I have a LiDAR data set that is in point cloud format. I can convert it to a surface. Is there an easy way to convert this data to a mesh for OpenFOAM®? It seems the LiDAR and CFD communities do not have much software or file formats in common.

Hi Ken,
did you try to convert it to an STL-surface and then do the mesh with e.g. snappyHexMesh?
Many greetings
Ivan

This sounds like a viable option, but I'm not sure how to get my point cloud (or DEM/GeoTIFF) into STL format. Can you suggest a free tool for this?

hi,
blender can export .stl. I have googled a thread about how to get the topo into blender. Stop before material and rendering stuff.

Landscapes based on real life maps

then you should have the .stl.
I am not familiar with that process and have never tried it. I just used blender to convert different mesh to stl for engrid. Blender was useful due to supports a lot of file formats.

Later on, maybe check the openfoam's tutorial in mesh/moveDynamicMesh/SnakeRiverCanyon after you will have .stl. Cannot compare to the idea using snappyHexMesh