Openfoam 21 Environment Setup

2.1 Environment Setup (+6)

2.1 Environment Setup

source /usr/lib/openfoam/openfoam2312/etc/bashrc

2.2 Serial Workflow

# 1. Generate mesh
blockMesh

# 2. Check mesh quality
checkMesh
checkMesh -allTopology -allGeometry          # comprehensive

# 3. Initialize flow (optional, helps convergence)
potentialFoam -writephi

# 4. Run solver
simpleFoam > log.simpleFoam 2>&1             # steady-state
pimpleFoam > log.pimpleFoam 2>&1             # transient
interFoam > log.interFoam 2>&1               # multiphase
icoFoam > log.icoFoam 2>&1                   # laminar transient

# 5. Post-process
simpleFoam -postProcess -func yPlus -latestTime
foamToVTK -latestTime                        # export for ParaView
foamLog log.simpleFoam                       # extract residuals to logs/

2.3 Parallel Workflow

# 1. Decompose
decomposePar

# 2. Run in parallel
mpirun -np 4 simpleFoam -parallel > log.simpleFoam 2>&1

# 3. Reconstruct
reconstructPar -latestTime                   # latest time only
reconstructPar                               # all times

# 4. Cleanup processor directories (after reconstruction)
rm -rf processor*

2.4 Complex Geometry Workflow (snappyHexMesh)

surfaceFeatureExtract                        # extract feature edges from STL
blockMesh                                    # background mesh
decomposePar
mpirun -np 6 snappyHexMesh -overwrite -parallel
mpirun -np 6 potentialFoam -writephi -parallel
mpirun -np 6 simpleFoam -parallel > log.simpleFoam 2>&1
reconstructPar -latestTime

2.5 Multiphase Workflow (interFoam)

blockMesh
setFields                                    # initialize alpha field from setFieldsDict
interFoam > log.interFoam 2>&1

2.6 Solver Selection Guide

2.7 Key CLI Flags