OpenFOAM
OpenFOAM running in a terminal
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| Original author(s) | Henry Weller |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | CFD Direct |
| Initial release | 10 December 2004 |
| Stable release |
4.1 / 13 October 2016
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| Repository | github |
| Written in | C++ |
| Operating system | Unix/Linux |
| Type | Computational fluid dynamics, simulation software |
| License | GPLv3 |
| Website | openfoam |
OpenFOAM (for "Open source Field Operation And Manipulation") is a C++ toolbox for the development of customized numerical solvers, and pre-/post-processing utilities for the solution of continuum mechanics problems, including computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The code is released as free and open source software under the GNU General Public License. The OpenFOAM name was registered by OpenCFD Ltd in 2007 and non-exclusively licensed to the OpenFOAM Foundation Ltd in 2011.
OpenFOAM (originally, FOAM) was created by Henry Weller from the late 1980s at Imperial College, London, to develop a more powerful and flexible general simulation platform than the de facto standard at the time, FORTRAN. This led to the choice of C++ as programming language, due to its modularity and object oriented features. In 2004, Henry Weller, Chris Greenshields and Mattijs Janssens founded OpenCFD Ltd to develop and release OpenFOAM. On 8 August 2011, OpenCFD was acquired by Silicon Graphics International (SGI). At the same time, the copyright of OpenFOAM was transferred to the OpenFOAM Foundation, a newly founded, not-for-profit organisation that manages OpenFOAM and distributes it to the general public. On 12 September 2012, the ESI Group announced the acquisition of OpenCFD Ltd from SGI. In 2014, Weller and Greenshields left ESI Group and continue the development and management of OpenFOAM, on behalf of the OpenFOAM Foundation, at CFD Direct.
One distinguishing feature of OpenFOAM is its syntax for tensor operations and partial differential equations that closely resembles the equations being solved. For example, the equation
is represented by the code
This syntax, achieved through the use of object oriented programming and operator overloading, enables users to create custom solvers with relative ease. However, code customization becomes more challenging with increasing depth into the OpenFOAM library, owing to a lack of documentation, and heavy use of template metaprogramming.
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