Best GUI for OpenFOAM: Helyx OS or Salome?
 

I'm fairly new to CFD software and I'm hoping to use a GUI that eases the process of running simulations. I've seen a lot of talk about Helyx and Salome but I'm not sure which to use.

Could someone explain what the differences between each option are? One issue I have is that I have found more youtube tutorials using Salome compared to Helyx OS so I am inclined to use Salome.

Any additional information on the topic is greatly appreciated because I am very new to all of this. Thanks!

I would recommend Salome for generating your geometries and exporting each of the patches as STL files. Then I like to do the meshing in Helyx-os. Those tools complement each other, and one can not (as far as I know) replace the other. Only a subset of solvers and boundary conditions is available through Helyx-os currently. If your solver is supported it is also great for case setup... However, I think you will find that you still need to work with the text based dict files from time to time. I know those are intimidating at first, but it is not that bad really :)

Good luck!

Hi,

take a look at http://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/GUI not mentioned seems to be cfMesh that was introduced at 9th OF workshop in Zagreb

there is also engrid that helps you meshing and solving your case for OpenFOAM and SU^2, for Geometry creation Blender scripts are available.
Helyx-os is Gui for SnappyHexMesh(SHM).
There is a python script to convert salome meshes to OF that python script seems to be more usefull as "ideasUnvToFoam" does not support all mesh information salome provides. pythonflu with a direct salome link to OF is not actively developed

As one of the creators of simFlow I'm probably biased but I'll give you my two cents.

• User interface
  We put a lot of attention on the ease of use. This gives you the fastest workflow with CFD software.
• OpenFOAM integration
  Seamless OpenFOAM integration. If you know some basics of that software, you will have familiar feel, but now in a great graphical inerface
• video tutorials
  We are committed to make video tutorials with free access for all of our users. Some of them are already on Youtube. More on the way.
• Free to use
  Our free version has little limitations. Check by yourself what it can give you: Free simFlow license

What we tried to do differently?

• Be available - We have a great support with committed guys on the other side of email
• Listen to users and change in the direction of their needs. After all it is created for them.

Thanks! :)
Oskar

Info concerning Salome
 

Hi there,

I only can tell some things about Salome.
A first point: Salome is NOT an interface for OpenFOAM like it is the case for Helyx! Salome is a geometry and mesh generation software toolbox, but as soon as you have your mesh exported to OpenFOAM, you will have to continue the case setup as usual.

Nevertheless in my opinion Salome is really great software, as it provides much more flexible meshing than the OpenFOAM-tools I know. Mesh import is no problem. The publicly available script salomeToOpenFOAM.py can be called from within the Salome GUI and will provide you with a complete OpenFOAM polyMesh folder. Sometimes changes are necessary within the polyMesh/boundary-file, but that is true for many tools.
The other option I use at the moment is creation of STL-files with Salome and using these STL-files as input for snappyHexMesh. But as soon as I learn to properly use Salome's HexaBlock-module, I will be returning to that one, I guess.

Enough said, in case of further questions, just ask!

Cheers,
Bernhard

FYI: The GUI made by Creative Fields is named cfSuite; it's their mesher that is named cfMesh. ;)

Thanks Bruno,

cfSuite is GUI framework aimed at quick implementation of OpenFOAM utilities and solvers into a simple-to-use GUI application. We are aware that every user has its specific utilities and problems, and the application allows to create custom versions for our users. It is primarily designed to simplify creation of patches and other entities needed to generate simulation-ready meshes.

cfMesh was also mentioned here. It is an open-source library for mesh generation for OpenFOAM. The library allows for implementation of various meshing workflows for generation of various types of meshes, ie. hex-dominant, tetrahedral and 2D hex-dominant. We also plan to release a polyhedral meshing workflow in the near future. Our experience shows that cfMesh is about 10-20 faster than snappyHexMesh for most cases, requires less settings, and uses 3-4 times less memory for mesh generation. It does not yet support multi-material meshing, and we hope to overcome that this year.

Regarding GUIs - my experience is that GUI is crucially important when meshing complex geometries. Most people I know learned to set solver parameters quite quickly.

1. Salome is a well-established tool with lot of functionality. I do not have experience with the block-mesher and the tet meshing tools.
2. Helyx indeed complements with Salome, but rudimentary when you need to mesh complex geometries with a low number of cells.
3. CastNet -
4. simFlow -
5. Visual-CFD - is the interface developed by the ESI group. It seems very flexible. Has anyone used it?
6. cfSuite - I am biased about it.
7. EnGrid - it is a tet meshing tool with advanced boundary layers.

Regards,

Franjo

according to tweet (11. Juli 2013)
https://twitter.com/engits/status/355373321505869825
=>A first step has been made to handle polyhedral cells directly inside enGrid
But you quoted correct that enGrid "1.2" uses the Netgen library for tetrahedral grid generation.

CastNet is a commercial tool, it supports various CAD Kernels such as "Parasolid, ACIS and Granite" so geometry import from a range of CAD programms comes with this programm.

PS: I am not biased ;-) I am just a OpenFOAM user

@franjo_j

Correction.

HELYX uses a different mesher than HELYX-OS (that uses standard snappyHexMesh), without spamming this thread with bias I wanted to correct that note :)

Visual-CFD is quite customizable and supports multi-domain meshing. Please contact any of the ESI Group sales person (refer www.esi-group.com site for location nearest to you)

CastNet
 

We use CastNet from http://www.dhcae-tools.com/CastNet.html since many years. For us it’s perfect: Direct CAD model import (we use Solidworks), good and fast CFD mesher and we can run cases (including monitoring) on Windows with BlueCFD or Linux. OpenFOAM case setup is very easy by using a template approach.

BR
Achim

CastNet
 

We also use CastNet from DHCAE Tools (in combination with PTC-Creo/Pro-E) and are also very satisfied. It reads our Creo data directly and transfers automatically parts into regions for multi-domain modelling (e.g.CHT). Furthermore it supports a number of OpenFOAM versions from 2.1 to 2.4. This is quite important for us as company to move with our older cases to new OF versions while still having the option to run them with the older versions. The supported functionality is very good, the guys from DHCAE Tools are also quite fast with their updates in case of OpenFOAM changes (e.g. modified keywords) and finally offer a good and fast support for their software and OpenFOAM in general.

Stawrogin

Baram
 

It's an old thread.
But if there is anyone who still has interest, I've released an OpenFOAM GUI recently.
It's released under GPL and completely free without any restriction.

In addition, Windows installer is provided for convenience.
Please check it here.

Any feedback is welcomed.
Thank you.

I tried script salomeToOpenfoam.py to import my mesh into openfoam which has pyramids.I get the following message in the console.Can you please help me






SalomeOutsideGUI: no selection mechanism available outside GUI
You have to select a mesh object and then run this script.
or run the export function directly from TUI
import SalomeToOpenFOAM
SalomeToOpenFOAM.exportToFoam(mesh, path)

SalomeToOpenFOAM
 

I have no experience in Salome. But, from the message you've got and the quote from salomeToOpenFOAM github, a suggestion or question has risen in my mind.

Suggestion: You have to load a mesh first. You may have two options.
1. follow the error message you've got. ie. write a script that has following.
import SalomeToOpenFOAM
SalomeToOpenFOAM.exportToFoam(mesh, path)
or 2. load a mesh in salome environment and run the salomeToOpneFOAM.py script.

If you can send me the mesh, one of my colleagues may be able to handle it.

Hey! I am checking your software out, is there a way to use a more recent version of OpenFoam ? Thanks!

Hello, Alczem.
Actually, BARAM is already using the latest OpenFOAM.
Have you found any difference?

Hi, Jake,


Good to see another open source GUI for openFoam.



I just downloaded BARAM. I have a couple of questions:
1 is there any documentation that I can follow?
2. is there an user forum that users can ask questions or discuss specific topics?
3. what are the differences between 6.4.3 and 6.4.5?
4. does the current version support adding solid particles?



Pei-Ying

looks like BARAM is based on OpenFOAM-6 and requires that OpenFOAM-6 already installed, correct?


Pei-Ying

When I tried to install baram, I got the following errors:
Collecting tables==3.7.0
Using cached tables-3.7.0-cp310-cp310-manylinux_2_17_x86_64.manylinux2014_x86_64.whl (5.9 MB)
ERROR: Could not find a version that satisfies the requirement vtk==9.1.0 (from versions: 9.2.0rc2, 9.2.2)
ERROR: No matching distribution found for vtk==9.1.0
(venv) phsieh@CAE:~/baram$ gcc -o solvers/openfoam/bin/baramd misc/baramd.c
(venv) phsieh@CAE:~/baram$ python3 convertUi.py
>> Convert qrc files
Converting... resource.qrc -> resource_rc.py
sh: 1: pyside6-rcc: not found

>> Convert ui files
[1/83] Converting... case_wizard.ui -> case_wizard_ui.py


--sh: 1: pyside6-uic: not found
[83/83] Converting... selector_dialog.ui -> selector_dialog_ui.py
sh: 1: pyside6-uic: not found

All done
(venv) phsieh@CAE:~/baram$ python3 main.py
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/phsieh/baram/main.py", line 9, in <module>
import qasync
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'qasync'
(venv) phsieh@CAE:~/baram$

vtk 9.1.0 not found
 

Dear Pei-Ying,
Your error has following.
ERROR: No matching distribution found for vtk==9.1.0
And it seems that vtk 9.1.0 for Linux has been removed by PyPI.
Please change the version in "requirements.txt" to "9.2.2" and try "pip ...." command again.
to

Hello, Pei-Ying.
Here are the answers.


1 is there any documentation that I can follow? ==> BARAM is quite in its early stage and user guide is not prepared yet.
2. is there an user forum that users can ask questions or discuss specific topics? ==> GitHub discussion is the place where you can ask questions and discuss about BARAM.
3. what are the differences between 6.4.3 and 6.4.5? ==> v6.x.x is a legacy version, and the revised BARAM starts from the version v22.x.x
4. does the current version support adding solid particles? ==> It not supported yet.

That's BARAM v6 that is legacy now.
New BARAM whose version starts from v22 adopts latest OpenFOAM.

Thanks Jake!


I had to change vtk to 9.2.2 and numpy to 1.21.0.
now, baram is working.


I am wondering if you have a quick tutorial that I can follow or a case that I can open to look around how to setup, run, post-process a case?


Excited to try out your OpenFOAM GUI!


Pei-Ying

Dear Pei-Ying,
You can try this sample case.

Oh, my mistake!
vtk 9.1.0 was not available because you were using Python 3.10.
If you use Python 3.9, vtk 9.1.0 is available.

Hi, Jake,


The GUI froze when I started a new case. GUI won't let me do anything. Same happened when I opened the mixingPipe case.

Pei-YingAttachment 92178

Hi, Pei-Ying.
I cloned the code from GitHub just now and checked again, but I could not reproduce your issue.
Could you give me your console output like following?

Hi, Jake,

Thanks for the quick reply!

I will do later today.

I also tried the Windows 10 version. Using the Windows version, I am able to create a new case (still learning how to load a mesh). But, the mixingPipe case did not load. not sure why? is this a big case?

Pei-Ying

Hi, Jake,


Here is the output:


phsieh@CAE:~$ source ./venv/bin/activate
(venv) phsieh@CAE:~$ cd baram
(venv) phsieh@CAE:~/baram$ python main.py
Killed
(venv) phsieh@CAE:~/baram$
------


Basically, the GUI opened, but, it is frozen, won't let me do anything, then, eventually, ask me to quit.


Pei-Ying


here is the screen shot

The app seems to have fallen into infinite loop.
I could not think of any possibility for now.
Your system information may be helpful.
Could you show me the output of this command?

By the way, windows version might be more independent from OS, and I would recommend going with windows version for now.
And I will prepare a sample case for it and let you know later today.

Hi, Jake,


Here is the output:


---
phsieh@CAE:~$ cat /etc/*-release
DISTRIB_ID=LinuxMint
DISTRIB_RELEASE=21
DISTRIB_CODENAME=vanessa
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Linux Mint 21 Vanessa"
NAME="Linux Mint"
VERSION="21 (Vanessa)"
ID=linuxmint
ID_LIKE="ubuntu debian"
PRETTY_NAME="Linux Mint 21"
VERSION_ID="21"
HOME_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forums.linuxmint.com/"
BUG_REPORT_URL="http://linuxmint-troubleshooting-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.linuxmint.com/"
VERSION_CODENAME=vanessa
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy
cat: /etc/upstream-release: Is a directory
phsieh@CAE:~$
---


Yes, the Windows version seems to be working fine.
Questions:
1. does baram has a mesher, such as snappyHexMesh or cfMesh? If not, then, meshing needs to be done before starting the GUI?
2. looks like baram can load OpenFOAM mesh, does it mean reading an OpenFOAM case? it is not clear to me how to load OpenFOAM mesh and/or in what file structure?


Thank you very much for your time helping me with baram!


Pei-Ying

Hello, Pei-Ying.
1. I've uploaded a sample case for Baram Windows V22.0.4.
(The configuration was not managed carefully in the past, and the configuration versions between the source code on GitHub and the windows installer package are different.)
Attachment 92187
2. I'm trying "Linux Mint 21" to figure out the reason for freezing. I will let you know if I get any clue.
3. Answers to your Questions

1. No. Not yet. Baram can just load OpenFOAM polyMesh or import other meshes from "File >> Load Mesh" menu.
2. Not cases but only mesh. OpenFOAM cases have polyMesh folder in one of following structures. You can select "constant" folder in Load menu.

A. Single Region Case: <caseRoot>/constant/polyMesh
B. Multi-Region Case: <caseRoot>/constant/<region>/polyMesh

Hey :)


Indeed I had not noticed it was based on OF v2206, nice ! The reason I am asking is that I would like to use your GUI to prepare and configure my cases locally, and then run the case on a cluster that only has OpenFoam installed, and not Baram.


If I am not mistaken, the solvers used in Baram are not the original ones right? They are modified and thus we cannot run cases prepared with Baram on a "vanilla" OpenFoam installation.


Or maybe we can just modify the controlDict file to use the original solvers... I will try that :D


Quick edit: I tried to change just the name of the solver. When I run the case with openfoam 2206, several boundary conditions are not compatible, so I guess it is a little more complicated than just swapping the names ^^

Hello, Alczem.
Yes, you're absolutely right.
Baram has some modifications in the solvers.
However, as you might already know, installation of Baram does not require any privilege on the system. You can try Baram on any system where you have an account and can open terminal. ( Of course, the system should support remote X-Windows to display the GUI.)
Please let me know if you have any trouble in trying that.
Thank you.

BARAM on Linux Mint 21
 

Dear Pei-Ying,
I've tried installing BARAM on Linux Mint 21 today.
However, I failed to reproduce the problem.
BARAM runs without any problem on Mint 21.

Attachment 92208



Here is the procedure I did, and I think you've already done all the things.


First, I started from vanilla Mint 21 and updated it.
I needed to install following packages in Software Manager.

1. Git
2. Python3-venv
3. Build-essential
4. Openmpi-bin

And following changes were made in requirements.txt

• vtk==9.2.2
• numpy==1.23.4

That's it.


I'm sorry that I could not find the cause of the problem.

Hi, Jake,


Thanks! After installing Python3-venv and change numpy==1.23.4, baram main.py is working.


I also able to load mesh from polyMesh now. I will start playing with baram more and will let you know my experience abut baram.


Pei-Ying

Hi Jake!
Does BARAM support Lagrangian solvers?
I use the HELYX OS for multiphase simulations, but it does not support Lagrangian solvers.
I'm into droplet tracking analyses related to turbine film cooling technology.

Hi, Aditya.
Support for Lagrangian solvers is under development.
Which solver do you want to use?
If you can give me your needs in detail or the case configuration you want to use, I will try to meet the needs in the future release(around at the end of next month).
Thank you.

Thanks for the prompt response!
Well until OF v5, I was using reactingParcelFoam and reactingParcelFilmFoam but in the latest versions, for example, v10, we have particleFoam solver with multiple user-defined options like surfaceFilm modeling.
Please try to include this solver in the next release.
For case configuration, you can try to run the standard Lagrangian OF tutorials.
If they can run well in BARAM, then I think almost any case can be simulated for tracking particle flows in it. Thank you once again for your time!