Mesh formats¶

Currently-supported mesh formats and the meshio-based path for adding more.

Gc = infinity (or simply not solving the damage sub-problem) reduces it to a linear elastic FEM solver. The StaticSolver already does this for the pre-strain step (d=0 everywhere). However, the solver is purpose-built for phase-field fracture — for general-purpose linear/nonlinear FEM, dedicated tools (FEniCS, deal.II, Abaqus) are more appropriate.

Supported Mesh Formats¶

Currently the solver reads Gmsh .msh files (via meshio) with 2D linear triangular elements (T3). The mesh_generator module creates .geo files for standard benchmarks.

For user-supplied geometry, write or export a .msh file and reference that file from YAML:

geometry:
  mesh_path: meshes/my_model.msh

Boundary conditions refer to named node sets, so the mesh should include Gmsh physical groups with names that match the YAML:

boundary_conditions:
  - {nodes: left, type: fix, component: 0}
  - {nodes: left, type: fix, component: 1}
  - {nodes: right, type: prescribe, component: 0, value: 0.01}

If the starting point is a .geo file, generate the .msh with Gmsh first. PhAST’s YAML runner loads the .msh; built-in YAML primitive geometries are compiled to cached .geo/.msh artifacts automatically.

For public examples that keep their Gmsh source files beside the YAML deck, see the geometry and setup gallery. It links each setup preview to the corresponding mesh.geo and config.yaml files.

Since the mesh loading is built on meshio, adding support for other formats is straightforward — meshio can read 40+ mesh formats including: