FEATool Multiphysics™ 1.11

FEATool Multiphysics release 1.11 is now available and extends the multi-simulation solver concept even further by introducing a fluid-structure interaction (FSI) solver (in addition to the existing built-in multiphysics, OpenFOAM, and FEniCS solver integrations). The following new features are available with FEATool Multiphysics 1.11.

Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI)

FEATool now features a built-in FSI physics mode and dedicated FSI solver to make fluid-structure interaction simulations easy to set-up directly from both the GUI and optional command line interface. This enables study of models where the coupling of fluid effects, large deformation, and forces on structures are important, such as in bio-medical devices.

The video above show the results from a FEATool simulation of an hyper-elastic beam in a laminar flow, and agrees well with the reference FSI reference benchmark [1]. The linked tutorial below also features step-by-step instructions how to set up and perform the simulation in the FEATool GUI.

3D Geometry Engine

The 3D geometry engine has been upgraded with optional interfaces for the OpenCASCADE and BRL-CAD open source CSG geometry engines. Moreover, additional geometry primitives such as polyhedron, ellipsoid, (capped) cone, and torus are now also available. This allows for more complex 3D geometries to be implemented directly in the FEATool CAD GUI in addition to the existing STL CAD import facilities.

Linear Solvers

FEATool now also includes more efficient linear solvers, firstly the direct solver MUMPS which offers about 20% faster performance than the default built-in sparse solver in single threaded mode, and also supports parallel execution. In addition, iterative solvers such as GMRES and BiCGStab with ILU(k) preconditioning is also now supported which are more memory efficient than direct solvers and therefore allows for larger simulations. Users can also override the linear system call with custom sparse solvers.

Additional New Features

• Dedicated and improved treatment of internal/interior boundaries
• Support for Gmsh v4.x GEO file format geometry import and export
• New examples and tutorials for thermo-mechanical coupling, fluid-structure interaction, and non-Newtonian flow
• P1/P2 bubble, Nedelec curl, and Raviart-Thomas vector finite element shape functions
• Miscellaneous GUI and usability improvements
  
  

Technical Forum

A new dedicated discussion forum for FEATool Multiphysics has also been launched and is available at forum.featool.com.

FEATool Multiphysics is available as a dedicated MATLAB® Add-On and self-contained physics simulation toolbox (install with one-click directly from the MATLAB® Add-Ons Toolbar or free to download from the link below).

Reference

[1] Hron J. A monolithic FEM/multigrid solver for ALE formulation of fluid structure interaction with application in biomechanics. In H.-J. Bungartz and M. Schaefer, editors, Fluid-Structure Interaction: Modelling, Simulation, Optimisation, LLNCSE. Springer, 2006.