Elmer FEM solver
Encyclopedia
Elmer is an open source (GPL
) computational tool for multi-physics
problems. It has been developed by CSC in collaboration with Finnish
universities, research laboratories and industry.
Elmer includes physical models of fluid dynamics
, structural mechanics
, electromagnetics, heat transfer
and acoustics
, for example. These are described by partial differential equations which Elmer solves by the Finite Element Method
(FEM).
Elmer comprises several different parts: The boundary conditions and physical models are defined in ElmerGUI. The resulting problem definition is solved by ElmerSolver. Finally the results are visualized by ElmerPost. Additionally a utility ElmerGrid may be used for simple mesh manipulation.
The different parts of Elmer software may also be used independently. The strongest of the components is ElmerSolver which includes many sophisticated features. For pre- and post-processing the users may find also other alternatives.
The software runs on Unix and Windows platforms and can be compiled on a large variety of compilers. The solver can also be used in parallel mode on platforms that support MPI
.
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
) computational tool for multi-physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
problems. It has been developed by CSC in collaboration with Finnish
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
universities, research laboratories and industry.
Elmer includes physical models of fluid dynamics
Fluid dynamics
In physics, fluid dynamics is a sub-discipline of fluid mechanics that deals with fluid flow—the natural science of fluids in motion. It has several subdisciplines itself, including aerodynamics and hydrodynamics...
, structural mechanics
Structural mechanics
Structural mechanics or Mechanics of structures is the computation of deformations, deflections, and internal forces or stresses within structures, either for design or for performance evaluation of existing structures. It is one subset of structural analysis...
, electromagnetics, heat transfer
Heat transfer
Heat transfer is a discipline of thermal engineering that concerns the exchange of thermal energy from one physical system to another. Heat transfer is classified into various mechanisms, such as heat conduction, convection, thermal radiation, and phase-change transfer...
and acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
, for example. These are described by partial differential equations which Elmer solves by the Finite Element Method
Finite element method
The finite element method is a numerical technique for finding approximate solutions of partial differential equations as well as integral equations...
(FEM).
Elmer comprises several different parts: The boundary conditions and physical models are defined in ElmerGUI. The resulting problem definition is solved by ElmerSolver. Finally the results are visualized by ElmerPost. Additionally a utility ElmerGrid may be used for simple mesh manipulation.
The different parts of Elmer software may also be used independently. The strongest of the components is ElmerSolver which includes many sophisticated features. For pre- and post-processing the users may find also other alternatives.
The software runs on Unix and Windows platforms and can be compiled on a large variety of compilers. The solver can also be used in parallel mode on platforms that support MPI
Message Passing Interface
Message Passing Interface is a standardized and portable message-passing system designed by a group of researchers from academia and industry to function on a wide variety of parallel computers...
.