Engineering simulations without limits. The origin of CoFEA Initiative ☕¶
Although the numerical simulations have been available for engineers for more than 50 years, I don’t feel they are as popular as they deserve to be. Some software vendors want to ‘democratize’ the simulation by simplifying its usage. It might be a way to make simulations more popular, but I am not sure if the term ‘democratization’ is the right word. As far as I remember the economic status should not matter in a real democracy, but it does matter in the proposed type of democratization. It is very likely that more engineers would use simulations if they weren’t that expensive. There is also another flip side of this approach… How much the developers can simplify the usage of software before it becomes a black-box solution? I bet some people would even argue that any software which is not open-source is essentially a black-box, but I am not that strict with the rules.
I must admit I have been thinking for some time on how to introduce computer simulations in more companies. It seems to be a highly complex problem with a non-unique solution. That is why I feel like any contribution will help, so I would like to present my own initiative. Since the beginning of November, I have been working on my new after-hours project which I called CoFEA (Collaboration + Finite Element Analysis). CoFEA is an initiative that aims to bring open-source simulation software closer to the engineering industry problems. The goals of this initiative is to:
raise awareness of the available open-source simulation software
increase confidence in using this software by testing it with benchmarks and real-life problems
develop Python tools and scripts to make usage easier and simpler
gather information on how to set up the simulation environment correctly
I truly believe it is possible to use free tools to solve a lot of engineering problems. Probably not as many as with the commercial software, but still plenty of them. The main issue with the open-source software though is that the know-how is spread over the whole internet. Sometimes it is even hard to find out how to run a code properly. That is why it is important to gather all the knowledge in one place for those who seek it.
Furthermore, knowing how to run a simulation is not equal to having confidence in its results. The database of benchmarks allows not only to check if the software gives a correct answer but also to find out which code is the most appropriate to use.
Another pitfall of the open-source software is the lack of compatibility between the codes. Some codes are great for mesh generation, some have great solvers and some have great post-processing capabilities. I haven’t found open-source software which meets all these conditions. This obstacle is another goal of the CoFEA Initiative - to create a Python library which converts simulation data into format possible to use in multiple codes.
All of these tasks have been tackled since the origin of the project. Fortunately, I was not alone in this journey - with the great help of Maciej Dudek I was able to do more than I was initially aiming for. We chose the tuning fork model for the first benchmark in the CoFEA database. Despite the model simplicity, the study clearly shows that the fine mesh needs be used to be able to pick the frequency of 440 Hz. We have tested it in Calculix, Code Aster and Elmer - all give the same correct answer!
We have also managed to set up the Paraview Glance server. This remarkable solution will enable us to show the simulation results directly on the web. At the moment, it is used only to show the tuning fork geometry and let the user play with it, but it has enormous potential when it gets to show what can be done with the open-source software. Click on this link to see exactly how it works!
The CoFEA Initiative is built in a way that everyone can contribute. The Python code and the whole website is available on GitHub. Any modification made on GitHub invokes automatic compilation of HTML website on ReadTheDocs server using Sphinx and in this way, everyone can feel that is a part of this initiative.
So how to contribute? There are plenty of ways:
if you know how to use simulation software then you can help to make models
if you possess programming skills then you can help to develop CoFEA mesh converter
if you are good at writing then you can help to develop the website
if you don’t think you have anything from the above, but you are eager to help just let me know! Either contact me on LinkedIn or send an email to cofea.project(at)gmail.com
Finally, if you have any old FE input decks which were validated and you can share them, let me know! We will give them another life by checking them in the open-source software.
Let’s make this initiative valuable for all of us!