OpenFOAM ESI/OpenCFD Windows distribution "Not Found"

> I am running into an
> issue with the connection of OpenFOAM and FEATool. I followed the
> installation instructions you provided regarding OpenFOAM and downloaded
> the binaries via the OPENCFD ESI. When I open FEATool I am finding that in
> the systems info window it says that OpenFOAM is "Not Found". Your
> website does not provide information on how to resolve this issue. I have
> tried copying and pasting the proper directory but this doesn't appear to
> change anything. I also downloaded the Microsoft MPI as well but there is
> no instructions regarding how to use this to get the two softwares to work
> in parallel. Can you please provide information on how to get OpenFOAM to
> work with FEATool?

Technically OpenFOAM should just work if has been installed in the default locations and can be found. As stated in the documentation

https://www.featool.com/doc/openfoam.html#install_of_win

The OpenCFD ESI distribution should be installed in the

  %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\ESI-OpenCFD\OpenFOAM

directory with a subfolder like "v2012" containing a file named something like "setEnvVariables-v2012.bat", please first confirm that this really is the case. If you run the following code in Matlab and it finds OpenFOAM it should be ok, if not you have to install it in the correct location indicated by the "searchdir" path.

  userhome = getenv('USERPROFILE')
  searchdir = fullfile(userhome,'AppData','Roaming','ESI-OpenCFD','OpenFOAM')
  esi_openfoam_found = false;
  if( exist(searchdir)==7 )
    d = dir(searchdir);
    for i=3:length(d)
      d_i = dir(fullfile(searchdir,d(i).name));
      if( any(~cellfun( @isempty, regexp( {d_i.name}, 'setEnvVariables.*\.bat' ) )) )
        foamdir = fullfile(searchdir,d(i).name)
        esi_openfoam_found = true;
        break;
      end
    end
  end
  esi_openfoam_found

If the ESI distribution still does not work then please try the blueCFD Core OpenFOAM distribution as they are for all intents and purposes equivalent.

https://bluecfd.github.io/Core/Downloads/#bluecfd-core-2017-2

I ran the code as instructed, and per the logical output it appears to indicate that OpenFOAM was found. However, the system info in FEATool still appears to indicate that OpenFOAM is "Not Found". In order to test this I developed a quick model with a box using Navier-Stokes equations, but when I go to the solver to use OpenFOAM it is greyed out and unavailable to click on. If the Matlab code you sent me confirms that OpenFOAM is findable then why won't FEATool recognize it?

That is indeed very odd, without actually manually debugging your system I have no answer to this issue. I would then recommend you try the blueCFD OpenFOAM distribution instead of the ESI one.


EDIT: Please also confirm that you are running FEATool v1.13.3, as the ESI distribution is not supported by older versions (only blueCFD).

It appears that I am running 1.13.1. Is there a way that I can upgrade to the newest version?

In light of the issue I was experiencing, I moved forward with downloading blueCFD-Core 2017-2 in the program files location. It appears that FEATool is recognizing openFOAM now under this directory. I just want to confirm, in order for openFOAM to work, I only need to download the 2017-2 version correct? I just want to confirm that this contains all of the binaries needed to use the openFOAM solver.

StoneFrench wrote

It appears that I am running 1.13.1. Is there a way that I can upgrade to the newest version?

There is currently no built-in automatic updater, available so you have to manually download and install the new version. The latest version is always available from:

https://github.com/precise-simulation/featool-multiphysics/releases

StoneFrench wrote

In light of the issue I was experiencing, I moved forward with downloading blueCFD-Core 2017-2 in the program files location. It appears that FEATool is recognizing openFOAM now under this directory. I just want to confirm, in order for openFOAM to work, I only need to download the 2017-2 version correct? I just want to confirm that this contains all of the binaries needed to use the openFOAM solver.

Yes, that should be everything you need. If I recall correctly blueCFD also installs MPI for parallel simulations, in contrast to ESI for which you also need to manually install MPI (on Windows)

You can check that the OpenFOAM installation works by running the "Turbulent Flow Over a Backwards Facing Step (OpenFOAM)" tutorial.