Overview

Ethos

The solids4foam project aims is to develop an OpenFOAM toolbox for solid mechanics and fluid-solid interactions that is:

  • intuitive to use for new users
  • easy to understand at the case and code level
  • straightforward to maintain
  • uncomplicated to extend

In addition, the toolbox aims to be compatible with all major OpenFOAM forks.

Toolbox Structure

The solids4foam toolbox follows the OpenFOAM structure:

solids4foam
├── Allwclean
├── Allwmake
├── README.md
├── ThirdParty
├── ...
├── applications
│   ├── ...
│   ├── scripts
│   ├── solvers
│   │   └── solids4Foam
│   └── utilities
├── optionalFixes
├── src
│   ├── ...
│   ├── RBFMeshMotionSolver
│   ├── abaqusUMATs
│   ├── blockCoupledSolids4FoamTools
│   └── solids4FoamModels
└── tutorials
    ├── Alltest
    ├── ...
    ├── fluidSolidInteraction
    ├── fluids
    └── solids
  • Scripts to compile and clean the toolbox: 
      > ./Allwmake
  > ./Allwclean

    The README file briefly describes the toolbox.

    solids4foam

  • ThirdParty: solids4foam optionally uses some third-party code (e.g. Eigen, PETSc): for more details, see the (installation guide)[https://solids4foam.github.io/installation/].

  • applications: contains the solids4Foam solver and a small number of helper utilities.

  • src: contains libraries used by the solids4Foam solver, such as solids4FoamModels which defines fluid, solid and fluidSolidInteraction algorithms.
  • tutorial: contains example cases for fluid, solid and fluidSolidInteraction analyses; some of these example cases are described in the (tutorials guide)[https://solids4foam.github.io/tutorials/].

solids4Foam Solver

The solids4Foam solver code is available at:

solids4foam/applications/solvers/solids4Foam/solids4Foam.C

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
#   include "setRootCase.H"
#   include "createTime.H"
#   include "solids4FoamWriteHeader.H"

    // Create the general physics class
    autoPtr<physicsModel> physics = physicsModel::New(runTime);

    while (runTime.run())
    {
        // Update deltaT, if desired, before moving to the next step
        physics().setDeltaT(runTime);

        runTime++;

        if (physics().printInfo())
        {
            Info<< "Time = " << runTime.timeName() << nl << endl;
        }

        // Solve the mathematical model
        physics().evolve();

        // Let the physics model know the end of the time-step has been reached
        physics().updateTotalFields();

        if (runTime.outputTime())
        {
            physics().writeFields(runTime);
        }

        if (physics().printInfo())
        {
            Info<< "ExecutionTime = " << runTime.elapsedCpuTime() << " s"
                << "  ClockTime = " << runTime.elapsedClockTime() << " s"
                << nl << endl;
        }
    }

    physics().end();

    Info<< nl << "End" << nl << endl;

    return(0);
}

As seen above, the solid4Foam solver contains no details about the physics and discretisation. Instead, a run-time selectable physicsModel object is created to encapsulate the specifics. Virtual functions, such as evolve(), are used to tell the physics model object to solve its governing equation for the current time step.

physicsModel Class

The physicsModel is an abstract base class with three derived classes:

  • fluidModel
  • solidModel
  • fluidSolidInterface: the fluidSolidInterface class creates its a fluidModel and solidModel

Each of these three classes is also an abstract base class, where specific fluid, solid, and fluid-solid interaction implementations derive from them.

solids4FoamModels Library

Examining the solids4FoamModels library structure:

solids4foam
├── ...
└── src
    ├── …
    └── solids4FoamModels
        ├── ...
        ├── dynamicFvMesh
        ├── fluidModels
        ├── fluidSolidInterfaces
        ├── functionObjects
        ├── materialModels
        ├── numerics
        ├── physicsModel
        └── solidModels

The fluidModel, solidsModel and fluidSolidInterface classes are stored in separate directories. In addition, the physicsModel is located in the solids4FoamModels library.

fluidModel Class

Fluid models implementations that derive from the fluidModel base class:

  • pimpleFluid : OpenFOAM pimpleDyMFoam solver ported to a class structure. The PIMPLE algorithm generalises the PISO and SIMPLE algorithms, so icoFoam, pisoFoam and simpleFoam are not ported.
  • interFluid: OpenFOAM interDyMFoam solver ported to a class structure
  • …

Each fluidModel corresponds to a standard fluid solver in OpenFOAM, which has been repackaged into a class form, e.g. pimpleFluid is a port of the pimpleDyMFoam standard solver.

Standard solvers in OpenFOAM can differ significantly between OpenFOAM forks. solids4foam aims to include the fork-specific solver versions, e.g. when using OpenFOAM-v2012, `pimpleFluid` is a port of `pimpleDyMFoam` from OpenFOAM-v2012.

solidModel Class

The solidModel implementations, deriving from the solidModel base class, include specific modelling approaches and discretisations for solid mechanics, e.g.

  • linGeomSolid
  • thermalLinGeomSolid
  • nonLinGeomTotalLagSolid
  • …

More details about the solid model can be found at https://solids4foam.github.io/documentation/solid-models.html.

Fluid-Solid Interaction Class

The fluid-solid interaction models, deriving from the fluidSolidInterface base class, include implementations for partitioned coupling approaches, e.g.

  • fixedRelaxationCouplingInterface
  • AitkenCouplingInterface
  • IQNILSCouplingInterface
  • weakCouplingInterface
  • oneWayCouplingInterface
  • …

More details of the differences between these approaches can be found in tutorial 4.

A Note on Coding Style

solids4foam aims to follow the OpenFOAM Coding Style Guide closely. When a consistent style is not followed, reading code generated by others becomes tedious, painstaking and even impossible. Coding style is a crucial feature of software that is easy to read, understand, maintain and extend. For example:

Bad

Info <<"This is not good"
<< endl;

( a+b ) * ( c&d ) / (e&&f)

if(myName == "Philip"){
success = true;
}

…

Good

Info<< "That's better"
    << endl;

(a + b)*(c & d)/(e && f)

if (myName == "Philip")
{
    success = true;
}

…