A parametric finite element environment tuned for numerical optimization

Nowadays, numerical optimization in combination with finite element (FE) analysis plays an important role in the design of electromagnetic devices. To apply any kind of optimization algorithm, a parametric description of the FE problem is required and the optimization task must be formulated. Most optimization tasks described in the literature, feature either specially developed algorithms for a specific optimization task, or extensions to standard finite element packages. Here, a 2D parametric FE environment is presented, which is designed to be best suited for numerical optimization while maintaining its general applicability. Particular attention is paid to the symbolic description of the model, minimized computation time and the user friendly definition of the optimization task.