FeenoX vs FEST-3D

FeenoX is free, open-source computational engineering software for solving mathematical and engineering problems, including work across computers in parallel. It handles ODEs and DAEs, along with finite-element problems such as heat conduction, thermo-mechanical analysis, modal analysis, neutron diffusion, and neutron transport. Users describe problems in self-descriptive, English-like plain-text input files, so changes do not require recompiling. FeenoX reads Gmsh meshes and writes results in Gmsh MSH or ParaView VTK/VTU formats. It uses GNU GSL, SUNDIALS, PETSc, and SLEPc for computational tasks, and supports MPI parallelization. Installation options include Debian or Ubuntu packages, source tarballs, the GitHub repository, and generic statically linked GNU/Linux binaries. Ubuntu packages are available from version 25.04 onward. The generic binaries omit MUMPS and MPI and use basic optimization flags. FeenoX has no graphical interface, targets GNU/Linux, and is not expected to run in Windows. Browser access is available through interfaces such as SunCAE and CAEplex.

FEST-3D is a Fortran 90 finite-volume computational fluid dynamics solver for Navier–Stokes flow problems on structured grids, developed for aerodynamics. It handles incompressible and compressible flows, including inviscid, laminar, transitional and turbulent cases. Users can select among flux schemes, reconstruction methods, time-integration options, turbulence models and transition models. MPI distributes computations across processors on one or more machines. The solver is free and open source under the GNU General Public License version 3.0, with source available from GitHub. Its installation script supports Ubuntu/Debian, CentOS and macOS, while manual installation instructions cover Linux. Building requires a Fortran compiler, an MPI library, CMake and Make. Tutorials in a separate repository address verification cases such as a smooth bump, lid-driven cavity, flat plates and an airfoil. FEST-3D writes VTK or Tecplot output for separate visualization tools. Grid generation and post-processing are outside the solver, and the project notes its halt/stop condition does not work with MPI.