First OpenFOAM User Conference

ESI Group, pioneer and world-leading solution provider in virtual prototyping for manufacturing industries, announces the first OpenFOAM User Conference taking place April 24-26 at the Steigenberger Airport Hotel in Frankfurt, Germany. This event will be solely dedicated to OpenFOAM, the leading open source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) software suite developed by OpenCFD Ltd.; a company acquired by ESI Group in 2012.

OpenFOAM has extensive functionality to address many important physics, including: complex fluid flows involving chemical reactions, turbulence and heat transfer; solid dynamics; and electro-magnetics. Consequently, the advanced capabilities of this open source CFD software are widely used in the automotive industry as well as for applications in the energy, oil & gas, and process industries, and in the consumer goods and heavy industries.

Dr. Chris Greenshields, co-founder of OpenCFD, declares, "The User Conference is the first ever hosted by the producers of the OpenFOAM software. It is a landmark in the journey since we released OpenFOAM as open source software in 2004! The conference will provide a unique opportunity to meet the team behind the software – including Henry Weller (its creator), Mattijs Janssens and Dr. Andrew Heather (senior developers) – and to hear about the business behind the software.”

The diverse and exciting agenda for this event will assure that anyone with an interest in CFD can benefit from attendance. That includes managers, engineers, academics; even those who are today unfamiliar with OpenFOAM. Presentations will highlight the full extent of OpenFOAM's use in different industries, and include keynote addresses from the German companies Volkswagen AG and Evonik Industries.

The event also provides an opportunity for ESI-OpenCFD to showcase OpenFOAM Version 2.2, released on March 6, 2013. Some of the new features will be explained during "Lessons in OpenFOAM", a session delivered by the ESI-OpenCFD Development and Training teams, who will explore topics they have encountered in their work with OpenFOAM. The teams will provide some tips and tricks in OpenFOAM, and explain flexible case configuration, CFD principles and recent development directions.

Dr. Alain de Rouvray, ESI Group’s Chairman and CEO, will open the conference on April 24. He will be followed by Dr. Ralf Sundermeier, Head of CAE methods at Volkswagen AG, who will present a keynote entitled "OpenFOAM – in the fast lane?”. Georg Skillas, Chief Scientist at Evonik Industries, will continue with a status report: "Industrial cooperation for further development of OpenFOAM”. To view the full agenda of the conference, please click here.

To register for the conference and for the third day dedicated to "Lessons in OpenFOAM”, please click here.

If you have any questions about this event, or if you are interested in a group booking, please contact Christina Theuerkauf, Events Specialist, ESI Group.

About ESI Group

ESI is a pioneer and world-leading solution provider in virtual prototyping for manufacturing industries that takes into account the physics of materials. ESI has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to realistically simulate a product’s behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment’s impact on performance. ESI’s solutions fit into a single collaborative and open environment for End-to-End Virtual Prototyping, thus eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company employs about 950 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in compartment C of NYSE Euronext Paris.

ESI-OpenCFD is a wholly owned subsidiary of ESI Group, based in the UK and serving the global community of users of the Open Source CFD software, OpenFOAM. OpenFOAM® is a registered trademark of ESI Group.

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