FEniCS-preCICE: Coupling FEniCS to other Simulation Software

TL;DR

FEniCS-preCICE is a middleware that simplifies coupling FEniCS finite-element applications with other simulation software using preCICE, enabling easier multi-physics simulations with minimal code modifications.

Contribution

It introduces a new library that facilitates coupling FEniCS with other software via preCICE, converting data structures and managing coupling conditions efficiently.

Findings

Successful coupling of FEniCS with OpenFOAM and SU2 demonstrated.

Coupled simulations show good agreement with standalone software.

Minimal code changes needed for coupling setup.

Abstract

The new software FEniCS-preCICE is a middle software layer, sitting in between the existing finite-element library FEniCS and the coupling library preCICE. The middle layer simplifies coupling (existing) FEniCS application codes to other simulation software via preCICE. To this end, FEniCS-preCICE converts between FEniCS and preCICE mesh and data structures, provides easy-to-use coupling conditions, and manages data checkpointing for implicit coupling. The new software is a library itself and follows a FEniCS-native style. Only a few lines of additional code are necessary to prepare a FEniCS application code for coupling. We illustrate the functionality of FEniCS-preCICE by two examples: a FEniCS heat conduction code coupled to OpenFOAM and a FEniCS linear elasticity code coupled to SU2. The results of both scenarios are compared with other simulation software showing good agreement.