FAQ/General

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1 FAQ Section 1: General

General questions about OpenFOAM. Legal etc

1.1 What is OpenFOAM?

OpenFOAM is an open source library designed for development of parallel or serial multi-dimensional modeling codes. OpenFOAM includes numerous C++ classes for finite volume, finite element, and Lagrangian particle tracking. OpenFOAM also comes with numerous computational fluid dynamics, combustion, and heat transfer programs that demonstrate the capabilities and usage of OpenFOAM. These solvers are useful for a wide range of scientific and engineering applications and can be customized as needed. Read more...

1.2 Can I use OpenFOAM?

Yes. OpenFOAM has been released by OpenCFD under the terms of the GNU GPL 2 license.

According to this licence, you can freely download, install and use OpenFOAM. Moreover, you have full access to the source code of OpenFOAM and you can modify it to customize it on your needs.

1.3 How can I properly reference OpenFOAM?

You can cite the www.openfoam.org website, if web-referencing is allowed, otherwise, cite the OpenFOAM documentation.

1.4 Where can I find support or ask questions about openFOAM?

OpenFOAM is developed by OpenCFD, which also offer support packages for corporations, consultants and academic institutions.

You can ask questions on the OpenFOAM message board.

There also is an IRC channel at [ http://freenode.net/ freenode]. The configuration parameters are:

  • Server: irc.freenode.net
  • Channel: #openFOAM-IRC

For a direct access to the IRC channel click here, if you have a browser configured to start your IRC client.

1.5 How do the OpenFOAM versions differ?

OpenFOAM 2.0.0 is the current stable release and the only version to be released as binary. This should be the version of choice for most users. 2.0.x is the official development branch and thus contains the newest bug-fixes and features, but comes at the price of being less tested.

OpenFOAM-1.6-ext is a project unrelated to OpenCFD to incorporate new features developed by the community. Bug fixes from 1.7.x are merged into 1.6-ext with some delay. If you are missing a feature in the official branch, this is a good place to look if someone else developed it (also see Main_OFextendFeatures).

1.6 Where is FoamX?

FoamX was only developed up to OpenFOAM 1.4.x and is obsolete as of version 1.5. For more information, read the section Appendix A: The FoamX case manager from the Main UserGuideAddendum, which has got annotations concerning the OpenFOAM User Guide.

If you are looking for a GUI for using OpenFOAM, check this page: GUI

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