# How can I create a CalculiX mesh and configuration? **URL:** \ **Category:** Non-preCICE\ **Tags:** calculix\ **Created:** [December 9, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827 "2021-12-09T20:03:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Makis](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/makis/32/25_2.png) [@Makis](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Makis)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2021, 8:03pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/1 "2021-12-09T20:03:34Z")
This is a common question we often face, as many of our tutorials use CalculiX as the structure solver. I am barely familiar with CalculiX and I just wanted to collect here some resources, together with you. Reading the CalculiX documentation (PDF on the [website](http://www.dhondt.de/)) and manually setting up a case is one option. Another option that some people have had good experiences with is using the [FEM Workbench of FreeCAD](https://wiki.freecadweb.org/FEM_tutorial). What other options do you know? What are common tips and tricks you can offer to the community? ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Tree](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/mike_tree/32/472_2.png) [@Mike\_Tree](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Mike_Tree)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2021, 9:32pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/2 "2021-12-22T21:32:18Z")
I was able to use Cubit ([Free meshing software - Coreform Cubit Learn - Free non-commercial-use license](https://coreform.com/products/coreform-cubit/free-meshing-software/)), and export my mesh and configuration as if it were an Abaqus input file. Then, I used a text editor to manually tweak a few things to align it with what the CalculiX documentation called for. ---
**Author:** ![Makis](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/makis/32/25_2.png) [@Makis](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Makis)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/3 "2021-12-23T16:35:20Z")
Thanks for the suggestion! Do you maybe remember which parameters you had to tweak or which resources you found useful for that, apart from the CalculiX documentation? ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Tree](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/mike_tree/32/472_2.png) [@Mike\_Tree](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Mike_Tree)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2022, 9:10pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/4 "2022-01-18T21:10:13Z")
I just revisited this after a while. I’m attempting to pre-stress a geometry using a simulation. Instead of using my normal method, I took an opportunity to look for other options out there. I found this: [https://prepomax.fs.um.si/](https://prepomax.fs.um.si/) As far as I can tell, it’s only available on Windows. It has some excellent documentation and can export Calculix \*.inp files which can be directly executed using the Calculix adaptor. I only started using it today and have already produced some results. ---
**Author:** ![Makis](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/makis/32/25_2.png) [@Makis](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Makis)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2022, 10:32am UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/5 "2022-01-31T10:32:42Z")
See also this very nice tutorial of Torsten Schenkel on YouTube: [FSI for vascular flows using OpenFOAM, preCICE, and Calculix - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWHQIdms-YHT8Ybt9psE8lJpaWRyy3fNf) This community project answers many questions you may have on setting up a coupled case with OpenFOAM and CalculiX. For the CalculiX part, they use FreeCAD to create the geometry, unical3 to convert it to a CalculiX mesh, and frdToVTKConverter for post-processing. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Tree](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/mike_tree/32/472_2.png) [@Mike\_Tree](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Mike_Tree)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2024, 5:27pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/6 "2024-02-09T17:27:30Z")
I’m revisiting some things and found this youtube playlist helpful: [https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaWK58rtjzvS2ZKClbldRYN8Iu\_gTmsC0](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLaWK58rtjzvS2ZKClbldRYN8Iu_gTmsC0) ---
**Author:** ![NorbertH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/74df32/32.png) [@NorbertH](https://precice.discourse.group/u/NorbertH)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2024, 1:02pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/7 "2024-03-16T13:02:03Z")
Hi everyone, for preprocessing and converting the results to paraview you could use, as mentioned above, [cubit](https://coreform.com/products/coreform-cubit/) and the opensource [component](https://github.com/calculix/Cubit-CalculiX) for the calculix integration. Full preprocessing can be done with the component. The jobs can be run also from cubit if necessary. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/precice/original/2X/6/68415e0604cd8e183531652997e680572b6f52d6.png) When the results can be linked with the data in cubit (which usually works, except for shells and beams with 3d output) then the information of the element-, node- and sidesets will be used to create partitioned data set collections. So viewing single parts is no problem at all. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/precice/original/2X/d/d5b6fda306befb948ab6989e71568abf9d61d0fb.png) Not just the .frd data will be converted but also the **.dat data with integration point results.** The position of the integration points will be computed according to the shape functions and gauss points from the calculix source code. ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/precice/original/2X/f/fec4a2836dea886a97cd6ce96459b7e1a1be6852.png) If someone finds bugs or have feature request just send me a message or open a issue on github. ---
**Author:** ![Makis](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/makis/32/25_2.png) [@Makis](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Makis)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2024, 11:18pm UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/9 "2024-07-23T23:18:23Z")
I only know of these videos from YouTube and I don’t have any other contact information. ---
**Author:** ![Gong\_CHEN](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/gong_chen/32/2212_2.png) [@Gong\_CHEN](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Gong_CHEN)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2024, 9:30am UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/10 "2024-07-29T09:30:02Z")
Hi everyone, In my experience, hypermesh can be used to generate mesh, and it can output the .inp file (if you set the output format as abaqus). And then the [CalculiX Advanced Environment](https://github.com/calculix/cae) can be used to set parameters. ![图片](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/free1/uploads/precice/original/2X/3/3d9a170327c4925cb97c7257d854aeb5009f7946.png) ---
**Author:** ![Makis](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/free1/user_avatar/precice.discourse.group/makis/32/25_2.png) [@Makis](https://precice.discourse.group/u/Makis)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2024, 8:47am UTC](https://precice.discourse.group/t/how-can-i-create-a-calculix-mesh-and-configuration/827/11 "2024-10-25T08:47:34Z")
In the preCICE Workshop 2024, @Claudio and me presented a course module on preparing an FSI simulation coupling CalculiX and OpenFOAM. There, we used FreeCAD to prepare the CalculiX mesh and we directly edited the CalculiX configuration in a text editor. You can find the material on Zenodo: > **[A workflow for fluid-structure interaction simulations with preCICE](https://zenodo.org/records/13961370)** > > This community-contributed part of the preCICE training course goes step by step through the process of creating a fluid-structure interaction simulation coupling CalculiX and OpenFOAM using the coupling library preCICE and the respective CalculiX...