Elmer is a finite-element simulation suite for investigating physical systems governed by partial differential equations. It was developed by CSC, the Finnish IT Center for Science, in cooperation with universities, research organisations and industry.
The software provides numerical models for heat transfer, fluid mechanics, structural analysis, electromagnetism and other scientific disciplines. These models can be combined to investigate problems where different physical processes influence one another.
Examples include the interaction of fluid flow with temperature, thermal stresses in structural components and electromagnetic effects within engineered systems. Elmer is also used in specialised research areas such as acoustics, microfluidics and glaciology.
The suite includes the ElmerSolver computation engine, ElmerGrid for mesh-related operations and ElmerGUI for preparing and managing simulation models. Researchers can define physical properties, boundary conditions and solver configurations before examining the calculated results.
Elmer supports both relatively small studies and computationally demanding simulations. Its range of numerical methods and parallel processing capabilities make it suitable for academic research and engineering analysis.
This is free and open source software.
Key Features
- Finite-element methods for coupled physical simulations.
- Heat conduction, radiation and phase-change models.
- Incompressible fluid flow and related transport equations.
- Structural elasticity and mechanical deformation calculations.
- Electrostatics, magnetostatics and electromagnetic induction.
- Acoustics and Helmholtz equation solvers.
- Species transport and convection-diffusion models.
- Specialised models for microfluidics and free-boundary problems.
- One-, two- and three-dimensional finite-element meshes.
- Higher-order finite-element approximations.
- Stationary and transient numerical solutions.
- Direct and iterative sparse linear system solvers.
- Multigrid methods and numerical preconditioning.
- Eigenvalue calculations and selected adaptive methods.
- ElmerGUI for model preparation and configuration.
- ElmerGrid for mesh handling and conversion.
- Parallel numerical calculations for larger simulation problems.
- Cross-platform support – runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows.
Website: www.elmerfem.org
Support:
Developer: CSC, the Finnish IT Center for Science
License: GNU General Public License v2.0
Elmer is written in Fortran. Learn Fortran with our recommended free books and free tutorials.
Related Software
| Physics Tools | |
|---|---|
| ROOT | Solves the data analysis challenges of high-energy physics |
| OpenFOAM | Facilitates the numerical solution of partial differential equations |
| McStas | Neutron ray-trace simulation application |
| Octopus | Real-space, real-time implementation of TDDFT |
| Geant4 | Toolkit for the simulation of the passage of particles through matter |
| Rivet | Particle-physics MC analysis toolkit |
| HepMC | Event record for High Energy Physics Monte Carlo generators |
| Elmer | Finite Element Software for Multiphysical Problems |
| PYTHIA | Generation of high-energy physics events |
| CP2K | Quantum chemistry and solid state physics software package |
| Sherpa | Monte Carlo event generator |
| FastJet | Software for jet finding in pp and e+e− collisions |
| SU2 | Suite for multiphysics simulation and design |
| Herwig | Multi-purpose particle physics event generator |
| Tracker | Video analysis and modeling tool designed to be used in education |
| WarpX | Advanced electromagnetic and electrostatic Particle-In-Cell code |
| Step | Interactive physics simulator |
| Meep | Electromagnetic simulation - finite-difference time-domain method |
| LHAPDF | General purpose C++ interpolator |
| ESPResSo | Molecular dynamics package |
| DualSPHysics | Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics solver |
| Basilisk | Numerical simulation framework for solving partial differential equations |
| Gerris Flow Solver | Tool for generic numerical simulations of flows |
| ASL | Hardware accelerated multiphysics simulation platform |
Read our verdict in the software roundup.
 LinuxLinks helps you discover the best free and open source software for Linux. Explore our extensive collection of recommended applications, including alternatives to popular proprietary software.We also publish software reviews, Linux tutorials, hardware reviews, free programming books and articles covering the wider open source community. Browse our Linux resources to discover more. Know a useful free and open source Linux application we haven't covered? Suggest a program for inclusion. Has your software been featured on LinuxLinks? Display one of our Featured on LinuxLinks badges on your website or GitHub README. |
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.