1  Installation

Windows installer and Linux binary distribution

Note

Wake CFD is distributed in a form appropriate for the operating system.

Windows provides an installer for Desktop and CLI components. Linux provides a compressed binary distribution with install.sh for user installation.

1.1 Distribution plan

Platform Distribution Recommended for
Windows 10 / 11 Installer (WakeCFD-<version>-win-x64.exe) Individual workstations centered on Desktop
Linux x86_64 Compressed binary (wake-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz) + install.sh CLI, GPU servers, and MPI/HPC environments

Filenames and the list of supported distributions will be finalized for the first public release. The commands and folder structure on this page define the reference interface for that distribution.

1.2 Requirements

Item Recommendation
OS Windows 10 / 11, Linux (x86_64)
Memory 16 GB or more (32 GB+ for large meshes)
GPU CUDA-capable NVIDIA GPU with CUDA 12.8 or later (recommended)
Disk 1 GB for binaries, plus workspace for each case
Post-processing ParaView (recommended for result visualization)

Wake CFD supports CPU execution without a GPU. Cases execute unchanged on CPU, but CPU-specific optimization has not been performed; CPU execution is slower than GPU execution. CPU parallelization uses MPI.

Warning

Windows supports one GPU only

The MPI stack in the Windows build does not support GPU-aware MPI. Multi-GPU execution is therefore unavailable on Windows; it runs on a single GPU only.

For multi-GPU execution, use Linux with GPU-aware MPI (a CUDA-enabled OpenMPI or MVAPICH2 build, for example). See Running Wake CFD for parallel-execution details.

1.3 Windows: Installer

  1. Run WakeCFD-<version>-win-x64.exe.
  2. Select an installation location.
  3. When installation finishes, start Wake CFD Desktop from the Start menu or use the CLI in the installation directory.

The installer includes Desktop, the 2D/3D solvers, examples, and required runtime libraries. After installation, verify the setup with the ONERA M6 quickstart.

1.4 Linux: Compressed binary and install.sh

Extract the archive and execute from the working directory, or install under a user path with install.sh.

tar -xzf wake-<version>-linux-x64.tar.gz
cd wake-<version>-linux-x64

# User installation: default path ~/.local
./install.sh

# Install to another location
./install.sh --prefix /opt/wake

install.sh installs executables and shared resources to the selected location, then prints PATH setup instructions. Open a new shell after installation or apply the indicated PATH setting.

1.5 Verify installation

To confirm the installed version, execute a solver binary without arguments. The solver prints version information and exits.

Windows PowerShell

.\wake\bin\wake_2d_mixed.exe
Wake CFD Solver command-line help output with ASCII logo, usage information, and option descriptions
Figure 1.1: Version output from the 2D solver on Windows.

Linux

./wake/bin/wake_2d_mixed
./wake/bin/wake_3d_mixed
Ubuntu terminal showing the Wake CFD Solver v0.23.0 help output after running ./wake_2d_mixed
(a) 2D solver, wake_2d_mixed
Ubuntu terminal showing the Wake CFD Solver v0.23.0 help output after running ./wake_3d_mixed
(b) 3D solver, wake_3d_mixed
Figure 1.2: Version output on Linux. The two binaries print the same version and option list; they differ in the mesh dimension they accept.

Each binary is verified separately, because a distribution may ship only one of them. This check confirms that the executable can start. To verify that cases execute and produce results, proceed to the ONERA M6 quickstart.

Warning

Do not relocate installed files

Wake CFD executables depend on runtime libraries in the distribution directory structure. Do not move solver binaries or shared libraries to other locations after installation.

1.6 Distribution layout

Example directory structure after extraction:

wake/
├─ bin/
│  ├─ wake_3d_mixed[.exe]    # 3D solver
│  └─ wake_2d_mixed[.exe]    # 2D solver
├─ examples/           # Runnable examples and meshes
│  └─ onera-m6-wing/
├─ install.sh          # Linux user-installation script
└─ ...                 # Windows DLLs or Linux shared libraries

Linux executables do not use the .exe extension.

1.7 Running Wake CFD

Two execution approaches are available. Select the approach appropriate for the workflow.

1.7.1 Approach 1 — Call using a relative or absolute path from the working directory

Place the JSONC case file in a working directory and reference the solver binary using a relative or absolute path.

# Example working-directory layout
my_case/
└─ case.jsonc

# Run from the working directory
../../wake/bin/wake_3d_mixed ./case.jsonc

Or use an absolute path:

/path/to/wake/bin/wake_3d_mixed ./case.jsonc
Tip

Recommended — Separate directory per case

Keeping each case in a separate directory isolates its output files (*.csv, *.out, *.log, restart files(*.wsol), volume dumps, and more).

1.7.2 Approach 2 — Add bin to PATH

For frequent use, add the bin directory to PATH to execute wake_3d_mixed from any directory. On Linux, install.sh prints PATH configuration instructions during installation.

Windows (PowerShell, persistent):

$env:Path += ";C:\path\to\wake\bin"
[Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable("Path", $env:Path, "User")

Windows (cmd, current session only):

set PATH=%PATH%;C:\path\to\wake\bin

Linux / macOS (~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc):

export PATH="$PATH:/path/to/wake/bin"

After adding it:

cd my_case
wake_3d_mixed ./case.jsonc

1.8 Migrating existing YAML cases

Warning

YAML input is rejected by the solver before execution (d0125 Phase A, 2026-05).

Use the packaged wake-migrate utility to convert files in bulk, then use .jsonc or .json.

wake-migrate case.yaml -o case.jsonc

The conversion result is JSONC with comments preserved. After conversion, run .jsonc or .json files. For format and inheritance details, see Configuration files.