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Install OpenFOAM

There are 3 different ways you can install OpenFOAM, each with varying levels of time to setup and complexity. The Basic setup is the fastest and integrates best with the Flight User Suite. The Advanced setup is for users that want more control, and can take over an hour on a 16 core machine.

  1. Download and install OpenFlight OpenFOAM software using Flight Silo 

    flight silo software pull OpenFOAM 22.12 --repo openflight

  2. Install dependencies for visualisation. 

    sudo dnf install -y paraview

  3. Install dependencies on all nodes. 

    pdsh -g all 'sudo dnf install -y openmpi'

  4. Source the OpenFOAM environment and run a basic test. Make sure to change the source file path to the location of your installation. Note that the module command will not be available to a shell session existing before the installation, logout and back in for it to be present 

    module load mpi
source apps/OpenFOAM/22.12/etc/bashrc
foamTestTutorial -full incompressible/simpleFoam/pitzDaily

Firstly, become the root user, the added permissions are necessary for setup. 

sudo su -

  1. Install prerequisites 
    dnf install gcc cmake boost fftw-devel paraview-devel paraview-openmpi-devel openmpi-devel flex m4 qt5-devel
  2. Make a directory for OpenFOAM in shared storage, so that the OpenFOAM build is available to all nodes in the cluster. 
    cd /opt/apps
mkdir OpenFOAM
  3. Obtain OpenFOAM Source. 
    flight silo file pull openflight:openfoam/OpenFOAM-v2212.tar.gz
tar xf OpenFOAM-v2212.tgz
  4. Compile it. 
    cd OpenFOAM-v2212
module load mpi
source etc/bashrc

foamSystemCheck # Check whether expected to work

./Allwmake -j -s -q -l # Compile on all cores
  5. Install dependencies for visualisation. 
    dnf install -y paraview
  6. Install dependencies on all nodes. 
    pdsh -g all 'dnf install -y openmpi'
  7. Test that the build works. 
    foamTestTutorial -full incompressible/simpleFoam/pitzDaily
    !!! From this point being the root user is no longer necessary.

  1. Enable copr for OpenFOAM. 

    sudo dnf -y copr enable openfoam/openfoam

  2. Install OpenFOAM, the OpenFOAM version selector, the additional sub-packages and paraview. 

    sudo dnf install -y openfoam-selector
sudo dnf install -y openfoam
sudo dnf install -y openfoam2212-default
sudo dnf install -y paraview

  3. Ensure that the correct version will be used with: 

    openfoam-selector --set openfoam2212

  4. Refresh the shell by logging out and back in to make openfoam commands accessible.

    Note

    Make sure to do the above installation steps on all nodes in the cluster.

  5. Check an OpenFOAM command can be seen by viewing the help page: 

    icoFoam -help