Introduction to Industrial CFD with OpenFOAM
Course Overview
This intensive 5-day training program equips practicing engineers with the skills to set up, execute, and post-process industrial CFD simulations using OpenFOAM. The course is designed for engineers with a working knowledge of fluid mechanics and heat transfer who want to add open-source CFD capability to their analytical toolkit.
Participants work through progressively complex industrial case studies — from pipe flow and heat exchanger analysis to external aerodynamics — building competence in geometry preparation, meshing with snappyHexMesh, solver selection and configuration, and results interpretation with ParaView. Each module includes hands-on exercises on pre-configured Linux workstations with OpenFOAM v2312 installed.
What You'll Learn
- Set up and run industrial CFD simulations in OpenFOAM from geometry to results independently
- Select appropriate turbulence models and wall treatments for common industrial flow regimes
- Generate hex-dominant meshes from CAD geometry using snappyHexMesh with quality control
- Perform conjugate heat transfer simulations coupling fluid and solid thermal domains
- Apply a structured CAD-to-CFD workflow using SolidWorks and OpenFOAM for repeatable project execution
Day 1: OpenFOAM Fundamentals
- OpenFOAM architecture: solvers, utilities, and case directory structure
- Mesh generation with blockMesh: structured meshes from first principles
- Running your first simulation: lid-driven cavity flow with icoFoam
- Post-processing with ParaView: contour plots, streamlines, and data extraction
Day 2: Turbulence Modeling & Industrial Meshing
- RANS turbulence models: k-ε, k-ω SST — theory, selection criteria, and wall treatment
- snappyHexMesh: automated hex-dominant meshing from STL geometry
- Boundary layer resolution: y+ requirements and inflation layer configuration
- Hands-on: turbulent pipe flow with heat transfer (simpleFoam + k-ω SST)
Day 3: Conjugate Heat Transfer
- Multi-region setup: solid and fluid regions with thermal coupling
- chtMultiRegionFoam: solver configuration and convergence strategies
- Hands-on: electronics cold plate cooling simulation
- Radiation modeling fundamentals with viewFactor and fvDOM
Day 4: External Aerodynamics & Advanced Topics
- External flow simulation: domain sizing, boundary conditions, and force reporting
- Hands-on: external aerodynamics of an industrial enclosure (drag, pressure distribution)
- Multiphase flow introduction: interFoam for free-surface problems
- Parallel computing: domain decomposition and HPC job submission
Day 5: Industrial Workflow & Capstone Project
- CAD-to-CFD workflow: SolidWorks → STL export → snappyHexMesh → solver → ParaView
- Capstone project: participants solve a realistic HVAC airflow distribution problem end-to-end
- Results presentation, peer review, and discussion of industrial best practices
- Resources for continued learning: OpenFOAM documentation, community forums, and Shirsh case templates
Your Instructor
Dr. Rajesh Venkataraman
Dr. Venkataraman leads the CFD practice at Shirsh TechnoSolutions and serves as the principal instructor for our industrial CFD training programs. His unique combination of deep academic rigor and hands-on industrial problem-solving enables him to bridge the gap between textbook fluid mechanics and real-world engineering application.
He is a certified ANSYS Fluent instructor and an active contributor to the OpenFOAM community, maintaining several validated tutorial cases used by engineering teams worldwide.
Want to Build These Skills In-House?
Enroll your team in our instructor-led courses. Hands-on exercises, real engineering problems, lasting capability.