FEniCSx as a versatile tool for solid mechanics - Jeremy Bleyer

FEniCSx has become a widely adopted prototyping tool for computational solid mechanics, with comprehensive numerical tours demonstrating its capabilities across linear elasticity, structural dynamics, homogenization, contact, and complex structural elements including beams, plates, and shells. However, a fundamental limitation has been the difficulty of expressing general constitutive models in the variational forms required by its domain-specific language. Recent developments have overcome this barrier through integration with external libraries, including material behavior generators, machine learning frameworks with automatic differentiation capabilities, and optimization solvers. This extensibility allows researchers to implement complex nonlinear material models without being constrained by native UFL operators, establishing FEniCSx as a mature ecosystem that bridges classical finite element methods with modern computational approaches for rapid material model development and exploration.