fluidsim

FluidSim

Overview

FluidSim is an object-oriented Python framework for high-performance computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. It provides solvers for periodic-domain equations using pseudospectral methods with FFT, delivering performance comparable to Fortran/C++ while maintaining Python's ease of use.

Key strengths:

• Multiple solvers: 2D/3D Navier-Stokes, shallow water, stratified flows
• High performance: Pythran/Transonic compilation, MPI parallelization
• Complete workflow: Parameter configuration, simulation execution, output analysis
• Interactive analysis: Python-based post-processing and visualization

Core Capabilities

1. Installation and Setup

Install fluidsim using uv with appropriate feature flags:

# Basic installation
uv pip install fluidsim

# With FFT support (required for most solvers)
uv pip install "fluidsim[fft]"

# With MPI for parallel computing
uv pip install "fluidsim[fft,mpi]"

Set environment variables for output directories (optional):

export FLUIDSIM_PATH=/path/to/simulation/outputs
export FLUIDDYN_PATH_SCRATCH=/path/to/working/directory

No API keys or authentication required.

See references/installation.md for complete installation instructions and environment configuration.

2. Running Simulations

Standard workflow consists of five steps:

Step 1: Import solver

from fluidsim.solvers.ns2d.solver import Simul

Step 2: Create and configure parameters

params = Simul.create_default_params()
params.oper.nx = params.oper.ny = 256
params.oper.Lx = params.oper.Ly = 2 * 3.14159
params.nu_2 = 1e-3
params.time_stepping.t_end = 10.0
params.init_fields.type = "noise"

Step 3: Instantiate simulation

sim = Simul(params)

Step 4: Execute

sim.time_stepping.start()

Step 5: Analyze results

sim.output.phys_fields.plot("vorticity")
sim.output.spatial_means.plot()

See references/simulation_workflow.md for complete examples, restarting simulations, and cluster deployment.