OpenCFD Releases OpenFOAM Version 2.0.0

By DE Editors

OpenCFD has announced the release of version 2.0.0 of its OpenFOAM open-source CFD toolbox. Version 2.0.0 is distributed as Debian packs created for Ubuntu, RPM packs created for SuSE (to be released shortly) and as source code for compilation on other Linux systems.

OpenCFD says version 2.0.0 is a major new version containing significant developments, including:

Surface film, a new surface film modeling library offers the capability to predict the behavior of thin films with optional coupling to the bulk flow, both continuum and discrete (particle) phases, in parallel. The modeling can predict film flow and breakup, splashing on wetted areas, thermal effects such as cooling with films resulting from sprays.

Steady-state VoF, a local-time stepping approach that has been developed to run simulations involving complex physics to steady-state. The method has been implemented within a few solvers in OpenFOAM including, VoF interface-tracking.

Lagrangian modeling. A fully-parallelized implementation of discrete element modeling (DEM) has been introduced. The particle-tracking algorithm has been rewritten to overcome a requirement that all cells needed to be convex. The resulting algorithm is a little faster on simple hex meshes, and considerably faster on complex meshes with borderline-convex cells, says OpenCFD. Also, diesel spray capability, has been migrated to the new Lagrangian framework introduced in v1.6. Finally, the local-time stepping approach has been successfully used for steady particle-tracking.

Thermophysical modeling has been extended to include a view factor radiation model, thermal baffles and thermal porous zones. The libraries have been overhauled to make the syntax for specifying model coefficients in the thermophysicalProperties dictionary easier to understand. A new thermodynamic package has been added for solids, liquids and gases.

There are also several developments relating to post-processing including: new function objects to calculate streamlines, near wall fields, etc. and for controlling runs; new polyhedral cell support for ParaView and additional functionality for post-processing with EnSight.

Meshing changes include the addition of feature edge handling in snappyHexMesh, syntax improvements to the blockMesh configuration file, and a new binary file format for meshes that reads and writes much faster than before.

There are several developments relating to run-time control as well, including: compilation, loading and execution of C++ code at run-time with the #codeStream directive, codedFixedValue BC and coded function object; new residual/convergence control with the SIMPLE/PIMPLE solvers; descriptive help information invoked by the -help option; changes to the monitoring of modified files; and, improvements for parallel running.

For more information, visit the OpenFOAM site.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.