Installation of OpenFOAM 1.6 on Ubuntu 9.10

OpenFOAM is another open source CFD software. In order to install OpenFOAM onto Ubuntu 9.10, the following packages are necessary.

cmake g++ flex++ bison python qt4-designer binutils-dev zlib1g-dev

Use apt-get to install them before trying to install and use OpenFOAM.

:/$ sudo apt-get install cmake g++ flex++ bison python qt4-designer binutils-dev zlib1g-dev

A very brief introduction on the compilation

1. Download the related packages, including the source pack and the binary pack. Double precision is recommended.

2. Create a directory OpenFOAM under $HOME (or at other locations if you prefer), move the downloaded packages into it, and then execute

# ship into $HOME/OpenFOAM/
:/$ tar xzvf OpenFOAM-1.6.General.gtgz
:/$ tar xzvf ThirdParty-1.6.General.gtgz
:/$ tar xzvf OpenFOAM-1.6.linuxGccDPOpt.gtgz
:/$ tar xzvf ThirdParty-1.6.linuxGcc.gtgz

3. After the files extracted, source the file OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc.

# at $HOME/OpenFOAM/
:/$ source OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc

For convenience, a sentence could be incorporated into the user config file ~/.bashrc to avoid executing the command above manually in the future.

source $HOME/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-1.6/etc/bashrc

4. Compile ParaView. Ship into OpenFOAM/ThirdParty-1.6 and execute

sh makeParaView

5. Link OpenFOAM ParaView reader and ParaView.

:/$ cd $FOAM_UTILITIES/postProcessing/graphics/PV3FoamReader
:/$ ./Allwclean
:/$ ./Allwmake

The Windows version

"openfoam-mswin" is a project to provide an OpenFOAM binary release for MS windows. The project is hosted on SourceForge, and a self-install file for Windows can then be downloaded from its SourceForge site. With its help, it is easier to install and use OpenFOAM if Linux experience is absent.