The software is integrated into the SALOME platform through the salome_cfd distribution[2] and can be coupled with the solid thermal code SYRTHES and the structural mechanics code code_aster, both also developed by EDF under free software licences.
Its two-phase extension, Neptune_CFD, co-developed by EDF and the CEA, handles two-phase flows such as water-steam and water-air mixtures.[3]
In March 2007, EDF released the code under the GNU General Public License, adopting an open development model.[4] This release encouraged adoption by industrial and academic partners in France and internationally.
The software has since been selected as a benchmark application within the European PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe) project for evaluating supercomputer performance.[3]
Features
Numerical method
code_saturne solves the Navier–Stokes equations using a co-located finite volume method. It accepts meshes of any type — structured, unstructured, hybrid, conforming or non-conforming — and a variety of cell shapes: tetrahedra, hexahedra, prisms, pyramids, or arbitrary polyhedra.[1]
Simulated flows can be steady or unsteady, laminar or turbulent, isothermal or non-isothermal, and incompressible or compressible.[3]
Turbulence models
The software provides a wide range of turbulence models covering the following approaches:
Turbomachinery: rotating meshes with sliding mesh interfaces.
Parallelisation and coupling
The code is parallelised using the Message Passing Interface (MPI) library, enabling it to run on high-performance computing (HPC) architectures.[3] It can be coupled with the solid thermal code SYRTHES and the structural mechanics code code_aster, notably through the SALOME platform.
Interoperability
code_saturne supports various mesh types, including arbitrary polyhedral and non-structured elements, with non-conforming mesh joining. It does not include a built-in mesher or visualisation module, but is compatible with many standard tools and formats.[5]
code_saturne is used in both industrial and academic settings in France and internationally. Approximately 500 engineers and researchers use it within EDF.[3]
Energy and nuclear safety
Originally designed for nuclear power plant safety studies, the software is used to analyse flows in primary circuits, cooling systems, coupled fluid-structure heat transfer, and steam generators. It is also employed for modelling wind farms, including turbine wake interactions and layout optimisation.[3]
Environment and atmosphere
The software is used for modelling atmospheric flows, pollutant dispersion, air quality assessment, and wind-structure interactions.[3]
Hydrodynamics and industry
code_saturne has been used by industrial partners for hydrodynamics applications, notably in the field of naval architecture.[6]
Research and education
The software is used in universities and research organisations for developing and validating numerical models, as well as for teaching computational fluid dynamics.
Development and community
Development is led by the R&D division of EDF. The source code is hosted on GitHub.[7] Releases follow regular cycles.
A community of users, including engineers and researchers from industry and academia, contributes to the project through the development of physical models, associated tools, and validation cases. An official forum[8] and technical documentation (user guides, reference manuals, tutorial cases) are available on the project website.
Key publications
The numerical foundations and validation of code_saturne are described in several peer-reviewed publications:
code_saturne runs on Linux and Unix. It is available as pre-compiled packages for distributions such as Debian and Ubuntu, through container images (Docker, Apptainer), or by compiling from source available on the official website.[9]
Pre-compiled binaries and Singularity (.sif) and Docker container images are also provided by the Open Simulation Center platform,[10] facilitating deployment on workstations or high-performance computing environments.
