Release notes for foam-extend-3.1

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Table of Contents

1 Overview

The foam-extend project is a fork of the OpenFOAM® open source library for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). It is an open project welcoming and integrating contributions from all users and developers. Previously known as OpenFOAM®-dev and OpenFOAM®-extend, it contains bug fixes and performance improvements, as well as extensions and additional features provided by community contributors (see file ListOfContributors), such as dynamic mesh and topological change support, turbomachinery extensions including general grid interpolation (GGI), cyclic GGI and mixing plane, block-coupled matrix support, implicitly coupled conjugate heat transfer and other pyshics coupling, finite area method, comprehensive dynamic mesh (motion and topological changes) capability and GPU support. For a full list, see below and previous release notes at: http://sourceforge.net/p/openfoam-extend/wiki/Home/

Version 3.1, nicknamed "Zagreb", is the current version of foam-extend. The release continues the tradition and spirit of the original FOAM code developed by prof. Jasak and Mr. Weller during their time at Imperial College and released as the general purpose CFD/CCM package by Nabla Ltd. in 2000. In this spirit, we reverted 18 December 2013 to the original numbering scheme (foam-2.3.2, 13 December 2004) as release number 3.0. Visit http://foam-extend.org for more information.

OPENFOAM® is a registered trademark of ESI Group. OpenFOAM-extend and foam-extend are a community effort not endorsed by ESI Group.

2 Installation

foam-extend-3.1 can be compiled and runs on any linux system

  • Main supported OSs:
    • Ubuntu 14.04
    • Fedora 20
    • Mac OS X
  • Compile from source:

    Please refer to doc/buildInstructions/ for details. Further installation instruction are available on the unofficial OpenFOAM Wiki: http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Installation/Linux/foam-extend-3.0 If you have improvements or build instructions for a new system, please share them with the community (see section "How to contribute", below).

  • Download binary packages:

    Binary packages are available for download at http://sourceforge.net/projects/openfoam-extend/ for the following systems: Ubuntu 14.04, Fedora 20 and Mac OS X.

  • Accompanying ThirdParty software:
    • gcc compatibility up to 4.8.2
    • Paraview 4.0.1
    • qt 4.8.5
    • openmpi 1.6.5
    • cmake 2.8.12
    • metis 5.1.0
    • parmetis 4.0.3
    • scotch 6.0.0
    • ParMGridGen 1.0
    • mesquite 2.1.2
    • PyFoam 0.6.3
    • swak4Foam 0.3.1
    • zoltan 3.6
    • bison 2.7
    • hwloc 1.7.2
    • libccmio 2.6.1

3 Compatibility

Upstream features from the OpenFOAM® code base are merged into foam-extend on regular basis. The interface format of foam-extend-3.1 is largely compatible to OpenFOAM-1.6-ext and OpenFOAM-1.7.x. In some cases, the differences are caused by bug fixes and algorithmic improvements, considered more important than inter-operability.

4 Main differentiators between foam-extend and OpenFOAM

A large number of features have been lost within the release of OpenFOAM since version 1.3, the code base has shrunk by more than 40%. While we understand the lack of technical ability of supporting advanced CFD features, we feel that existing features and specifically large-scale contributions should remain active and developed further. Below is a list of main features of foam-extend which are lacking, lost, deactivated or unusable in ESI releases:

  • Turbomachinery features, including General Grid Interface (GGI), partial overlap GGI, cyclic GGI, with improvements in parallel scaling. First release of a mixing plane stage interface
  • Dynamic mesh with topological changes Sliding interfaces, mesh layering, attach-detach boundaries etc. In foam-extend, full parallel support for topological changes is released for the first time
  • Finite Element Method with support for polyhedral meshes This is mainly used in mesh deformation and over the last 15 years it has proven vastly superior to all other dynamic mesh methods.
  • Advanced mesh deformation technology Including tet FEM mesh deformation, Radial Basis Function (RBF) mesh deformation, tetrahedral remeshing dynamic mesh support and solid body motion functions. All of the above include parallelisation support
  • Library of dynamic meshes with topological changes with full second order FVM discretisation support on moving meshes with topological changes
  • Internal combustion engine-specific dynamic mesh classes such as two-stroke engine and various forms of 4-stroke and multi-valve dynamic mesh classes
  • Finite Area Method providing support for FVM-like discretisation on a curved surface in 3-D, with examples of liquid film modelling
  • Block-coupled matrix support, allowing fully implicit multi-equation solution of NxN equation sets, with full parallelisation support. First release of a block-AMG linear equation solver
  • Fully implicit conjugate-coupled solution framework, allowing implicit solution fo multiple equations over multiple meshes, with parallelism
  • Proper Orthogonal Decomposition data analysis tools, with applications to FOAM field classes
  • Equation reader classes and tutorials
  • Multi-solver solution framework, allowing multiple field models to be solved in a coupled manner
  • A major contribution is solid mechanics modelling, including linear and non-linear materials, contact, self-contact and friction, with updated Lagrangian or absolute Lagrangian formulation. Solution of damage models and crack propagation in complex materials via topological changes
  • CUDA solver release, provided in full source and as an example of coupling external linear equation solvers with FOAM
  • Library-level support for Immersed Boundary Method and Overset Mesh
  • Major improvements in accuracy and stability of FVM discretisation with options on convection and diffusion discretisation, deferred correction or explicit schemes
  • Algebraic multigrid solver framework
  • 210 tutorials with automated run scripts
  • Automatic test harness
  • Approximately 6000 bug fixes in fundamental level libraries and discretisation techniques

5 New features in foam-extend-3.1, since foam-extend-3.0

The list of features is a result of the work of numerous contributors. The maintainers of foam-extend would formally like to thank them all.

Get a full log of the updates by (either): 

user@machine> git log 3.0.. > commitLog

user@machine> git log 3.0.. --oneline > commitLog

user@machine> gitg 3.0..
  • Major new features:
    • Pressure-based compressible turbo functionalities
    • Pressure-based coupled solver (block-coupling p and U)
    • Density-based coupled Roe flux solver dbnsFoam and dbnsTurbFoam
    • Major update and validation of mixing plane boundary
    • Full deploymenr of block matrix, including block-AMG solverse
    • Further parallel dynamic mesh capability: all topological changes supported in parallel execution
    • Major upgrade of solid mechanics solvers
    • Support for CLang-based compilers
  • Licence: GPLv3
  • Installation:
    • Updated and bug-fixed installation procedures
    • Removed need for gmake link in Ubuntu
    • Scripts for minimizing installation after compilation
      • ThirdParty/Allclean alsoPackage - new option
      • wcleanAllButLibBinLnInclude
    • Fixed problem with ParaView reader for Ubuntu 14.04
    • foamToTecplot360: building tecio doesn't require X.org development files
  • Solvers:
    • compressible/dbnsFoam
    • compressible/dbnsTurbFoam
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleFoam
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleMRFFoam
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleSRFFoam
    • coupled/pUCoupledFoam (incl. core library changes)
    • Update and cleanup of solvers/solidMechanics
    • Update for segregated FEM matrix, solvers/solidMechanics/stressFemFoam
  • Utilities:
    • convertPhi (for steadyCompressible solvers)
    • foamMeshToElmer, fluent3DMeshToElmer
    • transformPoints -cylToCart "origin axis direction" - new option
    • blockMesh syntax update (see commit a78b12074)
  • Libraries:
    • General:
      • Added Gauss-Seidel as asymmetric solver
      • Block matrix agglomeration (for pUCoupledFoam)
      • Block AMG solver
      • dbns library (src/dbns)
    • Boundary conditions:
      • cfdTools/general/SRF/derivedFvPatchFields/SRFFlowRateInletVelocity
      • cfdTools/general/SRF/derivedFvPatchFields/SRFSurfaceNormalVelocity
      • cfdTools/general/SRF/derivedFvPatchFields/SRFTotalPressure
      • cfdTools/general/SRF/derivedFvPatchFields/SRFTotalTemperature
      • cfdTools/general/SRF/derivedFvPatchFields/pulseFixedValue
      • cfdTools/general/SRF/derivedFvPatchFields/waveTransmissiveInlet
      • thermophysicalModels/basic/derivedFvPatchFields/isentropicTotalTemperature
      • thermophysicalModels/basic/derivedFvPatchFields/temperatureDirectedInletOutletVelocity
      • fvMesh/fvPatches/constraint/mixingPlane
    • Turbulence modeling:
      • Removed kOmegaSST_lowRe - use standard kOmegaSST
  • Tutorial updates (settings, initial conditions, bug fixes etc.):
    • incompressible/icoDyMFoam/mixerGgi
    • incompressible/icoDyMFoam/movingConeMotion
    • incompressible/icoDyMFoam/movingConeTopo
    • solidMechanics/elasticNonLinTLSolidFoam/largeStrainCantileverBeam
    • solidMechanics/elasticNonLinTLSolidFoam/nonLinBlock
    • solidMechanics/elasticNonLinTLSolidFoam/rotateSphereTL
    • solidMechanics/elasticThermalSolidFoam/hotCylinder
    • solidMechanics/stressFemFoam/plateHole
    • Many other updates due to blockMesh syntax update
  • New tutorials:
    • compressible/dbnsFoam/forwardStep
    • compressible/dbnsFoam/shockTube
    • compressible/dbnsTurbFoam/naca0012
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleFoam/2bump
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleFoam/bumpBlockMesh
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleFoam/bumpFine05
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleMRFFoam/bentRotorStator
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleMRFFoam/simpleRotorStator
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleSRFFoam/bentBlade
    • compressible/steadyCompressibleSRFFoam/simpleBlade
    • coupled/pUCoupledFoam/cavity
    • incompressible/MRFSimpleFoam/axialTurbine_ggi
    • incompressible/MRFSimpleFoam/axialTurbine_mixingPlane
    • incompressible/pimpleDyMFoam/axialTurbine
    • incompressible/pimpleDyMFoam/movingCylinders
    • incompressible/pUCoupledFoam/backwardFacingStepLaminar
    • incompressible/pUCoupledFoam/backwardFacingStepTurbulent
    • incompressible/pUCoupledFoam/cavity
    • incompressible/simpleSRFFoam/axialTurbine
    • mesh/moveDynamicMesh/movingCylinders
  • Bug fixes:
    • Correct snGrad on coupled boundaries
    • Handling of static null pointers: safe to dereference
    • LinearUpwind no longer hangs in parallel execution on empty patches
    • Mesh update on parallel topo changes: zones before boundaries
    • GGI interpolation updates on topologically changing meshes
    • Cell layering issues off complex surfaces
    • Template depth for block matrix support
    • Parallel efficiency improvements

6 Recent successful compilations and tests

7 Reporting bugs

To report bugs, please use the MantisBT bugtracker at http://sourceforge.net/apps/mantisbt/openfoam-extend

8 How to contribute

All your contributions are highly welcome: New solvers, utilities and models; bug fixes; documentation. The many ways of contributing and the contribution process are described in detail at: http://sourceforge.net/p/openfoam-extend/wiki/HowToContribute/

9 List of Contributors:

See file ListOfContributors

Date: 8 June 2014

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