Computational Fluid Dynamics with OpenFOAM

Understand the physics. Master the simulation.

Most OpenFOAM material teaches you which commands to type. This book teaches you what happens when you type them: where each equation comes from, how it is discretized, what the solver does at every iteration, and how to tell whether a result can be trusted.

Written for engineers, students and researchers, it takes you from your first installation to advanced simulations with the current modular OpenFOAM (OpenFOAM Foundation, foamRun). Every command and configuration file has been checked against a working installation.

What you will learn

• The finite volume method by hand: five examples worked cell by cell, then reproduced in OpenFOAM so you can see the numbers match.
• Pressure-velocity coupling: SIMPLE, SIMPLEC, PISO and PIMPLE, first as an intuitive idea and then with the full derivation.
• Turbulence modeling: k-epsilon, k-omega SST and LES, wall functions, and how to calculate and check y+ step by step.
• Meshing: blockMesh, snappyHexMesh and SALOME, mesh quality metrics, and mesh-independence studies with the Grid Convergence Index (GCI).
• Boundary conditions, numerical schemes and the Courant number, and how each choice affects stability and accuracy.
• Advanced cases: multiphase flow (VOF), combustion and dynamic meshes.
• Parallel computing: domain decomposition, speedup, Amdahl's law and real scaling measurements.
• Verification and validation following ASME V&V 20, so you can defend your results.
• Post-processing in ParaView and practical techniques for improving convergence.

Learn by doing

• Full-color printing, with teaching diagrams and 17 OpenFOAM simulation results produced for this book.
• Exercises with answers in every chapter and a capstone project that brings everything together.
• Step-by-step installation on Windows with WSL, so you can start without a separate Linux computer.
• More than 20 QR codes linking to video tutorials. Most are narrated in Spanish, with English dubbed audio and subtitles available on YouTube.

About the author

Roger Iván Ponce Segovia is a fluid mechanics engineer with a master's degree in Energy and specialized CFD training. He has led simulation projects in the hydropower and mining sectors across Peru, Chile, Bolivia, the United States, Canada, Pakistan and Brazil, and simulated compressible flows at the Peruvian Space Agency (CONIDA). He teaches at several universities in Peru and is the founder of CFD.NINJA and NSIV.IO.

OPENFOAM® is a registered trademark of OpenCFD Limited. This publication is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited.