ASPECT 2.5.0 released

ASPECT
1

We are pleased to announce the release of ASPECT 2.5.0. ASPECT is the Advanced
Solver for Problems in Earth’s ConvecTion. It uses modern numerical methods such
as adaptive mesh refinement, multigrid solvers, and a modular software design to
provide a fast, flexible, and extensible mantle convection solver. ASPECT is
available from

               https://aspect.geodynamics.org/

and the release is available from

    https://geodynamics.org/resources/aspect

and

    https://github.com/geodynamics/aspect/releases/tag/v2.5.0

Among others this release includes the following significant changes:

  • ASPECT now includes version 0.5.0 of the Geodynamic World Builder.
    (Menno Fraters and other contributors)

  • ASPECT’s manual has been converted from LaTeX to Markdown to be hosted as a
    website at https://aspect-documentation.readthedocs.io.
    (Chris Mills, Mack Gregory, Timo Heister, Wolfgang Bangerth, Rene
    Gassmoeller, and many others)

  • New: ASPECT now requires deal.II 9.4 or newer.
    (Rene Gassmoeller, Timo Heister)

  • ASPECT now supports a DebugRelease build type that creates a debug build and
    a release build of ASPECT at the same time. It can be enabled by setting the
    CMake option CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE to DebugRelease or by typing “make debugrelease”.
    (Timo Heister)

  • ASPECT now has a CMake option ASPECT_INSTALL_EXAMPLES that allows building
    and install all cookbooks and benchmarks. ASPECT now additionally installs
    the data/ directory. Both changes are helpful for installations that are used
    for teaching and tutorials.
    (Rene Gassmoeller)

  • Changed: ASPECT now releases the memory used for storing initial conditions
    and the Geodynamic World Builder after model initialization unless an
    owning pointer to these objects is kept. This reduces the memory footprint
    for models initialized from large data files.
    (Wolfgang Bangerth)

  • Added: Various helper functions to distinguish phase transitions for
    different compositions and compositional fields of different types.
    (Bob Myhill)

  • Added: The ‘adiabatic’ initial temperature plugin can now use a spatially
    variable top boundary layer thickness read from a data file or specified as a
    function in the input file. Additionally, the boundary layer temperature can
    now also be computed following the plate cooling model instead of the
    half-space cooling model.
    (Daniel Douglas, John Naliboff, Juliane Dannberg, Rene Gassmoeller)

  • New: ASPECT now supports tangential velocity boundary conditions with GMG for
    more geometries, such as 2D and 3D chunks.
    (Timo Heister, Haoyuan Li, Jiaqi Zhang)

  • New: Phase transitions can now be deactivated outside a given temperature
    range specified by upper and lower temperature limits for each phase
    transition. This allows implementing complex phase diagrams with transitions
    that intersect in pressure-temperature space.
    (Haoyuan Li)

  • New: There is now a postprocessor that outputs the total volume of the
    computational domain. This can be helpful for models using mesh deformation.
    (Anne Glerum)

  • New: Added a particle property ‘grain size’ that tracks grain size evolution
    on particles using the ‘grain size’ material model.
    (Juliane Dannberg, Rene Gassmoeller)

  • Fixed: Many bugs, see link below for a complete list.
    (Many authors. Thank you!).

A complete list of all changes and their authors can be found at
ASPECT: Changes between version 2.4.0 and version 2.5.0

Wolfgang Bangerth, Juliane Dannberg, Menno Fraters, Rene Gassmoeller,
Anne Glerum, Timo Heister, Bob Myhill, John Naliboff,
and many other contributors.