FPM (Finite Pointset Method) is a grid-free software tool for the numerical simulation of continuum mechanical and especially fluid dynamical problems.
It is a product with monopolizing features and has been developed at the ITWM. By FPM, the fluid dynamical field information (e. g., density, average velocity, temperature) is stored on information carriers (the so-called particles) which can be positioned freely and are moving at flow velocity in the case of transient problems.
FPM does not require a mesh, thus being able to overcome the performance limits of the existing CFD methods (Finite Element Method FEM, Finite Differences Method FDM, Finite Volume Method FVM) with respect to grid generation and adaptation. The method is therefore superior to the classical methods in the case of those applications where the geometry of the flow field is rapidly changing with respect to time or where free surfaces and/or multiphase flows must be handled.
FPM currently exists in a compressible and an incompressible version, each of which can be expanded modularly (fluid-structure interaction, chemical reactions, foam development, etc.). On the basis of these expansions, the ITWM has already delivered a series of application-specific software solutions to industrial customers.
Fraunhofer Institute for Industrial Mathematics ITWM