Mathematica Includes Numeric Prototyping and FEA

By DE Editors

Two new application packages from Wolfram Research (Champaign, IL) work together to bring rapid numerical prototyping and FEA to Mathematica. AceGen, for the automatic derivation of formulas, and AceFEM, a general finite element environment, are now shipping.

AceGen’s code-generation system combines the symbolic and algebraic capabilities of Mathematica with built-in processes for differentiation, simultaneous expression optimization, and theorems in order to provide numerical code from symbolic descriptions. It can determine characteristic quantities such as gradients, tangent operators, and sensitivity vectors. The generated code is portable and can be implemented in supported FEA environments such as AceFEM or compiled with the included C compiler.

AceFEM FEA includes structured mesh generation in 1D, 2D, and 3D; support for commercial mesh generators; direct and sensitivity analysis; and coupling of symbolic capabilities and large-scale numerical simulations. It has a library of finite elements prebuilt for professionals and researchers. Key features include optimization procedures with stochastic evaluation of expressions, multi-language code generation and automatic interfacing to numerical environments, simultaneous optimization of derived expressions, and automatic selection of the appropriate intermediate variables.

AceGen and AceFEM are available separately for Windows and require Mathematica 5.0 or higher. The suggested retail price for AceGen is $1200; for AceFEM it is $2300. A 20% discount is available on both packages through March 13, 2007.  For more information, go to wolfram.com/applications. 

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.