CFD with OpenFOAM®

Photo of scientists participating in a training course in HLRS's Ruehle Saal

OpenFOAM® is a widely-used open-source code and a powerful framework for solving a variety of problems mainly in the field of CFD. The five-day workshop gives an introduction to OpenFOAM® applied on CFD phenomena and is intended for beginners as well as for people with CFD background knowledge. The user will learn about case setup, meshing tools like snappyHexMesh and cfMesh. Available OpenFOAM® utilities and additional libraries like swak4Foam, that can be used for pre- and postprocessing tasks, are further aspects of this course. Additionally, basic solvers and major aspects of code structure are highlighted. Lectures and hands-on sessions with typical CFD examples will guide through this course including first steps in own coding.

Location

HLRS, University of Stuttgart
Nobelstraße 19
70569 Stuttgart, Germany
Room 0.439 / Rühle Saal
Location and nearby accommodations

Start date

Sep 15, 2025
09:00

End date

Sep 19, 2025
16:15

Language

German

Entry level

Basic

Course subject areas

Domain-Specific Courses

Simulation

Topics

Numerical Simulation

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Prerequisites and content levels

Prerequisites

To take full advantage of the course offering, it would be advisable to have a standing knowledge of using Linux, as it is used for all exercises.

Basics in programming will be required for some of the exercises as well as some insights into CFD theory: See e.g. the recording and material of the spring 2024 CFD course (password required, which can be obtained for free, please refer to Self-study-materials).

Content levels

Community-target and domain-specific content: 33 hours

Learn more about course curricula and content levels.

Instructors

Dr.-Ing. Andreas Ruopp (HLRS, Universität Stuttgart), Dipl.-Ing. Daniel Harlacher (ZIMT, Universität Siegen),
Dr.-Ing. Thorsten Zirwes (IRST, Universität Stuttgart), M.Sc. Elisabeth Beer (Ostbayerische Technische Hochschule Regensburg, co-author only).

Learning outcomes

After this course, participants will:

  • have gained insight into the case setup, meshing tools like snappyHexMesh and cfMesh.
  • be able to perform pre- and postprocessing tasks with available OpenFOAM® utilities and additional libraries.
  • have a detailed understanding of the basic solvers and major aspects of code structure.
  • be able to code with CFD examples.

Agenda

All times are in the Central European Time zone (Berlin).

The preliminary course outline can be found here (PDF).

Handout

Each participant will get a paper copy of all slides. The course language is English. The slides are in English.

Registration information

Register via the button at the top of this page (will be available soon).

Registration closes on August 29, 2025, at 11:59 AM.

Fees

  • Students without master’s degree or equivalent: 40 Euro
  • PhD students or employees at a German university or public research institute: 90 Euro
  • PhD students or employees at a university or public research institute in an EU, EU-associated or PRACE country other than Germany: 180 Euro
  • PhD students or employees at a university or public research institute outside of EU, EU-associated or PRACE countries: 360 Euro
  • Other participants, e.g., from industry, other public service providers, or government: 960 Euro

Link to the EU and EU-associated (Horizon Europe), and PRACE countries.

Our course fees include coffee breaks (in classroom courses only).

Contact

Andreas Ruopp phone 0711 685 87259, andreas.ruopp(at)hlrs.de

HLRS concept for on-site courses

Besides the content of the training itself, an important aspect of this event is the scientific exchange among the participants. We try to facilitate such communication by

  • a social event on the evening of the first course day,
  • offering common coffee and lunch breaks and
  • working together in groups of two during the exercises.

Lunch Breaks

We plan to have lunch in the unversity's canteen (Mensa Stuttgart-Vaihingen, have a look at their menu online). Two other near possibilities for lunch are on all days:

  • A food truck from 11:00-14:00 in Allmandring 35, approximately 300 m from HLRS,
  • Bakery Sehne, near bus stop "Im Lauchhau", approximately 400 m from HLRS.

We will update this information if opening times etc. change and inform you more precisely before the course starts.

HLRS Training Collaborations in HPC

HLRS is part of the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing (GCS), together with JSC in Jülich and LRZ in Garching near Munich. EuroCC@GCS is the German National Competence Centre (NCC) for High-Performance Computing. HLRS is also a member of the Baden-Württemberg initiative bwHPC.

This course is provided within the framework of the bwHPC training program.

This offering is not  approved  or endorsed by ESI Group or ESI-OpenCFD®, the producer of the OpenFOAM®  software and owner of the OpenFOAM® trademark.

Further courses

See the training overview and the Supercomputing Academy pages.

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