CastNet V4 for OpenFOAM and CalculiX
DHCAE Tools GmbH is proud to present a fundamental extension of the modelling and simulation environment CastNet.
CastNet is a pre-processing tool that supports the complete workflow of CFD applications: CAD import, mesh generation and case setup, runtime control and monitoring of the simulation job and, finally, post-processing.
CAD import: CastNet is capable to work with geometric modelling kernel input files directly (
Parasolid, ACIS, Granite). This way, all customary CAD systems are supported.
Meshing technology: CastNet provides a reliable and stable CFD/FEA meshing technology including boundary layer meshing, mesh extrusion capabilities and hex-core meshing. Furthermore, OpenFOAM®'s snappyHexMesh is supported to work with the CAD model entities (regions, surfaces, edges) directly.
The user interface of CastNet has been extensively revised.
Extended snappyHexMesh support: In the new CastNet release, many new features for snappyHexMesh have been added. For complex geometries, the mesh definition can be done on assemblies without the need of extracting the fluid domain before. Heat exchanger zones, baffles (porous baffle, internal walls etc.) can be defined efficiently.
Case setup: The new CastNet release provides an efficient template system to speed up the case definition significantly. Predefined optimized solver settings and mesh parameters can be applied directly, thus reducing time-consuming and error-prone manual definitions.
Supported open source solver technology:
- CastNet provides a comprehensive support for the OpenFOAM releases 2.1 - 2.3 from the OpenFOAM® Foundation.
- For Windows users the OpenFOAM port blueCFD-2.1.2 and blueCFD-Core-2.3 from blueCAPE are supported.
- For Structural Analysis the FEA solver CalculiX is supported by CastNet. CalculiX is a finite element solver for stress analysis with non-linear capabilities such as contact or non-linear material behaviour.
- Data mapping from CFD analysis to FEA is possible: pressure fields or temperature fields from OpenFOAM simulations can be mapped to the structural solver to calculate the corresponding (thermal) stresses.
Key features of OpenFOAM support: CastNet supports more than 30 OpenFOAM solvers and numerous OpenFOAM utilities. In particular, a direct setup for the
conjugate heat transfer solvers is available. Arbitrary Mesh Interface (AMI) applications can be defined within the GUI as well. Cell zone and face zone based features (porous zones, baffles, fans etc.) can be defined on the CAD model entities directly.
Cross platform support: CastNet can be run on both
Windows and
Linux. Simulation cases can be exchanged between the different operating systems. This way the user can stay within his Windows environment for CAD applications, mesh generation and case setup while running the simulations on a high performance Linux cluster.
Runtime job control: With the runGui tool, a suitable and powerful job control system is provided. Amongst others, convergence monitoring, access to OpenFOAM® utilities or automatic solver stabilization during runtime is available within a single graphical user interface.
Video tutorials: Our video tutorials allow you to quickly familiarize yourself with CastNet. Some demonstration videos are provided on our web page.
This offering is not approved or endorsed by ESI Group, the producer of the OpenFOAM software and owner of the OPENFOAM and OpenCFD trademarks.
