Main OFSolvers

The solvers that are supplied with OpenFOAM. This page is structured according to the directory structure of the solver-sources.

1 Basic CFD codes

• laplacianFoam Solves a simple Laplace equation, e.g. for thermal diffusion in a solid.

• potentialFoam Simple potential flow solver which can be used to generate starting fields for full Navier-Stokes codes.

• scalarTransportFoam Solves a transport equation for a passive scalar.

2 Combustion

• chemFoam Solver for chemistry problems, designed for use on single cell cases to provide comparison against other chemistry solvers, that uses a single cell mesh, and fields created from the initial conditions.

• coldEngineFoam Solver for cold-flow in internal combustion engines.

• dieselEngineFoam Diesel engine spray and combustion code.

• dieselFoam Diesel spray and combustion code.

• engineFoam Solver for internal combustion engines.

• fireFoam Transient solver for fires and turbulent diffusion flames with reacting particle clouds, surface film and pyrolysis modelling.

• PDRFoam compressible premixed/partially-premixed turbulent combustion solver that includes porosity/distributed resistance (PDR) modelling to handle regions containing solid blockages that cannot be resolved by the mesh.

• reactingFoam Chemical reaction code.

• XiFoam Compressible premixed/partially-premixed combustion solver with turbulence modelling.

• Xoodles Compressible premixed/partially-premixed combustion solver with large-eddy simulation (LES) turbulence modelling.

3 Compressible flow

• coodles Compressible LES solver.

• rhoCentralFoam Density-based compressible flow solver based on central-upwind schemes.

• rhoPimpleFoam Transient solver for turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer.

• rhoPorousSimpleFoam Steady-state solver for turbulent flow of compressible fluids with implicit or explicit porosity treatment.

• rhopSonicFoam Pressure-density-based compressible flow solver.

• rhoSimpleFoam Steady-state solver for turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer.

• rhoSonicFoam Density-based compressible flow solver.

• rhoTurbFoam Transient solver for compressible, turbulent flow.

• sonicFoam Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar flow of a compressible gas.

• sonicFoamAutoMotion Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar flow of a compressible gas with mesh motion.

• sonicLiquidFoam Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, laminar flow of a compressible liquid.

• sonicTurbFoam Transient solver for trans-sonic/supersonic, turbulent flow of a compressible gas.

4 Direct numerical simulation (DNS)

• dnsFoam Direct numerical simulation solver for boxes of isotropic turbulence.

5 Electromagnetics

• electrostaticFoam Solver for electrostatics.

• mhdFoam Solver for magnetohydrodynamics (MHD): incompressible, laminar flow of a conducting fluid under the influence of a magnetic field.

• magneticFoam Solver for the magnetic field generated by permanent magnets.

6 Finance

• financialFoam Solves the Black-Scholes equation to price commodities.

7 Heat transfer

• buoyantFoam Transient solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer.

• buoyantBoussinesqPisoFoam Transient solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of incompressible fluids.

• buoyantSimpleFoam Steady-state solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer.

• buoyantSimpleRadiationFoam Steady-state solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible fluids with radiation, for ventilation and heat-transfer.

• chtMultiRegionFoam Solver that couples conjugate heat transfer in a solid to a buoyancy-driven flow simulation.

• lesBuoyantFoam Transient solver for buoyant, turbulent flow of compressible fluids for ventilation and heat-transfer with LES turbulence modelling.

8 Incompressible flow

• boundaryFoam Steady-state solver for 1D turbulent flow, typically to generate boundary layer conditions at an inlet, for use in a simulation.

• channelOodles Incompressible LES solver for flow in a channel.

• icoDyMFoam Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of Newtonian fluids with dynamic mesh.

• icoFoam Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of Newtonian fluids.

• nonNewtonianIcoFoam Transient solver for incompressible, laminar flow of non-Newtonian fluids.

• oodles Incompressible LES solver.

• pimpleDyMFoam Transient solver for incompressible, turbulent flow of Newtonian fluids with dynamic mesh.

• simpleFoam Steady-state solver for incompressible, turbulent flow of non-Newtonian fluids.

• turbDyMFoam Transient solver for incompressible, turbulent flow of Newtonian fluids with dynamic mesh.

• turbFoam Transient solver for incompressible, turbulent flow.

• overPimpleDyMFoam Transient solver for incompressible flow of Newtonian fluids on a moving mesh using the PIMPLE (merged PISO-SIMPLE) algorithm.

9 Molecular dynamics

• Molecular Dynamics solver documented by the multi-scale flows group of the Mechanical Engineering department at the University of Strathclyde

• gnemdFoam General purpose molecular dynamics solver to simulate atoms in arbitrary shaped domains and average atomic/molecular quantities to the mesh to create field data

• mdEquilibrationFoam Solver that equilibrates and/or preconditions molecular dynamics systems

10 Multiphase flow

• bubbleFoam Solver for a system of 2 incompressible fluid phases with one phase dispersed, e.g. gas bubbles in a liquid.
• compressibleLesInterFoam Solver for 2 compressible, isothermal immiscible fluids using a volume of fluid (VOF) phase-fraction based interface capturing approach, with LES.

• interDyMFoam Solver for 2 incompressible fluids, which captures the interface using a VOF method with optional mesh motion.

• interFoam Solver for 2 incompressible fluids, which tracks the interface and includes the option of mesh motion.

• interPhaseChangeFoam Solver for 2 incompressible, isothermal immiscible fluids with phase-change, e.g. cavitation, using a VOF method.

• lesCavitatingFoam Transient cavitation code with LES turbulence.

• lesInterFoam Solver for 2 incompressible fluids capturing the interface. Turbulence is modelled using a runtime selectable incompressible LES model.

• multiphaseInterFoam Solver for an arbitrary number of incompressible immiscible fluids, capturing the multiple interfaces using a VOF method.

• rasCavitatingFoam Transient cavitation code with RAS turbulence.

• rasInterFoam Solver for 2 incompressible fluids capturing the interface. Turbulence is modelled using a runtime selectable incompressible RAS model.

• settlingFoam Solver for 2 incompressible fluids for simulating the settling of the dispersed phase. With OF-2.3.1, this solver has been replaced by driftFluxFoam.

• twoLiquidMixingFoam Solver for mixing 2 incompressible fluids.

• twoPhaseEulerFoam Solver for a system of 2 incompressible fluid phases with one phase dispersed, e.g. gas bubbles in a liquid.

11 Stress analysis of solids

• solidDisplacementFoam Transient segregated finite-volume solver of linear-elastic, small-strain deformation of a solid body, with optional thermal diffusion and thermal stresses.

• solidEquilibriumDisplacementFoam Steady-state segregated finite-volume solver of linear-elastic, small-strain deformation of a solid body.

---

Note to editors: Use the solver name as the page name, when adding a new solver to this page.