are often worth setting at startup:
the background colour, where white is often a preferred choice for printed material,
is set by choosing background from the down-arrow button next to Choose Color
button, then selecting the color by clicking on the Choose Color button;
Use parallel projection which is the usual choice for CFD, especially for 2D cases.
The Lights panel contains detailed lighting controls within the Light Kit panel. A
separate Headlight panel controls the direct lighting of the image. Checking the Headlight
button with white light colour of strength 1 seems to help produce images with strong
bright colours, e.g. with an isosurface.
The Annotation panel includes options for including annotations in the image. The
Orientation Axes feature controls an axes icon in the image window, e.g. to set the colour
of the axes labels x, y and z.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-170
6.1.5.2

Post-processing

General settings

The general Settings are selected from the Edit menu, which opens a general Options
window with General, Colors, Animations, Charts and Render View menu items.
The General panel controls some default behaviour of ParaView. In particular, there
is an Auto Accept button that enables ParaView to accept changes automatically without
clicking the green Apply button in the Properties window. For larger cases, this option is
generally not recommended: the user does not generally want the image to be re-rendered
between each of a number of changes he/she selects, but be able to apply a number of
changes to be re-rendered in their entirety once.
The Render View panel contains 3 sub-items: General, Camera and Server. The General
panel includes the level of detail (LOD) which controls the rendering of the image while it
is being manipulated, e.g. translated, resized, rotated; lowering the levels set by the sliders,
allows cases with large numbers of cells to be re-rendered quickly during manipulation.
The Camera panel includes control settings for 3D and 2D movements. This presents
the user with a map of rotation, translate and zoom controls using the mouse in combination with Shift- and Control-keys. The map can be edited to suit by the user.

6.1.6

Contour plots

A contour plot is created by selecting Contour from the Filter menu at the top menu
bar. The filter acts on a given module so that, if the module is the 3D case module itself,
the contours will be a set of 2D surfaces that represent a constant value, i.e. isosurfaces.
The Properties panel for contours contains an Isosurfaces list that the user can edit, most
conveniently by the New Range window. The chosen scalar field is selected from a pull
down menu.
6.1.6.1

Introducing a cutting plane

Very often a user will wish to create a contour plot across a plane rather than producing
isosurfaces. To do so, the user must first use the Slice filter to create the cutting plane,
on which the contours can be plotted. The Slice filter allows the user to specify a cutting
Plane, Box or Sphere in the Slice Type menu by a center and normal/radius respectively.
The user can manipulate the cutting plane like any other using the mouse.
The user can then run the Contour filter on the cut plane to generate contour lines.

6.1.7

Vector plots

Vector plots are created using the Glyph filter. The filter reads the field selected in
Vectors and offers a range of Glyph Types for which the Arrow provides a clear vector
plot images. Each glyph has a selection of graphical controls in a panel which the user
can manipulate to best effect.
The remainder of the Properties panel contains mainly the Scale Mode menu for the
glyphs. The most common options are Scale Mode are: Vector, where the glyph length
is proportional to the vector magnitude; and, Off where each glyph is the same length.
The Set Scale Factor parameter controls the base length of the glyphs.
6.1.7.1

Plotting at cell centres

Vectors are by default plotted on cell vertices but, very often, we wish to plot data at cell
centres. This is done by first applying the Cell Centers filter to the case module, and
then applying the Glyph filter to the resulting cell centre data.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

6.1 paraFoam

6.1.8

U-171

Streamlines

Streamlines are created by first creating tracer lines using the Stream Tracer filter. The
tracer Seed panel specifies a distribution of tracer points over a Line Source or Point
Cloud. The user can view the tracer source, e.g. the line, but it is displayed in white, so
they may need to change the background colour in order to see it.
The distance the tracer travels and the length of steps the tracer takes are specified in
the text boxes in the main Stream Tracer panel. The process of achieving desired tracer
lines is largely one of trial and error in which the tracer lines obviously appear smoother
as the step length is reduced but with the penalty of a longer calculation time.
Once the tracer lines have been created, the Tubes filter can be applied to the Tracer
module to produce high quality images. The tubes follow each tracer line and are not
strictly cylindrical but have a fixed number of sides and given radius. When the number
of sides is set above, say, 10, the tubes do however appear cylindrical, but again this adds
a computational cost.

6.1.9

Image output

The simplest way to output an image to file from ParaView is to select Save Screenshot
from the File menu. On selection, a window appears in which the user can select the
resolution for the image to save. There is a button that, when clicked, locks the aspect
ratio, so if the user changes the resolution in one direction, the resolution is adjusted in
the other direction automatically. After selecting the pixel resolution, the image can be
saved. To achieve high quality output, the user might try setting the pixel resolution to
1000 or more in the x-direction so that when the image is scaled to a typical size of a
figure in an A4 or US letter document, perhaps in a PDF document, the resolution is
sharp.

6.1.10

Animation output

To create an animation, the user should first select Save Animation from the File menu.
A dialogue window appears in which the user can specify a number of things including
the image resolution. The user should specify the resolution as required. The other
noteworthy setting is number of frames per timestep. While this would intuitively be
set to 1, it can be set to a larger number in order to introduce more frames into the
animation artificially. This technique can be particularly useful to produce a slower
animation because some movie players have limited speed control, particularly over mpeg
movies.
On clicking the Save Animation button, another window appears in which the user specifies a file name root and file format for a set of images. On clicking OK, the set of files will
be saved according to the naming convention <fileRoot> <imageNo>.<fileExt>,
e.g. the third image of a series with the file root animation, saved in jpg format would
be named animation 0002.jpg (<imageNo> starts at 0000).
Once the set of images are saved the user can convert them into a movie using their
software of choice. The convert utility in the ImageMagick package can do this from the
command line, e.g. by
convert animation*jpg movie.mpg
When creating an mpg movie it can be worth increasing the default quality setting, e.g.
with -quality 90%, to reduce the graininess that can occur with the default setting.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-172

6.2

Post-processing

Post-processing with Fluent

It is possible to use Fluent as a post-processor for the cases run in OpenFOAM. Two converters are supplied for the purpose: foamMeshToFluent which converts the OpenFOAM
mesh into Fluent format and writes it out as a .msh file; and, foamDataToFluent converts the OpenFOAM results data into a .dat file readable by Fluent. foamMeshToFluent
is executed in the usual manner. The resulting mesh is written out in a fluentInterface
subdirectory of the case directory, i.e.<caseName>/fluentInterface/<caseName>.msh
foamDataToFluent converts the OpenFOAM data results into the Fluent format. The
conversion is controlled by two files. First, the controlDict dictionary specifies startTime,
giving the set of results to be converted. If you want to convert the latest result,
startFrom can be set to latestTime. The second file which specifies the translation
is the foamDataToFluentDict dictionary, located in the constant directory. An example
foamDataToFluentDict dictionary is given below:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

/*--------------------------------*- C++ -*----------------------------------*\

| =========
|
|
| \\
/ F ield
| OpenFOAM: The Open Source CFD Toolbox
|
| \\
/
O peration
| Version: v3.0+
|
|
\\ /
A nd
| Web:
www.OpenFOAM.com
|
|
\\/
M anipulation |
|
\*---------------------------------------------------------------------------*/
FoamFile
{
version
2.0;
format
ascii;
class
dictionary;
location
"system";
object
foamDataToFluentDict;
}
// * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * //
p

1;

2;

3;

4;

5;

epsilon

6;

alpha1

150;

// ************************************************************************* //

The dictionary contains entries of the form

<fieldName> <fluentUnitNumber>

The <fluentUnitNumber> is a label used by the Fluent post-processor that only recognises a fixed set of fields. The basic set of <fluentUnitNumber> numbers are quoted in
Table 6.1. The dictionary must contain all the entries the user requires to post-process,
e.g. in our example we have entries for pressure p and velocity U. The list of default entries
described in Table 6.1. The user can run foamDataToFluent like any utility.
To view the results using Fluent, go to the fluentInterface subdirectory of the case
directory and start a 3 dimensional version of Fluent with
fluent 3d
The mesh and data files can be loaded in and the results visualised. The mesh is read
by selecting Read Case from the File menu. Support items should be selected to read
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-173

6.3 Post-processing with Fieldview

Fluent name
PRESSURE
MOMENTUM
TEMPERATURE
ENTHALPY
TKE
TED
SPECIES
G
XF RF DATA VOF
TOTAL PRESSURE
TOTAL TEMPERATURE

Unit number Common OpenFOAM name

1
p
2
U
3
T
4
h
5
k
6
epsilon
7

150
gamma
192

193

Table 6.1: Fluent unit numbers for post-processing.

certain data types, e.g. to read turbulence data for k and epsilon, the user would select
k-epsilon from the Define->Models->Viscous menu. The data can then be read by
selecting Read Data from the File menu.
A note of caution: users MUST NOT try to use an original Fluent mesh file that has
been converted to OpenFOAM format in conjunction with the OpenFOAM solution that
has been converted to Fluent format since the alignment of zone numbering cannot be
guaranteed.

6.3

Post-processing with Fieldview

OpenFOAM offers the capability for post-processing OpenFOAM cases with Fieldview.
The method involves running a post-processing utility foamToFieldview to convert case
data from OpenFOAM to Fieldview.uns file format. For a given case, foamToFieldview is
executed like any normal application. foamToFieldview creates a directory named Fieldview
in the case directory, deleting any existing Fieldview directory in the process. By default
the converter reads the data in all time directories and writes into a set of files of the
form <case> nn.uns, where nn is an incremental counter starting from 1 for the first time
directory, 2 for the second and so on. The user may specify the conversion of a single time
directory with the option -time <time>, where <time> is a time in general, scientific
or fixed format.
Fieldview provides certain functions that require information about boundary conditions, e.g. drawing streamlines that uses information about wall boundaries. The converter tries, wherever possible, to include this information in the converted files by default.
The user can disable the inclusion of this information by using the -noWall option in the
execution command.
The data files for Fieldview have the .uns extension as mentioned already. If the original
OpenFOAM case includes a dot ., Fieldview may have problems interpreting a set of data
files as a single case with multiple time steps.

6.4

Post-processing with EnSight

OpenFOAM offers the capability for post-processing OpenFOAM cases with EnSight,
with a choice of 2 options:
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-174

Post-processing

converting the OpenFOAM data to EnSight format with the foamToEnsight utility;
reading the OpenFOAM data directly into EnSight using the ensight74FoamExec
module.

6.4.1

Converting data to EnSight format

The foamToEnsight utility converts data from OpenFOAM to EnSight file format. For a
given case, foamToEnsight is executed like any normal application. foamToEnsight creates
a directory named Ensight in the case directory, deleting any existing Ensight directory in
the process. The converter reads the data in all time directories and writes into a case
file and a set of data files. The case file is named EnSight Case and contains details of
the data file names. Each data file has a name of the form EnSight nn.ext, where nn is an
incremental counter starting from 1 for the first time directory, 2 for the second and so
on and ext is a file extension of the name of the field that the data refers to, as described
in the case file, e.g.T for temperature, mesh for the mesh. Once converted, the data can
be read into EnSight by the normal means:
1. from the EnSight GUI, the user should select Data (Reader) from the File menu;
2. the appropriate EnSight Case file should be highlighted in the Files box;
3. the Format selector should be set to Case, the EnSight default setting;
4. the user should click (Set) Case and Okay.

6.4.2

The ensight74FoamExec reader module

EnSight provides the capability of using a user-defined module to read data from a format
other than the standard EnSight format. OpenFOAM includes its own reader module
ensight74FoamExec that is compiled into a library named libuserd-foam. It is this library
that EnSight needs to use which means that it must be able to locate it on the filing
system as described in the following section.
6.4.2.1

Configuration of EnSight for the reader module

In order to run the EnSight reader, it is necessary to set some environment variables correctly. The settings are made in the bashrc (or cshrc) file in the $WM PROJECT DIR/etc/apps/ensightFoam directory. The environment variables associated with EnSight are prefixed by $CEI or $ENSIGHT7 and listed in Table 6.2. With a standard user setup, only
$CEI HOME may need to be set manually, to the path of the EnSight installation.
6.4.2.2

Using the reader module

The principal difficulty in using the EnSight reader lies in the fact that EnSight expects
that a case to be defined by the contents of a particular file, rather than a directory as it
is in OpenFOAM. Therefore in following the instructions for the using the reader below,
the user should pay particular attention to the details of case selection, since EnSight does
not permit selection of a directory name.
1. from the EnSight GUI, the user should select Data (Reader) from the File menu;
2. The user should now be able to select the OpenFOAM from the Format menu; if not,
there is a problem with the configuration described above.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-175

6.5 Sampling data

Environment variable
$CEI HOME
$CEI ARCH

$ENSIGHT7 READER
$ENSIGHT7 INPUT

Description and options

Path where EnSight is installed, eg /usr/local/ensight, added
to the system path by default
Machine architecture, from a choice of names corresponding to the machine directory names in
$CEI HOME/ensight74/machines; default settings include
linux 2.4 and sgi 6.5 n32
Path that EnSight searches for the user defined libuserd-foam
reader library, set by default to $FOAM LIBBIN
Set by default to dummy

Table 6.2: Environment variable settings for EnSight.

3. The user should find their case directory from the File Selection window, highlight
one of top 2 entries in the Directories box ending in /. or /.. and click (Set)
Geometry.
4. The path field should now contain an entry for the case. The (Set) Geometry text
box should contain a /.
5. The user may now click Okay and EnSight will begin reading the data.
6. When the data is read, a new Data Part Loader window will appear, asking which
part(s) are to be read. The user should select Load all.
7. When the mesh is displayed in the EnSight window the user should close the Data
Part Loader window, since some features of EnSight will not work with this window
open.

6.5

Sampling data

OpenFOAM provides the sample utility to sample field data, either through a 1D line
for plotting on graphs or a 2D plane for displaying as isosurface images. The sampling
locations are specified for a case through a sampleDict dictionary in the case system
directory. The data can be written in a range of formats including well-known graphing
packages such as Grace/xmgr, gnuplot and jPlot.
The sampleDict dictionary can be generated by copying an example sampleDict from
the sample source code directory at $FOAM UTILITIES/postProcessing/sampling/sample.
The plateHole tutorial case in the $FOAM TUTORIALS/solidDisplacementFoam directory
also contains an example for 1D line sampling:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33

interpolationScheme cellPoint;
setFormat
sets
(
leftPatch
{
type
axis
start
end
nPoints
}
);

raw;

uniform;
y;
(0 0.5 0.25);
(0 2 0.25);
100;

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-176
34
35
36
37

Post-processing

fields

(sigmaEq);

// ************************************************************************* //

Keyword
Options
interpolation- cell
Scheme
cellPoint
cellPointFace
pointMVC
cellPatchConstrained
setFormat
raw
gnuplot
xmgr
jplot
vtk
ensight
csv
surfaceFormat null
foamFile
dx
vtk
raw
stl
ensight
boundaryData
starcd
nastran

Description
Cell-centre value assumed constant over cell
Linear weighted interpolation using cell values
Mixed linear weighted / cell-face interpolation
Point values only (Mean Value Coordinates)
As cell but uses face value on boundary faces
Raw ASCII data in columns
Data in gnuplot format
Data in Grace/xmgr format
Data in jPlot format
Data in VTK format
Data in EnSight format
Data in CSV format
Suppresses output
points, faces, values file
DX scalar or vector format
VTK ASCII format
xyz values for use with e.g.gnuplotsplot
ASCII STL; just surface, no values
EnSight surface format
A form that can be used with timeVaryingMapped bound
Nastran surface format

fields

List of fields to be sampled, e.g. for velocity U:

U
Writes all components of U

sets
surfaces

List of 1D sets subdictionaries see Table 6.4

List of 2D surfaces subdictionaries see Table 6.5 and Table 6.6
Table 6.3: keyword entries for sampleDict.

The dictionary contains the following entries:

interpolationScheme the scheme of data interpolation;
sets the locations within the domain that the fields are line-sampled (1D).
surfaces the locations within the domain that the fields are surface-sampled (2D).
setFormat the format of line data output;
surfaceFormat the format of surface data output;
fields the fields to be sampled;
The interpolationScheme includes cellPoint and cellPointFace options in which
each polyhedral cell is decomposed into tetrahedra and the sample values are interpolated
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-177

6.6 Monitoring and managing jobs

from values at the tetrahedra vertices. With cellPoint, the tetrahedra vertices include
the polyhedron cell centre and 3 face vertices. The vertex coincident with the cell centre
inherits the cell centre field value and the other vertices take values interpolated from cell
centres. With cellPointFace, one of the tetrahedra vertices is also coincident with a
face centre, which inherits field values by conventional interpolation schemes using values
at the centres of cells that the face intersects.
The setFormat entry for line sampling includes a raw data format and formats for
gnuplot, Grace/xmgr and jPlot graph drawing packages. The data are written into a sets
directory within the case directory. The directory is split into a set of time directories and
the data files are contained therein. Each data file is given a name containing the field
name, the sample set name, and an extension relating to the output format, including
.xy for raw data, .agr for Grace/xmgr and .dat for jPlot. The gnuplot format has the data
in raw form with an additional commands file, with .gplt extension, for generating the
graph. Note that any existing sets directory is deleted when sample is run.
The surfaceFormat entry for surface sampling includes a raw data format and formats
for gnuplot, Grace/xmgr and jPlot graph drawing packages. The data are written into a
surfaces directory within the case directory. The directory is split into time directories
and files are written much as with line sampling.
The fields list contains the fields that the user wishes to sample. The sample utility
can parse the following restricted set of functions to enable the user to manipulate vector
and tensor fields, e.g. for U:
U.component(n) writes the nth component of the vector/tensor, n = 0, 1 . . .;
mag(U) writes the magnitude of the vector/tensor.
The sets list contains sub-dictionaries of locations where the data is to be sampled.
The sub-dictionary is named according to the name of the set and contains a set of entries,
also listed in Table 6.4, that describes the locations where the data is to be sampled. For
example, a uniform sampling provides a uniform distribution of nPoints sample locations
along a line specified by a start and end point. All sample sets are also given: a type;
and, means of specifying the length ordinate on a graph by the axis keyword.
The surfaces list contains sub-dictionaries of locations where the data is to be sampled. The sub-dictionary is named according to the name of the surface and contains a set
of entries beginning with the type: either a plane, defined by point and normal direction,
with additional sub-dictionary entries specified in Table 6.5; or, a patch, coinciding with
an existing boundary patch, with additional sub-dictionary entries specified in Table 6.6.

6.6

Monitoring and managing jobs

This section is concerned primarily with successful running of OpenFOAM jobs and extends on the basic execution of solvers described in section 3.3. When a solver is executed,
it reports the status of equation solution to standard output, i.e. the screen, if the level
debug switch is set to 1 or 2 (default) in DebugSwitches in the $WM PROJECT DIR/etc/controlDict file. An example from the beginning of the solution of the cavity tutorial is
shown below where it can be seen that, for each equation that is solved, a report line is
written with the solver name, the variable that is solved, its initial and final residuals and
number of iterations.
Starting time loop
Time = 0.005

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-178

Post-processing

Entries
type
axis

Description
Sampling type
Output of sample location

Options
see list above
x
x ordinate
y
y ordinate
z
z ordinate
xyz
xyz coordinates
distance distance from point 0
start
Start point of sample line
e.g.(0.0 0.0 0.0)
end
End point of sample line
e.g.(0.0 2.0 0.0)
nPoints Number of sampling points e.g.200
points
List of sampling points
Table 6.4: Entries within sets sub-dictionaries.

Max Courant Number = 0

BICCG: Solving for Ux, Initial residual = 1, Final residual = 2.96338e-06, No Iterations 8
ICCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 1, Final residual = 4.9336e-07, No Iterations 35
time step continuity errors : sum local = 3.29376e-09, global = -6.41065e-20, cumulative = -6.41065e-20
ICCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 0.47484, Final residual = 5.41068e-07, No Iterations 34
time step continuity errors : sum local = 6.60947e-09, global = -6.22619e-19, cumulative = -6.86725e-19
ExecutionTime = 0.14 s

Time = 0.01
Max Courant Number = 0.585722
BICCG: Solving for Ux, Initial residual = 0.148584, Final residual = 7.15711e-06, No Iterations 6
BICCG: Solving for Uy, Initial residual = 0.256618, Final residual = 8.94127e-06, No Iterations 6
ICCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 0.37146, Final residual = 6.67464e-07, No Iterations 33
time step continuity errors : sum local = 6.34431e-09, global = 1.20603e-19, cumulative = -5.66122e-19
ICCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 0.271556, Final residual = 3.69316e-07, No Iterations 33
time step continuity errors : sum local = 3.96176e-09, global = 6.9814e-20, cumulative = -4.96308e-19

Keyword
basePoint
normalVector
interpolate
triangulate

Description
Point on plane
Normal vector to plane
Interpolate data?
Triangulate surface? (optional)

Options
e.g.(0 0 0)
e.g.(1 0 0)
true/false
true/false

Table 6.5: Entries for a plane in surfaces sub-dictionaries.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

points

nPoints

end

start

Sample locations
Uniformly distributed points on a line
Intersection of specified line and cell faces
Midpoint between line-face intersections
Combination of midPoint and face
Specified points
Sample nearest points on selected patches
Randomly sample on selected patches
Specified points (uses particle tracking)
Sample points on a triangulated surface

axis

Sampling type
uniform
face
midPoint
midPointAndFace
cloud
patchCloud
patchSeed
polyLine
triSurfaceMeshPointSet

name

Required entries

U-179

6.6 Monitoring and managing jobs

Keyword
patchName
interpolate
triangulate

Description
Name of patch
Interpolate data?
Triangulate surface? (optional)

Options
e.g.movingWall
true/false
true/false

Table 6.6: Entries for a patch in surfaces sub-dictionaries.

ExecutionTime = 0.16 s

Time = 0.015
Max Courant Number = 0.758267
BICCG: Solving for Ux, Initial residual = 0.0448679, Final residual = 2.42301e-06, No Iterations 6
BICCG: Solving for Uy, Initial residual = 0.0782042, Final residual = 1.47009e-06, No Iterations 7
ICCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 0.107474, Final residual = 4.8362e-07, No Iterations 32
time step continuity errors : sum local = 3.99028e-09, global = -5.69762e-19, cumulative = -1.06607e-18
ICCG: Solving for p, Initial residual = 0.0806771, Final residual = 9.47171e-07, No Iterations 31
time step continuity errors : sum local = 7.92176e-09, global = 1.07533e-19, cumulative = -9.58537e-19
ExecutionTime = 0.19 s

6.6.1

The foamJob script for running jobs

The user may be happy to monitor the residuals, iterations, Courant number etc. as
report data passes across the screen. Alternatively, the user can redirect the report to a
log file which will improve the speed of the computation. The foamJob script provides
useful options for this purpose with the following executing the specified <solver> as a
background process and redirecting the output to a file named log:
foamJob <solver>
For further options the user should execute foamJob -help. The user may monitor the
log file whenever they wish, using the UNIXtail command, typically with the -f follow
option which appends the new data as the log file grows:
tail -f log

6.6.2

The foamLog script for monitoring jobs

There are limitations to monitoring a job by reading the log file, in particular it is difficult
to extract trends over a long period of time. The foamLog script is therefore provided to
extract data of residuals, iterations, Courant number etc. from a log file and present it in
a set of files that can be plotted graphically. The script is executed by:
foamLog <logFile>
The files are stored in a subdirectory of the case directory named logs. Each file has
the name <var> <subIter> where <var> is the name of the variable specified in the log
file and <subIter> is the iteration number within the time step. Those variables that
are solved for, the initial residual takes the variable name <var> and final residual takes
<var>FinalRes. By default, the files are presented in two-column format of time and the
extracted values.
For example, in the cavity tutorial we may wish to observe the initial residual of the
Ux equation to see whether the solution is converging to a steady-state. In that case, we
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-180

Post-processing

would plot the data from the logs/Ux 0 file as shown in Figure 6.5. It can be seen here
that the residual falls monotonically until it reaches the convergence tolerance of 105 .
1e+00

Ux 0

1e-01
1e-02
1e-03
1e-04
1e-05
0.00

0.02

0.04 0.06

0.08 0.10
Time [s]

0.12 0.14

0.16

0.18

Figure 6.5: Initial residual of Ux in the cavity tutorial

foamLog generates files for everything it feasibly can from the log file. In the cavity
tutorial example, this includes:
the Courant number, Courant 0;
Ux equation initial and final residuals, Ux 0 and UxFinalRes 0, and iterations,
UxIters 0 (and equivalent Uy data);
cumulative, global and local continuity errors after each of the 2 p equations,
contCumulative 0, contGlobal 0, contLocal 0 and contCumulative 1, contGlobal 1,
contLocal 1;
residuals and iterations from the 2 p equations p 0, pFinalRes 0, pIters 0 and
p 1, pFinalRes 1, pIters 1;
and execution time, executionTime.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Chapter 7
Models and physical properties
OpenFOAM includes a large range of solvers each designed for a specific class of problem.
The equations and algorithms differ from one solver to another so that the selection of
a solver involves the user making some initial choices on the modelling for their particular case. The choice of solver typically involves scanning through their descriptions in
Table 3.5 to find the one suitable for the case. It ultimately determines many of the parameters and physical properties required to define the case but leaves the user with some
modelling options that can be specified at runtime through the entries in dictionary files
in the constant directory of a case. This chapter deals with many of the more common
models and associated properties that may be specified at runtime.

7.1

Thermophysical models

Thermophysical models are concerned with the energy, heat and physical properties.
The thermophysicalProperties dictionary is read by any solver that uses the thermophysical model library. A thermophysical model is constructed in OpenFOAM as a pressuretemperature p T system from which other properties are computed. There is one compulsory dictionary entry called thermoType which specifies the complete thermophysical
model that is used in the simulation. The thermophysical modelling starts with a layer
that defines the basic equation of state and then adds more layers of modelling that derive properties from the previous layer(s). The naming of the thermoType reflects these
multiple layers of modelling as listed in Table 7.1.
Equation of State equationOfState
icoPolynomial
Incompressible polynomial equation of state, e.g. for liquids
perfectGas
Perfect gas equation of state
Basic thermophysical properties thermo
eConstThermo
Constant specific heat cp model with evaluation of internal
energy e and entropy s
hConstThermo
Constant specific heat cp model with evaluation of enthalpy
h and entropy s
hPolynomialThermo
cp evaluated by a function with coefficients from polynomials, from which h, s are evaluated
janafThermo
cp evaluated by a function with coefficients from JANAF
thermodynamic tables, from which h, s are evaluated
Derived thermophysical properties specieThermo
Continued on next page

U-182

Models and physical properties

Continued from previous page

specieThermo

Thermophysical properties of species, derived from cp , h

and/or s

Transport properties transport

constTransport
Constant transport properties
polynomialTransport
Polynomial based temperature-dependent transport properties
sutherlandTransport
Sutherlands formula for temperature-dependent transport
properties
Mixture properties mixture
pureMixture
General thermophysical model calculation for passive gas
mixtures
homogeneousMixture
Combustion mixture based on normalised fuel mass fraction b
inhomogeneousMixture
Combustion mixture based on b and total fuel mass fraction
ft
veryInhomogeneousMixture Combustion mixture based on b, ft and unburnt fuel mass
fraction fu
dieselMixture
Combustion mixture based on ft and fu
basicMultiComponentBasic mixture based on multiple components
Mixture
multiComponentMixture
Derived mixture based on multiple components
reactingMixture
Combustion mixture using thermodynamics and reaction
schemes
egrMixture
Exhaust gas recirculation mixture
Thermophysical model thermoModel
hePsiThermo
General thermophysical model calculation based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and compressibility
heRhoThermo
General thermophysical model calculation based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and density
hePsiMixtureThermo
Calculates enthalpy for combustion mixture based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and
heRhoMixtureThermo
Calculates enthalpy for combustion mixture based on enthalpy h or internal energy e, and
heheuMixtureThermo
Calculates enthalpy h or internal energy e for unburnt u
gas and combustion mixture
Table 7.1: Layers of thermophysical modelling.

The thermoType entry typically takes the form:

thermoModel<mixture<transport<specieThermo<thermo<equationOfState>>>>>
so that the following is an example entry for thermoType:
hThermo<pureMixture<constTransport<specieThermo<hConstThermo<perfectGas>>>>>

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7.1 Thermophysical models

7.1.1

Thermophysical property data

The basic thermophysical properties are specified for each species from input data. Data
entries must contain the name of the specie as the keyword, e.g. O2, H2O, mixture, followed
by sub-dictionaries of coefficients, including:
specie containing i.e. number of moles, nMoles, of the specie, and molecular weight,
molWeight in units of g/mol;
thermodynamics containing coefficients for the chosen thermodynamic model (see below);
transport containing coefficients for the chosen transport model (see below).
The thermodynamic coefficients are ostensibly concerned with evaluating the specific
heat cp from which other properties are derived. The current thermo models are described
as follows:
hConstThermo assumes a constant cp and a heat of fusion Hf which is simply specified
by a two values cp Hf , given by keywords Cp and Hf.
eConstThermo assumes a constant cv and a heat of fusion Hf which is simply specified
by a two values cv Hf , given by keywords Cv and Hf.
janafThermo calculates cp as a function of temperature T from a set of coefficients taken
from JANAF tables of thermodynamics. The ordered list of coefficients is given in
Table 7.2. The function is valid between a lower and upper limit in temperature Tl
and Th respectively. Two sets of coefficients are specified, the first set for temperatures above a common temperature Tc (and below Th , the second for temperatures
below Tc (and above Tl ). The function relating cp to temperature is:
cp = R((((a4 T + a3 )T + a2 )T + a1 )T + a0 )

(7.1)

In addition, there are constants of integration, a5 and a6 , both at high and low
temperature, used to evaluating h and s respectively.
hPolynomialThermo calculates Cp as a function of temperature by a polynomial of any
order. The following case provides an example of its use: $FOAM TUTORIALS/lagrangian/porousExplicitSourceReactingParcelFoam/filter
Description
Lower temperature limit
Upper temperature limit
Common temperature
High temperature coefficients
High temperature enthalpy offset
High temperature entropy offset
Low temperature coefficients
Low temperature enthalpy offset
Low temperature entropy offset

Entry
Tl (K)
Th (K)
Tc (K)
a 0 . . . a4
a5
a6
a 0 . . . a4
a5
a6

Keyword
Tlow
Thigh
Tcommon
highCpCoeffs (a0 a1 a2 a3 a4...
a5...
a6)
lowCpCoeffs (a0 a1 a2 a3 a4...
a5...
a6)

Table 7.2: JANAF thermodynamics coefficients.

The transport coefficients are used to to evaluate dynamic viscosity , thermal conductivity and laminar thermal conductivity (for enthalpy equation) . The current
transport models are described as follows:
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-184

Models and physical properties

constTransport assumes a constant and Prandtl number P r = cp / which is simply

specified by a two keywords, mu and Pr, respectively.
sutherlandTransport calculates as a function of temperature T from a Sutherland coefficient As and Sutherland temperature Ts , specified by keywords As and Ts; is
calculated according to:

As T
=
(7.2)
1 + Ts /T
polynomialTransport calculates and as a function of temperature T from a polynomial
of any order.
The following is an example entry for a specie named fuel modelled using sutherlandTransport and janafThermo:
fuel
{

specie
{
nMoles
molWeight
}
thermodynamics
{
Tlow
Thigh
Tcommon
highCpCoeffs
lowCpCoeffs

}
transport
{
As
Ts
}

1;
16.0428;

200;
6000;
1000;
(1.63543 0.0100844 -3.36924e-06 5.34973e-10
-3.15528e-14 -10005.6 9.9937);
(5.14988 -0.013671 4.91801e-05 -4.84744e-08
1.66694e-11 -10246.6 -4.64132);

1.67212e-06;
170.672;

The following is an example entry for a specie named air modelled using constTransport
and hConstThermo:
air
{

specie
{
nMoles
molWeight
}
thermodynamics

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

1;
28.96;

U-185

7.2 Turbulence models

Cp
Hf

1004.5;
2.544e+06;

}
transport
{
mu
Pr
}

7.2

1.8e-05;
0.7;

Turbulence models

The turbulenceProperties dictionary is read by any solver that includes turbulence modelling. Within that file is the simulationType keyword that controls the type of turbulence modelling to be used, either:
laminar uses no turbulence models;
RAS uses Reynolds-averaged stress (RAS) modelling;
LES uses large-eddy simulation (LES) or detached-eddy simulation (DES) modelling.
If RAS is selected, the choice of RAS modelling is specified in a RAS subdictionary.
The RAS turbulence model is selected by the RASModel entry from a long list of available
models that are listed in Table 3.9. Similarly, if LES is selected, the choice of LES
modelling is specified in a LES subdictionary and the LES turbulence model is selected
by the LESModel entry. Note that DES models are defined as a subset of the available
LES models.
The entries required in the RAS subdictionary are listed in Table 7.3 and those for
the LES subdictionary are listed in Table 7.4.
RASModel
turbulence
printCoeffs
<RASModel>Coeffs

Name of RAS turbulence model

Switch to turn turbulence modelling on/off
Switch to print model coeffs to terminal at simulation startup
Optional dictionary of coefficients for the respective RASModel

Table 7.3: Keyword entries in the RAS dictionary.

LESModel
delta
<LESModel>Coeffs
<delta>Coeffs

Name of LES model

Name of delta model
Dictionary of coefficients for the respective LESModel
Dictionary of coefficients for each delta model

Table 7.4: Keyword entries in the LES dictionary.

The incompressible and compressible RAS turbulence models, isochoric and anisochoric LES models and delta models are all named and described in Table 3.9. Examples
of their use can be found in the $FOAM TUTORIALS.
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-186

7.2.1

Models and physical properties

Model coefficients

The coefficients for the RAS turbulence models are given default values in their respective
source code. If the user wishes to override these default values, then they can do so by
adding a sub-dictionary entry to the RAS dictionary, whose keyword name is that of
the model with Coeffs appended, e.g. kEpsilonCoeffs for the kEpsilon model. If the
printCoeffs switch is on an example of the relevant ...Coeffs dictionary is printed
to standard output when the model is created at the beginning of a run. The user can
simply copy this into the RAS dictionary and edit the entries as required.

7.2.2

Wall functions

A range of wall function models is available in OpenFOAM that are applied as boundary
conditions on individual patches. This enables different wall function models to be applied
to different wall regions. The choice of wall function model is specified through t in the
0/nut file. For example, a 0/nut file:
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41

dimensions

[0 2 -1 0 0 0 0];

internalField

uniform 0;

boundaryField
{
movingWall
{
type
value
}
fixedWalls
{
type
value
}
frontAndBack
{
type
}
}

nutkWallFunction;
uniform 0;
nutkWallFunction;
uniform 0;
empty;

// ************************************************************************* //

There are a number of wall function models available in the release, e.g. nutkWallFunction, nutUWallFunction, nutUSpaldingWallFunction. The user can consult the
relevant directories for a full list of wall function models:
find $FOAM SRC/TurbulenceModels -name wallFunctions
Within each wall function boundary condition the user can over-ride default settings for
E, and C through optional E, kappa and Cmu keyword entries.
Having selected the particular wall functions on various patches in the nut/mut file,
the user should select epsilonWallFunction on corresponding patches in the epsilon field
and kqRwallFunction on corresponding patches in the turbulent fields k, q and R.

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-187

Index

Index
Symbols Numbers A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Z

Symbols
*
tensor member function, P-21
+
tensor member function, P-21
tensor member function, P-21
/
tensor member function, P-21
/*...*/
C++ syntax, U-76
//
C++ syntax, U-76
OpenFOAM file syntax, U-108
# include
C++ syntax, U-70, U-76
&
tensor member function, P-21
&&
tensor member function, P-21
^
tensor member function, P-21
<LESModel>Coeffs keyword, U-185
<RASModel>Coeffs keyword, U-185
<delta>Coeffs keyword, U-185
DPMFoam solver, U-88
MPPICFoam solver, U-88
PDRFoam solver, U-87
SRFPimpleFoam solver, U-84
SRFSimpleFoam solver, U-84
XiDyMFoam solver, U-87
XiFoam solver, U-87
adjointShapeOptimizationFoam solver, U-83
boundaryFoam solver, U-83
buoyantBoussinesqPimpleFoam solver, U-87
buoyantBoussinesqSimpleFoam solver, U-87
buoyantPimpleFoam solver, U-88
buoyantSimpleFoam solver, U-88
cavitatingDyMFoam solver, U-85
cavitatingFoam solver, U-85
chemFoam solver, U-87
chtMultiRegionFoam solver, U-88

chtMultiRegionSimpleFoam solver, U-88

coalChemistryFoam solver, U-88
coldEngineFoam solver, U-87
compressibleInterDyMFoam solver, U-85
compressibleInterFoam solver, U-85
compressibleMultiphaseInterFoam solver, U-85
dnsFoam solver, U-87
driftFluxFoam solver, U-85
dsmcFoam solver, U-89
electrostaticFoam solver, U-89
engineFoam solver, U-87
financialFoam solver, U-90
fireFoam solver, U-87
icoFoam solver, U-83
icoUncoupledKinematicParcelDyMFoam solver,
U-88
icoUncoupledKinematicParcelFoam solver, U-88
interDyMFoam solver, U-85
interFoam solver, U-85
interMixingFoam solver, U-86
interPhaseChangeDyMFoam solver, U-86
interPhaseChangeFoam solver, U-86
laplacianFoam solver, U-83
magneticFoam solver, U-89
mdEquilibrationFoam solver, U-89
mdFoam solver, U-89
mhdFoam solver, U-89
multiphaseEulerFoam solver, U-86
multiphaseInterDyMFoam solver, U-86
multiphaseInterFoam solver, U-86
nonNewtonianIcoFoam solver, U-84
pimpleDyMFoam solver, U-84
pimpleFoam solver, U-84
pisoFoam solver, U-84
porousSimpleFoam solver, U-84
potentialFoam solver, U-83
potentialFreeSurfaceDyMFoam solver, U-86
potentialFreeSurfaceFoam solver, U-86
reactingFoam solver, U-87
reactingMultiphaseEulerFoam solver, U-86
reactingParcelFilmFoam solver, U-88
reactingParcelFoam solver, U-88
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-188
reactingTwoPhaseEulerFoam solver, U-86
rhoCentralDyMFoam solver, U-84
rhoCentralFoam solver, U-84
rhoPimpleDyMFoam solver, U-84
rhoPimpleFoam solver, U-84
rhoPorousSimpleFoam solver, U-85
rhoReactingBuoyantFoam solver, U-87
rhoReactingFoam solver, U-87
rhoSimpleFoam solver, U-84
scalarTransportFoam solver, U-83
shallowWaterFoam solver, U-84
simpleCoalParcelFoam solver, U-89
simpleFoam solver, U-84
simpleReactingParcelFoam solver, U-88
solidDisplacementFoam solver, U-89
solidEquilibriumDisplacementFoam solver, U-89
sonicDyMFoam solver, U-85
sonicFoam solver, U-85
sonicLiquidFoam solver, U-85
sprayDyMFoam solver, U-89
sprayEngineFoam solver, U-89
sprayFoam solver, U-89
thermoFoam solver, U-88
twoLiquidMixingFoam solver, U-86
twoPhaseEulerFoam solver, U-87
uncoupledKinematicParcelFoam solver, U-89
0.000000e+00 directory, U-108
1-dimensional mesh, U-132
1D mesh, U-132
2-dimensional mesh, U-132
2D mesh, U-132

Index
applications, U-67
Apply button, U-166, U-170
applyBoundaryLayer utility, U-90
arbitrarily unstructured, P-27
arc
keyword entry, U-141
arc keyword, U-140
As keyword, U-184
ascii
keyword entry, U-116
attachMesh utility, U-92
Auto Accept button, U-170
autoPatch utility, U-93
autoRefineMesh utility, U-94
autoMesh
library, U-102
axes
right-handed, U-138
right-handed rectangular Cartesian, P-11,
U-18
axi-symmetric cases, U-137, U-146
axi-symmetric mesh, U-132

background
process, U-24, U-79
backward
keyword entry, U-123
Backward differencing, P-35
barotropicCompressibilityModels
library, U-104
basic
library, U-102
Numbers
basicMultiComponentMixture model,
0 directory, U-107
U-182
A
basicSolidThermo
access functions, P-19
library, U-104
addLayersControls keyword, U-148
basicThermophysicalModels
adiabaticFlameT utility, U-100
library, U-103
adjustableRunTime
binary
keyword entry, U-60, U-116
keyword entry, U-116
adjustTimeStep keyword, U-60, U-115
BirdCarreau model, U-106
agglomerator keyword, U-126
blended differencing, P-34
algorithms tools, U-101
block
allowFreeStandingZoneFaces
keyword,
expansion ratio, U-142
U-150
block keyword, U-140
alphaContactAngle
blockMesh utility, U-91
boundary condition, U-57
blocking
analytical solution, P-41
keyword entry, U-78
Animations window panel, U-170
blockMesh
anisotropicFilter model, U-105
library, U-102
Annotation window panel, U-24, U-169
blockMesh solver, P-43
ansysToFoam utility, U-91
blockMesh utility, U-36, U-138
APIfunctions model, U-104
blockMesh executable
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-103,

U-189

Index
vertex numbering, U-142
blockMeshDict
dictionary, U-18, U-20, U-35, U-48, U-138,
U-146
blocks keyword, U-20, U-30, U-142
boundaries, U-134
boundary, U-134
boundary
dictionary, U-131, U-138
boundary keyword, U-143
boundary condition
alphaContactAngle, U-57
calculated, U-138
cyclic, U-137, U-144
directionMixed, U-138
empty, P-59, P-65, U-18, U-132, U-137
fixedGradient, U-138
fixedValue, U-138
fluxCorrectedVelocity, U-139
inlet, P-65
inletOutlet, U-139
mixed, U-138
movingWallVelocity, U-139
outlet, P-65
outletInlet, U-139
partialSlip, U-139
patch, U-136
pressureDirectedInletVelocity, U-139
pressureInletVelocity, U-139
pressureOutlet, P-59
pressureTransmissive, U-139
processor, U-137
setup, U-20
slip, U-139
supersonicFreeStream, U-139
surfaceNormalFixedValue, U-139
symmetryPlane, P-59, U-136
totalPressure, U-139
turbulentInlet, U-139
wall, U-40
wall, P-59, P-65, U-57, U-136
wallBuoyantPressure, U-139
wedge, U-132, U-137, U-146
zeroGradient, U-138
boundary conditions, P-39
Dirichlet, P-39
inlet, P-40
Neumann, P-39
no-slip impermeable wall, P-40
outlet, P-40
physical, P-40
symmetry plane, P-40
boundaryData
keyword entry, U-176

boundaryField keyword, U-21, U-112

bounded
keyword entry, U-121, U-122
boxTurb utility, U-90
boxToCell keyword, U-58
breaking of a dam, U-55
button
Apply, U-166, U-170
Auto Accept, U-170
Choose Preset, U-168
Delete, U-166
Edit Color Map, U-167
Enable Line Series, U-34
Orientation Axes, U-24, U-169
Refresh Times, U-25
Rescale to Data Range, U-25
Reset, U-166
Set Ambient Color, U-168
Update GUI, U-167
Use Parallel Projection, U-24
Use parallel projection, U-169

C
C++ syntax
/*...*/, U-76
//, U-76
# include, U-70, U-76
cacheAgglomeration keyword, U-126
calculated
boundary condition, U-138
cAlpha keyword, U-61
cases, U-107
castellatedMesh keyword, U-148
castellatedMeshControls
dictionary, U-149U-151
castellatedMeshControls keyword, U-148
cavity flow, U-17
ccm26ToFoam utility, U-92
CEI ARCH
environment variable, U-175
CEI HOME
environment variable, U-175
cell
expansion ratio, U-142
cell class, P-27
cell
keyword entry, U-176
cellLimited
keyword entry, U-121
cellPatchConstrained
keyword entry, U-176
cellPoint
keyword entry, U-176
cellPointFace
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-190
keyword entry, U-176
cells
dictionary, U-138
central differencing, P-34
cfdTools tools, U-101
cfx4ToFoam utility, U-91
cfx4ToFoam utility, U-155
changeDictionary utility, U-90
Charts window panel, U-170
checkMesh utility, U-93
checkMesh utility, U-156
chemistryModel
library, U-104
chemistryModel model, U-104
chemistrySolver model, U-104
chemkinToFoam utility, U-100
Choose Preset button, U-168
Chung
library, U-104
class
cell, P-27
dimensionSet, P-21, P-28, P-29
face, P-27
finiteVolumeCalculus, P-29
finiteVolumeMethod, P-29
fvMesh, P-27
fvSchemes, P-32
fvc, P-32
fvm, P-32
pointField, P-27
polyBoundaryMesh, P-27
polyMesh, P-27, U-129, U-131
polyPatchList, P-27
polyPatch, P-27
scalarField, P-25
scalar, P-19
slice, P-27
symmTensorField, P-25
symmTensorThirdField, P-25
tensorField, P-25
tensorThirdField, P-25
tensor, P-19
vectorField, P-25
vector, P-19, U-111
word, P-21, P-27
class keyword, U-109
clockTime
keyword entry, U-116
cloud keyword, U-178
cmptAv
tensor member function, P-21
Co utility, U-95
coalCombustion
library, U-102
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
cofactors
tensor member function, P-21
collapseEdges utility, U-94
Color By menu, U-168
Color Legend window, U-27
Color Legend window panel, U-168
Color Scale window panel, U-168
Colors window panel, U-170
combinePatchFaces utility, U-94
comments, U-76
commsType keyword, U-78
compressed
keyword entry, U-116
constant directory, U-107, U-181
constLaminarFlameSpeed model, U-103
constTransport model, U-104, U-182
containers tools, U-101
continuum
mechanics, P-11
control
of time, U-115
controlDict
dictionary, P-61, U-21, U-30, U-41, U-50,
U-60, U-107, U-161
controlDict file, P-46
convection, see divergence, P-34
convergence, U-38
conversion
library, U-102
convertToMeters keyword, U-140
coordinate
system, P-11
coordinate system, U-18
corrected
keyword entry, U-121, U-122
Courant number, P-38, U-22
Cp keyword, U-183
cpuTime
keyword entry, U-116
Crank Nicholson
temporal discretisation, P-38
CrankNicholson
keyword entry, U-123
createBaffles utility, U-93
createExternalCoupledPatchGeometry
utility,
U-90
createPatch utility, U-93
createTurbulenceFields utility, U-96
createZeroDirectory utility, U-90
cross product, see tensor, vector cross product
CrossPowerLaw
keyword entry, U-59
CrossPowerLaw model, U-106
csv

U-191

Index
keyword entry, U-176
cubeRootVolDelta model, U-105
cubicCorrected
keyword entry, U-123
cubicCorrection
keyword entry, U-120
curl, P-33
curl
fvc member function, P-33
Current Time Controls menu, U-25, U-167
Cv keyword, U-183
cyclic
boundary condition, U-137, U-144
cyclic
keyword entry, U-137
cylinder
flow around a, P-41

D
d2dt2
fvc member function, P-33
fvm member function, P-33
dam
breaking of a, U-55
datToFoam utility, U-91
db tools, U-101
ddt
fvc member function, P-33
fvm member function, P-33
DeardorffDiffStress model, U-105
debug keyword, U-148
decomposePar utility, U-99
decomposePar utility, U-79, U-80
decomposeParDict
dictionary, U-79
decomposition
of field, U-79
of mesh, U-79
decompositionMethods
library, U-102
decompression of a tank, P-58
defaultFieldValues keyword, U-58
deformedGeom utility, U-93
Delete button, U-166
delta keyword, U-81, U-185
deltaT keyword, U-115
dependencies, U-70
dependency lists, U-70
DESModels
library, U-105
det
tensor member function, P-21
determinant, see tensor, determinant
dev

tensor member function, P-21

diag
tensor member function, P-21
diagonal
keyword entry, U-125, U-126
DIC
keyword entry, U-126
DICGaussSeidel
keyword entry, U-126
dictionary
PISO, U-23
blockMeshDict, U-18, U-20, U-35, U-48,
U-138, U-146
boundary, U-131, U-138
castellatedMeshControls, U-149U-151
cells, U-138
controlDict, P-61, U-21, U-30, U-41, U-50,
U-60, U-107, U-161
decomposeParDict, U-79
faces, U-131, U-138
fvSchemes, U-60, U-61, U-107, U-117,
U-118
fvSolution, U-107, U-124
mechanicalProperties, U-49
neighbour, U-131
owner, U-131
points, U-131, U-138
thermalProperties, U-50
thermophysicalProperties, U-181
transportProperties, U-21, U-38, U-41
turbulenceProperties, U-40, U-59, U-185
dieselMixture model, U-103, U-182
differencing
Backward, P-35
blended, P-34
central, P-34
Euler implicit, P-35
Gamma, P-34
MINMOD, P-34
SUPERBEE, P-34
upwind, P-34
van Leer, P-34
DILU
keyword entry, U-126
dimension
checking in OpenFOAM, P-21, U-111
dimensional units, U-111
dimensioned<Type> template class, P-21
dimensionedTypes tools, U-101
dimensions keyword, U-20, U-112
dimensionSet class, P-21, P-28, P-29
dimensionSet tools, U-101
directionMixed
boundary condition, U-138
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-192
directory
0.000000e+00, U-108
0, U-107
Make, U-71
constant, U-107, U-181
fluentInterface, U-172
polyMesh, U-107, U-131
processorN , U-80
run, U-107
system, P-46, U-107
tutorials, P-41, U-17
discretisation
equation, P-29
Display window panel, U-23, U-25, U-166,
U-167
distance
keyword entry, U-151, U-178
distributed model, U-102
distributed keyword, U-81, U-82
distributionModels
library, U-102
div
fvc member function, P-33
fvm member function, P-33
divergence, P-33, P-35
divSchemes keyword, U-118
doLayers keyword, U-148
double inner product, see tensor,double inner
product
dsmc
library, U-102
dsmcFieldsCalc utility, U-97
dsmcInitialise utility, U-90
dx
keyword entry, U-176
dynamicFvMesh
library, U-102
dynamicKEqn model, U-105
dynamicLagrangian model, U-105
dynamicMesh
library, U-102

Index

empty
keyword entry, U-137
Enable Line Series button, U-34
endTime keyword, U-22, U-115
engine
library, U-102
engineCompRatio utility, U-97
engineSwirl utility, U-90
ensight
keyword entry, U-176
ensight74FoamExec utility, U-174
ENSIGHT7 INPUT
environment variable, U-175
ENSIGHT7 READER
environment variable, U-175
ensightFoamReader utility, U-95
enstrophy utility, U-95
environment variable
CEI ARCH, U-175
CEI HOME, U-175
ENSIGHT7 INPUT, U-175
ENSIGHT7 READER, U-175
FOAM RUN, U-107
WM ARCH OPTION, U-74
WM ARCH, U-74
WM CC, U-74
WM COMPILER LIB ARCH, U-74
WM COMPILER, U-74
WM COMPILE OPTION, U-74
WM DIR, U-74
WM MPLIB, U-74
WM OPTIONS, U-74
WM PRECISION OPTION, U-74
WM PROJECT DIR, U-74
WM PROJECT INST DIR, U-74
WM PROJECT USER DIR, U-74
WM PROJECT VERSION, U-74
WM PROJECT, U-74
wmake, U-73
equilibriumCO utility, U-100
equilibriumFlameT utility, U-100
errorReduction keyword, U-164
E
Euler
eConstThermo model, U-104, U-181
keyword entry, U-123
edgeGrading keyword, U-142
Euler implicit
edgeMesh
differencing, P-35
library, U-102
temporal discretisation, P-38
edges keyword, U-140
examples
Edit menu, U-169, U-170
decompression of a tank, P-58
Edit Color Map button, U-167
flow around a cylinder, P-41
egrMixture model, U-103, U-182
flow over backward step, P-49
empty
Hartmann problem, P-63
supersonic flow over forward step, P-54
boundary condition, P-59, P-65, U-18,
U-132, U-137
execFlowFunctionObjects utility, U-97
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-193

Index
expandDictionary utility, U-100
expansionRatio keyword, U-163
explicit
temporal discretisation, P-38
explicitFeatureSnap keyword, U-154
extrude2DMesh utility, U-91

F
face class, P-27
face keyword, U-178
faceAgglomerate utility, U-90
faceAreaPair
keyword entry, U-126
faceLimited
keyword entry, U-121
faces
dictionary, U-131, U-138
FDIC
keyword entry, U-126
featureAngle keyword, U-163
features keyword, U-149, U-150
field
U, U-22
p, U-22
decomposition, U-79
FieldField<Type> template class, P-28
fieldFunctionObjects
library, U-101
fields, P-25
mapping, U-161
fields tools, U-101
fields keyword, U-176
Field<Type> template class, P-25
fieldValues keyword, U-58
file
Make/files, U-72
controlDict, P-46
files, U-71
g, U-59
options, U-71
snappyHexMeshDict, U-147
transportProperties, U-59
file format, U-108
fileFormats
library, U-102
fileModificationChecking keyword, U-78
fileModificationSkew keyword, U-78
files file, U-71
filteredLinear2
keyword entry, U-120
finalLayerThickness keyword, U-163
finite volume
discretisation, P-23
mesh, P-27

finiteVolume
library, U-101
finiteVolume tools, U-101
finiteVolumeCalculus class, P-29
finiteVolumeMethod class, P-29
firstLayerThickness keyword, U-163
firstTime keyword, U-115
fixed
keyword entry, U-116
fixedGradient
boundary condition, U-138
fixedValue
boundary condition, U-138
flattenMesh utility, U-93
floatTransfer keyword, U-78
flow
free surface, U-55
laminar, U-17
steady, turbulent, P-49
supersonic, P-55
turbulent, U-17
flow around a cylinder, P-41
flow over backward step, P-49
flowType utility, U-95
fluent3DMeshToFoam utility, U-91
fluentMeshToFoam utility, U-92
fluentInterface directory, U-172
fluentMeshToFoam utility, U-155
fluxCorrectedVelocity
boundary condition, U-139
OpenFOAM
cases, U-107
FOAM RUN
environment variable, U-107
foamCalc utility, U-95, U-97
foamDataToFluent utility, U-95
foamDebugSwitches utility, U-100
foamFormatConvert utility, U-100
foamHelp utility, U-100
foamInfoExec utility, U-100
foamListTimes utility, U-97
foamMeshToFluent utility, U-92
foamToEnsight utility, U-95
foamToEnsightParts utility, U-95
foamToGMV utility, U-95
foamToStarMesh utility, U-92
foamToSurface utility, U-92
foamToTecplot360 utility, U-95
foamToTetDualMesh utility, U-95
foamToVTK utility, U-95
foamUpgradeCyclics utility, U-90
foamCalc utility, U-32
foamCalcFunctions
library, U-101
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-194
foamCorrectVrt script/alias, U-159
foamDataToFluent utility, U-172
FoamFile keyword, U-109
foamFile
keyword entry, U-176
foamJob script/alias, U-179
foamLog script/alias, U-179
foamMeshToFluent utility, U-172
foamyHexMesh utility, U-91
foamyHexMeshBackgroundMesh utility, U-91
foamyHexMeshSurfaceSimplify utility, U-91
foamyQuadMesh utility, U-91
forces
library, U-101
foreground
process, U-24
format keyword, U-109
fourth
keyword entry, U-121, U-122
functions keyword, U-117
fvc class, P-32
fvc member function
curl, P-33
d2dt2, P-33
ddt, P-33
div, P-33
gGrad, P-33
grad, P-33
laplacian, P-33
lsGrad, P-33
snGrad, P-33
snGradCorrection, P-33
sqrGradGrad, P-33
fvDOM
library, U-103
fvm class, P-32
fvm member function
d2dt2, P-33
ddt, P-33
div, P-33
laplacian, P-33
Su, P-33
SuSp, P-33
fvMatrices tools, U-101
fvMatrix template class, P-29
fvMesh class, P-27
fvMesh tools, U-101
fvMotionSolvers
library, U-102
fvSchemes
dictionary, U-60, U-61, U-107, U-117,
U-118
fvSchemes class, P-32
fvSchemes
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
menu entry, U-51
fvSolution
dictionary, U-107, U-124

G
g file, U-59
gambitToFoam utility, U-92
gambitToFoam utility, U-155
GAMG
keyword entry, U-52, U-125, U-126
Gamma
keyword entry, U-120
Gamma differencing, P-34
Gauss
keyword entry, U-121
Gausss theorem, P-32
GaussSeidel
keyword entry, U-125, U-126
General window panel, U-169, U-170
general
keyword entry, U-116
genericFvPatchField
library, U-102
geometric-algebraic multi-grid, U-126
GeometricBoundaryField template class, P-28
geometricField<Type> template class, P-28
geometry keyword, U-148
gGrad
fvc member function, P-33
global tools, U-101
gmshToFoam utility, U-92
gnuplot
keyword entry, U-116, U-176
grad
fvc member function, P-33
(Grad Grad) squared, P-33
gradient, P-33, P-36
Gauss scheme, P-36
Gausss theorem, U-51
least square fit, U-51
least squares method, P-36, U-51
surface normal, P-36
gradSchemes keyword, U-118
graph tools, U-101
graphFormat keyword, U-116
GuldersEGRLaminarFlameSpeed model, U-104
GuldersLaminarFlameSpeed model, U-103

H
hConstThermo model, U-104, U-181
heheuMixtureThermo model, U-103, U-182
Help menu, U-169
hePsiMixtureThermo model, U-103, U-182
hePsiThermo model, U-103, U-182

U-195

Index
heRhoMixtureThermo model, U-103, U-182
heRhoThermo model, U-103, U-182
HerschelBulkley model, U-106
Hf keyword, U-183
hierarchical
keyword entry, U-80, U-81
highCpCoeffs keyword, U-183
homogeneousMixture model, U-103, U-182
hPolynomialThermo model, U-104, U-181

I
I
tensor member function, P-21
icoFoam solver, U-17, U-21, U-22, U-24
icoPolynomial model, U-104, U-181
ideasUnvToFoam utility, U-92
ideasToFoam utility, U-155
identities, see tensor, identities
identity, see tensor, identity
implicitFeatureSnap keyword, U-154
incompressibleTransportModels
library, P-50, U-106
incompressibleTurbulenceModels
library, P-50
index
notation, P-12, P-13
Information window panel, U-166
inhomogeneousMixture model, U-103, U-182
inlet
boundary condition, P-65
inletOutlet
boundary condition, U-139
inner product, see tensor, inner product
inotify
keyword entry, U-78
inotifyMaster
keyword entry, U-78
inside
keyword entry, U-151
insideCells utility, U-93
interfaceProperties
library, U-106
interfaceProperties model, U-106
intermediate
library, U-102
internalField keyword, U-21, U-112
interpolation tools, U-101
interpolationScheme keyword, U-176
interpolations tools, U-101
interpolationSchemes keyword, U-118
inv
tensor member function, P-21
iterations
maximum, U-125

J
janafThermo model, U-104, U-181
jobControl
library, U-101
jplot
keyword entry, U-116, U-176

K
kEpsilon model, U-105
kEqn model, U-105
keyword
As, U-184
Cp, U-183
Cv, U-183
FoamFile, U-109
Hf, U-183
LESModel, U-185
Pr, U-184
RASModel, U-185
Tcommon, U-183
Thigh, U-183
Tlow, U-183
Ts, U-184
addLayersControls, U-148
adjustTimeStep, U-60, U-115
agglomerator, U-126
allowFreeStandingZoneFaces, U-150
arc, U-140
blocks, U-20, U-30, U-142
block, U-140
boundaryField, U-21, U-112
boundary, U-143
boxToCell, U-58
cAlpha, U-61
cacheAgglomeration, U-126
castellatedMeshControls, U-148
castellatedMesh, U-148
class, U-109
cloud, U-178
commsType, U-78
convertToMeters, U-140
debug, U-148
defaultFieldValues, U-58
deltaT, U-115
delta, U-81, U-185
dimensions, U-20, U-112
distributed, U-81, U-82
divSchemes, U-118
doLayers, U-148
edgeGrading, U-142
edges, U-140
endTime, U-22, U-115
errorReduction, U-164
expansionRatio, U-163
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-196
explicitFeatureSnap, U-154
face, U-178
featureAngle, U-163
features, U-149, U-150
fieldValues, U-58
fields, U-176
fileModificationChecking, U-78
fileModificationSkew, U-78
finalLayerThickness, U-163
firstLayerThickness, U-163
firstTime, U-115
floatTransfer, U-78
format, U-109
functions, U-117
geometry, U-148
gradSchemes, U-118
graphFormat, U-116
highCpCoeffs, U-183
implicitFeatureSnap, U-154
internalField, U-21, U-112
interpolationSchemes, U-118
interpolationScheme, U-176
laplacianSchemes, U-118
latestTime, U-38
layers, U-163
leastSquares, U-51
levels, U-151
libs, U-78, U-117
locationInMesh, U-150, U-151
location, U-109
lowCpCoeffs, U-183
manualCoeffs, U-81
maxAlphaCo, U-60
maxBoundarySkewness, U-164
maxConcave, U-164
maxCo, U-60, U-115
maxDeltaT, U-60, U-115
maxFaceThicknessRatio, U-163
maxGlobalCells, U-150
maxInternalSkewness, U-164
maxIter, U-125
maxLoadUnbalance, U-150
maxLocalCells, U-150
maxNonOrtho, U-164
maxThicknessToMedialRatio, U-163
maxThicknessToMedialRatio, U-163
mergeLevels, U-126
mergePatchPairs, U-140
mergeTolerance, U-148
meshQualityControls, U-148
method, U-81
midPointAndFace, U-178
midPoint, U-178
minArea, U-164
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
minDeterminant, U-164
minFaceWeight, U-164
minFlatness, U-164
minMedialAxisAngle, U-163
minRefinementCells, U-150
minTetQuality, U-164
minThickness, U-163
minTriangleTwist, U-164
minTwist, U-164
minVolRatio, U-164
minVol, U-164
mode, U-151
molWeight, U-183
multiRegionFeatureSnap, U-154
mu, U-184
nAlphaSubCycles, U-61
nBufferCellsNoExtrude, U-163
nCellsBetweenLevels, U-150
nFaces, U-132
nFeatureSnapIter, U-154
nFinestSweeps, U-126
nGrow, U-163
nLayerIter, U-163
nMoles, U-183
nPostSweeps, U-126
nPreSweeps, U-126
nRelaxIter, U-154, U-163
nRelaxedIter, U-163
nSmoothNormals, U-163
nSmoothPatch, U-154
nSmoothScale, U-164
nSmoothSurfaceNormals, U-163
nSmoothThickness, U-163
nSolveIter, U-154
neighbourPatch, U-144
numberOfSubdomains, U-81
n, U-81
object, U-109
order, U-81
pRefCell, U-23, U-128
pRefValue, U-23, U-128
p rhgRefCell, U-128
p rhgRefValue, U-128
patchCloud, U-178
patchMap, U-161
patchSeed, U-178
patches, U-140
polyLine, U-178
preconditioner, U-124, U-125
pressure, U-49
printCoeffs, U-41, U-185
processorWeights, U-80
processorWeights, U-81
purgeWrite, U-116

U-197

Index
refGradient, U-138
refinementRegions, U-150, U-151
refinementSurfaces, U-150
refinementRegions, U-151
regions, U-58
relTol, U-52, U-124, U-125
relativeSizes, U-163
relaxed, U-164
resolveFeatureAngle, U-150
roots, U-81, U-82
runTimeModifiable, U-116
scotchCoeffs, U-81
setFormat, U-176
sets, U-176
simpleGrading, U-142
simulationType, U-40, U-59, U-185
smoother, U-126
snGradSchemes, U-118
snapControls, U-148
snap, U-148
solvers, U-124
solver, U-52, U-124
specie, U-183
spline, U-140
startFace, U-132
startFrom, U-22, U-115
startTime, U-22, U-115
stopAt, U-115
strategy, U-80, U-81
surfaceFormat, U-176
surfaces, U-176
thermoType, U-181
thermodynamics, U-183
thickness, U-163
timeFormat, U-116
timePrecision, U-116
timeScheme, U-118
tolerance, U-52, U-124, U-125, U-154
topoSetSource, U-58
traction, U-49
transport, U-183
triSurfaceMeshPointSet, U-178
turbulence, U-185
type, U-134, U-135
uniform, U-178
valueFraction, U-138
value, U-21, U-138
version, U-109
vertices, U-20, U-140, U-141
writeCompression, U-116
writeControl, U-22, U-60, U-115
writeFormat, U-53, U-116
writeInterval, U-22, U-31, U-116
writePrecision, U-116

<LESModel>Coeffs, U-185
<RASModel>Coeffs, U-185
<delta>Coeffs, U-185

keyword entry
CrankNicholson, U-123
CrossPowerLaw, U-59
DICGaussSeidel, U-126
DIC, U-126
DILU, U-126
Euler, U-123
FDIC, U-126
GAMG, U-52, U-125, U-126
Gamma, U-120
GaussSeidel, U-125, U-126
Gauss, U-121
LES, U-40, U-185
MGridGen, U-126
MUSCL, U-120
Newtonian, U-59
PBiCG, U-125
PCG, U-125
QUICK, U-123
RAS, U-40, U-185
SFCD, U-120, U-123
UMIST, U-119
adjustableRunTime, U-60, U-116
arc, U-141
ascii, U-116
backward, U-123
binary, U-116
blocking, U-78
boundaryData, U-176
bounded, U-121, U-122
cellLimited, U-121
cellPatchConstrained, U-176
cellPointFace, U-176
cellPoint, U-176
cell, U-176
clockTime, U-116
compressed, U-116
corrected, U-121, U-122
cpuTime, U-116
csv, U-176
cubicCorrected, U-123
cubicCorrection, U-120
cyclic, U-137
diagonal, U-125, U-126
distance, U-151, U-178
dx, U-176
empty, U-137
ensight, U-176
faceAreaPair, U-126
faceLimited, U-121
filteredLinear2, U-120
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-198
fixed, U-116
foamFile, U-176
fourth, U-121, U-122
general, U-116
gnuplot, U-116, U-176
hierarchical, U-80, U-81
inotifyMaster, U-78
inotify, U-78
inside, U-151
jplot, U-116, U-176
laminar, U-40, U-185
latestTime, U-115
leastSquares, U-121
limitedCubic, U-120
limitedLinear, U-120
limited, U-121, U-122
linearUpwind, U-120, U-123
linear, U-120, U-123
line, U-141
localEuler, U-123
manual, U-80, U-81
metis, U-81
midPoint, U-120
nastran, U-176
nextWrite, U-115
noWriteNow, U-115
nonBlocking, U-78
none, U-118, U-126
null, U-176
outside, U-151
patch, U-137, U-177
pointMVC, U-176
polyLine, U-141
polySpline, U-141
processor, U-137
raw, U-116, U-176
runTime, U-31, U-115
scheduled, U-78
scientific, U-116
scotch, U-80, U-81
simpleSpline, U-141
simple, U-80, U-81
skewLinear, U-120, U-123
smoothSolver, U-125
starcd, U-176
startTime, U-22, U-115
steadyState, U-123
stl, U-176
symmetryPlane, U-137
timeStampMaster, U-78
timeStamp, U-78
timeStep, U-22, U-31, U-115
uncompressed, U-116
uncorrected, U-121, U-122
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
upwind, U-120, U-123
vanLeer, U-120
vtk, U-176
wall, U-137
wedge, U-137
writeControl, U-115
writeNow, U-115
xmgr, U-116, U-176
xyz, U-178
x, U-178
y, U-178
z, U-178
kivaToFoam utility, U-92
kOmega model, U-105
kOmegaSST model, U-105
kOmegaSSTDDES model, U-105
kOmegaSSTDES model, U-105
kOmegaSSTIDDES model, U-105
kOmegaSSTSAS model, U-105
Kronecker delta, P-16

L
Lambda2 utility, U-96
laminar model, U-105
laminar
keyword entry, U-40, U-185
laminarFlameSpeedModels
library, U-103
laplaceFilter model, U-105
Laplacian, P-34
laplacian, P-33
laplacian
fvc member function, P-33
fvm member function, P-33
laplacianSchemes keyword, U-118
latestTime
keyword entry, U-115
latestTime keyword, U-38
LaunderSharmaKE model, U-105
layers keyword, U-163
leastSquares
keyword entry, U-121
leastSquares keyword, U-51
LES
keyword entry, U-40, U-185
LESdeltas
library, U-105
LESfilters
library, U-105
LESModel keyword, U-185
LESModels
library, U-105
levels keyword, U-151
libraries, U-67

Index
library
Chung, U-104
DESModels, U-105
LESModels, U-105
LESdeltas, U-105
LESfilters, U-105
MGridGenGAMGAgglomeration, U-102
ODE, U-102
OSspecific, U-102
OpenFOAM, U-101
P1, U-103
PV3FoamReader, U-165
PV4FoamReader, U-165
RASModels, U-105
SLGThermo, U-104
Wallis, U-104
autoMesh, U-102
barotropicCompressibilityModels, U-104
basicSolidThermo, U-104
basicThermophysicalModels, U-103
basic, U-102
blockMesh, U-102
chemistryModel, U-104
coalCombustion, U-102
conversion, U-102
decompositionMethods, U-102
distributionModels, U-102
dsmc, U-102
dynamicFvMesh, U-102
dynamicMesh, U-102
edgeMesh, U-102
engine, U-102
fieldFunctionObjects, U-101
fileFormats, U-102
finiteVolume, U-101
foamCalcFunctions, U-101
forces, U-101
fvDOM, U-103
fvMotionSolvers, U-102
genericFvPatchField, U-102
incompressibleTransportModels, P-50, U-106
incompressibleTurbulenceModels, P-50
interfaceProperties, U-106
intermediate, U-102
jobControl, U-101
laminarFlameSpeedModels, U-103
linear, U-104
liquidMixtureProperties, U-104
liquidProperties, U-104
meshTools, U-102
molecularMeasurements, U-102
molecule, U-102
pairPatchAgglomeration, U-102
postCalc, U-101

U-199
potential, U-102
primitive, P-19
radiationModels, U-103
randomProcesses, U-102
reactionThermophysicalModels, U-103
sampling, U-101
solarLoad, U-103
solidMixtureProperties, U-104
solidParticle, U-102
solidProperties, U-104
solid, U-104
specie, U-104
spray, U-102
surfMesh, U-102
surfaceFilmModels, U-106
systemCall, U-102
thermalPorousZone, U-104
thermophysicalFunctions, U-104
thermophysical, U-181
topoChangerFvMesh, U-102
triSurface, U-102
twoPhaseInterfaceProperties, U-106
utilityFunctionObjects, U-102
viewFactor, U-103
vtkPV3Foam, U-165
vtkPV4Foam, U-165
libs keyword, U-78, U-117
lid-driven cavity flow, U-17
Lights window panel, U-169
limited
keyword entry, U-121, U-122
limitedCubic
keyword entry, U-120
limitedLinear
keyword entry, U-120
line
keyword entry, U-141
Line Style menu, U-34
linear
library, U-104
linear
keyword entry, U-120, U-123
linearUpwind
keyword entry, U-120, U-123
liquid
electrically-conducting, P-63
liquidMixtureProperties
library, U-104
liquidProperties
library, U-104
lists, P-25
List<Type> template class, P-25
localEuler
keyword entry, U-123
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-200
location keyword, U-109
locationInMesh keyword, U-150, U-151
lowCpCoeffs keyword, U-183
LRR model, U-105
lsGrad
fvc member function, P-33

Help, U-169
Line Style, U-34
Marker Style, U-34
VCR Controls, U-25, U-167
View, U-169
menu entry
Plot Over Line, U-33
M
Save Animation, U-171
Mach utility, U-96
Save Screenshot, U-171
mag
Settings, U-170
tensor member function, P-21
Show Color Legend, U-25
magnetohydrodynamics, P-63
Solid Color, U-168
magSqr
Toolbars, U-169
tensor member function, P-21
View Settings..., U-24
Make directory, U-71
View Settings, U-24, U-169
make script/alias, U-69
Wireframe, U-168
Make/files file, U-72
fvSchemes, U-51
manual
mergeMeshes utility, U-93
keyword entry, U-80, U-81
mergeOrSplitBaffles utility, U-93
manualCoeffs keyword, U-81
mergeLevels keyword, U-126
mapFields utility, U-90
mergePatchPairs keyword, U-140
mapFieldsPar utility, U-91
mergeTolerance keyword, U-148
mapFields utility, U-30, U-37, U-41, U-54, mesh
U-161
1-dimensional, U-132
mapping
1D, U-132
fields, U-161
2-dimensional, U-132
Marker Style menu, U-34
2D, U-132
matrices tools, U-101
axi-symmetric, U-132
max
basic, P-27
tensor member function, P-21
block structured, U-138
maxAlphaCo keyword, U-60
decomposition, U-79
maxBoundarySkewness keyword, U-164
description, U-129
maxCo keyword, U-60, U-115
finite volume, P-27
maxConcave keyword, U-164
generation, U-138, U-147
maxDeltaT keyword, U-60, U-115
grading, U-138, U-142
maxDeltaxyz model, U-105
grading, example of, P-49
maxFaceThicknessRatio keyword, U-163
non-orthogonal, P-41
maxGlobalCells keyword, U-150
refinement, P-58
maximum iterations, U-125
resolution, U-30
maxInternalSkewness keyword, U-164
specification, U-129
maxIter keyword, U-125
split-hex, U-147
maxLoadUnbalance keyword, U-150
Stereolithography (STL), U-147
maxLocalCells keyword, U-150
surface, U-147
maxNonOrtho keyword, U-164
validity constraints, U-129
maxThicknessToMedialRatio keyword, U-163 Mesh Parts window panel, U-23
maxThicknessToMedialRatio keyword, U-163 meshes tools, U-101
mdInitialise utility, U-91
meshQualityControls keyword, U-148
mechanicalProperties
meshTools
dictionary, U-49
library, U-102
memory tools, U-101
message passing interface
menu
openMPI, U-80
Color By, U-168
method keyword, U-81
Current Time Controls, U-25, U-167
metis
Edit, U-169, U-170
keyword entry, U-81
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index

Index
MGridGenGAMGAgglomeration
library, U-102
MGridGen
keyword entry, U-126
mhdFoam solver, P-65
midPoint
keyword entry, U-120
midPoint keyword, U-178
midPointAndFace keyword, U-178
min
tensor member function, P-21
minArea keyword, U-164
minDeterminant keyword, U-164
minFaceWeight keyword, U-164
minFlatness keyword, U-164
minMedialAxisAngle keyword, U-163
MINMOD differencing, P-34
minRefinementCells keyword, U-150
minTetQuality keyword, U-164
minThickness keyword, U-163
minTriangleTwist keyword, U-164
minTwist keyword, U-164
minVol keyword, U-164
minVolRatio keyword, U-164
mirrorMesh utility, U-93
mixed
boundary condition, U-138
mixtureAdiabaticFlameT utility, U-100
mode keyword, U-151
model
APIfunctions, U-104
BirdCarreau, U-106
CrossPowerLaw, U-106
DeardorffDiffStress, U-105
GuldersEGRLaminarFlameSpeed, U-104
GuldersLaminarFlameSpeed, U-103
HerschelBulkley, U-106
LRR, U-105
LaunderSharmaKE, U-105
NSRDSfunctions, U-104
Newtonian, U-106
PrandtlDelta, U-105
RNGkEpsilon, U-105
SSG, U-105
Smagorinsky, U-105
SpalartAllmarasDDES, U-105
SpalartAllmarasDES, U-105
SpalartAllmarasIDDES, U-105
SpalartAllmaras, U-105
WALE, U-105
anisotropicFilter, U-105
basicMultiComponentMixture, U-103, U-182
chemistryModel, U-104
chemistrySolver, U-104

U-201
constLaminarFlameSpeed, U-103
constTransport, U-104, U-182
cubeRootVolDelta, U-105
dieselMixture, U-103, U-182
distributed, U-102
dynamicKEqn, U-105
dynamicLagrangian, U-105
eConstThermo, U-104, U-181
egrMixture, U-103, U-182
hConstThermo, U-104, U-181
hPolynomialThermo, U-104, U-181
hePsiMixtureThermo, U-103, U-182
hePsiThermo, U-103, U-182
heRhoMixtureThermo, U-103, U-182
heRhoThermo, U-103, U-182
heheuMixtureThermo, U-103, U-182
homogeneousMixture, U-103, U-182
icoPolynomial, U-104, U-181
inhomogeneousMixture, U-103, U-182
interfaceProperties, U-106
janafThermo, U-104, U-181
kEpsilon, U-105
kEqn, U-105
kOmegaSSTDDES, U-105
kOmegaSSTDES, U-105
kOmegaSSTIDDES, U-105
kOmegaSSTSAS, U-105
kOmegaSST, U-105
kOmega, U-105
laminar, U-105
laplaceFilter, U-105
maxDeltaxyz, U-105
multiComponentMixture, U-103, U-182
perfectGas, U-104, U-181
polynomialTransport, U-104, U-182
powerLaw, U-106
ptsotchDecomp, U-103
pureMixture, U-103, U-182
reactingMixture, U-103, U-182
realizableKE, U-105
reconstruct, U-102
scotchDecomp, U-103
simpleFilter, U-105
smoothDelta, U-105
specieThermo, U-104, U-182
sutherlandTransport, U-104, U-182
v2f, U-105
veryInhomogeneousMixture, U-103, U-182
modifyMesh utility, U-94
molecularMeasurements
library, U-102
molecule
library, U-102
molWeight keyword, U-183
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-202

Index

moveDynamicMesh utility, U-93

moveEngineMesh utility, U-93
moveMesh utility, U-93
movingWallVelocity
boundary condition, U-139
MPI
openMPI, U-80
mshToFoam utility, U-92
mu keyword, U-184
multiComponentMixture model, U-103, U-182
multigrid
geometric-algebraic, U-126
multiRegionFeatureSnap keyword, U-154
MUSCL
keyword entry, U-120

N
n keyword, U-81
nabla
operator, P-23
nAlphaSubCycles keyword, U-61
nastran
keyword entry, U-176
nBufferCellsNoExtrude keyword, U-163
nCellsBetweenLevels keyword, U-150
neighbour
dictionary, U-131
neighbourPatch keyword, U-144
netgenNeutralToFoam utility, U-92
Newtonian
keyword entry, U-59
Newtonian model, U-106
nextWrite
keyword entry, U-115
nFaces keyword, U-132
nFeatureSnapIter keyword, U-154
nFinestSweeps keyword, U-126
nGrow keyword, U-163
nLayerIter keyword, U-163
nMoles keyword, U-183
noise utility, U-95
non-orthogonal mesh, P-41
nonBlocking
keyword entry, U-78
none
keyword entry, U-118, U-126
noWriteNow
keyword entry, U-115
nPostSweeps keyword, U-126
nPreSweeps keyword, U-126
nRelaxedIter keyword, U-163
nRelaxIter keyword, U-154, U-163
nSmoothThickness keyword, U-163
nSmoothNormals keyword, U-163
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

nSmoothPatch keyword, U-154

nSmoothScale keyword, U-164
nSmoothSurfaceNormals keyword, U-163
nSolveIter keyword, U-154
NSRDSfunctions model, U-104
null
keyword entry, U-176
numberOfSubdomains keyword, U-81

O
objToVTK utility, U-93
object keyword, U-109
ODE
library, U-102
Opacity text box, U-169
OpenFOAM
applications, U-67
file format, U-108
libraries, U-67
OpenFOAM
library, U-101
OpenFOAM file syntax
//, U-108
openMPI
message passing interface, U-80
MPI, U-80
operator
scalar, P-24
vector, P-23
Options window, U-170
options file, U-71
order keyword, U-81
orientFaceZone utility, U-93
Orientation Axes button, U-24, U-169
OSspecific
library, U-102
outer product, see tensor, outer product
outlet
boundary condition, P-65
outletInlet
boundary condition, U-139
outside
keyword entry, U-151
owner
dictionary, U-131

P
p field, U-22
P1
library, U-103
p rhgRefCell keyword, U-128
p rhgRefValue keyword, U-128
pPrime2 utility, U-96
pairPatchAgglomeration

Index
library, U-102
paraFoam, U-23, U-165
parallel
running, U-79
partialSlip
boundary condition, U-139
particleTracks utility, U-97
patch
boundary condition, U-136
patch
keyword entry, U-137, U-177
patchAverage utility, U-97
patchIntegrate utility, U-97
patchSummary utility, U-100
patchCloud keyword, U-178
patches keyword, U-140
patchMap keyword, U-161
patchSeed keyword, U-178
PBiCG
keyword entry, U-125
PCG
keyword entry, U-125
pdfPlot utility, U-97
PDRMesh utility, U-94
Pe utility, U-96
perfectGas model, U-104, U-181
permutation symbol, P-15
Pipeline Browser window, U-23, U-166
PISO
dictionary, U-23
pisoFoam solver, U-17
Plot Over Line
menu entry, U-33
plot3dToFoam utility, U-92
pointField class, P-27
pointField<Type> template class, P-29
pointMVC
keyword entry, U-176
points
dictionary, U-131, U-138
polyDualMesh utility, U-93
polyBoundaryMesh class, P-27
polyLine
keyword entry, U-141
polyLine keyword, U-178
polyMesh directory, U-107, U-131
polyMesh class, P-27, U-129, U-131
polynomialTransport model, U-104, U-182
polyPatch class, P-27
polyPatchList class, P-27
polySpline
keyword entry, U-141
post-processing, U-165
post-processing

U-203
paraFoam, U-165
postChannel utility, U-97
postCalc
library, U-101
potential
library, U-102
potentialFoam solver, P-42
pow
tensor member function, P-21
powerLaw model, U-106
Pr keyword, U-184
PrandtlDelta model, U-105
preconditioner keyword, U-124, U-125
pRefCell keyword, U-23, U-128
pRefValue keyword, U-23, U-128
pressure keyword, U-49
pressure waves
in liquids, P-58
pressureDirectedInletVelocity
boundary condition, U-139
pressureInletVelocity
boundary condition, U-139
pressureOutlet
boundary condition, P-59
pressureTransmissive
boundary condition, U-139
primitive
library, P-19
primitives tools, U-101
printCoeffs keyword, U-41, U-185
processorWeights keyword, U-80
probeLocations utility, U-97
process
background, U-24, U-79
foreground, U-24
processor
boundary condition, U-137
processor
keyword entry, U-137
processorN directory, U-80
processorWeights keyword, U-81
Properties window panel, U-25, U-166
ptot utility, U-98
ptsotchDecomp model, U-103
pureMixture model, U-103, U-182
purgeWrite keyword, U-116
PV3FoamReader utility, U-95
PV3FoamReader
library, U-165
PV4blockMeshReader utility, U-95
PV4FoamReader utility, U-95
PV4FoamReader
library, U-165
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-204

Index

Q
Q utility, U-96
QUICK
keyword entry, U-123

R
R utility, U-97
radiationModels
library, U-103
randomProcesses
library, U-102
RAS
keyword entry, U-40, U-185
RASModel keyword, U-185
RASModels
library, U-105
raw
keyword entry, U-116, U-176
reactingMixture model, U-103, U-182
reactionThermophysicalModels
library, U-103
realizableKE model, U-105
reconstruct model, U-102
reconstructPar utility, U-100
reconstructParMesh utility, U-100
reconstructPar utility, U-83
redistributePar utility, U-100
refGradient keyword, U-138
refineHexMesh utility, U-94
refineMesh utility, U-93
refineWallLayer utility, U-94
refinementLevel utility, U-94
refinementRegions keyword, U-151
refinementRegions keyword, U-150, U-151
refinementSurfaces keyword, U-150
Refresh Times button, U-25
regions keyword, U-58
relative tolerance, U-125
relativeSizes keyword, U-163
relaxed keyword, U-164
relTol keyword, U-52, U-124, U-125
removeFaces utility, U-94
Render View window, U-170
Render View window panel, U-170
renumberMesh utility, U-93
Rescale to Data Range button, U-25
Reset button, U-166
resolveFeatureAngle keyword, U-150
restart, U-38
Reynolds number, U-17, U-21
rmdepall script/alias, U-74
RNGkEpsilon model, U-105
roots keyword, U-81, U-82
rotateMesh utility, U-93
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

run
parallel, U-79
run directory, U-107
runTime
keyword entry, U-31, U-115
runTimeModifiable keyword, U-116

S
sammToFoam utility, U-92
sample utility, U-97, U-175
sampling
library, U-101
Save Animation
menu entry, U-171
Save Screenshot
menu entry, U-171
scalar, P-12
operator, P-24
scalar class, P-19
scalarField class, P-25
scale
tensor member function, P-21
scalePoints utility, U-158
scheduled
keyword entry, U-78
scientific
keyword entry, U-116
scotch
keyword entry, U-80, U-81
scotchCoeffs keyword, U-81
scotchDecomp model, U-103
script/alias
foamCorrectVrt, U-159
foamJob, U-179
foamLog, U-179
make, U-69
rmdepall, U-74
wclean, U-73
wmake, U-69
second time derivative, P-33
Seed window, U-171
selectCells utility, U-94
Set Ambient Color button, U-168
setFields utility, U-91
setSet utility, U-93
setFields utility, U-57, U-58
setFormat keyword, U-176
sets keyword, U-176
setsToZones utility, U-94
Settings
menu entry, U-170
SFCD
keyword entry, U-120, U-123
shape, U-142

Index
Show Color Legend
menu entry, U-25
SI units, U-111
simple
keyword entry, U-80, U-81
simpleFilter model, U-105
simpleFoam solver, P-50
simpleGrading keyword, U-142
simpleSpline
keyword entry, U-141
simulationType keyword, U-40, U-59, U-185
singleCellMesh utility, U-94
skew
tensor member function, P-21
skewLinear
keyword entry, U-120, U-123
SLGThermo
library, U-104
slice class, P-27
slip
boundary condition, U-139
Smagorinsky model, U-105
smapToFoam utility, U-95
smoothDelta model, U-105
smoother keyword, U-126
smoothSolver
keyword entry, U-125
snap keyword, U-148
snapControls keyword, U-148
snappyHexMesh utility, U-91
snappyHexMesh utility
background mesh, U-148
cell removal, U-151
cell splitting, U-149
mesh layers, U-152
meshing process, U-147
snapping to surfaces, U-152
snappyHexMesh utility, U-147
snappyHexMeshDict file, U-147
snGrad
fvc member function, P-33
snGradCorrection
fvc member function, P-33
snGradSchemes keyword, U-118
solarLoad
library, U-103
solid
library, U-104
Solid Color
menu entry, U-168
solidDisplacementFoam solver, U-50
solidMixtureProperties
library, U-104
solidParticle

U-205
library, U-102
solidProperties
library, U-104
solver
blockMesh, P-43
icoFoam, U-17, U-21, U-22, U-24
mhdFoam, P-65
pisoFoam, U-17
potentialFoam, P-42
simpleFoam, P-50
solidDisplacementFoam, U-50
sonicFoam, P-56
sonicLiquidFoam, P-59
DPMFoam, U-88
MPPICFoam, U-88
PDRFoam, U-87
SRFPimpleFoam, U-84
SRFSimpleFoam, U-84
XiDyMFoam, U-87
XiFoam, U-87
adjointShapeOptimizationFoam, U-83
boundaryFoam, U-83
buoyantBoussinesqPimpleFoam, U-87
buoyantBoussinesqSimpleFoam, U-87
buoyantPimpleFoam, U-88
buoyantSimpleFoam, U-88
cavitatingDyMFoam, U-85
cavitatingFoam, U-85
chemFoam, U-87
chtMultiRegionFoam, U-88
chtMultiRegionSimpleFoam, U-88
coalChemistryFoam, U-88
coldEngineFoam, U-87
compressibleInterDyMFoam, U-85
compressibleInterFoam, U-85
compressibleMultiphaseInterFoam, U-85
dnsFoam, U-87
driftFluxFoam, U-85
dsmcFoam, U-89
electrostaticFoam, U-89
engineFoam, U-87
financialFoam, U-90
fireFoam, U-87
icoFoam, U-83
icoUncoupledKinematicParcelDyMFoam,
U-88
icoUncoupledKinematicParcelFoam, U-88
interDyMFoam, U-85
interFoam, U-85
interMixingFoam, U-86
interPhaseChangeDyMFoam, U-86
interPhaseChangeFoam, U-86
laplacianFoam, U-83
magneticFoam, U-89
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-206
mdEquilibrationFoam, U-89
mdFoam, U-89
mhdFoam, U-89
multiphaseEulerFoam, U-86
multiphaseInterDyMFoam, U-86
multiphaseInterFoam, U-86
nonNewtonianIcoFoam, U-84
pimpleDyMFoam, U-84
pimpleFoam, U-84
pisoFoam, U-84
porousSimpleFoam, U-84
potentialFoam, U-83
potentialFreeSurfaceDyMFoam, U-86
potentialFreeSurfaceFoam, U-86
reactingFoam, U-87
reactingMultiphaseEulerFoam, U-86
reactingParcelFilmFoam, U-88
reactingParcelFoam, U-88
reactingTwoPhaseEulerFoam, U-86
rhoCentralDyMFoam, U-84
rhoCentralFoam, U-84
rhoPimpleDyMFoam, U-84
rhoPimpleFoam, U-84
rhoPorousSimpleFoam, U-85
rhoReactingBuoyantFoam, U-87
rhoReactingFoam, U-87
rhoSimpleFoam, U-84
scalarTransportFoam, U-83
shallowWaterFoam, U-84
simpleCoalParcelFoam, U-89
simpleFoam, U-84
simpleReactingParcelFoam, U-88
solidDisplacementFoam, U-89
solidEquilibriumDisplacementFoam, U-89
sonicDyMFoam, U-85
sonicFoam, U-85
sonicLiquidFoam, U-85
sprayDyMFoam, U-89
sprayEngineFoam, U-89
sprayFoam, U-89
thermoFoam, U-88
twoLiquidMixingFoam, U-86
twoPhaseEulerFoam, U-87
uncoupledKinematicParcelFoam, U-89
solver keyword, U-52, U-124
solver relative tolerance, U-125
solver tolerance, U-125
solvers keyword, U-124
sonicFoam solver, P-56
sonicLiquidFoam solver, P-59
source, P-33
SpalartAllmaras model, U-105
SpalartAllmarasDDES model, U-105
SpalartAllmarasDES model, U-105
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
SpalartAllmarasIDDES model, U-105
specie
library, U-104
specie keyword, U-183
specieThermo model, U-104, U-182
spline keyword, U-140
splitCells utility, U-95
splitMesh utility, U-94
splitMeshRegions utility, U-94
spray
library, U-102
sqr
tensor member function, P-21
sqrGradGrad
fvc member function, P-33
SSG model, U-105
star3ToFoam utility, U-92
star4ToFoam utility, U-92
starcd
keyword entry, U-176
startFace keyword, U-132
startFrom keyword, U-22, U-115
starToFoam utility, U-155
startTime
keyword entry, U-22, U-115
startTime keyword, U-22, U-115
steady flow
turbulent, P-49
steadyParticleTracks utility, U-97
steadyState
keyword entry, U-123
Stereolithography (STL), U-147
stitchMesh utility, U-94
stl
keyword entry, U-176
stopAt keyword, U-115
strategy keyword, U-80, U-81
streamFunction utility, U-96
stress analysis of plate with hole, U-45
stressComponents utility, U-96
Style window panel, U-23, U-168
Su
fvm member function, P-33
subsetMesh utility, U-94
summation convention, P-13
SUPERBEE differencing, P-34
supersonic flow, P-55
supersonic flow over forward step, P-54
supersonicFreeStream
boundary condition, U-139
surface mesh, U-147
surfaceAdd utility, U-98
surfaceBooleanFeatures utility, U-98
surfaceCheck utility, U-98

U-207

Index
surfaceClean utility, U-98
surfaceCoarsen utility, U-98
surfaceConvert utility, U-98
surfaceFeatureConvert utility, U-98
surfaceFeatureExtract utility, U-98
surfaceFind utility, U-98
surfaceHookUp utility, U-98
surfaceInertia utility, U-98
surfaceInflate utility, U-98
surfaceLambdaMuSmooth utility, U-98
surfaceMeshConvert utility, U-98
surfaceMeshConvertTesting utility, U-98
surfaceMeshExport utility, U-99
surfaceMeshImport utility, U-99
surfaceMeshInfo utility, U-99
surfaceMeshTriangulate utility, U-99
surfaceOrient utility, U-99
surfacePatch utility, U-99
surfacePointMerge utility, U-99
surfaceRedistributePar utility, U-99
surfaceRefineRedGreen utility, U-99
surfaceSplitByPatch utility, U-99
surfaceSplitByTopology utility, U-99
surfaceSplitNonManifolds utility, U-99
surfaceSubset utility, U-99
surfaceToPatch utility, U-99
surfaceTransformPoints utility, U-99
surfaceFeatureExtract utility, U-150
surfaceField<Type> template class, P-29
surfaceFilmModels
library, U-106
surfaceFormat keyword, U-176
surfaceMesh tools, U-101
surfaceNormalFixedValue
boundary condition, U-139
surfaces keyword, U-176
surfMesh
library, U-102
SuSp
fvm member function, P-33
sutherlandTransport model, U-104, U-182
symm
tensor member function, P-21
symmetryPlane
boundary condition, P-59, U-136
symmetryPlane
keyword entry, U-137
symmTensorField class, P-25
symmTensorThirdField class, P-25
system directory, P-46, U-107
systemCall
library, U-102

T
T()
tensor member function, P-21
Tcommon keyword, U-183
template class
GeometricBoundaryField, P-28
fvMatrix, P-29
dimensioned<Type>, P-21
FieldField<Type>, P-28
Field<Type>, P-25
geometricField<Type>, P-28
List<Type>, P-25
pointField<Type>, P-29
surfaceField<Type>, P-29
volField<Type>, P-29
temporal discretisation, P-38
Crank Nicholson, P-38
Euler implicit, P-38
explicit, P-38
in OpenFOAM, P-39
temporalInterpolate utility, U-98
tensor, P-11
addition, P-13
algebraic operations, P-13
algebraic operations in OpenFOAM, P-19
antisymmetric, see tensor, skew
calculus, P-23
classes in OpenFOAM, P-19
cofactors, P-18
component average, P-16
component maximum, P-16
component minimum, P-16
determinant, P-18
deviatoric, P-17
diagonal, P-17
dimension, P-12
double inner product, P-15
geometric transformation, P-16
Hodge dual, P-18
hydrostatic, P-17
identities, P-17
identity, P-16
inner product, P-14
inverse, P-18
magnitude, P-16
magnitude squared, P-16
mathematics, P-11
notation, P-13
nth power, P-16
outer product, P-15
rank, P-12
rank 3, P-12
scalar division, P-14
scalar multiplication, P-13
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-208
scale function, P-16
second rank, P-12
skew, P-17
square of, P-16
subtraction, P-13
symmetric, P-17
symmetric rank 2, P-12
symmetric rank 3, P-12
trace, P-17
transformation, P-16
transpose, P-12, P-17
triple inner product, P-15
vector cross product, P-15
tensor class, P-19
tensor member function
*, P-21
+, P-21
-, P-21
/, P-21
&, P-21
&&, P-21
^, P-21
cmptAv, P-21
cofactors, P-21
det, P-21
dev, P-21
diag, P-21
I, P-21
inv, P-21
mag, P-21
magSqr, P-21
max, P-21
min, P-21
pow, P-21
scale, P-21
skew, P-21
sqr, P-21
symm, P-21
T(), P-21
tr, P-21
transform, P-21
tensorField class, P-25
tensorThirdField class, P-25
tetgenToFoam utility, U-92
text box
Opacity, U-169
thermalPorousZone
library, U-104
thermalProperties
dictionary, U-50
thermodynamics keyword, U-183
thermophysical
library, U-181
thermophysicalFunctions
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
library, U-104
thermophysicalProperties
dictionary, U-181
thermoType keyword, U-181
thickness keyword, U-163
Thigh keyword, U-183
time
control, U-115
time derivative, P-33
first, P-35
second, P-33, P-35
time step, U-22
timeFormat keyword, U-116
timePrecision keyword, U-116
timeScheme keyword, U-118
timeStamp
keyword entry, U-78
timeStampMaster
keyword entry, U-78
timeStep
keyword entry, U-22, U-31, U-115
Tlow keyword, U-183
tolerance
solver, U-125
solver relative, U-125
tolerance keyword, U-52, U-124, U-125,
U-154
Toolbars
menu entry, U-169
tools
algorithms, U-101
cfdTools, U-101
containers, U-101
db, U-101
dimensionSet, U-101
dimensionedTypes, U-101
fields, U-101
finiteVolume, U-101
fvMatrices, U-101
fvMesh, U-101
global, U-101
graph, U-101
interpolations, U-101
interpolation, U-101
matrices, U-101
memory, U-101
meshes, U-101
primitives, U-101
surfaceMesh, U-101
volMesh, U-101
topoSet utility, U-94
topoChangerFvMesh
library, U-102
topoSetSource keyword, U-58

U-209

Index
totalPressure
boundary condition, U-139
tr
tensor member function, P-21
trace, see tensor, trace
traction keyword, U-49
transform
tensor member function, P-21
transformPoints utility, U-94
transport keyword, U-183
transportProperties
dictionary, U-21, U-38, U-41
transportProperties file, U-59
triple inner product, P-15
triSurface
library, U-102
triSurfaceMeshPointSet keyword, U-178
Ts keyword, U-184
turbulence
dissipation, U-39
kinetic energy, U-39
length scale, U-40
turbulence keyword, U-185
turbulence model
RAS, U-39
turbulenceProperties
dictionary, U-40, U-59, U-185
turbulent flow
steady, P-49
turbulentInlet
boundary condition, U-139
tutorials
breaking of a dam, U-55
lid-driven cavity flow, U-17
stress analysis of plate with hole, U-45
tutorials directory, P-41, U-17
twoPhaseInterfaceProperties
library, U-106
type keyword, U-134, U-135

U
U field, U-22
Ucomponents utility, P-66
UMIST
keyword entry, U-119
uncompressed
keyword entry, U-116
uncorrected
keyword entry, U-121, U-122
uniform keyword, U-178
units
base, U-111
of measurement, P-21, U-111
S.I. base, P-21

SI, U-111
Syst`eme International, U-111
United States Customary System, U-111
USCS, U-111
Update GUI button, U-167
uprime utility, U-96
upwind
keyword entry, U-120, U-123
upwind differencing, P-34, U-60
USCS units, U-111
Use Parallel Projection button, U-24
Use parallel projection button, U-169
utility
Co, U-95
Lambda2, U-96
Mach, U-96
PDRMesh, U-94
PV3FoamReader, U-95
PV4FoamReader, U-95
PV4blockMeshReader, U-95
Pe, U-96
Q, U-96
R, U-97
Ucomponents, P-66
adiabaticFlameT, U-100
ansysToFoam, U-91
applyBoundaryLayer, U-90
attachMesh, U-92
autoPatch, U-93
autoRefineMesh, U-94
blockMesh, U-36, U-138
blockMesh, U-91
boxTurb, U-90
ccm26ToFoam, U-92
cfx4ToFoam, U-155
cfx4ToFoam, U-91
changeDictionary, U-90
checkMesh, U-156
checkMesh, U-93
chemkinToFoam, U-100
collapseEdges, U-94
combinePatchFaces, U-94
createBaffles, U-93
createExternalCoupledPatchGeometry, U-90
createPatch, U-93
createTurbulenceFields, U-96
createZeroDirectory, U-90
datToFoam, U-91
decomposePar, U-79, U-80
decomposePar, U-99
deformedGeom, U-93
dsmcFieldsCalc, U-97
dsmcInitialise, U-90
engineCompRatio, U-97
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-210
engineSwirl, U-90
ensight74FoamExec, U-174
ensightFoamReader, U-95
enstrophy, U-95
equilibriumCO, U-100
equilibriumFlameT, U-100
execFlowFunctionObjects, U-97
expandDictionary, U-100
extrude2DMesh, U-91
faceAgglomerate, U-90
flattenMesh, U-93
flowType, U-95
fluent3DMeshToFoam, U-91
fluentMeshToFoam, U-155
fluentMeshToFoam, U-92
foamCalc, U-32
foamDataToFluent, U-172
foamMeshToFluent, U-172
foamCalc, U-95, U-97
foamDataToFluent, U-95
foamDebugSwitches, U-100
foamFormatConvert, U-100
foamHelp, U-100
foamInfoExec, U-100
foamListTimes, U-97
foamMeshToFluent, U-92
foamToEnsightParts, U-95
foamToEnsight, U-95
foamToGMV, U-95
foamToStarMesh, U-92
foamToSurface, U-92
foamToTecplot360, U-95
foamToTetDualMesh, U-95
foamToVTK, U-95
foamUpgradeCyclics, U-90
foamyHexMeshBackgroundMesh, U-91
foamyHexMeshSurfaceSimplify, U-91
foamyHexMesh, U-91
foamyQuadMesh, U-91
gambitToFoam, U-155
gambitToFoam, U-92
gmshToFoam, U-92
ideasToFoam, U-155
ideasUnvToFoam, U-92
insideCells, U-93
kivaToFoam, U-92
mapFields, U-30, U-37, U-41, U-54, U-161
mapFieldsPar, U-91
mapFields, U-90
mdInitialise, U-91
mergeMeshes, U-93
mergeOrSplitBaffles, U-93
mirrorMesh, U-93
mixtureAdiabaticFlameT, U-100
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
modifyMesh, U-94
moveDynamicMesh, U-93
moveEngineMesh, U-93
moveMesh, U-93
mshToFoam, U-92
netgenNeutralToFoam, U-92
noise, U-95
objToVTK, U-93
orientFaceZone, U-93
pPrime2, U-96
particleTracks, U-97
patchAverage, U-97
patchIntegrate, U-97
patchSummary, U-100
pdfPlot, U-97
plot3dToFoam, U-92
polyDualMesh, U-93
postChannel, U-97
probeLocations, U-97
ptot, U-98
reconstructPar, U-83
reconstructParMesh, U-100
reconstructPar, U-100
redistributePar, U-100
refineHexMesh, U-94
refineMesh, U-93
refineWallLayer, U-94
refinementLevel, U-94
removeFaces, U-94
renumberMesh, U-93
rotateMesh, U-93
sammToFoam, U-92
sample, U-97, U-175
scalePoints, U-158
selectCells, U-94
setFields, U-57, U-58
setFields, U-91
setSet, U-93
setsToZones, U-94
singleCellMesh, U-94
smapToFoam, U-95
snappyHexMesh, U-147
snappyHexMesh, U-91
splitCells, U-95
splitMeshRegions, U-94
splitMesh, U-94
star3ToFoam, U-92
star4ToFoam, U-92
starToFoam, U-155
steadyParticleTracks, U-97
stitchMesh, U-94
streamFunction, U-96
stressComponents, U-96
subsetMesh, U-94

U-211

Index
surfaceFeatureExtract, U-150
surfaceAdd, U-98
surfaceBooleanFeatures, U-98
surfaceCheck, U-98
surfaceClean, U-98
surfaceCoarsen, U-98
surfaceConvert, U-98
surfaceFeatureConvert, U-98
surfaceFeatureExtract, U-98
surfaceFind, U-98
surfaceHookUp, U-98
surfaceInertia, U-98
surfaceInflate, U-98
surfaceLambdaMuSmooth, U-98
surfaceMeshConvertTesting, U-98
surfaceMeshConvert, U-98
surfaceMeshExport, U-99
surfaceMeshImport, U-99
surfaceMeshInfo, U-99
surfaceMeshTriangulate, U-99
surfaceOrient, U-99
surfacePatch, U-99
surfacePointMerge, U-99
surfaceRedistributePar, U-99
surfaceRefineRedGreen, U-99
surfaceSplitByPatch, U-99
surfaceSplitByTopology, U-99
surfaceSplitNonManifolds, U-99
surfaceSubset, U-99
surfaceToPatch, U-99
surfaceTransformPoints, U-99
temporalInterpolate, U-98
tetgenToFoam, U-92
topoSet, U-94
transformPoints, U-94
uprime, U-96
viewFactorsGen, U-91
vorticity, U-96
vtkUnstructuredToFoam, U-92
wallFunctionTable, U-91
wallGradU, U-96
wallHeatFlux, U-96
wallShearStress, U-96
wdot, U-98
writeCellCentres, U-98
writeMeshObj, U-92
yPlus, U-96
zipUpMesh, U-94
utilityFunctionObjects
library, U-102

V
v2f model, U-105
value keyword, U-21, U-138

valueFraction keyword, U-138

van Leer differencing, P-34
vanLeer
keyword entry, U-120
VCR Controls menu, U-25, U-167
vector, P-12
operator, P-23
unit, P-16
vector class, P-19, U-111
vector product, see tensor, vector cross product
vectorField class, P-25
version keyword, U-109
vertices keyword, U-20, U-140, U-141
veryInhomogeneousMixture model, U-103, U-182
View menu, U-169
View Settings
menu entry, U-24, U-169
View Settings (Render View) window, U-169
View Settings...
menu entry, U-24
viewFactorsGen utility, U-91
viewFactor
library, U-103
viscosity
kinematic, U-21, U-41
volField<Type> template class, P-29
volMesh tools, U-101
vorticity utility, U-96
vtk
keyword entry, U-176
vtkUnstructuredToFoam utility, U-92
vtkPV3Foam
library, U-165
vtkPV4Foam
library, U-165

W
WALE model, U-105
wall
boundary condition, P-59, P-65, U-57,
U-136
wall
keyword entry, U-137
wallFunctionTable utility, U-91
wallGradU utility, U-96
wallHeatFlux utility, U-96
wallShearStress utility, U-96
wallBuoyantPressure
boundary condition, U-139
Wallis
library, U-104
wclean script/alias, U-73
wdot utility, U-98
wedge
OpenFOAM-v3.0+

U-212
boundary condition, U-132, U-137, U-146
wedge
keyword entry, U-137
window
Color Legend, U-27
Options, U-170
Pipeline Browser, U-23, U-166
Render View, U-170
Seed, U-171
View Settings (Render View), U-169
window panel
Animations, U-170
Annotation, U-24, U-169
Charts, U-170
Color Legend, U-168
Color Scale, U-168
Colors, U-170
Display, U-23, U-25, U-166, U-167
General, U-169, U-170
Information, U-166
Lights, U-169
Mesh Parts, U-23
Properties, U-25, U-166
Render View, U-170
Style, U-23, U-168
Wireframe
menu entry, U-168
WM ARCH
environment variable, U-74
WM ARCH OPTION
environment variable, U-74
WM CC
environment variable, U-74
WM COMPILE OPTION
environment variable, U-74
WM COMPILER
environment variable, U-74
WM COMPILER LIB ARCH
environment variable, U-74
WM DIR
environment variable, U-74
WM MPLIB
environment variable, U-74
WM OPTIONS
environment variable, U-74
WM PRECISION OPTION

OpenFOAM-v3.0+

Index
environment variable, U-74
WM PROJECT
environment variable, U-74
WM PROJECT DIR
environment variable, U-74
WM PROJECT INST DIR
environment variable, U-74
WM PROJECT USER DIR
environment variable, U-74
WM PROJECT VERSION
environment variable, U-74
wmake
platforms, U-70
wmake script/alias, U-69
word class, P-21, P-27
writeCellCentres utility, U-98
writeMeshObj utility, U-92
writeCompression keyword, U-116
writeControl
keyword entry, U-115
writeControl keyword, U-22, U-60, U-115
writeFormat keyword, U-53, U-116
writeInterval keyword, U-22, U-31, U-116
writeNow
keyword entry, U-115
writePrecision keyword, U-116

X
x
keyword entry, U-178
xmgr
keyword entry, U-116, U-176
xyz
keyword entry, U-178

Y
y
keyword entry, U-178
yPlus utility, U-96

Z
z
keyword entry, U-178
zeroGradient
boundary condition, U-138
zipUpMesh utility, U-94