PHIMATS (Phase-field Multiphysics Materials Simulator) is a finite element library in C++, originally designed for simulating mesoscale hydrogen-material interactions using phase-field based representative volume element (RVE). However, its modular design allows it to be applied to a wide range of multiphysics problems.
- Phase-field based RVE models for hydrogen-material interactions
- Solid mechanics
- Heat and mass transfer modeling
- Pre/Post processing via Python interface for flexible input/output handling
- Object-oriented C++ with inheritance & polymorphism for modularity
- HDF5-based data storage for efficient data handling
- XDMF format support for visualization in ParaView
- Companion theory manual: Finite Element Theory for PHIMATS
- Publications & examples: Available in the
CaseStudiesdirectory - Doxygen documentation: Online API Reference
To download PHIMATS, clone the repository using Git:
git clone https://github.com/ahcomat/PHIMATS.git
cd phimatsAlternatively, you can download the repository as a ZIP file:
1️⃣ Click the "Code" button on the GitHub repository page.
2️⃣ Select "Download ZIP" and extract the contents.
3️⃣ Open a terminal and navigate to the extracted folder:
cd phimatsOnce downloaded, follow the installation guide below to set up dependencies and compile the code.
✅ Linux OS required (Recommended: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora)
✅ Windows users: Use Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)
All required Python libraries are included in the phimats Conda environment.
To create the environment, run:
conda env create -f environment.yml✅ C++20 compiler (GCC recommended)
✅ Install mpich for parallel computing (MPI support is under development—current builds compile with MPI but run in serial mode.)
✅ Install hdf5 library
✅ ParaView v5.9.1 for visualization
PETSc must be installed with an optimized configuration (arch-opt).
Make sure the PETSc directory is located at:
/home/your_user_name/petscwhere your_user_name is your system username.
Run the following command in your terminal:
./configure PETSC_ARCH=arch-opt --with-cc=gcc --with-cxx=g++ \
--download-f2cblaslapack --download-cmake --download-scalapack \
--download-mumps --download-mpich --with-debugging=0 \
COPTFLAGS='-O3 -march=native -mtune=native' \
CXXOPTFLAGS='-O3 -march=native -mtune=native' \
FOPTFLAGS='-O3 -march=native -mtune=native'Add the following lines (after modifying the paths) to your ~/.bashrc file:
export PETSC_DIR=/home/your_user_name/petsc
export PETSC_ARCH=arch-opt
export PYTHONPATH=$PYTHONPATH:/path_to_PHIMATS/src/FEM_utils/
export EIGEN=/path_to_eigen/eigen/
export PHIMATSINCLUDES=/path_to_PHIMATS/PHIMATS/src/include/
export PHIMATSLIBDIR=/path_to_PHIMATS/PHIMATS/src/lib/
# Detect HDF5 installation path automatically
export H5LD=$(h5cc -show | awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i++) if($i ~ "-L") print substr($i,3)}')
export H5ID=$(h5cc -show | awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i++) if($i ~ "-I") print substr($i,3)}')
export HDF5_USE_FILE_LOCKING=FALSE
# Detect MPICH installation path automatically
export MPICHID=$(mpicc -show | awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i++) if($i ~ "-I") print substr($i,3)}')
export MPICHLD=$(mpicc -show | awk '{for(i=1;i<=NF;i++) if($i ~ "-L") print substr($i,3)}')
After adding these, apply the changes by running:
source ~/.bashrc- Ensure all dependencies are installed correctly
- Check that PETSc is compiled with
arch-opt - Verify environment variables using:
echo $PETSC_DIR
echo $PETSC_ARCH- Ensure Python dependencies are installed via Conda
conda activate phimatsOnce everything is installed, navigate to the PHIMATS directory and compile the code by running:
makeTo balance simulation flexibility with high performance, PHIMATS is compiled as a library (libphimats.a), which must be linked with a custom driver code.
Example driver codes and hands-on tutorials can be found in the CaseStudies directory. The makefile in the subdirectories handles the compilation and linking automatically. These examples demonstrate how to use PHIMATS for various hydrogen-material interaction simulations and related applications.
For citing PHIMATS, please use:
A. Hussein, Finite Element Theory for PHIMATS, 2025. doi: 10.48550/ARXIV. 2502.16283.
Additionally, consider citing relevant references from the CaseStudies directory if applicable.
PHIMATS is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0, or later.