OpenFOAM v2306: First Contact

Hey there 👋

It’s Robin from CFD Engine – OpenFOAM v2306 has just landed & so it’s time for my usual sprint through the release notes 🎉

This one will be shorter than usual (like these release notes) as I’m struggling to pick out things to highlight.

In fact, this release makes me think of birthdays as a kid, versus birthdays as a grown-up.

My inner kid is disappointed that I didn’t get anything shiny & new to play with.

Whilst “grown-up” me is just glad that nothing has broken, that a few things got a little better & that I can just carry on doing bits in peace 😜

So what’s new…

New Documentation Site

The new documentation site is my most-interesting pick 🙌

It’s subjective, but I think it looks nicer than the old one, it’s easier to navigate, the search seems friendlier, there’s a useful tag system, an index & even a dark mode 😎

There’s new content in there too (like this quickstart guide) but, most interesting (to me) is that it seems like they might welcome contributions (or at least edits).

I’m never going to be able to write any code for OpenFOAM, but I might be able to do something in here.

Other Bits & Bobs

It looks like parts of the exaFoam project are beginning to filter into the main release. These are primarily developments for people who have LOTS of cores & include:

They’re probably useful for anyone, but they really shine when you’re running across thousands of cores.

There’s a new fan momentum source that looks like it came from SimScale, more finite area stuff that I don’t understand, a speedup for forces (& forceCoeffs) that includes a top-tip: if you’re reporting forces, you really should be caching the velocity gradient.

I also found this little nugget buried deep in the upgrade guide – a speed buff for foamToVTK if you’re using the -noInternal or -noBoundary options.

Packaging

Lastly I need to recognise the packaging effort again 👏

I use the openfoam-docker script on my Mac & I was up & running with the new version in 2 minutes, just by changing the version number on the command-line & without it affecting any of my other versions.

For the rest of you, there are all the pre-compiled Linux versions, and even multiple options for Windows people. We’re spoilt for choice & it’s very much appreciated – thank you 🙏

Wrap up

There may not be any shiny new tools in this release (at least not for me) but I reckon I’ll still switch.

It’s dead easy to upgrade, there are a whole bunch of bugfixes & it doesn’t break my existing process & tooling. It sounds like a good deal to me.

Did you spot something in the release notes that will impact your day-to-day CFD? Or will you give this one a miss & hope that December brings some shiny new toys in v2312?

I’m always keen to hear your thoughts, so drop me a note 🙏

Until next week, stay safe,