We are pleased to announce the release of ASPECT 3.0.0. ASPECT is the Advanced
Solver for Planetary Evolution, Convection, and Tectonics. 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/v3.0.0
Among others this release includes the following significant changes:
-
ASPECT has been renamed from “Advanced Solver for Problems in Earth’s
ConvecTion” to “Advanced Solver for Planetary Evolution, Convection, and
Tectonics” to reflect that the scope of ASPECT has grown beyond mantle
convection.
(Timo Heister on behalf of all maintainers) -
ASPECT now includes version 1.0.0 of the Geodynamic World Builder and no
longer supports World Builder versions older than 0.5.0.
(Menno Fraters and other contributors) -
ASPECT can now be coupled to the landscape evolution code FastScape to deform
the surface through erosion and sediment deposition. Solution variables can
now also be output on the surface mesh of the model domain.
(Derek Neuharth, Anne Glerum) -
ASPECT can now compute crystal-preferred orientation of mineral fabrics.
DREX-like calculations are used to compute anisotropy tensors and
distributions of mineral orientations.
(Menno Fraters, Xiaochuan Tian) -
A sea level postprocessor for glacial isostatic adjustment modeling has been
added. It computes the sea level based on the free surface topography, ocean
basin, ice thickness, and perturbed gravitational potential.
(Maaike Weerdesteijn, John Naliboff) -
There is now a new material model that is designed to advect fluids and
compute fluid release and absorption based on different models for fluid-rock
interaction. New melt-rock interactions have been added.
(Daniel Douglas, Juliane Dannberg, Grant Block, John Naliboff) -
ASPECT now requires deal.II 9.5 or newer. ASPECT is also compatible with
deal.II 9.6, including new features and performance improvements.
(Rene Gassmoeller, Timo Heister) -
ASPECT now by default builds a debug and an optimized (release) version of
the executable in the same build directory.
(Rene Gassmoeller, Wolfgang Bangerth, Timo Heister) -
ASPECT now has a Visual Studio Code extension, which provides syntax
highlighting and auto-completion for input parameter files. The old
Parameter GUI has been removed as it was no longer maintained.
(Zhikui Guo, Timo Heister, Rene Gassmoeller) -
ASPECT now supports compositional fields with different discretizations
(continuous or discontinuous) and different polynomial degrees in the same
model. Compositional fields can now be solved using a different list of
assemblers for each field, effectively allowing to add additional terms to
each advection equation.
(Timo Heister, Juliane Dannberg) -
ASPECT now outputs the physical units of quantities into .pvtu files.
(Wolfgang Bangerth) -
The geometric multigrid (GMG) solver described in Clevenger and Heister,
2021, has become ASPECT’s new default Stokes solver. The previous algebraic
multigrid (AMG) option is still available.
(Conrad Clevenger, Jiaqi Zhang, Timo Heister, Rene Gassmoeller) -
ASPECT now utilizes solvers for ordinary differential equations from the
SUNDIALS ARKODE library for grain-size evolution and other purposes.
(Juliane Dannberg, Wolfgang Bangerth, Bob Myhill, Rene Gassmoeller) -
All ASPECT plugin classes and plugin systems are now derived from common base
classes. This unifies class interfaces across plugin systems and allows for
removal of duplicate code and documentation.
(Wolfgang Bangerth) -
The particle subsystem has been overhauled. Most particle parameters have
moved. Multiple particle systems (with different properties) can be active
in the same model. Existing input files can be updated with the update
scripts.
(Rene Gassmoeller, Menno Fraters, Timo Heister) -
15 new cookbooks and benchmark cases have been added.
(Many authors, see link below) -
Many deprecated input options and source code functions have been removed.
Many bugs and inconsistencies have been fixed.
(Many authors, see link below).
A complete list of all changes and their authors can be found at
ASPECT: Changes between version 2.5.0 and version 3.0.0
We are thankful for all feature and model contributions, code reviews,
forum posts, bug reports, and general help provided by members of our
community. Your contributions have helped make ASPECT what is it today.
Wolfgang Bangerth, Juliane Dannberg, Menno Fraters, Rene Gassmoeller,
Anne Glerum, Timo Heister, Bob Myhill, John Naliboff, Cedric Thieulot,
and many other contributors.