Looking for a tutorial to use CAD

May 8, 2007, 05:18

hi all,

I am new to openFoam and I would like to run it with DNS into geometries previously designed in a CAD package. Actually, I have Solidworks so I can generate stl, step ...

I am a bit confused with the way to go because I had been told that OpenFoam would create a specific mesh to deal with DNS, So starting from a mesh looks weird, why not from a basic geometry?

AnyHow, is there a forum/topic/tutorial/webpage I have missed where I can see how to prompt blockmeshdict to consider my geometry and run a case?

Rgds

Pvc

billy · May 8, 2007, 17:51

I think like many finite volume solvers, OpenFOAM works better with a nice orthogonal hexahedral mesh. The problem is to generate that mesh with a free open source mesh generator. It's a pitty Cubit isn't open source it seems like a perfect mesh generator for OpenFOAM.

sradl · May 9, 2007, 08:26

What about Netgen? It can produce nice tetrahedal meshes.

Has anyone experience if its worth trying Cubit instead of Netgen to have hexahedral meshes?

Cheers
Stefan

peterh · May 9, 2007, 19:21

As far as i know you won't be able to get your hands on a copy of Cubit unless you pay 300$... (if I'm wrong, please tell me where to get a free copy of the software if its possible)

What I think would be a nice way to produce hexahedral meshes for OF is some kind of graphical "blockMeshDict-generator". It wouldn't get that complicated to produce meshes with more than say 4-6 blocks or so in a simple textfile. Perhaps m4 is a good way to go, but it's still quite messy...

For the meshing, you could try harpoon, it can read .stl and produces hex-dominant meshes, and it has a native OpenFoam export function. You can get a trialversion for free. Since i got my key yesterday, i didn't have the time to play around with it..

Does anyone have some experience with harpoon?

Peter

billy · May 9, 2007, 19:52

Hi,

How much does harpoon cost? I would also like to know which is the best mesh generator in the market or with the best quality/cost ratio.

kgmerk · May 10, 2007, 11:50

Sandia does charge $300 for a research license mostly to cover the administrative costs of handling their required licensing procedure. It'll cost _much_ more to get a commercial license of Cubit because there is a large cost associated with some commercial 3rd party libraries.

I'm looking at adding export capabilities to Cubit to support OpenFOAM. We've recently added a CGNS export. What would be the preferred export format from this group?

paka · May 10, 2007, 14:31

Did anyone of you used SolidWorks? VectorWorks?
Thanks,
K

lam · May 11, 2007, 03:39

Hi Peter,

I read that you said you received a key from Harpoon?
How did you do?
I filled something to request a key (otherwise, I saw that Harpoon does not work)on their site 4 days ago, but I have not received any thing.
How long had you waited for?

Lam

peterh · May 11, 2007, 10:55

Hey Lam,

they need some time to process your request, in my case, I was waiting for about ten days

.

Perhaps it took them so long because i got my key from the german retailer, and not directly from Sharc.

Peter

lam · May 15, 2007, 03:38

Hi Peter,

So I have to wait.

But if you try Harpoon, maybe you can tell use if Harpoon can make nice mesh for Foam.

See you,

Lam

sradl · May 15, 2007, 08:47

Hey Karl,

what about a free trial version of cubit? I'd like to test it for importing a *.stl file from SolidWorks.
Since OpenFOAM can convert several mesh formats (see http://www.opencfd.co.uk/openfoam/in...meshConversion)
and I'm currently working with NetGen, I'd prefer the "Netgen Natural format". It is basically a list of points and indices for connection.

cheers
Stefan

sradl · July 28, 2007, 16:36

Hi Karl & Bill,

we now have an academic version of CUBIT and I tried to export an ideas mesh file. I used ideasUnvToFoam to import and it seems to work. However (beside some minor warnings), the program aborts with the error message "cell type 171 not supported" when it reads the cell information.

I also tried patran neutral and abaqus files without success.

Any help appreciated!

br
Stefan Radl

soufy · October 11, 2007, 05:10

Hi all,

i am a new user of openfoam. and i find a diffeculty to use it . please i need a help.
my question is: it is possible to import a geometrie in formet ".step " from a CAD ( for exemple solidworks ).
because for the complexe geometrie it's difficult.
please it's urgent!!!!!

sradl · October 11, 2007, 05:13

look into "salome" free software, it should work with your geometry file forma

soufy · October 11, 2007, 05:25

Hi
ok , i will try it.

but it not possible that i do my geometrie in solidworks and i import it in openfoam "in any format compatible " because i know how to use solidworks well. so salome it the first time that i know it.

tanks for help

soufy · October 11, 2007, 05:41

hi,
what is the version de salome software that's works well with fedora

tanks

benru · October 11, 2007, 07:04

SALOME 3.2.6 works with Fedora, Debian & etc, but (as usual) you (perhaps) will need to do something "with arms" (install additional packages & etc). SALOME gives ability to create both tetrahedral and hexahedral meshes (and compound mesh too).

May 8, 2007, 05:18	hi all, I am new to openFo	#1
pvc Guest Posts: n/a	hi all, I am new to openFoam and I would like to run it with DNS into geometries previously designed in a CAD package. Actually, I have Solidworks so I can generate stl, step ... I am a bit confused with the way to go because I had been told that OpenFoam would create a specific mesh to deal with DNS, So starting from a mesh looks weird, why not from a basic geometry? AnyHow, is there a forum/topic/tutorial/webpage I have missed where I can see how to prompt blockmeshdict to consider my geometry and run a case? Rgds Pvc

May 8, 2007, 17:51	I think like many finite volum	#2
billy Senior Member Billy Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 167 Rep Power: 17	I think like many finite volume solvers, OpenFOAM works better with a nice orthogonal hexahedral mesh. The problem is to generate that mesh with a free open source mesh generator. It's a pitty Cubit isn't open source it seems like a perfect mesh generator for OpenFOAM.

May 9, 2007, 08:26	What about Netgen? It can prod	#3
sradl Member Stefan Radl Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Graz, Austria Posts: 82 Rep Power: 18	What about Netgen? It can produce nice tetrahedal meshes. Has anyone experience if its worth trying Cubit instead of Netgen to have hexahedral meshes? Cheers Stefan

May 9, 2007, 19:21	As far as i know you won't be	#4
peterh New Member Peter Hering Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 17	As far as i know you won't be able to get your hands on a copy of Cubit unless you pay 300$... (if I'm wrong, please tell me where to get a free copy of the software if its possible) What I think would be a nice way to produce hexahedral meshes for OF is some kind of graphical "blockMeshDict-generator". It wouldn't get that complicated to produce meshes with more than say 4-6 blocks or so in a simple textfile. Perhaps m4 is a good way to go, but it's still quite messy... For the meshing, you could try harpoon, it can read .stl and produces hex-dominant meshes, and it has a native OpenFoam export function. You can get a trialversion for free. Since i got my key yesterday, i didn't have the time to play around with it.. Does anyone have some experience with harpoon? Peter

May 9, 2007, 19:52	Hi, How much does harpoon c	#5
billy Senior Member Billy Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 167 Rep Power: 17	Hi, How much does harpoon cost? I would also like to know which is the best mesh generator in the market or with the best quality/cost ratio.

May 10, 2007, 11:50	Sandia does charge $300 for a	#6
kgmerk New Member Karl Merkley Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: USA Posts: 2 Rep Power: 0	Sandia does charge $300 for a research license mostly to cover the administrative costs of handling their required licensing procedure. It'll cost _much_ more to get a commercial license of Cubit because there is a large cost associated with some commercial 3rd party libraries. I'm looking at adding export capabilities to Cubit to support OpenFOAM. We've recently added a CGNS export. What would be the preferred export format from this group?

May 10, 2007, 14:31	Did anyone of you used SolidWo	#7
paka Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 225 Rep Power: 18	Did anyone of you used SolidWorks? VectorWorks? Thanks, K

May 11, 2007, 03:39	Hi Peter, I read that you s	#8
lam Member Hoang-Lam Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Lausanne, Switzerland Posts: 60 Rep Power: 17	Hi Peter, I read that you said you received a key from Harpoon? How did you do? I filled something to request a key (otherwise, I saw that Harpoon does not work)on their site 4 days ago, but I have not received any thing. How long had you waited for? Lam

May 11, 2007, 10:55	Hey Lam, they need some tim	#9
peterh New Member Peter Hering Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 7 Rep Power: 17	Hey Lam, they need some time to process your request, in my case, I was waiting for about ten days . Perhaps it took them so long because i got my key from the german retailer, and not directly from Sharc. Peter

May 15, 2007, 03:38	Hi Peter, So I have to wait	#10
lam Member Hoang-Lam Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Lausanne, Switzerland Posts: 60 Rep Power: 17	Hi Peter, So I have to wait. But if you try Harpoon, maybe you can tell use if Harpoon can make nice mesh for Foam. See you, Lam

May 15, 2007, 08:47	Hey Karl, what about a free	#11
sradl Member Stefan Radl Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Graz, Austria Posts: 82 Rep Power: 18	Hey Karl, what about a free trial version of cubit? I'd like to test it for importing a *.stl file from SolidWorks. Since OpenFOAM can convert several mesh formats (see http://www.opencfd.co.uk/openfoam/in...meshConversion) and I'm currently working with NetGen, I'd prefer the "Netgen Natural format". It is basically a list of points and indices for connection. cheers Stefan

July 28, 2007, 16:36	Hi Karl & Bill, we now have	#12
sradl Member Stefan Radl Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Graz, Austria Posts: 82 Rep Power: 18	Hi Karl & Bill, we now have an academic version of CUBIT and I tried to export an ideas mesh file. I used ideasUnvToFoam to import and it seems to work. However (beside some minor warnings), the program aborts with the error message "cell type 171 not supported" when it reads the cell information. I also tried patran neutral and abaqus files without success. Any help appreciated! br Stefan Radl

October 11, 2007, 05:10	Hi all, i am a new user of	#13
soufy New Member soufymer Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 17	Hi all, i am a new user of openfoam. and i find a diffeculty to use it . please i need a help. my question is: it is possible to import a geometrie in formet ".step " from a CAD ( for exemple solidworks ). because for the complexe geometrie it's difficult. please it's urgent!!!!!

October 11, 2007, 05:13	look into "salome" free softwa	#14
sradl Member Stefan Radl Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Graz, Austria Posts: 82 Rep Power: 18	look into "salome" free software, it should work with your geometry file forma

October 11, 2007, 05:25	Hi ok , i will try it. bu	#15
soufy New Member soufymer Join Date: Mar 2009 Posts: 5 Rep Power: 17	Hi ok , i will try it. but it not possible that i do my geometrie in solidworks and i import it in openfoam "in any format compatible " because i know how to use solidworks well. so salome it the first time that i know it. tanks for help

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