Is there an R function that implements the finite element method?

Question

Is there an R function that can solve a partial differential equation using the finite element method (Strang and Fix, 1973)?

Based on the wikipedia list of finite element software packages, the method has been implemented in Fortran, C. Both Fortran and C can be called by an R function, but I do not see any such functions in CRAN.

Strang and Fix. An Analysis of The Finite Element Method. Prentice Hall, 1973.

I'd be astounded if anyone had ever implemented an FE code in R — David Heffernan, Apr 03 '12 at 15:32
it really wouldn't make sense to implement finite element methods in *native* R, but you could hope for an interface to one of the existing (open- or closed-source) implementations in a lower-level language (analogous to the `deSolve` package for ODEs) ... — Ben Bolker, Apr 03 '12 at 17:05
There was an overview of the packages dealing with ODEs and PDEs in the R Journal, a couple of years ago: http://journal.r-project.org/archive/2010-2/RJournal_2010-2_Soetaert~et~al.pdf — Vincent Zoonekynd, Apr 03 '12 at 23:46
@VincentZoonekynd thanks for the link; I have added an answer. — David LeBauer, Apr 04 '12 at 17:46

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 16 '16 at 19:43

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There is a new package that uses Finite Element Method (FEM). I think that's one of the first steps for using FEM in R.

fdaPDE

answered Mar 16 '16 at 19:43

Ricardo Faria

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 15 '19 at 22:12

There is a book which tackles this topic exclusively:

Finite Element Computations in Mechanics with R: A Problem-Centered Programming Approach 1st Edition Khameel Bayo Mustapha

CRC Press Published April 20, 2018

More information can be found here: https://www.crcpress.com/Finite-Element-Computations-in-Mechanics-with-R-A-Problem-Centered-Programming/Mustapha/p/book/9781138501621

David LeBauer · Answer 3 · 2012-04-06T16:06:13.643

I have found no evidence for such a function:

The following quote from an article in the R Journal article on ODE's and PDE's implies that such functionality was not present at the time of publication (2010):

Extending the PDE approach to ﬁnite elements (Strang and Fix, 1973) would open up the application domain of R to any irregular geometry.

Karline Soetaert, Thomas Petzoldt and R. Woodrow Setzer, 2010. Solving Differential Equations in R. The R Journal Vol. 2/2, December 2010

Is there an R function that implements the finite element method?

3 Answers3