Automating the finite element method
Journal article, 2007

The finite element method can be viewed as a machine that automates the discretization of differential equations, taking as input a variational problem, a finite element and a mesh, and producing as output a system of discrete equations. However, the generality of the framework provided by the finite element method is seldom reflected in implementations (realizations), which are often specialized and can handle only a small set of variational problems and finite elements (but are typically parametrized over the choice of mesh). This paper reviews ongoing research in the direction of a complete automation of the finite element method. In particular, this work discusses algorithms for the efficient and automatic computation of a system of discrete equations from a given variational problem, finite element and mesh. It is demonstrated that by automatically generating and compiling efficient low-level code, it is possible to parametrize a finite element code over variational problem and finite element in addition to the mesh.

Author

Anders Logg

University of Gothenburg

Chalmers, Mathematical Sciences, Mathematics

Archives of Computational Methods in Engineering

1134-3060 (ISSN)

Vol. 14 2 93-138

Subject Categories

Mathematics

Computational Mathematics

DOI

10.1007/s11831-007-9003-9

More information

Created

10/7/2017