We’re living in the most unique age of time.
We have phones in our pocket oozing with AI…
Ask it how to do something and it will give you step-by-step instructions.
Ask it to make something for you and it will give you a box to open.
Ask it to explain something in detail and it will give you depth.
And it’s getting better with each release.
Crazy.
But here’s the key thing:
It masks a lot of how it gets to an ‘answer’.
Sure, you can tell it to “show it’s working” and it will.
But it’s not teaching you the understanding.
It takes you from not knowing to instant knowledge (without the substance).
Study partner? Sure.
Magic answer machine? Not so much.
I fear for anyone that tries to build a career on this slippery slope…
CFD in 2026 hasn’t changed much
OpenFOAM is still OpenFOAM despite being decades old, offering much of the same benefits it always did…
Whether you should learn it or not depends on what you want to gain from it.
I’m a very practical guy and don’t invest time into something unless it helps me in some real way in life.
Let’s explore the question based on some key potential outcomes you might want…
You don’t want to spend money / have the budget for a CFD tool
Most people want to use it for this reason and yes it’s attractive to get started with it.
No money down and the full power of a commercial tool? Sign me up!
But just because you don’t have to spend money on a tool doesn’t make it a tool you should necessarily invest your time to learn.
Nothing is actually free…
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You will need to invest your time
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Official documentation can be confusing (community-driven efforts like mine make it more accessible)
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If things go wrong there’s no support as you might get with commercial software
If you’re still reading then let’s consider some other motivations…
You want to know how a CFD Solver actually works
Commercial CFD solvers provide a comfortable experience – a clear GUI, insightful and helpful documentation and even customised user support from the vendor.
But the whole experience is like playing with a black-box…
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You buy a complete package, ready to use out of the box
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You follow the “click here, move this, hit the Solve button” hand-holding tutorials
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The source code is hidden from view for ease-of-use using abstraction layers
This may be exactly what you want.
But it’s not enough for a hungry, curious, rigorous CFD student / engineer.
He / She will benefit from building an intuitive knowledge of what is going on when a button is clicked, or in OpenFOAM’s case, a command is executed.
You want to develop new skills for your career
Even if you spent time learning other tools out there, OpenFOAM has a unique proposition as being a fully-featured, academically-validated, open-source CFD tool that allows you to be more involved.
Consider the additional skills you get from working with OpenFOAM:
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Developing a trouble-shooting mindset
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Understanding the CFD process through the individual modules
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Understanding how to tweak mesh generation for better results
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Understanding how the finite volume method could be improved for stability
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Knowing how to customise the code for additional output and automation
It’s like a massive playground you get to learn, if you give yourself that goal.
In my experience, even using it as an end-user gives you a sense of accomplishment (maybe it’s the command line interface and the sight of multiple execution lines appearing on the screen showing progress).
My two cents…
If you can access / afford a commercial tool, use them to learn CFD at a higher level – the process involved, how to get better results etc.
Then start learning OpenFOAM with your own reason to do so.
Why?
Well you’ll hit many, many roadblocks a long the way and you need a source of motivation to overcome these and keep going!
What next?
You can download OpenFOAM and install it on your machine. Follow my previous post on getting started:
Pick a specific type of solver / case and run the tutorials to get a feel for the process.
Then try to setup your own cases using my previous post to explore it further:
If you found this post helpful / insightful then please consider supporting me in creating even better content on OpenFOAM. Upgrade your free subscription:
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Hope you have a cracking year full of progress and simulation clarity.
Let me know what you struggle with the most…
See you soon,
Nasser 👋
When you’re ready, I can help you in other ways…
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Disclaimer:
All content in this post and newsletter is my own production and do not reflect the opinions or positions of my employers, partners or associates.
