Alamo
Diffuse boundary mechanics with adaptive mesh refinement.
Alamo is an open-source multiphysics solver developed by the Solid Mechanics Research Group for problems involving diffuse interfaces, mechanical equilibrium, thermal diffusion, and related transport processes. The code uses AMReX to combine block-structured adaptive mesh refinement with strong-form, matrix-free solid mechanics.
Project record
A documented code base with archived releases and public review.
Numerical framework
Alamo uses block-structured AMR to resolve diffuse boundaries and localized fields without assigning the finest grid spacing to the entire domain.
Mechanical solver
The mechanics implementation is strong-form and matrix-free, with finite-difference derivatives and geometric multigrid on the AMR hierarchy.
Applications
Published uses include microstructure evolution, phase-field fracture, solid propellant deflagration, and compressible-flow problems with phase boundaries.
Citation
Cite Alamo in publications
The peer-reviewed software paper describes the numerical methods, software infrastructure, regression testing system, and reproducibility workflow. Use the JOSS citation when acknowledging Alamo.
@article{Runnels2025,
doi={10.21105/joss.08581},
url={https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.08581},
year={2025},
publisher={The Open Journal},
volume={10},
number={116},
pages={8581},
author={Runnels, Brandon and Agrawal, Vinamra and Meier, Maycon},
title={The Alamo multiphysics solver for phase field simulations with strong-form mechanics and block structured adaptive mesh refinement},
journal={Journal of Open Source Software}
}