"Invalid ranks 1 and 1 in product." in MixedSpace formulation

Errors
1

Hello, I’m trying to solve the Helmholtz equation but with a complex coefficient (and hence solving it on complex functions). I obtained the variational formulation in terms of u_r and u_i, the real and imaginary parts of my solution, but when implementing it on FEniCS I get an exception with error message:

UFLException: Invalid ranks 1 and 1 in product.

Here is what I think is the MWE:

# parameters
lx = 0.01
ly = 1
k = 200
h = 15
alpha = 0.5
rho = 2700
c = 890
Nx = 5
Ny = 100


from dolfin import *
# Create mesh and define function space
mesh = RectangleMesh( Point(0, 0), Point(lx, ly), Nx, Ny, diagonal= 'right' )
P2 = VectorElement('P', triangle, 1)
Element = P2*P2
W = FunctionSpace(mesh, Element)

# Define boundary conditions
q_r = Expression('1000*(0.2)/( (0.2)*(0.2) + (x[1]-0.5)*(x[1]-0.5))', degree=2)
q_i = Expression('1000*(0.2)/( (0.2)*(0.2) + (x[1]-0.5)*(x[1]-0.5))', degree=2)

tol = 1E-14
class BoundarySides(SubDomain):
    def inside(self, x, on_boundary):
        return on_boundary and ( near(x[1], 0, tol) or near(x[1], ly, tol) )
class BoundaryFront(SubDomain):
    def inside(self, x, on_boundary):
        return on_boundary and  near(x[0], 0, tol)
class BoundaryBack(SubDomain):
    def inside(self, x, on_boundary):
        return on_boundary and near(x[0], lx, tol) 

sides = BoundarySides()
front = BoundaryFront()
back = BoundaryBack()
    
boundary_markers = MeshFunction("size_t", mesh, 1, 0)

#labeling the markers with different numbers
sides.mark(boundary_markers, 0)
front.mark(boundary_markers, 1)
back.mark(boundary_markers, 2)

ds = Measure('ds', domain=mesh, subdomain_data=boundary_markers)

# Define variational problem

#U = Function(W)
#u_r, u_i = U.split()

(u_r, u_i) = TrialFunctions(W)
(v_r, v_i) = TestFunctions(W)

a = k*inner(nabla_grad(u_r), nabla_grad(v_r))*dx + k*inner(nabla_grad(u_i), nabla_grad(v_i))*dx \
    + rho*c*u_i*v_r*dx - rho*c*u_r*v_i*dx \
    + h*u_r*v_r*ds(1) + h*u_r*v_r*ds(2) + h*u_i*v_i*ds(1) + h*u_i*v_i*ds(2)

L = alpha*q_r*v_r*ds(1) + alpha*q_i*v_i*ds(1)

#F = a - L

# Compute solution

T_num = Function(W)

T_r, T_i = T_num.split()

solve(a == L, T_num)
#solve(F==0,T_num)

As you can see I have tested also solving it as a nonlinear problem but I got the same error.
The error I get points to the second line of the definition of a that is, when the scalar multiplication of u_r and v_r takes place.

Thank you very much for you help

2

If u_r and u_i are intended to be scalars, then you would want

Element = VectorElement('P',triangle,1,dim=2)

or

P1 = FiniteElement('P',triangle,1)
Element = P1*P1

instead of

P2 = VectorElement('P', triangle, 1)
Element = P2*P2

In your MWE, Element is a mixed element with two vector-valued components, so u_r and u_i are both vectors (i.e., they have rank 1), not scalars. Thus, the multiplication operator * is ambiguous (e.g., “Is it the dot product or cross product?”).

Also, DOLFIN-X has native support for complex numbers, which would simplify the variational form by removing the need for a MixedElement workaround. This also enables more efficient linear solvers.

1 Like
3

O.O !! Thank you very much, I though I was not understanding something and it was just a “typo” derived from copy/pasting. ( I mean they were not supposed to be vectors)

I know about the DOLFIN-X complex cappabilities but I haven’t found an explanatory tutorial on how to install it on debian.

Thank you very much in any case!!

4

There are now FEniCS-X packages maintained for the latest Ubuntu LTS release (Focal). I’ve managed to force Ubuntu to install packages intended for a different release before. Ubuntu is closely related to Debian, and Googling “install ubuntu package on debian” yields many results, but I’ve never tried it myself.

5

I’ll comment here If I manage to pull that one out, thanks!

6

I understand that this is not a dolfin/dolfin-x question anymore but, would you mind telling me where to read about the more efficient complex linear solvers?

Thank you