The repository contains information about solving fluid-particle interaction problems by coupling OpenFOAM based CFD solvers with PFC3D. OpenFOAM is an open source C++ framework for numerical analysis of continuum mechanics problems. Particle Flow Code in Three Dimensions (PFC3D) is a discrete element code produced by Itasca Consulting Group.
OPENFOAM® is a registered trade mark of OpenCFD Limited, producer and distributor of the OpenFOAM software. This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, producer and distributor of the OpenFOAM software and owner of the OPENFOAM® and OpenCFD® trade marks.
Itasca Consulting Group does not provide support for OpenFOAM.
The two-way coarse-grid coupling between PFC3D and OpenFOAM follows the approach of Tsuji. Porosity and body force fields are included in the Navier-Stokes equations to account for the presence of particles in the flow and these terms are linked to drag forces on the PFC3D particles.
A Python module pyDemFoam is included which contains modified
versions of the OpenFOAM icoFoam solver. These solvers are
modified to account for the presence of solid particles. This package
works for only the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Linux distribution.
These instructions work for the x86_64 version of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.
Make sure your Ubuntu system is updated:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgradeUpdate to the latest Linux version of PFC3D 7.00: https://www.itascacg.com/software/downloads/itasca-linux-software-7-0-update
wget https://itasca-software.s3.amazonaws.com/itasca-software/v700/itascasoftware_700.146.deb
sudo DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive apt-get -y install -f ./itascasoftware_700.146.deb
mkdir -p ~/.config/Itasca
touch ~/.config/Itasca/wad700.conf
echo "[weblicense]" >> ~/.config/Itasca/wad700.conf
echo "email=your email here" >> ~/.config/Itasca/wad700.conf
echo "password=your web license password here" >> ~/.config/Itasca/wad700.confRun the command line version of PFC3D v700
pfc3d700_consoleGive the command license list web to make sure your web license is
working. Type exit to leave PFC3D. At this point, PFC3D should
be installed and working and we move into building OpenFOAM and the
coupling module.
Install some prerequisite packages:
sudo apt-get install python-is-python3 python3-numpy ipython3 cython3 python3-dev python3-pip git-core build-essential cmake libfl-dev bison zlib1g-dev qttools5-dev qtbase5-dev libqt5x11extras5-dev gnuplot libreadline-dev libncurses-dev libxt-dev libopenmpi-dev openmpi-bin libboost-system-dev libboost-thread-dev libgmp-dev libmpfr-dev libcgal-dev curl libglu1-mesa-devInstall the itasca Python module with pip install itasca
This package and these instructions only work with OpenFOAM v2112.
What follows here is a distillation of the instructions from here:
https://openfoamwiki.net/index.php/Installation/Linux/OpenFOAM-7/Ubuntu/20.04
consult this link if you have problems.
First, download and unzip OpenFOAM v2112 with the following commands:
cd ~
mkdir OpenFOAM
cd OpenFOAM
wget https://dl.openfoam.com/source/v2112/OpenFOAM-v2112.tgz
tar -xzf OpenFOAM-v2112.tgz
ln -s /usr/bin/mpicc.openmpi OpenFOAM-v2112/bin/mpicc
ln -s /usr/bin/mpirun.openmpi OpenFOAM-v2112/bin/mpirunThese commands add the OpenFOAM shell environment settings needed to build and use OpenFOAM. If you have a problem later make sure you did this step correctly.
echo "source ~/OpenFOAM/OpenFOAM-v2112/etc/bashrc WM_LABEL_SIZE=64 FOAMY_HEX_MESH=yes" >> ~/.bashrc
. ~/.bashrccd $WM_PROJECT_DIR
export QT_SELECT=qt5
./Allwmake -j 12 > log.make 2>&1At this point OpenFOAM should be built. Try icoFoam -help to
confirm.
pyDemFoam is a Python module which contains modified versions of
OpenFOAM solvers. It includes porosity and body force terms to
account for the presence of the particles. Two versions icoFoam are
provided. pyDemIcoFoam uses the explicit formulation for drag
described in the PFC3D manual in the cfd module section and
pyDemIcoFoamSemiImplicitDrag uses the semi implicit drag treatment
described in this paper: Xiao, H., Sun, J., 2010. Algorithms in a
Robust Hybrid CFD-DEM Solver for Particle-Laden Flows. Commun. Comp.
Phys.
cd
mkdir src
cd src
git clone https://github.com/jkfurtney/PFC3D_OpenFOAM.git
cd PFC3D_OpenFOAM/pyDemFoam/
python setup.py buildYou will see hundreds of compiler warnings after this step, as long as there are no error messages everything should work fine. Install the pyDemFoam Python module:
python setup.py install --userTest that this worked:
cd ~
python -c "import pyDemFoam; print(pyDemFoam.__version__)"A version number number like: 2022.01.09 should be shown if the
installation worked correctly.
A demonstration and verification problem is included in the
dropTest1/ folder.
Open two terminals on the same computer. Change directories to the
dropTest1/ folder in each terminal. In the first, give the command:
blockMesh
to build the OpenFOAM mesh, then give the command:
pfc3d700_console call pfc_dropTest1.py
and in the other give the command:
python cfd_dropTest1.py
The coupled problems should run.
Only the dropTest1/ and porous1/ examples are working.
This work is intended as a demonstration of how to connect PFC3D to a CFD solver. The implementation given here is limited in the following ways:
-
No linear relaxation is used to stabilize the equations. Numerical instabilities are likely to occur.
-
No turbulence model is included in the analysis.
-
Time derivatives of porosity are not included in the momentum or continuity equations.
Documentation for OpenFOAM can be found here: https://www.openfoam.com/documentation/overview
PFC3D v700 has an internal Python 3.6 interpreter, the pyDemFoam module can be compiled against Python 3.6 so it can be loaded directly into PFC3D 700.
(This is a work in progress)
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3.6-full
sudo apt install python3.6-dev
python3.6 -m ensurepip
python3.6 -m pip install numpy==1.13.0
cd pyDemFoam
python3.6 setup.py build
python3.6 setup.py install --user