In this chapter we shall describe in detail the process of setup, simulation and
post-processing for some OpenFOAM test cases, with the principal aim of introducing a
user to the basic procedures of running OpenFOAM.
The tutorial cases are relatively simple in terms of the underlying physics and
do not demonstrate the full extent of OpenFOAM’s capabilities. Any user interested in
the capabilities of OpenFOAM is directed to: the examples pages on the website
of Nabla Ltd., http://www.nabla.co.uk/webMain/solutions.html;
the set of examples in 3 of the Programmer’s Guide; or, Nabla Ltd. at
enquiries@wikki.co.uk.
The user must first make sure that they have installed OpenFOAM correctly.
The tutorial cases describe the use of the FoamX and blockMesh pre-processing
tools, running OpenFOAM solvers and post-processing using dxFoam. Those users with
access to third-party post-processing tools supported in OpenFOAM have an
option: either they can follow the tutorials using dxFoam (they may find
they prefer it to their third-party product); or refer to the description of
the use of the third-party product in chapter 7 when post-processing is
required.
Copies of all tutorials are available from the tutorials directory of the OpenFOAM
installation. The tutorials are organised into a set of subdirectories by solver, e.g.
all the icoFoam cases are stored within a subdirectory icoFoam. The user should
have already copied the tutorials directory into their local run directory. If not,
they can be easily copied by typing:
The pre- and post-processing tools of OpenFOAM locate cases by the caseRoots path
settings in the user’s $HOME/.foam2.3/controlDict file. If the user has copied the
tutorials into their account as described above, the paths to the tutorial cases will
be set correctly by default; otherwise the user will have to edit the paths
accordingly.
