Fluidsim is an extensible framework for studying fluid dynamics with numerical simulations using Python. Fluidsim is an object-oriented library to develop Fluidsim "solvers" (i.e. Python packages solving equations) by writing mainly Python code. The result is very efficient even compared to a pure Fortran or C++ code since the time-consuming tasks are performed by optimized compiled functions.

Documentation: https://fluidsim.readthedocs.io

Getting started

To try fluidsim without installation:

For a basic installation it should be sufficient to run:

pip install fluidsim

or with conda/mamba:

conda install -c conda-forge fluidsim

Much more detailed instructions are given in the documentation.

How does it work?

Fluidsim is a HPC code. It is part of the wider project FluidDyn and its pseudospectral solvers rely on the library fluidfft to use very efficient FFT libraries. Fluidfft is written in C++, Cython and Python. Fluidfft and fluidsim take advantage of Pythran, an ahead-of-time compiler which produces very efficient binaries by compiling Python via C++11.

An advantage of a CFD code written mostly in Python is that, to run simulations and analyze the results, the users communicate (possibly interactively) together and with the machine with Python, which is nowadays among the best languages to do these tasks. Moreover, it is much simpler and faster than with pure Fortran or C++ codes to add any complicated analysis or to write a modified solver. Fluidsim can also be used to extend existing solvers with Python interfaces such as Basilisk.

We have created fluidsim to be easy and nice to use and to develop, efficient and robust.

Keywords and ambitions: fluid dynamics research with Python (>=3.10); modular, object-oriented, collaborative, tested and documented, free and open-source software.

License

FluidSim is distributed under the CeCILL License, a GPL compatible french license.

Metapapers and citations

If you use FluidSim to produce scientific articles, please cite our metapapers presenting the FluidDyn project, FluidFFT, and FluidSim:

@article{fluiddyn,
doi = {10.5334/jors.237},
year = {2019},
publisher = {Ubiquity Press,  Ltd.},
volume = {7},
author = {Pierre Augier and Ashwin Vishnu Mohanan and Cyrille Bonamy},
title = {{FluidDyn}: A Python Open-Source Framework for Research and Teaching in Fluid Dynamics
    by Simulations,  Experiments and Data Processing},
journal = {Journal of Open Research Software}
}

@article{fluidfft,
doi = {10.5334/jors.238},
year = {2019},
publisher = {Ubiquity Press,  Ltd.},
volume = {7},
author = {Ashwin Vishnu Mohanan and Cyrille Bonamy and Pierre Augier},
title = {{FluidFFT}: Common {API} (C$\mathplus\mathplus$ and Python)
    for Fast Fourier Transform {HPC} Libraries},
journal = {Journal of Open Research Software}
}

@article{fluidsim,
doi = {10.5334/jors.239},
year = {2019},
publisher = {Ubiquity Press,  Ltd.},
volume = {7},
author = {Mohanan, Ashwin Vishnu and Bonamy, Cyrille and Linares, Miguel
    Calpe and Augier, Pierre},
title = {{FluidSim}: {Modular}, {Object}-{Oriented} {Python} {Package} for
    {High}-{Performance} {CFD} {Simulations}},
journal = {Journal of Open Research Software}
}