Overview
Summary. CakeCFD is a solver core derived from OpenFOAM, modified to support higher-order convection discretization and a desktop application (Cake Studio) for case setup, meshing, solving, and post-processing. The project is developed independently and is not affiliated with the OpenFOAM Foundation or ESI Group.
| Solver base | OpenFOAM 2412, finite volume method |
|---|---|
| Primary contribution | TENO convection schemes on unstructured meshes, adaptive C_T weighting |
| Application | Desktop GUI (Cake Studio) for meshing, case setup, and solving |
| Platform | Linux (Ubuntu 22.04+) or WSL2 on Windows, presented via WSLg |
| License | GNU General Public License v3.0 (solver & application) |
Numerics
The solver implements unstructured-mesh formulations of Targeted
Essentially Non-Oscillatory (TENO) convection schemes following
Fu, Hu & Adams (2016), with adaptive C_T weighting (Fu, 2018)
and per-component smoothness indicators, provided as a
wmake library not present in a stock OpenFOAM
installation.
validation/tools/advection_order.py
(case VC‑001). A k‑exact upwind‑biased
reconstruction reaching approximately fifth order on the same test
is in progress on a development branch.
| Supported solvers | simpleFoam, icoFoam, pimpleFoam, pisoFoam, rhoSimpleFoam, rhoPimpleFoam, rhoCentralFoam, buoyantSimpleFoam, buoyantPimpleFoam |
|---|---|
| Turbulence closures | k–ω SST, k–ε, Spalart–Allmaras |
| Geometry import | STEP and BREP via OpenCASCADE (OCCT 7.6), with automatic tessellation and STL export for meshing |
| Meshing | Automated blockMesh / snappyHexMesh pipeline — surface feature extraction, boundary layers, refinement regions |
Cake Studio
Cake Studio is the accompanying native C++ Qt5 desktop application, covering the workflow from geometry import through meshing, case setup, solving, and post-processing in a single interface.
- 3D VTK viewport for velocity, pressure, and turbulence fields, with isocontours and streamline tracing
- Live residual plot during solver runs
- Solver console with autocompletion, command history, and filtered output
- Per-solver configuration dialog that writes
fvSchemes,fvSolution, and initial field files from interface values - Johns Hopkins Turbulence Database integration as the default DNS data source, exportable to a
timeVaryingMappedFixedValueboundary condition; a configurable endpoint slot accepts other compatible APIs - Dark and light interface themes
AI Interface
cakecfd_ai is a companion Python package that exposes the
solver and meshing pipeline as tools for Claude, allowing simulations
to be run, parameters tuned, and results interpreted through natural
language — via the Claude API, an agentic REPL, or direct tool calls
from the command line. Released separately under CC BY 4.0.
| Interfaces | Python API (CakeAgent), interactive CLI REPL, direct tool calls (no API key required) |
|---|---|
| Tool surface | Mesh setup, solver execution and monitoring, residual/force parsing, boundary condition patching, turbulence database queries, report generation |
| Requirements | Python 3.10+, OpenFOAM 2412, Anthropic API key (agent/REPL mode only) |
Status
| Component | Status |
|---|---|
| Solver core & TENO schemes | In preparation — second-order verified, higher-order in progress |
| Cake Studio application | In preparation |
cakecfd_ai package | In preparation |
| Cross-platform installer | Planned |
| Technical manuscript | Planned |
License
CakeCFD (solver core and Cake Studio application) is released under
the GNU General Public License v3.0. The companion
cakecfd_ai package is released separately under
CC BY 4.0. Source publication is pending; this page
will be updated with repository links at release.