FEATool uses a struct format with several fields to specify and set up problem definitions. The FEATool GUI will automatically manage these fields, however if the model is exported, modified on the command line, or built from scratch it is important to know how these fields are used, which is explained below.

Problem Definition Struct

The FEATool problem definition struct consists of the following main fields

Field	Description
geom	Geometry objects
grid	Grid structure
sdim	Cell array of space dimension names
phys	Physics mode structs
dvar	Cell array of dependent variable names
sfun	Cell array of shape functions
coef	Cell array of coefficient and expression definitions
eqn	Equation specification struct
bdr	Boundary specification struct
pnt	Point source and constraint specification struct
edg	Edge constraint specification struct (3D)
sol	Solution vector and list of solution times

A cell array of geometry objects used for grid generation is contained in the geom.objects field. The geometry is only used by the automatic grid generation and can be omitted if a grid is constructed by other means (for example with the grid function primitives). For example, the following code defines a geometry with a unit circle

fea.geom.objects = { gobj_circle() };

The grid struct field, which defines the computational grid, is explained in the Grid section.

The sdim field contains a cell array of strings with names for the space dimensions. These can then be used in FEATool functions, and equation/boundary specification and postprocessing. Typically the field will take the following forms

fea.sdim = { 'x' };           % 1D.
fea.sdim = { 'x' 'y' };       % 2D.
fea.sdim = { 'r' 'z' };       % 2D - Axisymmetry.
fea.sdim = { 'x' 'y' 'z' };   % 3D.

but the name strings can be substituted arbitrarily.

The optional phys struct contains predefined physics modes that have been added with the addphys function. After editing and setting the appropriate physics mode coefficients the parsephys command will expand the physics to the fea parent dvar, sfun, coef, eqn, and bdr fields.

The dvar field contains a cell array of strings with names of the dependent (equation) variables which should be solved for. For example

fea.dvar = { 'u' 'v' };

defines two dependent variables, labeled u and v.

Similarly, the sfun field contains a cell array of strings with function names of the finite element shape functions to use for each dependent variable. Shape functions are defined by the functions in the ellib directory. For example

fea.dvar = { 'sflag1' 'sflag2' };

defines 1st order conforming basis functions for the first dependent variable and 2nd order for the second one.

The coef field is a (n_coef, 4) sized cell array of coefficient expressions that can be used in equation definitions and postprocessing. The first column gives the coefficient names, second a short description, third a long description, and the fourth column is a sub cell array for the coefficient expression definitions in each subdomain. (If any of the fields const, expr, and vars exist they will be merged internally with the coef field.) The assignment

fea.coef = { 'rho' '' '' { 1  2            } ;
             'miu' '' '' { 3 '4*pi*sin(x)' } };

here defines two coefficients rho with values 1 and 2 in two respective subdomains, and miu with values 3 and the expression 4*pi*sin(x).

The eqn, bdr, and pnt structs are used to specify equations, boundary conditions, and point constraints. The composition of these fields is explained below in the corresponding subsections.

After solving a problem the sol field will contain the solution column vector in sol.u with rows corresponding to the degrees of freedom (ordered according to the order of the dependent variables in fea.dvar and fea.eqn.dofm). For time dependent and eigenvalue problems the columns in u correspond to solutions at different times/eigenvalues, and additionally the output times will be stored as a vector in the sol.t or sol.l field, respectively.

Equation Struct Specification

The equation struct eqn contains the following fields

Field	Description
eqn.m.form	Form specifications for temporal terms
eqn.m.coef	Coefficient specifications for temporal terms
	Shape functions are inherited from eqn.a.sfun

Field	Description
eqn.a.form	Bilinear form specifications
eqn.a.coef	Coefficient specifications for bilinear forms
eqn.a.sfun	Shape function specification for bilinear forms

Field	Description
eqn.f.form	Linear form specifications for right hand side/load vector
eqn.f.coef	Coefficient specifications for right hand side/load vector
eqn.f.sfun	Shape function specifications for right hand side/load vector

Field	Description
eqn.dofm	Degree of freedom n numbering map for each cell
eqn.ndof	Numbers of degrees of freedom for each dependent variable

The eqn.m field contains specifications for the time dependent term (with time derivative). Similarly the eqn.a field contains specifications for the bilinear forms used in the iteration (stiffness) matrix, and the eqn.f field specifies the linear forms in the right hand side/load vector. The above struct fields contain the form field which specifies the (bi-)linear forms to build and assemble. For bilinear forms the first row corresponds to the trial function space, and the second row the test function space. Linear forms only need to contain one row. In the form specification a 1 indicates a function value, 2 x-derivative, 3 y-derivative, and 4 z-derivative. For example a form specification [2 3;2 3] indicates a bilinear form with two terms, one term with both x-derivatives for the test and trial function spaces, and one with y-derivatives for both spaces (which in this case is a typical two-dimensional diffusion operator). Second order derivatives can also be specified as 22 for the xx-derivative, 23 xy-derivative and so on.

The coef field, is a cell array with coefficient values or expressions used for each term in the form field.

The sfun field is a cell array of shape function names used in the form assembly. This field is usually automatically constructed when calling the parseprob function.

dofm is an array specifying the local to global degree of freedom numbering for each dependent variable (size n_ldof, n_c). The rows correspond to local degrees of freedoms on each cell and the columns give the cell numbers. (For linear conforming shape functions the dof mapping will be identical to the grid.c field.) This field is created when parseprob calls the mapdofbdr function.

ndof is simply an help array for the numbers of degrees of freedom for each dependent variable (equals to max(dofm(:)) and also automatically generated by mapdofbdr).

Boundary Struct Specification

The boundary struct bdr contains the following fields

Field	Description
bdr.d	Dirichlet boundary coefficients
bdr.n	Neumann (flux) boundary coefficients
bdr.bdrm	Boundary degree of freedom numbering maps

Dirichlet boundary conditions are used to prescribe and fix a specific value for the dependent variables, and Neumann conditions are used to represent inward or outward directed fluxes (which are functions of the gradients of the dependent variables). If a Dirichlet condition is prescribed for a boundary, the corresponding Neumann flux entry will be ignored. Alternatively, if a Dirichlet boundary coefficient entry is empty the Neumann flux contribution will be computed and used (however, all default Neumann contributions are zero corresponding to homogeneous do-nothing Neumann boundary conditions).

Boundary coefficients are specified as 1 x n_dvar cell arrays in the bdr.d/n fields, where the entry for each boundary is a n_bc_groups x n_bdr nested cell array containing the coefficients (n_bc_groups is 1, except for special element types such as Hermite basis functions where n_bc_groups > 1 are used to prescribe conditions on degrees of freedom corresponding to derivatives). The coefficient entries can be specified either as constant numeric values, or string expressions which will be evaluated during the simulation. A simplified syntax is also supported where d/n are given as cell arrays of size n_dvar x n_bdr (but does not support boundary groups). The Dirichlet boundary conditions are prescribed to a matrix and right hand side/load vector with the function bdrsetd, while a vector of Neumann flux contributions are computed by the function bdrneu.

The 1 x n_dvar bdrm numeric arrays specifies boundary condition mappings for each dependent variable. In a bdrm array (size 5+n_sdim, n_bdof) the first row gives the cell number, followed by edge/face, boundary, global and local degree of freedom numbers, and local coordinates on edges/faces.

The d and n fields must be prescribed by the user or derived from the physics modes with a call to parsephys, the bdrm field is automatically created when parseprob calls the mapdofbdr function. Moreover, if the default solvers solvestat and solvetime detects nonlinear Neumann boundary conditions they will attempt to linearize them by moving terms involving linear forms from the explicit right hand side to the implicit matrix (a boundary contribution to eqn.a instead of eqn.f).

As an example, given a two dimensional time dependent problem with one dependent variable/unknown u, then the standard boundary syntax will look like following

fea.bdr.d = { {  1  'sin(pi*t*x)+u'  []        []       } };
fea.bdr.n = { { []         0          2   'nx*ux+ny*uy' } };

this will prescribe u constant u = 1 on the first boundary, the time dependent expression u(x,t) = sin(pi*t*x)+u on the second boundary, a constant Neumann/flux condition 2 on the third boundary, and lastly the flux expression nx*ux+ny*uy on the fourth and last boundary. Note that in string expressions it is perfectly valid to use constants, MATLAB functions, time t, function values and derivatives of dependent variables, as well as boundary normals (nx, ny, and nz).

Point Struct Specification

The point struct contains the following fields

Field	Description
pnt.index	Index to grid point (in grid.p)
pnt.type	Specifies either sources or constraint
pnt.dvar	Integer or string corresponding a dependent variable
pnt.expr	scalar or string expression for constraint

Point sources and Dirichlet point constraints are specified in a pnt struct. The type field specifies either a point 'source' or 'constraint' for each point with a corresponding string value. Point sources are applied to the right hand side load vector f while constraints are applied to both f and the global matrix A with the information in the finite element problem struct (pntsetf and pntset). The sources or constraints will be applied to the degree of freedom closest to the grid point specified in the index field. The dvar field contains an integer or string expression pointing to a dependent variable in dvar. The sources or constraints are specified in the expr field either as a string expression or scalar so that pnt.dvar(grid.p(:,pnt.index)) = pnt.expr. (Note that a point constraint will override the usual Dirichlet boundary conditions at the given point).

Edge Struct Specification

The edge struct is only applicable to 3D problems and contains the following fields to specify Dirichlet edge constraints

Field	Description
edg.index	Index to edge
edg.type	Must be constraint type
edg.dvar	Integer or string corresponding a dependent variable
edg.expr	scalar or string expression for constraint

Dirichlet edge constraints are specified in a edg struct. The type field must be set to the string 'constraint'. Edge constraints are applied to both the load vector f and the global matrix A with the information in the finite element problem struct (edgset). The index field specifies the edge to apply the constraint to (as reconstructed by gridbdre and can be visualized with plotedg). The dvar field contains an integer or string expression pointing to a dependent variable in dvar. The constraints are specified in the expr field either as a string expression or numeric scalar.