Introduction

This repository provides the user manual for suanPan. If you are browsing the GitHub repository, please visit https://tlcfem.github.io/suanPan-manual/latest/ for a better presentation.

The manual is also hosted on https://tlcfem.gitbook.io/suanpan-manual/, which always contains the latest version of the manual. This serves as an alternative if the mkdocs theme is not preferred.

I'm still working on this site from time to time. Hence, it is unlikely to get a complete reference by solely checking this site. For any potential doubts, please feel free to contact me.

Why to use?

Commercial packages are great, but may be too expensive. Unless your organization has already purchased a licence, it is not likely for individuals to get access to them. Developing new elements, materials, etc., is also not easy. Imaging you are asked to write a 3D material model in Fortran, which is not a pleasant experience (at least for me).

Existing open source packages often focus on specific areas, such as heat transfer, wave propagation, etc. Not many are able to provide a wide range of elements, nonlinear material models, etc. suanPan is striving to provide a platform to integrate latest research results into a single package. One can find many newly proposed (within, say, the past one decade) elements, material models, time integration methods, etc., that are not available in other packages but have been implemented in suanPan.

Performance is another concern. suanPan is designed with high performance in mind. Who doesn't want to get the results as soon as possible? If you are a researcher, it is also very convenient to implement new ideas within the framework. For reference, I am able to implement a new uniaxial inelastic material model within hours. If you have experience in developing new models in any language, you shall be able to do the same. The architecture is continuously evolving to provide a hassle-free platform for researchers to implement new ideas.

Where to start?

It is not easy to pick up a new finite element analysis tool, but it is not impossible. The logic of input files resembles that of ABAQUS. If you have some experience with ABAQUS, it shall be easy to create a simple model by hand.

After a simple demo presented in Analyze, you are recommended to check out Syntax and Structure to gain an overall picture of what an input file would look like.

The Example section includes a number of examples with various degrees of complexity, check the ones you are familiar with, or simple ones such as Linear Analysis of A Truss Roof and Dynamic Analysis of A Portal Frame, as the starting point.

The Collection section includes the top level commands used to develop finite element models.

The Library section contains all specific elements, materials, etc., that are available.

To develop a specific model, you may need to have this manual at hand to check the syntax of the corresponding commands. You can also install the VS Code extension to get syntax highlighting and auto-completion.

You are also strongly recommended to check the Example folder in the source code repository. As those examples are used to provide coverage report, almost all commands are used in those examples. You shall be able to have a better understanding of the syntax by checking those examples.

Summary

Here is a complete table of contents. If you are interested in the architecture of the program, you can check the slides I prepared for a talk.

About

Many FEM packages are available out there, so why another package? Commercial packages are great, but may be too expensive for individuals to get access to. The limited extensibility is another pain in the butt. Modern programming paradigms for parallel computing have evolved a lot in recent years. C++ itself has also received a huge number of updates starting from C++11. suanPan is basically a practice of modern parallel computing with brand-new language features. The civil/structural community also needs an update of new tools for efficient numerical analysis. suanPan is designed to offer a concise but highly extensible framework for finite element analysis. With the assist of Armadillo, the syntax of which is expressive, researchers can try out new ideas easily.

Contribution

You are very welcome to contribute to the application. Please feel free to create feature requests or directly contact me if you wish to have a new element, material model, etc., implemented.

To contribute to this manual, please create pull requests. Besides, if you find any typos, please also feel free to create issues.

All third party libraries must provide a single markdown file to explain how to use the library and if possible with some theories.

It may be convenient to build the manual locally, please check Build for more details.

Citation

If suanPan has offered some convenience to your research work, please consider visiting 10.5281/zenodo.1285221 and citing any version appropriate.