GUI

From OpenFOAMWiki

This is a growing list of Graphical User Interfaces (definition at Wikipedia) designed for operating OpenFOAM.

A separate list of preprocessors and post-processors is available here: Other Software

1 Commercial

1.1 Multidisciplinary CFD

Sorted by name:

Software Company Operating Systems Availability Notes
Ansa Beta CAE Linux, Mac OS X and Windows Contact them for more information. -
Caedium Symscape Linux, Mac OS X and Windows Free 30 day trial and for students. Available in monthly to annual subscription. -
CAESES FRIENDSHIP-SYSTEMS Linux and Windows Free pro version for students and PhD students. Various trial versions available. Focuses on simulation-ready CAD modeling incl. STL pre-processing capabilities and CFD automation. Suited for users that are interested in design explorations and shape optimization. Typically, the investigated geometries in CAESES are complex free-form surfaces.
CastNet DHCAE Linux and Windows Free 30 day trial. Annual or perpetual subscriptions. Discount for academic use.
  • Import of CAD models and assemblies (Acis, Parasolid, Creo, Discrete)
  • Hybrid meshing with Hex-core and snappyHexMesh-support
  • Support for ESI-versions, OpenFOAM Foundation and BlueCFD (Windows)
  • More than 30 solvers incl. CHT, multiphase, Lagrangian and reactions
  • Structural analysis with CalculiX and FSI with preCICE
  • Simplified case setup with many templates
  • Graphical monitoring and run-time control
cfFLOW Creative Fields Linux and Windows Contact them for more information. -
DICE DICEhub Linux and Windows Python + QML See this post (#36) for more details.
FEATool Multiphysics Precise Simulation (MATLAB) Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows Visit homepage for free download and more information. MATLAB CFD and Multiphysics Toolbox with fully integrated OpenFOAM GUI Interface.
HELYX Engys Linux and Windows Contact them for more information. Has an open source variant named HELYX-OS.
iconCFD ICON unknown Contact them for more information. -
MantiumFlow MantiumCAE Linux and Windows
(OSX is reported to work as well but is not supported)
Free Demo, quarterly and annual licenses available.
  • OpenFOAM versions starting from 3.0.1 are supported. On Windows the blueCFD-Core version is preferred.
  • MantiumFlow works with templated cases, making working with it very simple.
  • Currently single phase incompressible fluid simulations are supported. Multi-phase will follow next.
simFlow Atizar Limited Linux and Windows Free for evaluation without any time limit. Fixed annual subscription, with discount for academic use. In addition to multiple solvers for fluid flow simulation, it includes solvers for: multiphase flows, heat transfer (including conjugate heat transfer), combustion, lagrangian particles and dynamic mesh.
SimWorks IdealSimulations Windows Free and unrestricted. Commercial version also available for enterprise use Includes pre-processing GUI, meshing / running with live data feedback and convergence plots and includes a fully integrated post-processor in 3D. Free and unrestricted for both mesh size and number of cores in parallel running, commercial version for enterprise use named SimWorks Manager.
Visual-CFD ESI Group Linux and Windows Free evaluation for 30 days. Fixed annual subscription, with discount for academic use
  • Imports CAD (e.g. CATIA, SolidWorks, UG, IGES, STEP), STL, OBJ and Nastran files
  • Extensive CAD Cleanup capability with wrapping technology and hole closing
  • Does exports 3D meshes from Visual-Mesh Module to run in Visual-CFD
  • Using snappyHexMesh to generate complex meshes, includes multi-domains, improved controls for close proximity parts and interactive mesh diagnostics
  • User defined BCs, Profile, Simulation Controls and Solvers, suited for expert OpenFOAM users, it can handle Customized OpenFOAM/Boundary Conditions
  • Temperature dependent (polynomial) Material properties supported
  • Automatic selection of Simulation Control Parameters based on quality of mesh and modeling physics, inbuilt intelligence to converge cases of Aerodynamics, Multiphase Flows, CHT, HVAC, Mesh Motions, Overset and many more..
  • Parametric studies - Macro recording, based on Python scripting and personalized templates
  • Simulation best practices for industrial applications to help Engineers decisions, highly effective yet simple and easy-to-use tool
  • Easy mesh import from most popular commercial CFD tools
  • It supports OpenFOAM+ 1812, OpenFOAM+ 1912, OpenFOAM-v1906, also supports much awaited Windows version of the OpenFOAM-v1912
  • The Overset Mesh support available now
  • It supports Discrete Phase Modeling, Scalar Transport modeling and Radiation
  • The VTK export supported in Visual-Viewer module
  • Access to wide range of monitoring and post-processing tools
  • Extreme flexibility to create customized automated process for any application
  • The current release has Adjoint Optimization and Solar Load model
ennovaCFD for OpenFOAM IDAJ / Ennova Technologies Windows and Linux Contact them for more information.
  • Developed as a pre- and post-processing tools for general-purpose CFD softwares
  • Case setup GUI for iconCFD and OpenFOAM(ESI-OpenCFD versions) solvers including incompressible, compressible, heat transfer, CHT and multiphase
  • Geometry import and modification
  • Powerful mesher such as surface wrapper and tetra/polyhedral mesher
  • Visualization of analysis results
  • Graphical monitoring
  • Macro recording based on JavaScript
  • Check us on YouTube


1.2 Specific fields of applied CFD

Sorted by field:

Software Company Field Operating Systems Availability Notes
BIM HVACTool TIAN Building Engineering Building Simulation Software Windows Contact them for more information. -
blueCFD-AIR blueCAPE Building Simulation Software Windows Available for free. Paid support is available. Development roadmap can be oriented by the needs of their clients. Linux and Mac OS X versions are possible.
ODS Studio ODS Engineering Building Simulation Software Linux, Mac OS X and Windows Contact them for more information. -
Elements Engys Vehicle Design Applications Linux and Windows Contact them for more information. -


2 Open Source

Sorted by Name:

Software Company/Author Project page Operating Systems Coding Language Notes
BARAM NEXTfoam Linux, Windows, and macOS Python
  • “BARAM”(pronounced like ‘baa-laam’) is a Korean word that means “wind”
  • This package includes two applications, one for solver, the other for snappyHexMesh
  • It is entirely rewritten from legacy BARAM and in active development
  • Following installation packages are provided for convenience.
    • Windows Installer(.exe) for Windows OS
    • Disk Image(.dmg) for macOS with Apple silicon such as M1, M2, M3, ...
BARAM-Legacy NEXTfoam product page Linux (Ubuntu/Debian) Python The documentation provided with the downloaded package is in Korean. Seems to be in active development.
Blender Several Blender Linux and Windows
(Might work on Mac OS X)
Python Several Blender add-ons available for various specific preprocessing/postprocessing tasks.
CfdOF Several developers Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) workbench for FreeCAD @ Github Linux and Windows
(Might work on Mac OS X)
Python It's an add-on for FreeCAD. In active development.
Discretizer Björn Bergqvist Discretizer at SF.net Linux and Windows
(Might work on Mac OS X)
Ruby Not in active development.
enGrid enGits enGrid at Github Linux and Windows
(Also works on Mac OS X)
C++ Development in function of contributions.
HELYX-OS Engys HELYX-OS on GitHub Linux Java Last release on Nov 23, 2016
InsightCAE silentdynamics InsightCAE wiki on GitHub Linux C++ Part GUI, part code toolkit, designed for Workflow Automation.


3 Text based