Content for tutorial: Installation of CfdOf

Addons CfdOF / CFD
1

Hello,

in the near future I will re-record some tutorials about CfdOf as they are no longer up to date. In my first tutorial I described, among other things, the installation of CfdOf. I have a few questions about the installation:

  • I use Windows 10 as the operating system. Is the installation on Linux computers the same, or are there significant differences that should be communicated to the user?
  • According to the current status, OpenFoam version v2212 based on mingw / ESI-OpenCFD is installed on Windows computers. Should alternatives such as blue-CFD also be considered? Which path can you use to download the blue-CFD version?
  • In the previous tutorial I recommended that the user first check the log files if cfMesh and Hisa were not installed correctly. As far as I know, these log files no longer exist. If cfMesh and Hisa are not installed correctly, what should a user do first? Where can you read error messages during installation?

Thanks for your answers in advance !

2

You can download bluecfd here:
https://bluecfd.github.io/Core/Downloads/

bluecfd can be installed/run as standalone.
After install, you can connect cfdof-wb with bluecfd,
see path in cfdof-preferences. bluecfd provides paraview too.
bluecfd installs the MS-MPI 7.1 (for multi cpu computing), before
install bluecfd you should uninstall all existing MPI to avoid conflicts.
For me bluecfd is a stable and reliable OF-version.
I tried ESI too, but bluecfd is my best friend. For calculating
wind loads on buildings and antennas.

Greetings Thomas

BTW:
Keep up the spirit. I like your tutorials.

bluecfd_path.PNG

3

I forgot:

My system

OS: Windows 10 Version 2009
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.20.2.29177 +426 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: (HEAD detached from 0.20.2)
Hash: 930dd9a76203a3260b1e6256c70c1c3cad8c5cb8
Python 3.8.10, Qt 5.15.2, Coin 4.0.1, Vtk 8.2.0, OCC 7.6.3
Locale: German/Germany (de_DE)
Installed mods: 
  * BIM 2021.12.0
  * CfdOF 1.24.8
  * CurvedShapes 1.0.4
  * Curves 0.6.14
  * Defeaturing 1.2.0
  * dodo 1.0.0
  * fasteners 0.4.70
  * Manipulator 1.5.0
  * Plot 2022.4.17
  * Reinforcement
  * WorkFeature
4

The process of installing dependencies is quite different - please see the README file: https://github.com/jaheyns/CfdOF/blob/master/README.md

According to the current status, OpenFoam version v2212 based on mingw / ESI-OpenCFD is installed on Windows computers. Should alternatives such as blue-CFD also be considered? Which path can you use to download the blue-CFD version?

It would be nice to include this as an alternative.

In the previous tutorial I recommended that the user first check the log files if cfMesh and Hisa were not installed correctly. As far as I know, these log files no longer exist. If cfMesh and Hisa are not installed correctly, what should a user do first? Where can you read error messages during installation?

On Linux and under blueCFD the log files should still be there, but running under the OpenCFD version on Windows, pre-compiled binaries are installed so there is no compilation log to look at. The only output would be on the Report view, so this is where they should check (after closing down the Preferences window).