OpenFOAM Intermediate from Udemy

The results are in - OpenFOAM can solve all the major industrial CFD problems that established competitors can. The power to design anything from jet airplanes and engines to pipes and heat exchangers is a simple download away. Unfortunately, as I learned the first time I used it, OpenFOAM has a very steep learning curve. Having learned the basics several years ago I quickly realised just how complicated CFD could get. Even though I knew how to set up a case and use blockMesh with some simple solvers it wasn't always clear how to do realistic problems with knowledge of the basics. The principle difficulties were:

- Turbulence: all the really interesting flows included some aspect of this and it's often more art than science.

- Meshing: simple meshes can't account for fighter jet bodies or turbine blades, I knew there must be a better way.

- Mesh Behaviour and Convergence: without solutions with which to compare I never knew whether I could trust my results.

I made this course with my younger self in mind. It's these things, among other tips and tricks, that gave me the most trouble in practice and which require the most experience/correct techniques to do well. The aim of this course, by its end, is to show you how to do this. There are many specialist topics that we can't cover and to learn CFD to an industry standard (where salaries past $100,000 a year are not unusual) could easily span a PhD and many years experience. Even so, there are a few general skills you will need again and again when you face practical problems in CFD. If you can master these, in my experience, you can pick up a lot of the rest as you go and quickly acquire the skills that are already propelling modern engineering into the future.

Disclaimer:

This course is not a substitute for a degree in aerospace engineering or specialist consultancy, by purchasing this course you agree that the course instructor is in no way liable for any disputes, claims, losses, injuries, or damage of any kind that might arise out of or relate to the content of this course or any supporting communications between instructor and student.

What's inside

Learning objectives

Openfoam
Snappyhexmesh

Computational fluid dynamics

Openfoam
Snappyhexmesh
Computational fluid dynamics

Syllabus

Installation and Introduction

Are you "Intermediate" with OpenFOAM?

What Will You Learn?

Tutorials - Basics

Traffic lights

Read about what's good

what should give you pause

and possible dealbreakers

Covers turbulence modeling, which is essential for simulating realistic fluid flows in engineering applications, such as aerospace and mechanical engineering

Explores snappyHexMesh, a powerful tool for generating complex meshes around intricate geometries, which is crucial for accurate CFD simulations

Examines mesh behavior and convergence, providing insights into ensuring the reliability and accuracy of CFD results, which is vital for engineering design

Requires prior knowledge of OpenFOAM basics, suggesting it is designed for those with some experience in CFD and the software

Teaches techniques for setting up and running simulations with various turbulence models, including Spalart-Allmaras, k-Epsilon, and k-Omega

Includes a section on multiphase flow, enabling the simulation of complex phenomena involving multiple fluids, which is relevant to chemical and process engineering

Reviews summary

Practical intermediate openfoam skills

According to learners, this course is highly valuable for bridging the gap between basic OpenFOAM tutorials and tackling realistic CFD problems. Students particularly appreciate the practical focus on key intermediate topics like turbulence modeling, meshing with snappyHexMesh, and checking for mesh convergence. Many find the examples and case setups helpful, though some mention that the course still has a steep learning curve and might require supplementary practice.

Content is challenging but rewarding.

"OpenFOAM itself has a steep learning curve, and while the course helps, mastering these intermediate topics still takes significant effort and practice."

"It covers complex topics quickly; be prepared to pause and re-watch sections."

"Still required a lot of external reading and practice to fully grasp some concepts."

"Definitely challenges you, but that's expected for intermediate CFD."

Best suited for those past the absolute basics.

"While it's 'Intermediate', you definitely need to be comfortable with basic OpenFOAM case setup and command line before starting."

"The course assumes you've already worked through basic tutorials and understand core OpenFOAM file structure."

"Not for absolute beginners; make sure you have a foundation first."

"You need to know basic Linux command line and have OpenFOAM installed correctly."

Crucial guidance on validating simulations.

"Knowing how to check mesh quality and perform grid convergence studies is essential, and the course covered this thoroughly."

"The section on checking mesh convergence gave me a systematic way to ensure my results are reliable."

"Valuable insights into residuals, checkMesh, and comparing results."

"Provided practical approaches for validating simulation outcomes, which is often overlooked in other resources."

Clear breakdown of essential models.

"I struggled with turbulence models before, but the course explained the concepts and applications of RAS and LES models very clearly."

"Understanding the different turbulence model setups and when to use them was a major takeaway for me."

"The overview and practical examples for k-epsilon, k-omega, and Spalart-Allmaras were extremely helpful."

"Finally got a solid grasp on turbulence modeling in OpenFOAM."

Addresses real-world CFD challenges.

"This course moved beyond the basic cavity/channel flows and showed how to set up and run more realistic problems."

"It directly addresses the difficulties I faced when trying to apply OpenFOAM to actual engineering scenarios."

"The focus on problems like wind around buildings and multiphase flow provides valuable practical experience."

"Good at showing how to apply theory to practice."

Excellent practical guide to complex meshing.

"The part on snappyHexMesh was particularly insightful; it's a powerful tool but notorious for its complexity, and the course breaks it down well."

"Finally understood how to use snappyHexMesh effectively for non-simple geometries thanks to the step-by-step approach."

"Gave me the confidence to tackle meshing for realistic industrial-type problems."

"The segment on generating meshes for complex shapes using snappyHexMesh was very beneficial."

Activities

Be better prepared before your course. Deepen your understanding during and after it. Supplement your coursework and achieve mastery of the topics covered in OpenFOAM Intermediate with these activities:

Review Fluid Dynamics Fundamentals

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Reinforce your understanding of fluid dynamics principles before diving into OpenFOAM's intermediate concepts. A solid foundation will make complex simulations easier to grasp.

Browse courses on Fluid Dynamics

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Review key concepts like viscosity, pressure, and flow regimes.
Work through practice problems related to fluid flow and pressure drop.
Familiarize yourself with different types of fluid flow (laminar, turbulent).

Read 'An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics: The Finite Volume Method' by H. Versteeg and W. Malalasekera

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Deepen your understanding of the numerical methods used in OpenFOAM. This book provides a solid theoretical foundation for CFD simulations.

View An Introduction to Computational Fluid Dynamics... on Amazon

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Read the chapters related to the finite volume method and turbulence modeling.
Work through the example problems in the book.
Compare the book's explanations with the course materials.

Practice snappyHexMesh Tutorials

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Master snappyHexMesh by working through various tutorials and examples. This will improve your meshing skills and allow you to create more complex geometries.

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Find and follow at least three different snappyHexMesh tutorials online.
Try to replicate the meshes created in the tutorials.
Experiment with different snappyHexMesh settings to see their effects.

Four other activities

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Read 'The Finite Volume Method in Computational Fluid Dynamics' by F. Moukalled, L. Mangani, and M. Darwish

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Gain a deeper understanding of the finite volume method used in OpenFOAM. This book provides a more advanced treatment of the topic.

View The Finite Volume Method in Computational Fluid... on Amazon

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Focus on chapters detailing discretization schemes and boundary conditions.
Compare different schemes and their impact on solution accuracy.
Relate the book's content to the solvers used in the course.

Simulate Flow Around a Simplified Car

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Apply your OpenFOAM knowledge to a practical problem. Simulating flow around a car will test your meshing, turbulence modeling, and solver selection skills.

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Download or create a simplified 3D model of a car.
Create a mesh around the car using snappyHexMesh.
Set up a simulation using a suitable turbulence model.
Run the simulation and analyze the results.

Document Your Car Simulation Workflow

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Solidify your understanding by documenting the steps you took to simulate flow around a car. This will help you remember the process and share your knowledge with others.

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Write a detailed description of each step in the simulation process.
Include screenshots and explanations of the OpenFOAM settings you used.
Share your documentation on a forum or blog.

Contribute to OpenFOAM Documentation

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Improve your understanding of OpenFOAM by contributing to its documentation. This will force you to learn the software in detail and help others in the process.

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Identify areas in the OpenFOAM documentation that are unclear or incomplete.
Write clear and concise explanations for those areas.
Submit your contributions to the OpenFOAM project.

Career center

Learners who complete OpenFOAM Intermediate will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Computational Fluid Dynamics Engineer

A Computational Fluid Dynamics Engineer uses software to simulate fluid flows and heat transfer, often in engineering design processes. This course, focused on OpenFOAM, a powerful open-source CFD software, may be beneficial for mastering important aspects of CFD simulation. The course, by covering topics such as turbulence modeling, meshing techniques using snappyHexMesh, and mesh convergence, prepares learners to tackle complex fluid flow problems. In particular, the course’s focus on practical skills and techniques will be valuable for real-world CFD applications, which are often required in a computational fluid dynamics engineer's day to day work. The course’s coverage of standard CFD models will be a strong asset.

See salaries and explore the career path for Computational Fluid Dynamics Engineer

Aerospace Engineer

Aerospace Engineers design and test aircraft, spacecraft, and related systems, frequently relying on computational fluid dynamics for aerodynamic analysis. This course helps build a foundation in using OpenFOAM software, which is critical for numerical simulations in this field. The course covers turbulence modeling, mesh generation with snappyHexMesh, and the assessment of simulation result convergence, all of which are crucial for accurately modeling airflow around aircraft. Aerospace Engineers will find the hands-on approach of this course highly beneficial, as they will apply these skills to solve real-world aerospace problems. The course’s focus on practical techniques will be especially relevant to an aerospace engineer's needs.

See salaries and explore the career path for Aerospace Engineer

Mechanical Engineer

Mechanical Engineers design and analyze mechanical systems, and often need to simulate fluid flow and heat transfer. This course, focusing on OpenFOAM, builds useful skills in utilizing software for design optimization and performance evaluation. Mechanical engineers may find the course’s coverage of turbulence modeling and meshing techniques, particularly snappyHexMesh, invaluable for their day to day work. The course’s approach of teaching methods to evaluate the correctness of simulation results will enable a mechanical engineer to have confidence in their analyses. The course’s focus on practical applications is extremely useful.

See salaries and explore the career path for Mechanical Engineer

Automotive Engineer

Automotive Engineers design and test vehicles, including optimizing their aerodynamic properties and cooling systems, often relying on computational fluid dynamics. This course helps build a foundation in OpenFOAM, a tool often used to simulate flow, which is beneficial for automotive design. The course covers modeling of turbulence, meshing using snappyHexMesh, and ensuring the convergence of simulations, all directly relevant to aerodynamic analysis. Automotive engineers will find the practical skills provided by this course especially helpful in optimizing vehicle performance. The focus on practical results will be extremely useful for an automotive engineer.

See salaries and explore the career path for Automotive Engineer

Research Scientist

A Research Scientist in fluid dynamics investigates fundamental aspects of fluid behavior through experiments and numerical simulations. This course's coverage of OpenFOAM, a widely used open-source software, may be useful for a research scientist interested in numerical simulations. The course has a module about turbulence modeling, which research scientists may frequently use. The detailed coverage of mesh generation using snappyHexMesh will also be useful for preparing simulations. The course’s approach to verifying simulation results through mesh convergence studies is also important for a research scientist. A research scientist may find that this course will expand their skills and knowledge of simulation.

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Product Design Engineer

A Product Design Engineer designs and develops products, sometimes needing to analyze fluid dynamics for various applications such as heat transfer or flow within a device. This course may be useful for learning to use OpenFOAM, which is a software tool to help understand how fluids behave in a design. The course’s emphasis on meshing techniques with snappyHexMesh, and also its focus on simulation result evaluation may help a product design engineer to assess product performance. The course will help a product design engineer to make better designs. The practicality of this course will be very beneficial to a product design engineer.

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Energy Engineer

An Energy Engineer works on optimizing energy systems, which sometimes involves analyzing fluid flow and heat transfer. This course, focused on OpenFOAM software, helps build important skills in simulating such systems, particularly in analyzing complex flow problems. The course covers turbulence modeling, mesh generation using snappyHexMesh, and ensuring reliable simulation results, which are all essential skills for an energy engineer. The focus on practical techniques in the course would be extremely beneficial to an energy engineer, particularly in analyzing thermal transfers in a wide variety of energy systems. The course might be useful in improving the design and performance of energy systems.

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Civil Engineer

Civil Engineers design, construct, and maintain infrastructure, sometimes needing to use fluid dynamics to analyze water flow or ventilation systems. This course may be useful for civil engineers using computational fluid dynamics. This course’s in-depth modules on mesh generation with snappyHexMesh, and the analysis of simulation convergence, will help civil engineers to model complex flow situations. Civil engineers will find that this course may be valuable for modeling real-world challenges. The course may be helpful for a civil engineer to improve the accuracy of the models they build.

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Fluid Mechanics Consultant

A Fluid Mechanics Consultant provides expertise in fluid dynamics to various industries, often using a wide range of tools to solve engineering problems. This course, focused entirely on OpenFOAM, may be useful for gaining practical skills in this open-source CFD software. The course's coverage of turbulence modeling, meshing, and convergence analysis are fundamental for consulting work. The course's practical approach will be particularly appealing to those who want to enter consulting. A fluid mechanics consultant might find this course a great way to demonstrate core competencies.

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Simulation Specialist

A Simulation Specialist uses computer software to model and analyze physical systems, often including fluid dynamics and heat transfer for engineering projects. This course, centered on OpenFOAM, an open source CFD software tool, may be useful for using simulation software. The course’s in depth coverage of mesh generation with snappyHexMesh, along with the practical application of turbulence models will be important for a simulation specialist. The approach this course takes, which focuses on practical techniques and verification, will be a great asset to a Simulation Specialist looking to develop their competencies. The course would be useful for a simulation specialist to improve model accuracy.

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Thermal Engineer

A Thermal Engineer specializes in heat transfer and thermodynamics, often applying Computational Fluid Dynamics to optimize designs. This course may be useful for a thermal engineer to learn how to use OpenFOAM software. The course covers turbulence modeling, mesh generation via snappyHexMesh, and verification methods. These are useful for thermal simulation. The practical techniques focus in this course may be appealing to a thermal engineer who is looking for hands on experience. This course may be a great tool for a thermal engineer to expand their knowledge and skillsets.

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Software Developer

A Software Developer specializing in scientific computing creates and maintains software for simulations, or for analyzing data, often in engineering or science fields. This course, focused on OpenFOAM, provides practical experience using a complex open-source simulation software. The course’s coverage of mesh generation with snappyHexMesh, and the wide array of models available in OpenFOAM, will be useful for a software developer who may work with these tools. The course’s focus on practical, real-world applications is useful in the field of software development. The course may allow a software developer to better understand how simulations work.

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Data Analyst

A Data Analyst uses statistical methods and tools to analyze data to derive insights and inform decision making. This course, while centered on Computational Fluid Dynamics, helps build a foundation in numerical simulation and data interpretation through the use of OpenFOAM. The course’s emphasis on assessing simulation results (residuals, convergence) may be useful for a data analyst. The course may be helpful for gaining experience in practical data analysis. The course could be a good way to see how data is used in the engineering world.

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Engineering Professor

An Engineering Professor teaches engineering principles and conducts research, sometimes specializing in fluid mechanics, computational methods, and simulation. This course may be useful for an engineering professor who is interested in learning the finer nuances of OpenFOAM. The course’s modules on turbulence modeling, mesh generation with snappyHexMesh and methods to verify results may help an engineering professor to expand their skills and knowledge. The course will help an instructor to understand the practicalities of using this software. The professor might also find the content helpful for devising coursework.

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Technical Writer

A Technical Writer creates documentation for complex technical products or software. The topics covered in this course, which include OpenFOAM and computational fluid dynamics, may be useful for a technical writer, who may eventually be asked to document such software or methods. The course’s detailed modules on meshing, turbulence, and checking results will give insight into the challenges users will face, and the methods they will need to learn. A technical writer may find that this course enables them to write more accurate and helpful documentation. A technical writer might find this course helpful for understanding advanced engineering.

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OpenFOAM Intermediate

What's inside

Learning objectives

Syllabus

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Reviews summary

Practical intermediate openfoam skills

Activities

Career center

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