A short introduction to FreeFem++

M. Ersoy
Basque Center for Applied Mathematics
12 November 2010

Outline of the talk

Outline of the talk

Introduction

HOW TO
solve steady pdes : e.g. Laplace equation
solve unsteady pdes : e.g. Heat equation

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

2 / 22

Outline

Outline

Introduction

HOW TO
solve steady pdes : e.g. Laplace equation
solve unsteady pdes : e.g. Heat equation

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

3 / 22

A software for solving PDEs

FreeFem++ for 2D-3D 1 PDEs

Finite element method

1. in progress
M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

4 / 22

A software for solving PDEs

FreeFem++ for 2D-3D 1 PDEs
Finite element method
Free software : available at http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ 2 , it runs on
I
I
I

Linux
Windows
Mac

1. in progress
2. Useful documentation available at http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ftp/freefem++doc.
pdf
M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

4 / 22

A software for solving PDEs

FreeFem++ for 2D-3D 1 PDEs
Finite element method
Free software : available at http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ 2 , it runs on
I
I
I

Linux
Windows
Mac

++ extension of FreeFem and FreeFem+ (see Historic

http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ftp/HISTORY)

1. in progress
2. Useful documentation available at http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ftp/freefem++doc.
pdf
M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

4 / 22

A software for solving PDEs

FreeFem++ for 2D-3D 1 PDEs
Finite element method
Free software : available at http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ 2 , it runs on
I
I
I

Linux
Windows
Mac

++ extension of FreeFem and FreeFem+ (see Historic

http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ftp/HISTORY)
FreeFem++ team : Olivier Pironneau, Frederic Hecht, Antoine Le Hyaric,
Jacques Morice

1. in progress
2. Useful documentation available at http://www.freefem.org/ff++/ftp/freefem++doc.
pdf
M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

4 / 22

Outline

Outline

Introduction

HOW TO
solve steady pdes : e.g. Laplace equation
solve unsteady pdes : e.g. Heat equation

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

5 / 22

Outline

Outline

Introduction

HOW TO
solve steady pdes : e.g. Laplace equation
solve unsteady pdes : e.g. Heat equation

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

6 / 22

The problem
Given f L2 (), find H01 () such that :

= f
(x1 , x2 ) = 0

n := n = 0

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

in
on 1
on 2

12 November 2010

7 / 22

Variational formulation (VF)

Let w be a test function, the VF of the Laplace equation is :
Z
Z
w dx =
f w dx

or equivalently
A(, w) = l(w)
where the bilinear form is
Z
w dx

A(, w) =

and the linear one :

Z
l(w) =

f w dx

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

8 / 22

Variational problem
Problem is now to find v H01 () such that, for every w H01 () :
A(, w) = l(w)
where the bilinear form is
Z
w dx

A(, w) =

and the linear one :

Z
l(w) =

f w dx

We set V = H 1 () in the next

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

9 / 22

FEM : Galerkin method

Let Vh V with dimVh = nh ,
(
Vh =

u(x, y); u(x, y) =

nh
X

)
uk k (x, y), uk R

k=1

where k Ps is a polynom of degree s.

Now, the problem is to find h Vh such that :
w Vh , A(h , w) = l(w)
So, we have to solve :
i {1, . . . , nh }, A(j , i ) = l(i )

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

10 / 22

Spaces Vh
Spaces Vh = Vh (h , P ) will depend on the mesh :
h =

n
[

Tk

k=1

and the approximation P

P0 piecewise constant approximation
P1 C 0 piecewise linear approximation
..
.
M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

11 / 22

With FreeFem++

To numerically solve the Laplace equation, we have to :

1

mesh the domain (define the border + mesh)

write the VF

show the result

its easy !

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

12 / 22

Step 1 : mesh of the domain

if = 1 + 2 + . . . then
FreeFem++ define border commands :
I
I
I

border Gamma1(t = t0,tf){x = gam11(t), y = gam12(t)} ;

border Gamma2(t = t0,tf){x = gam21(t), y = gam22(t)} ;
...

where the set {x = gam11(t), y = gam12(t)} is a parametrisation of the

border Gamma1 with t [t0, tf ]

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

13 / 22

Step 1 : mesh of the domain

if = 1 + 2 + . . . then
FreeFem++ define border commands :
I
I
I

border Gamma1(t = t0,tf){x = gam11(t), y = gam12(t)} ;

border Gamma2(t = t0,tf){x = gam21(t), y = gam22(t)} ;
...

where the set {x = gam11(t), y = gam12(t)} is a parametrisation of the

border Gamma1 with t [t0, tf ]
FreeFem++ mesh commands :
mesh MeshName = buildmesh(Gamma1(m1)+Gamma1(m2)+. . . ) ;
where mi are positive (or negative) numbers to indicate the number of point
should on j . example

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

13 / 22

Step 2 : write the VF

Premliminar

To write the VF, we need to

define finite element space , we will use :
fespace NameFEspace(MeshName,P) ;
where P = P0 or P1 or P2, . . . . Example :
fespace Vh(Omegah,P2) ;

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

14 / 22

Step 2 : write the VF

Premliminar

To write the VF, we need to

define finite element space , we will use :
fespace NameFEspace(MeshName,P) ;
where P = P0 or P1 or P2, . . . . Example :
fespace Vh(Omegah,P2) ;
use interpolated function, for instance,
Vh f = x+y ;
N.B. x and y are reserved key words

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

14 / 22

Step 2 : write the VF

VF

VF is simply what we write on paper, for instance, for the Laplace equation, we
should have :
Vh phi, w, f ;
problem Laplace(phi,w)
int2d(Omegah)(dx(phi)*dx(w) + dy(phi)*dy(w))
- int2d(Omegah)(f*w)
+ boundary conditions
;
where w, phi belong to FE space Vh.

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

15 / 22

Step 2 : write the VF

VF

VF is simply what we write on paper, for instance, for the Laplace equation, we
should have :
Vh phi, w, f ;
problem Laplace(phi,w)
int2d(Omegah)(dx(phi)*dx(w) + dy(phi)*dy(w))
- int2d(Omegah)(f*w)
+ boundary conditions
;
where w, phi belong to FE space Vh.
Next, to solve it, just write :
Laplace ;

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

15 / 22

Step 2 : write the VF

VF

VF is simply what we write on paper, for instance, for the Laplace equation, we
should have :
Vh phi, w, f ;
problem Laplace(phi,w)
int2d(Omegah)(dx(phi)*dx(w) + dy(phi)*dy(w))
- int2d(Omegah)(f*w)
+ boundary conditions
;
where w, phi belong to FE space Vh.

or equivalently write directly :

solve Laplace(phi,w)
int2d(Omegah)(dx(phi)*dx(w) + dy(phi)*dy(w))
- int2d(Omegah)(f*w)
+ boundary conditions
;

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

15 / 22

Step 2 : write the VF

Boundary conditions 3

Dirichlet condition u = g : +on(BorderName, u=g)

Neumann condition n u = g : -int1d(Th)( g*w)
...

3. see the manual p. 142

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

16 / 22

Step 3 : show the result

to plot
plot(phi) ;
or
plot([dx(phi),dy(phi)]) ;
Laplace equation

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

17 / 22

Outline

Outline

Introduction

HOW TO
solve steady pdes : e.g. Laplace equation
solve unsteady pdes : e.g. Heat equation

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

18 / 22

The problem

Given f L2 (), find H 1 () such that :

t = f
(x1 , x2 ) = z(x1 , x2 )

n := n = 0

in
on 1
on 2

may be rewritten, after an implicit Euler finite difference approximation in time as

follows :
n+1 n
n+1 = f n
t

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

19 / 22

Variational formulation

The Variational formulation for the semi discrete equation is : let w be a test
function, we write :
Z
Z
n+1 n
n+1
w +
w dx =
f n w dx
t

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

20 / 22

The FreeFem formulation

Following the steady state case, the problem is then :

solve Laplace(phi,w)
int2d(Omegah)(phi*w/dt +dx(phi)*dx(w) + dy(phi)*dy(w))
- int2d(Omegah)(phiold*w/dt f*w)
+ boundary conditions
;
where we have to solve iteratively this discrete equation.

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

example

12 November 2010

21 / 22

Enjoy
Enjoy

yourself

yourself

M. Ersoy (BCAM)

Freefem++

12 November 2010

22 / 22