[r3bson]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum, I'd like to ask You guys a question.

I have just started professional career as a CFD engineer. I have got some experience with cars aerodynamics and STAR-CCM+ already, basically almost 3 years. My biggest goal is to become CFD specialist and if You could provide me with some kind of advice, then I would be more than happy.

I'd like to constantly grow and after work, in my free time I want to keep developing in CFD. What area would You suggest me to put my time into? Should I learn OpenFOAM? Maybe read some particular books/publications? Maybe buy some courses? How should I adjust myself to current trends in CFD growth.

All advices are very welcome, maybe we can start some kind of discussion here..

Best regards

[LuckyTran]

If you want to develop CFD in the future then yes I highly recommend learning OpenFOAM or something like it. Note that this doesn't necessarily mean you need to learn C++. OpenFOAM is nice because it's open and available. It took me a really long time to learn how to use OpenFOAM but after I did, I liked the expressions in FOAM as a language. AVBP and SU2 also come to mind.


What's good about FOAM is it's much easier to see under the hood. In Star-CCM (or any commercial code) you can't see these details of what a solver or anything is doing. In FOAM it's much visible what needs to be done. Digging thru the c++ is still a pain but the key steps can be seen without going there.


I would not spend money on courses.


Reading is always a good idea of course. I don't have any specific recommendations. Books tend to not reflect current (practical) trends well. You can find a lot of cool implementations in papers if you have a specific application in mind.