SOWFA: Linking issue between OpenFOAM and OpenFAST

[windpower2023]

Hi All,

Could you please let me know the latest version compatibility between OpenFOAM and OpenFAST?

• I have Openfoam-11 installed and working for CFD
• I also have OpenFAST installed and working
• I am using these on Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS.

Many thanks!

Best regards

[NotDrJeff]

AFAIK, the only way to use OpenFAST with OpenFOAM is via SOWFA.

This SOWFA repository isn't really maintained these days, and is designed for OpenFOAM 2.4.x
This is a little obsolete, and therefore requires an old version of gcc and openmpi for compiling. It can be a pain. But I am using this code presently.

Feel free to use my script (here) for help setting up OF and SOWFA 2.4.x, but you'll need to customise it for your own system and it doesn't currently include OpenFAST, but it should give you a good place to start from. You're on your own for debugging.

There is also a newer version of SOWFA (here) designed to work with OF-6 which hopefully will compile easier on a newer system, but I have not tested this. I have not used this version of SOWFA, but I believe it is still "in-development", though not sure how active it is. I think the NREL team are busy with an alternative code these days, exawind (here). This project couples atmospheric CFD with resolved blade geometry and OpenFAST.

[rthedin]

@NotDrJeff is right. This repository is for SOWFA-2.4, which is compatible with OpenFOAM 2.4. We have another repository, SOWFA-6, which is compatible with OpenFOAM 6. I strongly recommend you use SOWFA-6 with OpenFOAM 6, as it is the newer, more robust, and it includes more features. We have moved to a single unified solver in SOWFA-6 that, as of right now, requires OpenFAST coupling even if you're not using OpenFAST.

[windpower2023]

Dear @NotDrJeff, Thanks a lot for the script, I will give a go. Great to know that you are currently using this setup and successfully running. What about the OpenFAST version?

Dear @rthedin , Thanks for the suggestion on SOWFA-6 with OpenFOAM 6, and Could I use latest OpenFAST 3.5.2 to couple?

[NotDrJeff]

@windpower2023, I don't know what version of OpenFAST will work. The SOWFA README for this repository just says to use the dev branch, but that was last updated 6 years ago. You might get lucky and find it works with the latest version, but don't hold your breath. Good luck!

Edit: As @rthedin said, you should probably try to use SOWFA-6. I unfortuantley commited to this older version before I knew about the newer one. It's too late for me!

[windpower2023]

Dear @NotDrJeff & @rthedin Could you please let me know the computer resource needed to run it? or have you installed it on cluster itself?

[bp-liu]

Hello, I noticed that you may be an expert in the coupling of SOWFA and OpenFAST. Could you please answer the question I raised in #92 ? @rthedin @NotDrJeff