CFD Consultant (OpenFOAM)

An independent CFD consultant sets up, runs, and interprets fluid simulations for engineering teams without an in-house CFD specialist, or with one at capacity. INNX works in OpenFOAM for aerodynamic, thermal, and multiphase flows, builds custom solvers where the standard ones fall short, and couples the flow to Code_aster when the fluid loads drive the structure. You receive the flow results, the quantities your design depends on, and a report your team can act on.

Typical problems

• Transonic aerodynamics, where shocks and their interaction with the boundary layer set the loads.
• Combustion chambers, spill-back injectors, and turbine geometries, where pressure, temperature, and mixing all matter at once.
• Multiphase flows, which standard handbook correlations do not cover.
• Thermal loads that have to be known before a structure can be sized.
• Physics or boundary conditions that no standard solver provides, and that need a custom OpenFOAM solver.
• Commercial license costs for a simulation that an open-source code can run, and document, just as well.

What you receive

• Flow results for the operating conditions agreed in scope: pressure, velocity, temperature, and phase fields.
• The quantities your design depends on, such as forces, pressure distributions, and wall temperatures.
• When the structure is part of the question, the loads mapped onto a structural model and the resulting stresses: see CFD-FEA coupled analysis.
• A written report of the model, its setup and checks, the results, and their limits.
• Before any work begins, a fixed-scope proposal with clear deliverables, timeline, and price. No open-ended hourly billing.

Methods & tools

OpenFOAM. Aerodynamic, thermal, and multiphase fluid simulation with the open-source OpenFOAM toolbox.

Custom solvers. Where off-the-shelf tools fall short, in-house-built solvers and custom-coded coupling, with Python and C for analysis and automation.

Fluid-structure interaction. Coupling to Code_aster to capture how fluid loads actually deform and stress a structure, and a physics-informed surrogate model when a flow has to be evaluated many times.

The work draws on hands-on experience in rocket propulsion, transonic wind tunnel testing, turbine combustion chambers and spill-back injectors, and multiphase fluid simulation.

Industries

Aerospace, defense, energy, marine, automotive, and sports equipment: any team whose design depends on how a fluid loads, heats, or flows through it.

Typical pricing

Most focused engineering-analysis projects range from $3,000 to $15,000. Complex composite, CFD, optimization and certification-support engagements typically range from $15,000 to $40,000+. Hourly technical support is available from $110/hour.

Final pricing depends on scope, number of load cases, model maturity, reporting requirements and schedule. Every project is quoted as a fixed price before work begins; see the three ways to scope a project.

Related case studies

In the potential flow past a cylinder study, OpenFOAM reproduces the peak surface speed within 0.3% of the analytical solution for a cylinder in a channel, and separates the 5% gap to the unbounded case as blockage.

FAQ