OpenCFD Release OpenFOAM®  1.4.1

OpenCFD are pleased to announce the release of version 1.4.1 of their OpenFOAM open source CFD toolbox.

OpenFOAM-1.4.1 is predominantly a patched version of the 1.4 release including some important bug-fixes, but also includes some significant developments detailed below.

Parallel running

OpenMPI-1.2.3 replaces LAM-7.1.2 as the default MPI used by OpenFOAM; LAM and other MPI implementations are still supported.

Mesh/data conversion

New fluent3DMeshToFoam converter for 3D meshes from Fluent format to OpenFOAM format including full support for all BCs, zones etc.; new foamFormatConvert utility converts all OpenFOAM mesh and field files associated with a case into the format specified in the controlDict, e.g. converts binary files to ASCII and vice versa.

Mesh motion

New turbDyMFoam solver for incompressible, turbulent flow of Newtonian fluids with moving mesh incorporating the PISO/SIMPLE/PIMPLE pressure-velocity solution algorithms; the icoDynFoam solver for incompressible, laminar flow of Newtonian fluids with moving mesh also modified with the PISO/SIMPLE/PIMPLE algorithms; mesh motion solvers extended to include velocity (as before) and displacement which are advantageous for periodic motion.

Discretisation schemes

New filteredLinear2 scheme which removes high frequency modes with ‘staggering’ characteristics.

GAMG solver

Improved handling of asymmetric matrices; smoothers for asymmetric matrices extended to include DILU and DILUGaussSeidel; completely replaces the old AMG solver (no longer supported); default solver for the coarsest matrix changed from direct to iterative, with direct solver can be selected using the optional directSolveCoarsest switch.

Turbulence modelling

Implementation of the k-omega SST turbulence model for high-Re external and internal compressible flows (not fully tested).

Other

Improvements to parallel compilation and optimisations for the Itanium2 processor.