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OpenFOAM Guides

In-depth articles covering the most common OpenFOAM errors, configuration questions, and setup workflows.

Debugging 5 guides
Divergence
OpenFOAM simulation diverging
Four root causes and systematic fixes
Steady-state
simpleFoam residuals not converging
Relaxation factors, schemes, inlet BCs
Crash
Floating point exception in OpenFOAM
What causes NaN/Inf and how to fix it
Transient
Courant number too high
deltaT, adjustable time stepping, solver limits
Diagnostics
Reading OpenFOAM residuals
Convergence criteria, fvSolution, stall diagnosis
Mesh 4 guides
Quality
OpenFOAM mesh quality guide
checkMesh, non-orthogonality, y+
Structured
blockMesh tutorial
Vertices, blocks, grading, boundary patches
Unstructured
snappyHexMesh guide
Castellated mesh, snapping, layers
Validation
checkMesh output explained
Interpreting every metric and what to fix
Boundary Conditions 4 guides
Reference
OpenFOAM boundary conditions
inlet, outlet, wall, symmetry — complete reference
Inlet
Inlet boundary conditions
Velocity, pressure, k, epsilon, omega at inlet
Outlet
Outlet boundary conditions
zeroGradient, inletOutlet, pressureInletOutlet
Turbulence
Wall functions and y+
kqRWallFunction, epsilonWallFunction, y+ ranges
Physics & Solvers 7 guides
Turbulence
Choosing a turbulence model
k-ω SST, k-ε, Spalart-Allmaras, LES, DES
LES
LES setup in OpenFOAM
SGS models, mesh requirements, Co < 0.2
Heat transfer
Heat transfer in OpenFOAM
buoyantSimpleFoam, chtMultiRegionFoam, thermal BCs
Rheology
Non-Newtonian fluids in OpenFOAM
BirdCarreau, CrossPowerLaw, powerLaw, OF12 setup
Multiphase
interFoam VOF setup
Alpha field, surface tension, interface stability
Transient
pimpleFoam settings
nOuterCorrectors, PIMPLE loop, large Co
Compressible
rhoPimpleFoam guide
Compressible transient flows, BCs, stability
Numerics 3 guides
Discretisation
fvSchemes guide
divSchemes, gradSchemes, laplacianSchemes
Linear solver
GAMG solver in OpenFOAM
When to use GAMG, agglomerator, smoother
Setup
OpenFOAM initial conditions
0/ directory, potentialFoam, uniform fields
Post-processing & Setup 3 guides
Visualisation
ParaView post-processing
Loading results, slices, streamlines, plots
Monitoring
Function objects in OpenFOAM
forces, probes, fieldAverage, yPlus
HPC
Parallel decomposition in OpenFOAM
decomposePar, scotch, reconstructPar

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