Hi Matt,
You may also take a look at PTC's Mathcad
(http://www.ptc.com/product/mathcad/). I have used it a lot and find it to
be a very powerful mathematics application that can do a lot modeling that a
structural geologist wants to do. It is very user friendly. Working in
MathCad is like doing math on a piece of paper, truly "what you see is what
you get". Model development, simulation, and result visualization can all be
in the same environment and the plots are usually ready for publication.
Here are a few recent works that we have done using MathCad (some papers
have online MathCad worksheets as supplementary materials), if you want to
have an idea what the program can potentially do:
Jiang (2007a,b, JSG, p.189-200 and p. 435-452)
https://files.acrobat.com/preview/2d0e880a-18f7-45db-95ff-425b9baea252
https://files.acrobat.com/preview/7dbb610d-1f89-43e2-b632-e28617218348
Kuiper and Jiang (2010, Tectonophysics, p.175-191)
https://files.acrobat.com/preview/c8d9ba2c-9383-4ca6-bbdb-e9dfb429fb6b
Li & Jiang 2011.pdf
https://files.acrobat.com/preview/532ca7d2-d72c-4f2d-90c8-bc5ffe480589
Jiang (2012, Computer & Geosciences, p. 52-61)
https://files.acrobat.com/preview/87dbdd41-58ee-481d-bd07-5dd9cab078b0
Jiang and Bentley (2012, JGR vol 117, B12201)
https://files.acrobat.com/preview/f2c3a887-87e4-46eb-a30f-e2648a2a54d7
Jiang (2013, JSG, p.22-34)
Xiang and Jiang (JSG, in press)
Dazhi Jiang
Department of Earth Sciences
Western University
London, Ontario N6A 5B7
Canada
Tel: 519-661-3192
Fax: 519-661-3198
http://www.uwo.ca/earth/people/faculty/jiang.html
-----Original Message-----
From: Tectonics & structural geology discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Massey, Matthew A
Sent: August-19-13 11:35 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Numerical Modeling Software
Hi All,
I'm delving into the world of numerical modeling (mostly progressive
deformation, at this point) and wanted a some advice. I had originally
assumed that most structural geologists (and maybe most geologists?) use
MATLAB or Octave, but after talking with several others, I've been informed
this may not be entirely true. So before I begin, I'd like to get an idea
of what most people really are using these days, and should a beginner start
with something else? For the second part of that question, some things to
keep in mind about myself: (1) I'm definitely not a programmer, nor a
mathematician, but I think I can figure a lot of things out with some work;
(2) at the moment, I plan on using this for modeling the evolution of finite
strain magnitudes and orientations during 3D deformations, BUT I'm
definitely interested in other future possibilities within the realms of
structural geology, petrology, and geochronology. And one last follow up
question - can you recommend some good instructional materials for said
software (online tutorials, papers, published textbooks/manuals, etc.)?
Thanks,
Matt
___________________
Matthew A. Massey
Department Earth & Environmental Sciences University of Kentucky Lexington,
KY 40506-053
