No. 5 of 91 ·Physics Simulation Software

FEST-3D

Mac · Linux

Freedom report

Two barsScore 7.7

Free tierA free tier is on its own pricing page
Open codeNo open-source code on record
Runs widely2 of 6 device platforms
DocumentedPlans, terms and facts published

FEST-3D is ranked #5 of 91 in physics simulation software on Freedom251, made by FEST-3D (Chennai, India). It runs on Linux, macOS. There is a free plan.

FEST-3D plans and pricing

All plans

Free and open source Free GNU General Public License v3.0 fest3d.github.io · 5 Oct 2026

Compared on physics simulation software

Delivery mode: desktop
Lesson library: Yes
Authoring tools: Yes
Assessment tools: No
3D visuals: Yes
Offline access: Yes
Data export: Yes

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The record

Purpose: FEST-3D is a Fortran 90 finite-volume computational fluid dynamics solver for Navier–Stokes flow problems on structured grids, developed for aerodynamics.
Open source: FEST-3D is available under the GNU General Public License version 3.0.
Flow types: The solver handles incompressible and compressible, inviscid, laminar, transitional, and turbulent flow problems.
Numerical schemes: It offers multiple inviscid flux, higher-order face reconstruction, time-integration, turbulence, and transition model options.
Parallel computing: FEST-3D uses MPI to distribute computation across processors on one or more machines.
Downloads: The solver source is available from GitHub, and tutorials are in a separate repository included as a source-code submodule.
Installation platforms: The installation script supports Ubuntu/Debian, CentOS, and macOS; manual installation instructions are provided for Linux platforms.
Dependencies: The documented build dependencies include a Fortran compiler, an MPI library, CMake, and Make.
Tutorials: Provided verification tutorials cover ramp and smooth-bump flows, a lid-driven cavity, flat-plate flows, and a transonic RAE-2822 airfoil.
Grid generation: Grid generation is separate from the solver and must be handled independently; the documentation suggests writing a grid-generation program or using software such as Pointwise for complicated geometries.
Visualization: The solver writes VTK or Tecplot output, and the documentation names VisIt, ParaView, and Tecplot as tools for visualizing results.
Notable limitations: The homepage reports that the halt/stop condition does not work on MPI and turbulent simulations cannot run on Windows Subsystem for Linux because of outdated OS and libraries.
Support: The homepage lists [email protected] as the project contact email.
Intended users: The project describes its team as students from the Department of Aerospace Engineering at IIT Madras, and its tutorials are provided for learning and verification.
Price from: Free

Where it ranks on Freedom251

Best Physics Simulation Software in 2026#5 of 91

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Sources

fest3d.github.io· checked 4 Oct 2026
fest3d.github.io/page/index.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
fest3d.github.io/page/01_install.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
fest3d.github.io/page/00_download.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
fest3d.github.io/page/05_tutorials/index.html· checked 4 Oct 2026
fest3d.github.io/page/04_Steps_to_run_FEST3D.html· checked 4 Oct 2026