FEniCS Mechanics: A Package for Continuum Mechanics Simulations

Abstract

FEniCS Mechanics is a Python package to facilitate computational mechanics simulations. The Python library dolfin, from the FEniCS Project, is used to formulate and numerically solve the problem in variational form. The general balance laws from continuum mechanics are used to enable rapid prototyping of different material laws. In addition to its generality, FEniCS Mechanics also checks the input provided by users to ensure that problem definitions are physically consistent. In turn, this code enables simulations of custom mechanics problems to be more accessible to those with limited programming or mechanics knowledge.