ParaView can't find OpenFOAM files
 

I have been following the tutorial to get me started with OpenFOAM. (I am running v1.5 on Windows). I have followed the instructions on the 'cavity' case and the folders '0' to '5' have been created. I have created an empty file called 'cavity.OpenFOAM' in the 'cavity' folder. When I run ParaView it shows only the folders, no files, and clicking on a folder simply expands it but does not open anything.

What should I do to get ParaView to recognise the files created by OpenFOAM?

Thanks,

John.

Quick answer: http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/ope...ndows-7-a.html

I am running Windows XP. I have created an empty file called cavity.OpenFOAM - ParaView does not recognise it. I don't know whether this is relevant but the files created by OpenFoam do not have extensions.

:confused: Seriously? You didn't even bother reading the thread? It's Windows!!! It's the same thing (just to not say some other more demeaning word about it), no matter which version it is :D

I was hoping you would check the thread just in case and notice this post of mine:
The detail is really simple: Use the file extension ".foam" and not ".OpenFOAM" :(

Thanks for the reply. Being a newbie I didn't know whether the version of Windows would matter, so I thought it best to be accurate. I was following the tutorial, which said to use the extension .OpenFOAM. I have read the threads but since I did not know that the problem was with the extension I must have overlooked your comment.

However, I have now changed the extension to .foam and I have found that it makes absolutely no difference at all - ParaView still does not show any files of any description. I'm sure that I have got something very basic wrong but I have checked what I am doing against the tutorial and I can't see what I am doing wrong. Is it right that the files created by OpenFOAM do not have extensions?

Thanks,

John.

I've made a step sideways. When opening a file in ParaView, the type of file is named as ParaView Files (with a long list of extensions), which I thought was reasonable. The tutorial does not mention selecting the file type so I had not changed it. However, I have found that there is a file type for OpenFoam files (extension .foam). Success! Now it finds my file. So I opened it and Paraview crashed with the message: 'This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way. Please contact the application's support team for more information.'

Any suggestions?

John.

Greetings John,

My first suggestion is to use a more recent port of OpenFOAM for Windows, such as blueCFD-SingleCore (disclaimer: I'm the guy responsible for it). You can find other ports of OpenFOAM for Windows here: http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Installation/Windows

The second suggestion is to install ParaView 3.12.0 or 4.1.0.

The third suggestion is to run the first "cavity" tutorial like this:
If you're using blueCFD-SingleCore and have followed the instructions given here: http://code.google.com/p/bluecfd-sin...Guide#ParaView - then it should work as expected.

If you're unable to configure ParaView to be used with blueCFD-SingleCore, read this thread: http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/ope...ease-help.html

Best regards,
Bruno

Bruno,

Thank you for the suggestions. I'll have a go with them over the next week or so and I'll let you know.

Much appreciated,

John.

Hi Wyldckat,

I ran the applications as you suggested, but paraFoam does not exist under Windows, so that did not help.

I have downloaded ParaView 4.1.0. It's not the same as the previous one so the tutorial could not be followed exactly, but I managed. It recognised the files and loaded them. I finally got a plot of pressure, but it was wrong; the range was 0 to 10^-16, which is way too small and nothing like what's in the files generated by OpenFoam.

It appears that OpenFoam is OK, so I won't be downloading a replacement. However, something appears to be wrong with ParaView. Any ideas what I can do?

Thanks,

John.

Hi John,

Create a file named "paraFoam.bat" inside the folder "OpenFOAM-*\bin" with this content (adapt to your needs):
As for the results you're seeing, it's possibly because you haven't studied the ParaView manual yet ;) http://paraview.org/Wiki/ParaView/Us...le_Of_Contents
Essentially, you should be looking for the rescale button: http://paraview.org/OnlineHelpCurrent/Display.html

Best regards,
Bruno

Dear Bruno,

Thank you for the pointer to the Rescale button. You are quite right, I have not rad the manual for ParaView yet. I was trying to following the tutorial as I though that was the best way to get to grip with the way everything works. However, I can't even get that to work. Maybe reading the manual would be a better way to get started.

The reference you sent describes what ParaView 3.12.0 does, in that it has a tab for the display settings. However, Paraview 4.1.0 does not have this tab but it does have a 'display' panel under the 'properties' tab, in which there is a 'rescale' button. I've clicked it but nothing happens - the scale still shows the pressure as going from 0 to 10^-16. Just to make it worse, today the velocity display is wrong too.

I'll keep trying.

John.

I met the same problem. I followed the steps exactly as told in the tutorial, but the pressure calculated is 0. Did you figured out what's wrong?

--------------------------

I have blueCFD-core-2.3 installed, and I followed exactly as told in the user guide. And I clicked the rescale button. Still, the pressure is 0 everywhere. Did anyone actually test the tutorial using a windows 8 system?

I found the U file in the 'cavity' tutorial is totally different from the one shown in the User Guide for openFOAM, is this the reason why I get a 0 pressure other than the result shown in the User Guide?

Greetings cfdnewbie001 and welcome to the forum!

Uhm... if you're using blueCFD-Core 2.3, you could have sent me an email to my work email, since I'm the one responsible for blueCFD-Core :) Although I guess that it was more likely that I would answer here on the forum at this hour...

Either way, attached are two images:

1. "cavity_0.jpg" - Shows what you're probably seeing. Notice the big red arrow on the top right side of the image. That's where you can change the current time snapshot. It also shows in the top left corner where you can turn on/off the label.
2. "cavity_1.jpg" -Shows what is expectable to be seen when the time snapshot is 0.5. In red are marked the time/animation controls.

Have a look at the following page for more details on getting started with OpenFOAM: http://www.cfd-online.com/Forums/ope...-openfoam.html
In particular, you might find useful the following wiki pages:

• http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Tu...etting_Started
• http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Tu...VideoTutorials

Best regards,
Bruno

Thank you wyldckat! Problem solved. Oh well as I can blame the User Guide for not pointing out the time step set up, I should probably pay more attention to the user interface myself.