Solid stress
Solid stress analysis in OpenFOAM
Linear-elastic stress and displacement in a solid using solidDisplacementFoam, on the same mesh and workbench as the flow cases.
What it is
Small-strain linear elasticity solved with the same finite-volume machinery as the flow solvers. Useful where a stress answer is wanted alongside a flow answer without moving to a separate FEA package.
What the application sets up
- Mechanical properties from the materials library
- Displacement and traction boundary conditions
- Thermal coupling where the load is thermal
Typical uses
- Thermal stress in a heated component
- Pressure-vessel wall stress
- Deflection under a distributed load
Industries
Sectors where this analysis is routinely asked for.
- Pressure equipment
- General machinery
- Mounting & supports
- Research & academia
What comes out
- Displacement field
- Stress distribution
- Reaction forces at restraints
- Margin against yield
OpenFOAM solvers
solidDisplacementFoam
Selected and configured for you from the analysis type. You can still see every dictionary the application writes.
In every tier
This analysis type is in the free build. The free tier limits mesh size to 250,000 cells and solving to one core — not which physics you may use.
On accuracy, plainly.
Every analysis type is exercised end to end on every pass — its case is generated, meshed and run — which establishes that the setup is right, not that the answer matches your geometry. No CFD result is evidence until it is checked against something you trust: a measurement, a hand calculation, or a mesh-refinement study the application will run for you. Treat these results with the judgement you would apply to any CFD you set up yourself.