Using CALFEM with Octave under Windows

Using CALFEM with Octave under Windows

Using CALFEM with Octave under Windows

Originally writen for Matlab CALFEM package can be used without hassle with recent Octave version (at least > 4.4). This short note explains how to setup Octave to use CALFEM.

Path to packages

In order for Octave(Matlab) to find any M-file it has to be on the function search path. In Octave the two most commonly used functions for path manipulations are:

• addpath(DIR) - adds directory DIR to the function search path,

• savepath() - saves modified path, so it will be restored automatically next time .

Path management

Path can be permanently stored in .octaverc files. User can have a single .octaverc file in his home directory (for me it is C:\Users\putanowr) or it is possible to have many such files, each for a directory we keep Octave projects.

Sample procedure

Step 1

Download CALFEM package and unpack it. You can download it for instance from:

https://github.com/CALFEM/calfem-matlab.

I have unpacked CALFEM in directory P:\programming\octave\external\calfem-3.4

Step 2

Start Octave and in the command window type:

addpath(DIR)

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substituting DIR with the string containing path to CALFEM folder. For instance I did:

addpath('P:\\programming\\octave\\external\\calfem-3.4-fem') The use of double backslahses is intentional. Then save the path in user configu- ration file:

savepath()

That is all. Now you should be able to use CALFEM functions. You can check this by calling:

help beam2e

You should see the help message explaining how to use beam2e function for building beam stiffness matrix.

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