LCM (Laboratory for Computational Mechanics) is a fork of Albany, an implicit, unstructured grid, finite element code for the solution and analysis of multiphysics problems. LCM focuses on computational solid mechanics and thermo-mechanics, with nearly 200 regression tests demonstrating capabilities across a wide variety of problems.
Solid mechanics simulation of a notched cylinder using the alternating Schwarz-based multi-scale coupling capability in LCM.
- Large-scale parallel simulations (2.1+ billion DOFs) using MPI
- Automatic differentiation via Sacado
- Constitutive models: linear elasticity, J2 plasticity, crystal plasticity, hyperelasticity, damage models
- Schwarz alternating method for multi-scale coupling
- Arctic Coastal Erosion (ACE) model: coupled thermo-mechanical model with permafrost constitutive models, part of the InterFACE project
- Data transfer between coupled domains via DataTransferKit (DTK), bundled in-tree
LCM requires Trilinos and the following system packages.
sudo dnf install \
blas blas-devel boost boost-devel boost-openmpi boost-openmpi-devel \
cmake gcc-c++ gcc-gfortran gtest-devel git \
hdf5 hdf5-devel hdf5-openmpi hdf5-openmpi-devel \
lapack lapack-devel netcdf netcdf-devel netcdf-openmpi netcdf-openmpi-devel \
openblas openblas-devel openmpi openmpi-devel environment-modulesOptional (for clang builds):
sudo dnf install clang clang-develCMake 3.27 or newer (including 4.x) is required. If your system cmake is older:
spack install cmake@3.27sudo apt install \
libblas-dev libboost-dev libboost-program-options-dev \
cmake g++ gfortran git \
libhdf5-openmpi-dev liblapack-dev libnetcdf-dev \
libopenmpi-dev mpi-default-bin environment-modulesNo system packages need to be installed. The lcm build script automatically
detects CEE LAN hosts by hostname and loads all required compilers and TPLs
from the SEMS/AUE module system (/projects/sems).
No .bashrc edits are needed. The lcm script sources the SEMS module
init, loads AUE/SEMS modules (GCC 12.3, OpenMPI 4.1.6, CMake 3.31, Boost,
HDF5, NetCDF, binutils), and exports all necessary environment variables
internally. You only need LCM_DIR and the lcm symlink.
Potential conflicts: If your .bashrc already sources the SEMS init
script or loads AUE/sierra-devel modules, those may conflict with the versions
the lcm script loads. Either remove those lines from .bashrc or start
from a clean shell (env -i bash --login). In particular, pre-loaded
sierra-devel modules set compiler and MPI paths that will clash with the
AUE modules that lcm expects.
Currently only GCC builds are supported on CEE (module serial-gcc-release).
If a configure fails with a nonsense compiler or TPL path (for example
CMAKE_CXX_COMPILER: /mpicxx is not a full path to an existing compiler tool),
run lcm env first. It loads the module and prints the resolved compilers,
MPI and TPL paths without running anything else, so you can see which variable
is empty. The usual cause is a module loaded by your .bashrc that owns one of
the names the build uses (CC, MPI_BIN, BOOST_INC, ...); lcm now
restores its own values after loading the LCM module, and refuses to configure
if any of them is still missing.
mkdir ~/LCM && cd ~/LCM
git clone -b develop https://github.com/trilinos/Trilinos.git
git clone https://github.com/sandialabs/LCM.gitLCM builds against the develop branch of Trilinos, tracking its head
rather than any pinned commit.
The lcm build script is self-contained: it auto-detects LCM_DIR, sets
MODULEPATH, sources the Environment Modules init script, and loads the
requested build module itself (default: release). No .bashrc changes
are needed to build.
Environment Modules setup is only needed for interactive use — that is,
running module load yourself so that Albany and the Trilinos tools
(decomp, epu, exodiff) are on your PATH. For that, add to
~/.bashrc:
export LCM_DIR=~/LCM
module use $LCM_DIR/LCM/doc/lcm/modulefilesLog out and back in, or source ~/.bashrc.
cd ~/LCM
ln -s LCM/doc/lcm/build/lcm .cd ~/LCM
./lcm clean trilinos # clean previous builds
./lcm config trilinos 16 # configure Trilinos (16 = parallel threads)
./lcm build trilinos 16 # build Trilinos
./lcm clean lcm # clean previous LCM build
./lcm config lcm 16 # configure LCM
./lcm build lcm 16 # build LCM
./lcm test lcm # run test suiteOr do everything at once:
./lcm all 16lcm clean <package> Clean build (and install for trilinos)
lcm config <package> [N] Configure package
lcm build <package> [N] Build package with N threads (default: nproc)
lcm test <package> Run tests
lcm all [N] Full pipeline: clean + config + build + test
lcm help Show help
Modules configure the compiler, architecture, and build type. Available configurations:
| Module | Compiler | Build Type |
|---|---|---|
serial-gcc-release |
GCC | Release (optimized) |
serial-gcc-debug |
GCC | Debug (symbols) |
serial-clang-release |
Clang | Release |
serial-clang-debug |
Clang | Debug |
The release module is an alias for serial-gcc-release.
Select a configuration for a build with the --module flag (the lcm
script loads the module itself):
./lcm all 16 --module=serial-clang-releaseFor interactive use (running Albany and Trilinos tools from PATH), load
the module in your shell instead:
module load serial-clang-releaseBuild directories are named by configuration, e.g. lcm-build-serial-gcc-release.
A corresponding Trilinos installation must exist for each configuration.
After building, the Albany executable is in the build directory:
cd ~/LCM/lcm-build-serial-gcc-release/tests/LCM/Pressure
mpiexec -np 4 ~/LCM/lcm-build-serial-gcc-release/src/Albany input_tetra4.yamlThe module system adds build and Trilinos install directories to PATH, so after loading a module, Albany and Trilinos tools (decomp, epu, exodiff) are available directly.
The test suite is in tests/ and runs via CTest:
./lcm test lcmIndividual tests can be run from their subdirectory:
cd ~/LCM/lcm-build-serial-gcc-release/tests/LCM/Pressure
ctestMany tests run in parallel using up to 4 MPI ranks.
The clone-build-test-dash.sh script clones Trilinos and LCM from scratch,
builds with each supported compiler, and submits results to CDash. It lives
at LCM/doc/lcm/test/clone-build-test-dash.sh but must be run from a copy
in the workspace root: it sets LCM_DIR to the current directory and
deletes and re-clones the LCM repository, so it cannot run from inside
the repository itself. Copy it into place once:
cp LCM/doc/lcm/test/clone-build-test-dash.sh ~/LCM/It is typically run via cron:
# In crontab:
00 00 * * 1-5 cd /home/lcm/LCM; bash -l -c "./clone-build-test-dash.sh"Development discussion: https://github.com/sandialabs/LCM/issues
We follow the Google C++ Style Guide. Use clang-format with the .clang-format file in src/LCM/:
clang-format -i <source file>Please ensure all tests pass before pushing changes.
- Alejandro Mota (amota@sandia.gov)
- Irina Tezaur (ikalash@sandia.gov)