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1 Introduction

MODULEF is an extensive general purpose finite element library containing a large number of modules which cater for problems in thermal analysis, elasticity, fluid mechanics, etc. The aim of part ii of this user manual is to illustrate how such problems can be solved numerically with the aid of MODULEF. In order to do so, we will give a short introduction outlining the finite element concepts and implementation by MODULEF, after which a number of test examples is presented to familiarize the user with the various modules available in the MODULEF library. The purpose of the tests are:

• to provide some simple examples which enable us to test the principal libraries of the MODULEF code for each implementation,
• to indicate the different steps to be followed in solving a typical problem, and
• to offer an introduction to MODULEF by working through some simple but fully treated examples.

These tests are divided into two groups:

1. The first group contains the tests that are solved in a conversational manner, by calling the various preprocessors, or the general preprocessor TOUTXX, contained in the MODULEF code.
2. The second group contains the tests executed in batch, by executing a series of FORTRAN programs contained in the TEST library.

As an introduction, we first solve an example in detail showing, step by step, how data files are created, which modules to use and how to obtain the desired results and generate the corresponding plots. Having worked through this initial example thoroughly, we proceed to present six test examples which will be discussed more briefly, and for which the data files have been created.

The tests and corresponding data files reside in the following two libraries:

• Library TEST contains the FORTRAN programs corresponding to the tests (4, 5 and 6) which are executed in batch.
• Library TESD contains formatted files corresponding to all the tests (1 to 6).

  These files fall into two categories:

  1. Data files of which the names always start with the letter D.
  2. Files containing the test solution. The names of these files begin with the letter S.

  The names of these files have the form DnZZZZ.D and SnZZZZ.D respectively, where:

  D

  is a letter common to all the data files,

  S

  is a letter common to all the solution files,

  n

  is the test number, and

  ZZZZ

  represents a chain of four characters describing the data structure(s) to be created by the activated program.

  .D

  indicates that it is a formatted file.

  For example, the file

  D2NOPO.D

  contains the data for the program which creates the data structure NOPO for test 2,

  D1COMA.D

  contains the data for the program which creates data structure MAIL and COOR in test 1,

  D3FOMI.D

  results in the creation of data structures FORC and MILI for test 3, and the file

  S2TAES.D

  contains the stresses TAE corresponding to test 2.

The resulting data structures (D.S.) generated by the various modules in tests 1 to 6 have the form TnZZZZ, where

T

is a letter common to all output data structures,

n

is the test number, and

ZZZZ

represents a chain of four characters describing the type of data structure created.

As mentioned earlier, the MODULEF code consists of a large number of program modules, each performing certain steps of the finite element solution procedure. It is therefore important to be able to extract information regarding modules, libraries, preprocessors, programs, etc., and their inter-relationships. The procedure for obtaining information regarding the MODULEF code is given in appendix C.

Practical and detailed information regarding execution of the tests is contained in file TEST.HELP of the library TESD.

Before proceeding to the test examples, let us start by briefly discussing the finite element method of solution and implementation by MODULEF.

• 1.1 Solving a concrete problem using MODULEF