Mat-1.3656 Seminar on numerical analysis and computational science

Monday, Feb 2, 2008, room U322 at 14.15, Eirola & Stenberg

Peter Råback, CSC

On the solution of multiphysical problems with Elmer finite element software

Multiphysical problems arise when two or more different physical phenomena are coupled with one another. The solution of multiphysical problems is not necessarily particularly difficult - in many fields it has been done long before the concept even existed. The difficulty depends very much on the nature and strength of the coupling.

Elmer is a finite element software developed for the solution of multiphysical problems. Usually Elmer uses iterative (block Gauss-Seidel) schemes for the solution of such problems. For inherently coupled problems also monolithic schemes are employed. For some selected problems there also some hybrid schemes that combines the good convergence properties of the monolithic method with the easy implementation of the iteration method. Often these involve the modification of the original set of equation in a consistent manner.

The presentation is two-fold. First we give an overview of Elmer software and its multiphysical features. In the second part we go through some real-life examples where different strategies have been used to achieve convergence.

References
[1] http://www.csc.fi/elmer, Elmer finite element software homepage