Starting a project as a beginner
 

Hello all,

I am new to CFD simulations and meshing and all the stuff.
For my master thesis I need to simulate the flow behavior of water in a retention filter basin (background: waster water treatment).

For that I almost start at zero. I have to build the geometry of the basin (as shown below), mesh it and at least simulate the flow in OpenFOAM.
After my research I'm a bit confused because of the different possibilities of meshing and pre-processing.

So is it right that the steps I have to take are:
1. find a software to build the geometry
2. find a software to mesh that geometry
3. import the meshed geometry into OpenFOAM ?

Or is meshing a part of OpenFOAM and i have to do it after I've imported the geometry into OpenFOAM?
I would be very grateful if someone could explain me in detail the steps I have to take (and with which software) to start that project right and don't lose to much time caused by doing things twice.
Further I would appreciate if you could tell me which open source softwares in your opinion are most compatible with OpenFOAM. I've heard already about Salome and Blender for building the geometry but am not sure if I can use them for meshing. I do also have the possibility to build the geometry with AutoCAD - is that useful?

Thanks a lot
Dave


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meshing can be done both with or without openFoam. OpenFoam comes with 3 meshing tools; blockMesh, snappyHexMesh and foamyHexMesh. These are great tools for some applications, whereas other meshing tools (CFMesh, Salome, etc) better fit different purposes and are able to export a mesh for use in openFoam.



My suggestion would be to try a couple of different meshing softwares on significantly simpler geometries and decide which you like, whilst also learning more along the way. For the openFoam meshers; the tutorials that come with openFoam can be a very good starting point.

If you have access to AutoCAD you have a suitable tool for generating your geometry. Meshing of the geometry can be done in OpenFoam, though with the complexity of the geometry in question it might be more usefull to use Salome to create the mesh and export the mesh to OpenFoam.


And expect to do things not only twice but thrice or even more. OpenFoam is not the easiest software and in certain situation you might not be able to go ahead with some try and error.

Hi,

for such simple geometries you could do everything with Open Source Software tools. In my studies, I am using even for complex designs (but not too complex) the following toolboxes:

• Blender
• Salome
• ParaView
• Dakota
• OpenFOAM

There is no need for more :)

Thank you so far for your help.