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Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)
Cfd Baba
4.7
Based on 15 ratings
Cfd Baba
This course will take you through all the basics required in order to simulate simple CFD problems using OpenFOAM.
Geometry preparation will be covered using FreeCAD and Salome.
Meshing will be covered using Salome and snappyHexMesh.
Solving will be covered using OpenFOAM solvers.
Post-processing of results will be covered using Paraview.
All these software are available for free without any license costs.
Read more
This course will take you through all the basics required in order to simulate simple CFD problems using OpenFOAM.
Geometry preparation will be covered using FreeCAD and Salome.
Meshing will be covered using Salome and snappyHexMesh.
Solving will be covered using OpenFOAM solvers.
Post-processing of results will be covered using Paraview.
All these software are available for free without any license costs.
Read more
This course will take you through all the basics required in order to simulate simple CFD problems using OpenFOAM.
Geometry preparation will be covered using FreeCAD and Salome.
Meshing will be covered using Salome and snappyHexMesh.
Solving will be covered using OpenFOAM solvers.
Post-processing of results will be covered using Paraview.
All these software are available for free without any license costs.
CFD helps to reduce the cost of products by saving time and money in prototype testing phase. Rapid prototype testings can be done by using CFD technology to predict the future behavior of the product. It enables us to foresee any shortcomings in the product and rectify them before the actual manufacturing phase of the product. This is a young technology and can grow substantially in near future.
You will be able to draw CAD models using the dimensions of any given geometry. Then you will understand how to draw CAD model in FreeCAD and mesh the geometry in Salome to get appropriate results. You will also learn to setup snappyHexMesh. Mesh size plays an important role in deciding the accuracy of your results. Assumption of boundary conditions is another important aspect in any CFD simulation. Replication of real-life conditions must be correctly implemented in the CFD boundary conditions. Finally good post-processing of the results helps you to deliver your results successfully to the non-technical.
Register for this course and see more details by visiting:
OpenCourser.com/course/aufhw3/learn
What's inside
Learning objectives
- Single phase and multiphase simulation of backward facing step cfd problem
- Lion external aerodynamics simulation using snappyhexmesh
- Dynamic rotating mesh simulation of simple stirred tank
- Geometry preparation using freecad
- Geometry preparation using salome
- Meshing using salome
- Meshing using snappyhexmesh
- Setting correct boundary conditions in openfoam
- Post-processing using paraview
- Single phase and multiphase simulation of backward facing step cfd problem
- Lion external aerodynamics simulation using snappyhexmesh
- Dynamic rotating mesh simulation of simple stirred tank
- Geometry preparation using freecad
- Geometry preparation using salome
- Meshing using salome
- Meshing using snappyhexmesh
- Setting correct boundary conditions in openfoam
- Post-processing using paraview
Syllabus
Single Phase and Multiphase Turbulent Flow Over Backward Facing Step
Background and problem statement
2D CAD creation in FreeCAD
Creating 2D tet mesh in Salome
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Syllabus
Single Phase and Multiphase Turbulent Flow Over Backward Facing Step
Background and problem statement
2D CAD creation in FreeCAD
Creating 2D tet mesh in Salome
Read more
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Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3).
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Career center
Learners who complete Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3) will develop knowledge and skills
that may be useful to these careers:
CFD Engineer
CFD Engineer
A CFD Engineer specializes in using computational fluid dynamics software to simulate fluid flow, heat transfer, and related phenomena for various engineering applications. They are crucial in designing and optimizing products, ensuring performance, and identifying potential issues early in the development cycle. The course, "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)", provides comprehensive training in geometry preparation with FreeCAD and Salome, meshing with Salome and snappyHexMesh, solving problems using OpenFOAM solvers, and post-processing results with Paraview. This makes it an invaluable foundation for a career as a CFD Engineer, directly equipping learners with the practical skills needed to perform complex simulations and deliver insights. You will learn to perform single-phase and multiphase simulations, external aerodynamics, and dynamic rotating mesh simulations.
Fluid Dynamics Engineer
Fluid Dynamics Engineer
A Fluid Dynamics Engineer specializes in the behavior of fluids, applying principles of fluid mechanics to design, analyze, and optimize systems involving fluid flow. This can range from industrial piping to environmental flow systems. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course is inherently centered around the practical application of fluid dynamics principles through computational methods. Learners gain hands-on experience with single-phase and multiphase turbulent flow simulations, dynamic rotating meshes, and the crucial steps of geometry preparation, meshing, and post-processing using OpenFOAM, FreeCAD, Salome, and Paraview. This comprehensive training helps build the foundation needed for a Fluid Dynamics Engineer to tackle diverse engineering problems effectively and predict product behavior.
Aerodynamic Engineer
Aerodynamic Engineer
An Aerodynamic Engineer focuses on optimizing the flow of air around objects, critical in fields like aerospace, automotive, and wind energy. Their work involves designing shapes to minimize drag, maximize lift, or manage airflow for cooling. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course is highly relevant for aspiring Aerodynamic Engineers, as it includes specific modules on external aerodynamics simulation, such as calculating lift and drag using snappyHexMesh. The ability to prepare geometries using FreeCAD and Salome, generate complex meshes, set appropriate boundary conditions in OpenFOAM, and post-process results using Paraview provides a robust skillset directly applicable to real-world aerodynamic design challenges and product optimization. You will gain hands-on experience in simulating external airflow.
Aerospace Engineer
Aerospace Engineer
An Aerospace Engineer designs, develops, and tests aircraft, spacecraft, satellites, and missiles. Aerodynamics, propulsion, and structural integrity are paramount in this field. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course is exceptionally pertinent for an Aerospace Engineer. It directly addresses external aerodynamics simulation, including calculating lift and drag, which are foundational concepts in aircraft design. The comprehensive training in geometry preparation using FreeCAD and Salome, advanced meshing with snappyHexMesh, and the use of OpenFOAM solvers and Paraview for post-processing equips learners with the essential computational tools to analyze complex airflow patterns and optimize aerospace vehicle performance, foreseeing shortcomings before manufacturing. An advanced degree is often beneficial for this role.
Automotive Engineer
Automotive Engineer
An Automotive Engineer designs, develops, and tests vehicles and their components, focusing on performance, safety, fuel efficiency, and emissions. This field demands continuous innovation in vehicle aerodynamics, engine cooling, and cabin climate control. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course is highly relevant for an Automotive Engineer, particularly for roles involving vehicle aerodynamics and thermal management. The ability to perform external aerodynamics simulations, create 3D meshes using snappyHexMesh, set correct boundary conditions, and analyze results with Paraview provides critical skills for optimizing vehicle shapes, designing efficient cooling systems, and predicting performance under various driving conditions using CFD technology. This helps reduce product costs by saving time in prototype testing.
Simulation Engineer
Simulation Engineer
A Simulation Engineer uses various computational tools to model and analyze physical systems, often including fluid dynamics, structural mechanics, and thermal behavior. This role is vital for virtual prototyping and predicting product performance under diverse conditions. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course provides a strong foundation in a critical subset of simulation engineering: computational fluid dynamics. Learners will gain expertise in using OpenFOAM, FreeCAD, Salome, and Paraview to set up, run, and analyze fluid flow simulations, including complex scenarios like multiphase turbulent flow and dynamic rotating meshes. This expertise may be useful for a Simulation Engineer to effectively contribute to design validation and optimization projects across industries by enabling rapid prototype testing.
Mechanical Engineer
Mechanical Engineer
A Mechanical Engineer applies principles of mechanics, engineering, physics, and materials science to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems. Their work spans diverse industries, often involving fluid systems, thermal components, and moving parts. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course provides a valuable specialization for a Mechanical Engineer. The ability to simulate complex fluid flow, from single-phase to multiphase turbulent flows and even dynamic rotating meshes, using OpenFOAM, FreeCAD, Salome, and Paraview, allows them to analyze and optimize designs for pumps, valves, heat exchangers, and various machinery components. This expertise helps in predicting product behavior and rectifying shortcomings before manufacturing, contributing to cost reduction.
Product Design Engineer
Product Design Engineer
A Product Design Engineer is responsible for the conception, design, and development of new products, often considering functionality, aesthetics, manufacturability, and user experience. They work to refine designs through iterative processes. For a Product Design Engineer, understanding how a product interacts with fluids or air is often critical for performance and reliability. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course provides the skills to use computational fluid dynamics as a powerful design tool. By learning to create CAD models using FreeCAD and Salome, perform simulations using OpenFOAM, and analyze results with Paraview, learners can rapidly test design iterations, optimize product behavior, and identify potential flaws early in the development cycle, saving significant time and resources.
Process Engineer
Process Engineer
A Process Engineer designs, implements, controls, and optimizes industrial processes, particularly in chemical, petrochemical, food, and pharmaceutical industries. Their goal is to ensure efficiency, safety, and product quality. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course may be highly useful for a Process Engineer. It covers dynamic rotating mesh simulation for a simple stirred tank, which is directly applicable to designing and optimizing mixing processes in reactors. The ability to simulate single-phase and multiphase flows helps in understanding and improving fluid transport, reaction kinetics within fluids, and separation processes. The course's practical skills in geometry preparation, meshing, OpenFOAM, and post-processing with Paraview can help to optimize process equipment and operations. An advanced degree is often beneficial for this role.
Research and Development Engineer
Research and Development Engineer
A Research and Development Engineer is focused on innovating and improving products, processes, or technologies. They often bridge basic scientific research with practical engineering applications, constantly seeking new solutions and optimizing existing ones. This role frequently involves extensive testing, modeling, and simulation. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course may be incredibly helpful for a Research and Development Engineer, as it equips them with advanced computational fluid dynamics skills. The ability to quickly prototype and test designs virtually using OpenFOAM, to foresee shortcomings, and to rectify them before physical manufacturing allows for accelerated innovation and significant cost savings in R&D cycles, making CFD a powerful tool in predictive analysis.
Energy Systems Engineer
Energy Systems Engineer
An Energy Systems Engineer is concerned with the efficient and sustainable design, operation, and management of energy production, distribution, and consumption systems. This can involve renewable energy sources, power plants, and HVAC systems. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course may be helpful for an Energy Systems Engineer because many energy systems, such as wind turbines, heat exchangers, and power plant cooling systems, involve complex fluid flow and heat transfer. The skills learned in geometry preparation using FreeCAD and Salome, meshing with snappyHexMesh, performing single and multiphase simulations, and post-processing with Paraview using OpenFOAM can contribute to optimizing the performance and efficiency of various energy technologies and infrastructure, reducing costs and saving time.
Thermal Engineer
Thermal Engineer
A Thermal Engineer specializes in managing heat transfer in systems and products, ensuring efficient cooling or heating, and preventing overheating or energy loss. This involves designing cooling systems, heat exchangers, and thermal management solutions. While the course "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" focuses primarily on fluid flow, CFD is a fundamental tool for thermal analysis, as heat transfer often occurs through convection, which involves fluid motion. The principles of setting up simulations, defining boundary conditions in OpenFOAM, and post-processing results using Paraview are highly transferable. This course may be helpful for a Thermal Engineer seeking to model and optimize heat transfer problems involving fluid flow, allowing for rapid prototype testing without physical products.
Biomedical Engineer
Biomedical Engineer
A Biomedical Engineer applies engineering principles and design concepts to medicine and biology, often developing medical devices, drug delivery systems, or diagnostic tools. Understanding fluid flow in biological systems, such as blood flow or airflow in the lungs, is a critical aspect of many biomedical applications. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course, with its focus on computational fluid dynamics, may be helpful for a Biomedical Engineer working on projects involving biological fluid mechanics. The ability to prepare geometries using FreeCAD, generate meshes, set appropriate boundary conditions, and perform simulations using OpenFOAM and Paraview provides a valuable skillset for modeling physiological flows within the human body or in medical devices. An advanced degree is often beneficial for this role.
Acoustical Engineer
Acoustical Engineer
An Acoustical Engineer studies and manipulates sound and vibration, often designing noise control solutions for products, buildings, or urban environments. While not directly focused on acoustics, fluid dynamics simulations can be crucial for understanding aeroacoustics, which is the sound generated by fluid flow. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course, by teaching comprehensive CFD skills, helps build a foundational understanding of complex fluid behaviors, turbulence, and flow-induced phenomena. These insights are essential for an Acoustical Engineer working on problems where noise is generated by fluid motion, enabling them to model and analyze the sources of sound using OpenFOAM and Paraview, and ultimately develop quieter designs. An advanced degree is often beneficial for this role.
Climate Scientist
Climate Scientist
A Climate Scientist studies Earth's climate system, including atmospheric, oceanic, and land processes, to understand past, present, and future climate changes. This field heavily relies on complex numerical models to simulate global and regional climate processes. The "Learn OpenFOAM CFD (Level 3)" course, which focuses on computational fluid dynamics, may be useful for a Climate Scientist. While OpenFOAM is typically used at smaller scales than global climate models, the fundamental principles of setting up simulations, handling turbulent flows, defining boundary conditions, and post-processing results with Paraview are transferable. This training can help build a foundation in numerical methods for fluid dynamics, which underpins the larger-scale models used in climate science. An advanced degree is typically required for this role.
For more career information including salaries, visit:
OpenCourser.com/course/aufhw3/learn
Reading list
We haven't picked any books for this reading list yet.
Bridges the gap between theoretical CFD knowledge and practical application. It focuses on using CFD fundamentals and commercial software to solve engineering problems. It's designed for students and practicing engineers new to CFD, offering a hands-on approach with worked examples and step-by-step processes.
Focuses on providing practical, hands-on guidelines and examples for applying CFD and turbulence modeling. It is aimed at beginners, intermediate users, and professionals, offering insights based on real-world experience. It is particularly useful for those using commercial or open-source CFD software.
Meshing crucial pre-processing step in CFD. This book, the first of two volumes, introduces basic methods of mesh adaptation, which are essential for obtaining accurate and efficient CFD solutions, especially for complex geometries and flow phenomena. It's relevant for students and researchers focusing on the practical aspects of CFD simulations and advanced meshing techniques.
The second volume delves into more advanced topics in mesh adaptation, including unsteady and goal-oriented adaptation. It's a specialized book for researchers and practitioners who need to implement sophisticated meshing strategies for challenging CFD problems. It builds upon the concepts introduced in Volume 1.
Large Eddy Simulation (LES) is an advanced CFD technique for simulating turbulent flows. provides an introduction to LES for incompressible flows, covering the underlying principles and numerical methods. It's suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in advanced turbulence simulation techniques.
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A strong foundation in fluid mechanics is essential before diving into CFD. This classic textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to fluid mechanics principles, covering topics such as fluid properties, conservation laws, and viscous flow. It is highly recommended as a prerequisite for anyone starting to learn CFD.
While the finite volume method is prevalent in CFD, understanding the finite element method is also beneficial, especially for multiphysics problems. offers a clear introduction to the finite element method with a focus on its applications in engineering. It provides necessary background knowledge for specific CFD applications using FEM.
This recent publication covers both the finite element and finite volume methods as applied to heat transfer and fluid dynamics. It provides a unified approach to these two important numerical techniques used in CFD. It is suitable for graduate students and researchers interested in a comprehensive treatment of both methods. Published in 2023, it covers contemporary approaches.
While not strictly a CFD book, this text by Anderson provides an accessible introduction to compressible flow, which crucial topic in many CFD applications, particularly in aerospace engineering. Understanding compressible flow necessary prerequisite for advanced CFD analysis in this area.
Comprehensive guide to numerical methods for solving fluid dynamics problems, with a strong focus on the finite volume method. It covers widely used discretization and solution methods in detail and includes advanced topics like turbulence simulation and moving grids. It is suitable for graduate-level courses and serves as a valuable reference for researchers and those writing CFD codes.
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Definitive resource for understanding turbulent flows, a critical and complex topic in CFD. While not solely a CFD book, it provides the necessary theoretical background for effectively modeling turbulence in simulations. It is suitable for graduate students and researchers specializing in turbulence.
Classic in the field, offering a comprehensive treatment of computational fluid mechanics and heat transfer. It provides the necessary background for solving complex problems and covers fundamental ideas alongside updated developments. It is suitable for advanced undergraduates and first-year graduate students.
Provides an in-depth exploration of the theoretical foundation and applications of the Finite Volume Method in CFD. It includes detailed explanations of numerics and algorithms, relevant for developing CFD solvers. The book also incorporates examples using OpenFOAM and MATLAB, making it practical for students and researchers.
Offers an in-depth exploration of the physical principles governing fluid behavior. A strong understanding of physical fluid dynamics is essential before diving into computational methods. This book serves as excellent background reading to solidify the foundational physics relevant to CFD.
This textbook emphasizes understanding CFD through physical principles and examples, utilizing the control volume formulation. It covers discretization on various mesh types and solution techniques. It is suitable for advanced undergraduate and first-year graduate students and can be a useful reference for practicing engineers.
Presents the development of the finite volume method applied to fluid flows, progressing from basic concepts to the latest approaches with unstructured grids. It is designed to help students build a strong background in CFD and is suitable for introductory courses for undergraduate and graduate students.
Offers a practical guide to applying CFD principles to solve real-world problems, emphasizing a hands-on approach. It incorporates the latest algorithms and provides numerous examples across various engineering disciplines. It is valuable for those who want to master applying CFD in practice.
Focuses specifically on finite volume methods for hyperbolic problems, which are common in CFD, particularly for compressible flows and shock waves. It provides a detailed treatment of the numerical techniques used for these types of problems. It is suitable for graduate students and researchers specializing in numerical methods for conservation laws.
Offers an introduction to the principles and methods of computational fluid dynamics. It covers the basic concepts and numerical techniques used in CFD. It is suitable for undergraduate and graduate students beginning their study of the subject.
Focuses on the application of the finite element method (FEM) to heat transfer and fluid dynamics problems. While the finite volume method is more common in CFD, FEM is also used, particularly in structural mechanics coupled with fluid flow. This book provides a thorough understanding of FEM principles and applications in this context. The 3rd edition includes updated coverage on coupled problems and parallel processing.
For more information about how these books relate to this course, visit:
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