OpenFOAM 1.2 Released

OpenFOAM version 1.2 is the latest upgrade of OpenFOAM, the Open Source CFD Toolbox.

Version 1.2 extends the impressive range of multiphase flow tools to include: twoPhaseEulerFoam, a very general Euler-Euler two-phase code including both particle and bubble/droplet interaction terms and models; twoLiquidMixingFoam, a variant of interFoam which allows the two fluids to mix rather than preserving an interface, with Ficks-law diffusion used to model the fluid-fluid diffusion. Numerous improvements have been made to the current VOF interface-tracking solvers: interFoam, lesInterFoam and rasInterFoam.

There is a new rhoSimpleFoam solver for low-Ma compressible (variable density) flows with heat transfer and a completely new rhopSonicFoam for inviscid compressible flow.

The NVD/TVD limited discretisation schemes have been completely rewritten for better code reuse and greater flexibility and simplicity when developing new schemes. Some of the older schemes (MinMod, Gamma2) have been removed and replaced with better alternatives, in particular limitedLinear which is a TVD-limited form of central-differencing. “V” (vector-field) versions of a wider range of schemes have also been included with limitedLinearV proving most convergent and accurate.

The FoamX preprocessor has been completely reorganised to make it easy for users to write configurations for their own codes. The syntax has been made a lot more convenient, especially in specifying boundary conditions.

There are many new useful utilities including manipulation tools to transform and rotate mesh and fields and to initialise field data. The functionality of many utilities has been extended, especially in the mesh conversion tools.

Henry Weller
Chris Greenshields
Mattijs Janssens