Publikationsrepositorium - Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf

Open-source environments such as the Computational Fluid Dynamics software OpenFOAM are very appealing for research groups since they allow for an efficient prototyping of new models or concepts. However, for downstream developments to be sustainable, i.e. reproduci-ble and reusable in the long term, a significant amount of maintenance work must be account-ed for. To allow for growth and extensibility, the maintenance work should be underpinned by a high degree of automation for repetitive tasks such as build tests, code deployment and validation runs, in order to keep the focus on scientific work. Here, an information technology environment referred to as OpenFOAM_RCS is presented that aids the centralized mainte-nance of simulation code and setup files for OpenFOAM developments concerned with reac-tor coolant system safety research. It fosters collaborative developments and review processes. State-of-the-art tools for managing software developments are adapted to meet the require-ments of OpenFOAM. A flexible approach for upgrading the underlying installation is pro-posed, based on snapshots of the OpenFOAM development line rather than yearly version releases, to make new functionality available when needed by associated research projects. The process of upgrading within so-called sprint cycles is accompanied by several checks to ensure compatibility of downstream code and simulation setups. Furthermore, the foundation for building a validation data base from contributed simulation setups is laid, creating a basis for continuous quality assurance.

The content of this article was initially presented at the 33rd German CFD Network of Com-petence Meeting, held on March 22-23 2022 at GRS in Garching, Germany.