Eric M. Stewart - FEniCS Installation Instructions

FEniCS Installation Instructions

I use the free and open-source finite element computing platform FEniCS for my research and instruction, which has proven extremely useful. However the installation process for FEniCS can be quite lengthy and confusing, so I've written detailed step-by-step instruction documents for installing FEniCS and running an example calculation on both Mac and Windows machines.

Note: After around April 2019, FEniCS is no longer in active development. Development of new features has shifted to the FEniCSx / DolfinX platform, and I plan to transition to this newer platform over time. In the meantime, FEniCS is still accessible and functional and will work to run my codes.

Mac instructions

I run FEniCS on Mac machines using Anaconda and Spyder.
This is our lab's preferred method of running FEniCS code.
There are two sets of instructions:
1. One for Macs with an Intel CPU
2. Another for Macs with Apple Silicon / ARM / M-series chips.

FEniCS_install_instructions_intel_mac.pdf

FEniCS_install_instructions_appleSilicon_mac.pdf

Windows instructions

We run FEniCS on Windows machines using Docker.
Instructions are included for using VScode as an IDE.

FEniCS_install_instructions_windows_vscode.pdf

Google Colaboratory

FEniCS code can also be run on the Google Colaboratory cloud-based python notebook platform.

- This method has the advantage of obviating the need for any local installations, and runs right in your browser.
- However, FEniCS code that runs today may not run tomorrow if Google updates the cloud machines' operating system!

I have created an example Google Colab notebook that runs the Poisson problem in your browser here:

- https://colab.research.google.com/drive/1Wlp5FPQI_mXNk7K-BVxlzqPXPQgA29uO?usp=sharing
- The code makes use of the FEM on Colab packages (https://fem-on-colab.github.io/packages.html) to prepare your Colab environment to run FEniCS code.

Demo Poisson problem simulation results: