MpCCI CouplingEnvironment
: Programming Interfaces

Open CodeAPI

The MpCCI CouplingEnvironment has an open Programming Interface (API) which can be used to adapt inhouse or further commercial codes. This API is designed as a general and discipline independent toolkit and can be used for different levels of co-simulation:

  • Surface-2-Surface interface suitable for all simulation methods which provide a discretised surface definition, support for deformable walls, and physical quantities located on surface elements or nodes (e.g. for modelling methods like FEM/CSD, FEM/Radiation, FVM/CFD, DEM/Particles, SPH or FPM/fluid models, etc.)

  • Volume-2-Volume coupling suitable for all simulation methods which provide a discretised volume definition and physical quantities located per volume element or per node (e.g. modelling methods like FVM/CFD, FEM/EMAG, etc.)

  • Point-2-Surface coupling suitable for all system simulation tools using ‘control nodes’ and physical quantities related to these nodes (e.g. modelling methods MBS, 1D-CFD pipeline models, general control models, FMI-for-co-simulation, etc.)

FMI for Co-Simulation

Functional Mock-up Interface (FMI) is a tool independent standard to support both model exchange and co-simulation of dynamic models using a combination of xml-files and compiled C-code. The first version, FMI 1.0, was published in 2010, followed by FMI 2.0 in July 2014. The FMI development was initiated by Daimler AG with the goal to improve the exchange of simulation models between suppliers and OEMs. As of today, development of the standard continues through the participation of 16 companies and research institutes.


FMI is currently supported by 87 tools and is used by automotive and non-automotive organizations throughout Europe, Asia and North America.


3D simulations – e.g. Finite Element Methods (FEM), Multibody Systems (MBS) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) – focus on the behavior of single components and are usually very specialized to depict a small selection of physical phenomena in a very detailed manner. Systems simulations, on the other hand, focus on the overall nonlinear dynamic behavior of complex systems consisting of many components. With today’s computational power it is not farfetched to depict the behavior of single components in a complex system via coupling to a full 3D simulation tool.


To bring the two worlds together, a MpCCI code adapter to the “Fraunhofer EAS Master” has been implemented. With this new feature it becomes easy to couple a system of FMUs, simulated with the EAS Master, to a full 3D simulation (or co-simulation) using any of the CAE tools supported by MpCCI.


The MpCCI-FMI link is currently under implementation …..