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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

PyGDH: Python Grid Discretization Helper

Journal Article · · Journal of Open Source Software
DOI:https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.02744· OSTI ID:1777973

Mathematical models expressed in the form of discretized equations play an important role inmany scientific disciplines. In our experience, few domain scientists have sufficient backgroundin numerical computing (or the time required to acquire such a background) to use manyflexible and powerful but complex open source packages, such as FEniCS (Alnæs et al., 2015)and OpenFOAM (The OpenFOAM Foundation Ltd, n.d.). Many user-friendly open sourcepackages, such as FiPy (J. E. Guyer & Warren, 2009), and many commercial packages, suchas COMSOL Multiphysics (COMSOL AB, n.d.) and Simcenter STAR-CCM+ (Siemens DigitalIndustries Software, n.d.), provide limited flexibility in the equations that users can express.Additionally, the use of commercial packages, which by nature do not perform calculationstransparently, can hinder reproducibility, which is vital to the scientific process. PyGDH(“pigged”) is a Python 2 / Python 3 (Python Software Foundation, 1991–2020) package thatis meant to be accessible to scientists who might not be specialists in scientific computing,while approaching the level of flexibility associated with writing dedicated programs tailoredto solving specific problems. The PyGDH User’s Guide provides detailed instructions forcreating numerical models, including a brief introduction to necessary command line andPython (Python Software Foundation, 1991–2020) skills, and discussions of discretization andvalidation. Note that PyGDH emphasizes flexibility and simplicity over performance, and wasnot designed for high-performance applications or models describing complex spatial domains.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Advanced Manufacturing Office (EE-5A)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1777973
Journal Information:
Journal of Open Source Software, Journal Name: Journal of Open Source Software Journal Issue: 59 Vol. 6; ISSN 2475-9066
Publisher:
Open Source Initiative - NumFOCUSCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (7)

SciPy 1.0: fundamental algorithms for scientific computing in Python journal February 2020
Matplotlib: A 2D Graphics Environment journal January 2007
FiPy: Partial Differential Equations with Python journal May 2009
Cython: The Best of Both Worlds journal March 2011
The NumPy Array: A Structure for Efficient Numerical Computation journal March 2011
Stress and Strain in Silicon Electrode Models journal January 2015
The FEniCS Project Version 1.5 text January 2015

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