The SIERRA Multimechanics Module: Aria, henceforth referred to as Aria for brevity, is an application implementing the finite element method (FEM) for solving systems of partial differential equations (PDEs). Aria is foremost the thermal module of the SIERRA tool; however, the general design of Aria lends itself to the solution of systems of PDEs describing physical processes including energy transport with radiation, species transport with reactions, electrostatics, incompressible and/or porous fluid flow, solid and mesh displacement, and general transport of scalar, vector and tensor quantities. Aria supports both transient and direct to steady state simulation in 2D, 3D, and axisymmetric coordinate systems.

These systems of equations may be solved either on their own, in a segregated but coupled algorithm (“loosely coupled”) or as a single, fully-coupled (“monolithic”) system. Furthermore, Aria can be loosely coupled to external software via dedicated apps (e.g. Arpeggio for Aria-Adagio coupling), via files, or via multiple program, multiple data (MPMD) coupling.

Mesh adaptivity is supported for mesh refinement, interface tracking, and element death. Additionally, Aria supports reduced order modeling via pressurization zones, bulk elements, shells, and 1D bars.

For user support, please send an email to sierra-help@sandia.gov.