beamFoam is a cell-centred finite volume solver for nonlinear geometrically exact Simo-Reissner beams in OpenFOAM®. It models slender structures undergoing large three-dimensional deformations and rotations, including tension, bending, shear and torsion.
beamFoam is a sister repository of solids4foam.
The beamFoam user documentation is hosted on the solids4foam website:
Source a supported OpenFOAM.com environment, then run the top-level build scripts:
./Allwclean
./AllwmakeThe build script currently recognises OpenFOAM versions v2106 through v2506
at six-month release intervals. OpenFOAM v2306 is the principal tested
version described in the beamFoam paper.
Eigen is provided under ThirdParty/ and is built by Allwmake when required.
Each tutorial contains Allclean and Allrun scripts. For example:
cd tutorials/cantilever
./Allclean
./AllrunThe solver uses the createBeamMesh utility rather than blockMesh. Cases that
start from a translated or rotated reference configuration also use
setInitialPositionBeam.
To visualise a deformed beam in ParaView, apply Warp By Vector using the
pointW point-displacement field. Many tutorial cases also provide gnuplot
scripts.
The formulation, implementation and principal benchmark cases are described in:
S. Bali, A. Taran, Ž. Tuković, V. Pakrashi and P. Cardiff. beamFoam: A Cell-Centred Finite Volume Solver for Nonlinear Geometrically-Exact Beams in OpenFOAM. OpenFOAM® Journal, 5, 180-210, 2025. doi:10.51560/ofj.v5.170.
Please report bugs and request features through the beamFoam issue tracker.
This offering is not approved or endorsed by OpenCFD Limited, producer and distributor of the OpenFOAM software via the OpenFOAM website, and owner of the OPENFOAM® and OpenCFD® trade marks.