[anurag]

Is OpenFOAM only for finite-volume/finite-element schemes? Is it possible to use OpenFOAM for a finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculation? I would like to implement at high-order FDTD method for an aeroacoustic application. Thanks.

Regards,

Anurag

[7islands]

Hi Anurag,

Sounds interesting. While it might be possible to implement higher order / compact finite-difference schemes (which usually require structured stencils) if you make assumptions for mesh to be structured (in cell number ordering, connectivity constraints, etc), its performance will be worse than the dedicated FDTD codes written e.g. in Fortran. When I once compared computational time and memory footprint between an OpenFOAM code (with usual finite-volume formulation though) and a dedicated Fortran FDTD code in a simple acoustic wave propagation problem, both were more than 10 times worse in OpenFOAM code (Still I usually use the OpenFOAM code... its flexibility and versatility well more than compensates the performance difference). However it's only my personal view, OpenFOAM experts' opinions may differ.

Takuya

[ivan_cozza]

Hi guys!
Did you success to write something like an high order finite difference-like scheme in OpenFOAM?
I'm interested too in it, as I'm working on aeroacoustics...
Do you think about some other high order techniques, like DRP Finite Volume or Discontinuous Galerkin Methods? Anyone knows if it is possible to implement something like this in OpenFOAM?
I know that there's a FEM tool in OpenFOAM, where can I find some documentation on it? Maybe with it is possible to try to implement a Discontinuous Galerkin Method...