Vertex-CFD is a free, open source computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and multiphysics code released by Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It is based upon Trilinos, an open source finite element library released by Sandia National Laboratory. Vertex-CFD was developed with performance portability as the primary goal, and as such is compatible with a variety of CPU and GPU computing architectures. Vertex-CFD currently supports single phase, incompressible flow, with options to include RANS and LES turbulence modeling, heat transfer, and magnetohydrodynamics. The governing equations are discretized using an implicit continuous Galerkin finite element framework and solved in a monolithic fashion using efficient numerical solvers inherited from the Trilinos ecosystem. The main capabilities of the Vertex-CFD package are shown in Fig. 1.

_images/VERTEX-CFD-one-slide.png — Fig. 1 Vertex-CFD capabilities, dependencies, and results.

Welcome to Vertex-CFD’s documentation!

Contents:

Contributing

Contribution to VERTEX-CFD source code follows a strict process to warranty robustness and deployment on HPC platforms. Any change to the GitLab repo must be reviewed by one of the main developers listed below. If you are willing to contribute to the development of VERTEX-CFD, please review the GitHub documentation on how to collaborate and follow the steps given below:

Request access, git clone VERTEX-CFD repo and compile the source code.
Create a new branch from the main branch.
Make changes to the source code.
Add/update unit test(s) and/or regression test(s) when needed.
Push changes to your remote branch and create a pull request (PR).
Add a description to the PR with results supporting the changes.
Tag a reviewer to the PR.

A contributor will then review the PR and add comments to the changes. Make sure to address all comments and to respond to all threads. Once the reviewer resolves all threads and approves the PR, the branch will be merged to the main branch.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact of the main contributors listed below.

Contributors

Citing

If you use Vertex-CFD in your research, please consider citing the Zenodo DOI as a software citation, and/or one of our recent publications.

@software{VERTEX-CFD-v1.0.0,
  author       = {Delchini, Marc Olivier and
                  Furkan Oz and
                  Kincaid, Kellis and
                  Erwin, Jon Taylor and
                  Slattery, Stuart and
                  Curtis, Franklin and
                  Glasby, Ryan and
                  Brandao, Filipe and
                  Gottiparthi, Kalyana and
                  DeGraw, Jason and
                  Ryan Savery},
  title        = {ORNL/VERTEX-CFD: vertex-cfd-v1.0.0-alpha},
  month        = feb,
  year         = 2025,
  publisher    = {Zenodo},
  version      = {v1.0.0},
  doi          = {10.5281/zenodo.14907174},
  url          = {https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14907174},
  swhid        = {swh:1:dir:3ea1469d6974d2e4972bc56707b48e67267354dd
                   ;origin=https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14907173;vi
                   sit=swh:1:snp:f5cf93739bbdcf134c41ed8f6db4c3a694dc
                   972a;anchor=swh:1:rel:4d02f164be05b6b66380bcae1ea5
                   1cf54d291275;path=ORNL-VERTEX-CFD-1ff10fb
                  },
}

Recent Publications

Furkan Oz, Kellis Kincaid, Marc-Olivier G. Delchini, Kalyan C. Gottiparthi, Ryan Glasby and Franklin Curtis. “Comparison of Artificial Compressibility Methods for Coupled Laminar Fluid Flow and Heat Transfer,” AIAA 2025-1563. AIAA SCITECH 2025 Forum. January 2025. https://doi.org/10.2514/6.2025-1563
Delchini, M. O., Kincaid, K. C., Stefanski, D., Glasby, R., & Curtis, F. (2024). VERTEX-CFD: A MULTIPHYSICS SOLVER. Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, 130(1), 1191-1194. https://doi.org/10.13182/T130-44950

License

Vertex-CFD is free software which can be redistributed or modified under the terms of the 3-clause BSD license. See the file LICENSE in this directory or the license text for a complete description of the terms and conditions.

Indices and tables

Notice: This manuscript has been authored by UT-Battelle, LLC, under Contract No. DE-AC0500OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for the United States Government purposes