pyCAFE is a Python based 2D finite element framework for solving acoustic problems in the frequency domain.
The library is designed for research and engineering applications in acoustics. It provides a clear and modular workflow for defining the fluid medium, geometry, boundary conditions, assembling the acoustic finite element system, and solving the Helmholtz equation.
pyCAFE is particularly suited for numerical studies and for extending classical acoustic FEM formulations toward more advanced models.
The authors welcome contributions from the community to enhance and expand the software's capabilities. Even if the studies behind the writing of the software were broad and deep, there is always room for improvement and new features. A lot of work is still needed to make pyCAFE a fully-featured acoustic FEM package.
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pyCAFE is available on PyPI under the name pycafe-acoustics:
pip install pycafe-acoustics---
A typical pyCAFE analysis follows an explicit and modular pipeline:
- Create geometry and mesh (optional step)
- Load fluid properties
- Define the computational geometry
- Load the finite element mesh
- Assign boundary conditions
- Assemble the acoustic finite element system
- Solve the Helmholtz equation in the frequency domain
Each step is handled by a dedicated function, making the workflow easy to understand, debug, and extend.
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The following example illustrates a complete acoustic simulation workflow using pyCAFE:
import pycafe
# Load fluid properties
fluid = pycafe.load_fluid("air")
# Create geometry
msh_file = pycafe.create_geometry(c0=fluid["c0"])
# Load mesh
nodes, elements, boundaries = pycafe.load_mesh("rectangle_CQUAD8.msh")
# Assign boundary conditions
bc = pycafe.assign_boundary_conditions(
boundaries=boundaries,
nodes=nodes,
)
# Assemble the acoustic FEM system
system = pycafe.prepare_acoustic_system(
nodes=nodes,
elements=elements,
boundaries=boundaries,
rho=fluid["rho"],
c0=fluid["c0"],
bc=bc,
debug=True,
)
# Solve the acoustic problem
results = pycafe.run_analysis(
system=system,
nodes=nodes,
boundaries=boundaries,
rho=fluid["rho"],
)---
The core package is organized as follows:
pycafe/
boundary_condition/ Acoustic boundary condition definitions
build_matrices/ Finite element matrix assembly
core/ Workflow utilities
create_geom/ Geometry definition and mesh visualization
material/ Fluid and material models
solver/ Helmholtz and modal solvers
post_processing/ Post processing and visualization tools
tests/
Basic unit tests
docs/
Sphinx documentation source and build files
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The project documentation is built using Sphinx and can be hosted via Read the Docs.
To build the documentation locally, run the following commands from the project root directory:
cd docs
make clean
make htmlThe generated HTML documentation will be available in
docs/build/html.
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Unit tests are located in the tests/ directory and can be run using:
pytestContributions, bug reports, and feature requests are welcome.
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pyCAFE is released under the MIT License.
See the LICENSE file for more information.
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