pyofel

Python bindings for Ofel, via pythonnet and the Ofel.PythonInterop project. Lets Python/ML code build and solve Ofel finite-element structures without hand-rolling the CoreCLR bootstrap.

Setup

Installing the prebuilt package (Windows)

pip install pyofel

No .NET SDK or runtime is required — the published Windows wheel bundles a private copy of the .NET 9 runtime alongside the published Ofel.PythonInterop output, so pip install pyofel is the entire setup.

Building from source (contributors / non-Windows)

• Python >= 3.10
• .NET 9 SDK — required locally to build/install this package this way.

Clone with submodules (this repo vendors a pinned copy of ofel at vendor/ofel to build Ofel.PythonInterop against):

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/se-benjamin-carron/pyofel
cd pyofel

If you already cloned without --recurse-submodules:

git submodule update --init --recursive

Install (this runs a build hook that dotnet publishs vendor/ofel/src/Ofel.PythonInterop and stages the output into pyofel/_interop/):

pip install -e .[dev]

Run the tests:

pytest

To reproduce the prebuilt-wheel build locally (Windows only), fetch a win-x64 .NET 9 runtime-only install and point PYOFEL_BUNDLE_RUNTIME_DIR at it before building:

PYOFEL_BUNDLE_RUNTIME_DIR=/path/to/dotnet-runtime-win-x64 python -m build --wheel

This bundles that runtime into the wheel and tags it as a platform-specific win_amd64 wheel instead of pure Python — see .github/workflows/release.yml for the exact CI sequence that fetches the runtime and builds/validates this.

Usage

from pyofel.data.catalog import get_steel_material, get_steel_section
from pyofel.finite_element import FiniteElementStructure, Point, PointMemberData
from pyofel.member_builder import MemberBuilder

section = get_steel_section("HEA", "HEA200")
material = get_steel_material("S235", "NF EN 10025-2")

builder = MemberBuilder()
column = builder.new_member("Column")
builder.set_points(column, [PointMemberData(0.0, Point(0, 0, 0), section), PointMemberData(1.0, Point(0, 0, 3), section)], material)
builder.set_default_fixed_epsilons(column)
builder.add_fixed_support(column, 0.0)

structure, fe_members = FiniteElementStructure.solve([column])

pyofel.member_builder.MemberBuilder is the Pythonic, snake_case mirror of Ofel.Core.MemberDirector - build a Member by hand (points, supports, forces, characteristics), then solve it with FiniteElementStructure.solve(). See pyofel/tools/debug_portal_frame.py for a fuller example (a 2-column + 1-beam portal frame, verified and auto-sized).

pyofel.evaluation wraps the higher-level Ofel.API.Services.StructureEvaluationService pipeline (full building input -> climatic loads -> FEM -> Eurocode 3 steel verification); pyofel.fixtures has ready-made example inputs for every supported gantry shape (Building1, Butterfly, DoubleCanopy, SimpleCanopy), and pyofel.governing picks out the one ULS/SLS result that actually matters:

from pyofel.evaluation import evaluate
from pyofel.fixtures import create_building1_example_input
from pyofel.governing import uls_ratios

structure_input = create_building1_example_input()
members, structure = evaluate(structure_input)
ratios = uls_ratios(members)

Each create_*_example_input function is a direct port of one of vendor/ofel's Ofel.API.Tests UIFixtures fixtures, building a full StructureEvaluationInputUI (wind/snow loads, roofing plates/purlins, one gantry, project settings) from pyofel.inputs's Pythonic builders.

pyofel.tools.debug_portal_frame hand-builds a 2-column + 1-beam portal frame directly via MemberBuilder - for cases (like an arbitrary extra point load at one position) the GUI-level pipeline above has no input for.

Updating the pinned ofel version

cd vendor/ofel
git fetch --tags
git checkout <new-tag-or-commit>
cd ../..
git add vendor/ofel
git commit -m "chore: bump vendor/ofel to <new-tag-or-commit>"