The OpenFOAM Foundation is pleased to announce the release of version 12 of the OpenFOAM open source CFD toolbox. Version 12 takes advantage of modular solvers and non-conformal coupling (NCC) to improve simulations with multiple regions, including simplifying meshing and coupling.  Work has continued on the rewrite of particle code, e.g. injection and distribution, parallel decomposition, redistribution and load balancing.  There are some new, useful boundary conditions and the option  to include units, e.g. [bar], with input values, which are converted accordingly.  The installation of third party software is easier, with the openfoam12 package for Ubuntu 24.04 & 22.04 now using the standard paraview package.

OpenFOAM 12 includes the following highlights.

• Modular Solvers: support source terms for one variable for equations of other variables.
• Multiphase: improved models for mass, momentum and heat transfer, and solid phases.
• Turbulence Modelling: robust limiting of fields simplified and corrected wall functions.
• Heat: added viscous heating model and improved naming in thermodynamic properties.
• Particle Tracking: generalised injection and particle distributions.
• Meshes: upgraded mesh generation and coupling of multiple mesh regions.
• Parallel Running: efficient options for load-balancing, decomposition and redistribution.
• Function Objects: moved to a system/functions file, and added new function objects.
• Models: added volume and mass sources which are added to mass continuity.
• Boundary Conditions: new pressure, velocity and temperature boundary conditions.
• Case Configuration: parameters can include units, e.g. [bar]
• Programming: foamFind script to search source code; example coded function objects.
• Other: Easier installation of ParaView and decomposition libraries.

The OpenFOAM Foundation is pleased to announce the release of version 11 of the OpenFOAM open source CFD toolbox. Version 11 introduces modular solvers written as classes, in contrast to the traditional application solvers, integral to OpenFOAM since icoFoam in 1993.  Modular solvers are simpler to maintain and extend, and are more flexible for multi-region simulations, e.g. conjugate heat transfer (CHT) with any type of flow, e.g. multiphase. Everything is  backward-compatible, so: 1) application solvers will still compile in OpenFOAM; 2) launching an old application solver, e.g. simpleFoam, executes a script which  runs the incompressibleFluid module on a single region.

OpenFOAM 11 includes the following highlights.

• Modular Solvers: class-based solvers for greater flexibility, e.g. multi-region simulations.
• Multiphase: vastly improved consistency and conservation in the multiphaseEuler module.
• Transport: added anisotropic thermal conductivity.
• Thermophysical: standardised the specification of property names in input file keywords.
• Heat transfer: simplified critical boundary conditions for heat transfer between regions.
• Particle tracking: generalised statistical distributions for size distributions in particles.
• Liquids Films: full replacement which conserves mass and integrates to other models.
• Meshes: redesign of dynamic mesh functionality and consolidated NCC.
• Function Objects: improved field averaging and visualisation function objects.
• Models and Constraints: numerous new models and constraints.
• Boundary Conditions: consolidated mapped conditions and introduced MRF conditions.
• Case Configuration: new foamToC application lists models and options in OpenFOAM.
• Programming: new finite volume functions and improvements to algorithm sequences.