Troubleshooting OpenFOAM Startup Issues - Expert Assistance

[mech-eng]

I have installed the cfd software Open FOAM but it doesn't start. Can you help me?

Thank you.

 

[Borg]

From the message, it looks like it already is running. Some software will install itself as a Windows service with an auto-start configuration. That seems to be the case here.

 

[mech-eng]

Some software will install itself as a Windows service with an auto-start configuration. That seems to be the case here.

What do you mean by "some software will install itself as a win service with an auto-start configuration"?

I think there should be a user-interface instead of that "dos screen".

Thank you.

 

[Borg]

I haven't used that software so I can't say for sure what it should be doing. I looked around their website and couldn't find an installation guide.

With respect to the Windows services, if you type 'services' in the Windows start menu, you will see the services that are running on your machine. These are programs that can run on your computer according to various settings. Some items will auto-start when you turn on your computer and stay running all of the time. You can change the behavior to manually start or disable a service entirely. Be careful with disabling though because you could brick your computer if you're not careful.

 

[DrClaude]

OpenFOAM runs on Windows inside a virtual Docker environment. I would guess that there is already an instance of Docker running.

 

[mech-eng]

OpenFOAM runs on Windows inside a virtual Docker environment. I would guess that there is already an instance of Docker running.

Have you ever used this program? I spoke to my instructor today. He said that he hadn't used it but it was used from that black screen. But I cannot imagine a simulation program without a user interface? How can it be used with just commands?

Thank you.

 

[DrClaude]

Welcome to the real world! While there are some "engineering" programs, such as COMSOL and ANSYS Fluent, that can do fluid dynamics, they are very expensive and don't always work for all cases. Then there are more "bare bones" programs lie OpenFOAM, that give you a lot of control over what you are doing, at the expense of having to forget working with a mouse.

To use OpenFOAM, you have to set up series of text files describing the problem you want to solve, and then you use the command line to run the calculation. It is best to try and find a sample problem that is very close to the one you want to solve and modify the input files accordingly, rather than trying to build everything from scratch.

I have a limited experience with OpenFOAM, and I have only used it on Linux, where it is native. I won't be of much help with the Windows implementation.

I think that @hilbert2 has some experience of CFD, so he may be able to help.

 

[hilbert2]

Have you ever used this program? I spoke to my instructor today. He said that he hadn't used it but it was used from that black screen. But I cannot imagine a simulation program without a user interface? How can it be used with just commands?

Thank you.

You should check whether your university has acquired a license for COMSOL or a similar program for the students. Most of the programs that are used in actual research are command line applications that take some text file (containing values of parameters) as input and then produce other text files and/or sequences of images as output.

 

[Mark44]

Have you ever used this program? I spoke to my instructor today. He said that he hadn't used it but it was used from that black screen. But I cannot imagine a simulation program without a user interface? How can it be used with just commands?

Caveat: I have never used this software, but I know how to search for documentation.
Link to docs: https://pilotfiber.dl.sourceforge.net/project/openfoamplus/v1612+/UserGuide.pdf

In Chapter 3 of the docs in the link above, it says

We should reiterate from the outset that OpenFOAM is a C++ library used primarily to
create executables, known as applications.

What I get from this is that OpenFoam is not a program per se, but a library that you can use to create a program (an application).
The docs also say (emphasis added)

Each application is designed to be executed from a terminal command line, typically
reading and writing a set of data files associated with a particular case.

Section 3.1 tells you the commands to use.

 

[mech-eng]

You should check whether your university has acquired a license for COMSOL or a similar program for the students. Most of the programs that are used in actual research are command line applications that take some text file (containing values of parameters) as input and then produce other text files and/or sequences of images as output.

I think they haven't comsol but they have some others. But I want to ask about some free ones. Which of them are with interface instead of command line? I think Advanced Simulation Library is one with user interface. There is a list at the end of the link

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMSOL_Multiphysics

Thank you.

 

[hilbert2]

ASL doesn't seem to have a GUI either. None of those are going to be simple to use, and honestly, the lack of graphical interface isn't actually the most important source of difficulty.