Open source Computational Fluid Dynamics using OpenFOAM

Abstract

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a tool that allows designers and engineers to readily evaluate the merits\nof a given design. It helps reducing the need to build and test prototypes predominantly at the early stages of the\ndesign process. CFD has been largely adopted by commercial aircraft manufacturers and is now considered an\nessential design tool. However, CFD is not as widely used for the design of light aircraft (for example, by amateur\nor enthusiast designers) mainly due to the cost associated with commercial CFD software. In recent years, a\nnumber of open-source CFD initiatives have emerged which have the potential to offer amateur or enthusiast\nlight aircraft designers unrestricted access to CFD technology. In particular, the OpenFOAM project offers one of\nthe most complete open-source CFD solutions and their software can be used without the need to purchase an\nexpensive licence. Nonetheless, there are still some challenges to overcome in order to allow the widespread\nadoption of the CFD technology OpenFOAM offers by the light aircraft design community. In order to promote\nthe use of OpenFOAM, an introduction of CFD using OpenFOAM (and some complementary open-source tools)\nwill be presented, as well as practical examples and information to allow potential users to overcome some of the\ncommon challenges they are most likely to encounter.