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Minsky VS OpenFOAM

Compare Minsky VS OpenFOAM and see what are their differences

Minsky logo Minsky

System dynamics program with additional features for economics

OpenFOAM logo OpenFOAM

OpenFOAM® - Official home of The Open Source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Toolbox.
  • Minsky Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-14
  • OpenFOAM Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-08-02

Minsky features and specs

  • Graphical Interface
    Minsky offers a user-friendly graphical interface that allows users to visually construct complex system dynamics models without extensive coding expertise.
  • Economic and Financial Modeling
    It is particularly well-suited for modeling economic systems and financial instability, featuring specialized tools that cater to economists and financial analysts.
  • Turing Complete
    Minsky is Turing complete, giving users the ability to create a wide range of models, from simple to highly complex, using its capabilities.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source software, Minsky offers transparency in its functions and allows users to modify and enhance the software according to their needs.

Possible disadvantages of Minsky

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Users might encounter a steep learning curve, especially those with no background in system dynamics or economic modeling.
  • Limited Community Support
    Being a niche tool, the community around Minsky is relatively small compared to more mainstream modeling software, potentially limiting the availability of community-driven resources or support.
  • Performance Issues
    Some users may experience performance issues when running very complex or large-scale models due to computational constraints.
  • Interface Limitations
    The graphical interface, while user-friendly, could be limiting for advanced users accustomed to more customizable and extendable environments.

OpenFOAM features and specs

  • Open Source
    OpenFOAM is free to use and its source code is openly available under the GPL license, allowing for extensive customization and transparency in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.
  • Extensibility
    Users can extend and modify the functionality of OpenFOAM to suit specific needs or integrate new algorithms, making it highly adaptable to various projects and research requirements.
  • Community and Support
    A robust community of users and developers contributes to forums, documentation, and collaboration, providing substantial peer support and shared knowledge.
  • Versatility
    OpenFOAM supports a wide range of physical models and simulation types, from simple incompressible flow to complex multiphase flows and chemical reactions, making it suitable for diverse applications.
  • Parallel Computing
    Optimized for parallel processing, OpenFOAM can run efficiently on high-performance computing systems, thereby handling large-scale simulations effectively.

Possible disadvantages of OpenFOAM

  • Steep Learning Curve
    OpenFOAM requires a significant investment of time to learn and master, as it involves understanding complex physics, programming concepts, and software-specific syntaxes.
  • Limited GUI
    Unlike some commercial CFD software, OpenFOAM lacks a sophisticated graphical user interface (GUI), necessitating users to rely on command-line input and scripting for setup and execution of simulations.
  • Documentation Quality
    Although community-driven, the documentation can sometimes be incomplete or outdated, making it challenging for new users to find reliable and up-to-date instructions and tutorials.
  • Performance Variation
    Performance and stability can vary depending on the specific simulation setup and hardware used, which may require users to conduct extensive testing and optimization.
  • Dependency Management
    Installing and maintaining OpenFOAM and its dependencies can be complex, often requiring specific versions of libraries and compilers to ensure compatibility and optimal performance.

Analysis of OpenFOAM

Overall verdict

  • OpenFOAM is a powerful and versatile tool for CFD that is well-regarded in both academia and industry. Its open-source nature and comprehensive feature set make it a valuable resource for those needing customizability and advanced simulation capabilities.

Why this product is good

  • OpenFOAM is a popular open-source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) tool that provides a wide range of features for simulating complex fluid flows.
  • It offers a flexible and extensible platform, allowing users to customize solvers and utilities to fit specific simulation needs.
  • The extensive library of pre-built solvers and utilities is suitable for various applications, from automotive to aerospace engineering.
  • Being open-source, it encourages collaboration and sharing of improvements, making it highly adaptable and continuously evolving.
  • Comprehensive documentation and a large user community contribute to reliable support and knowledge exchange.

Recommended for

  • Engineers and researchers in academia who require a robust CFD tool with customization capabilities.
  • Industry professionals involved in research and development who need flexible and cost-effective CFD solutions.
  • Advanced users with programming skills who want to leverage and extend its capabilities for specific project needs.

Minsky videos

Integrative literature review of the financial fragility hypothesis proposed by Minsky

More videos:

  • Review - Marvin Minsky
  • Review - Day 62: The Society of Mind by Marvin Minsky Book Highlights

OpenFOAM videos

What is OpenFoam? | Skill-Lync

More videos:

  • Tutorial - How to run your first simulation in OpenFOAM® - Part 1 - tutorial
  • Tutorial - CFD tutorial for beginners | What is OpenFOAM? | SKILL-LYNC

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Minsky and OpenFOAM)
Technical Computing
19 19%
81% 81
Numerical Computation
12 12%
88% 88
Simulation Software
37 37%
63% 63
Tool
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

Share your experience with using Minsky and OpenFOAM. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, OpenFOAM seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 19 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Minsky mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Minsky yet. Tracking of Minsky recommendations started around Mar 2021.

OpenFOAM mentions (19)

  • OpenFOAM on Debian 12
    In openfoam.org, there is not compiled binaries for Debian (any version). So one should install it using docker (I prefer to do not use it) or by compiling the code from the source. I consider compiling from source, but I do prefer binaries. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Please help me get running OpenFOAM
    Hello I am a mechanical engineering student in my last year. So I made the wisest decision to learn OpenFOAM. But there is the catch. I have no idea how to use Linux or how to emulate Linux on Windows 10. I found a lot of videos on Youtube how to download an start OpenFOAM but every one of them was using different methods each time so I got confused. Can anyone please help or direct me? Thank you for your answers... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Step by Step (Written not Video) Tutorial for FEM with Air
    As far as air flow simulation, I got slightly farther with Open Foam than I did in FreeCAD directly. Still, I got in way over my skill level and stopped before getting anything useful. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Open source FEA tools instead of ANSYS Workbench and APDL
    There are two versions of openfoam, one closed source (which is the one I linked to in my original comment, my apologies about that) and the open source version. But what you're describing makes it sound like fenics might be your best option. Source: over 2 years ago
  • command not found and looping
    I suggest you install per the instructions at openfoam.com or openfoam.org instead of using apt. Source: over 2 years ago
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