Name: KiCad Finite Element Analysis (FEA) with free Software Tools
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Created byRenato Panic

Last updated 4/2026

English

What you'll learn

Learn to use the Finite Element Method (FEM) / Finite Element Analysis (FEA) / Finite Element Modelling Method (FEMM) for KiCad with free tools
Simulate the dynamic electromagnetic or static electric fields around your KiCad Traces
Simulate the voltage drop and current distribution of your traces (PDN/PI analysis)
FEM / FEA simulations can nicely suplement your LTSpice simulation results
Lean how to use the free tools KiCad, ElmerGUI, openEMS, FreeCAD, GMSH, ParaView, ... to create 3D simulations

Course content

9 sections • 70 lectures • 10h 52m total length

Preview Electric Field Simulation around a Microstrip2:06
Preview Heat conduction from copper trace to PCB0:30

Introduction to this Section0:18
In this section, I will start uploading problems related to dynamic electromagnetic field simulations.
Since this section is new (created on December 19, 2024), it will take some time to populate it with content.
For those coming here from YouTube: About 50% of my Udemy students are seeing this content for the first time and haven't watched it on YouTube before. Therefore, I will also post many videos that are already available on YouTube. However, don’t worry—there will be exclusive lectures here that will remain available only on Udemy.
Installation of ParaView (Windows)1:26
Installation of openEMS (Windows)9:55
How to update openEMS in Windows2:41
Installation of openEMS (Ubuntu, Linux)27:38
(KiCad 9) Wave propagation simulation with openEMS26:15
(KiCad 9) how to prepare KiCad layouts for maximum compatibility with openEMS5:37
(KiCad 9) how to detect errors in your exported step files - example 12:24
(KiCad 9) how to detect problems in your exported step files - example 23:35
(KiCad 9) Decoupling Capacitor Placement Simulation23:51
(KiCad 9) Filtering Capacitor Simulation, part 2: voltage probing1:20:37
(KiCad 9) Current Distribution over Frequency - frequency domain dumps14:02
(KiCad 9) Introduction to PDN Impedance Simulation over frequency35:01
(KiCad 9) How to speedup crosstalk simulations - 4 layer PCB example19:50
(KiCad 6) Lectures on how to install KiCad 6 and its addons0:27
(KiCad 6) Installation of the necessary FreeCAD addons for KiCad 61:00
(KiCad 6) Installation of KiCad 63:04
(KiCad 6) Installation of the fcad_pcb macro for FreeCAD for KiCad 61:15
(KiCad 6) Crosstalk Heatmap simulation and display via 2D cross sections11:57
(KiCad 6) Crosstalk Heatmap simulation part 2: 3D near field emission simulation4:01
(KiCad 6) Far Field (ff) Simulation over time3:11
(KiCad 6) Trace impedance simulation via TDR method (time domain reflectometry)10:42
(KiCad 6) Trace impedance simulation via sine wave sweep7:51
(KiCad 6) Trace impedance simulation via gaussian injection and S11 analysis8:43
(KiCad 6) Visualizing Current Directions in a J-Field Dump (ROTH Field Dump)3:13

Hierarchy setup0:33
how speed up the simulation speed of openEMS by 100x1:07
how to reduce the filesize of the dump files by 100x1:25
Simulation seems to get stuck at "Create FDTD engine"0:28
PEC dump issue: What to do when the signal propagation is not visible1:19
How to calculate the amount of timesteps for a crosstalk simulation0:59
(KiCad 6) How to import Microvias and Burried vias for multilayer PCBs1:24
How to inject a rectangle signal (square wave signal)1:28
How to inject a rectangle signal (square wave signal) - update on 07-JUN-20250:23
Simpler way to adjust the sample rate of the Step Excitation0:52
How to set up ports correctly10:06

Installation of the Finite Element Solver "Elmer" on Windows1:54
Installation of the Mesh generator "Salome" on Windows1:59
Installation of the required tools on Linux / Ubuntu0:28
All the tools covered in this lecture can also be installed on Linux / Ubuntu.
Although I haven’t yet recorded a video tutorial for the installation process, I can confirm that the entire workflow runs smoothly on Linux (at least on Ubuntu). I’ve tested it successfully across several Ubuntu versions.
Please install the following tools on Linux / Ubuntu:
KiCad 9 (for PCB design)
FreeCAD (to edit the PCB’s 3D data)
Salome (to generate a mesh from the 3D data)
ElmerFEM (to run FEM simulations)
ParaView (to visualize simulation results)
LibreOffice (spreadsheet editor)
Optional: GMSH (an alternative meshing tool that can be used instead of Salome)

If you are unsure how to install applications on Ubuntu / Linux, refer to Lecture 6. It demonstrates the installation of KiCad, FreeCAD, and ParaView. Using the same approach, you should be able to install the remaining tools once needed.
(KiCad 9) Real world example: Current density simulation and search for hotspots19:43
(KiCad 9) Real world example 2: Current density simulation51:49
(KiCad 9) Real world example: voltage drop on a power supply line14:58
Remark0:22
The next lectures of this section (Section 4) are still done with KiCad 6 as I did not find time yet to update them. If you want to keep using KiCad 9, you will have to slightly adapt your workflow.
The main difference between KiCad 6 and 9 is, that KiCad 6 was not able to export 3D step data and instead the 3D files were created with a FreeCad plugin and some python commands.
With KiCad 9 you can export the 3D model of the PCB right away from the PCB editor.
(KiCad 6) Voltage drop across branching traces5:48
(KiCad 6) Current flow inside a via11:54
(KiCad 6) Current flow out of an oversized pad12:48
(KiCad 6) Voltage drop across a straight copper trace5:29
(KiCad 6) Real world example: Arduino DC ground bounce and currenflow12:08
ground bounce and current flow distribution of an Arduino Board to find out where the ground layer needs improvement.

(KiCad 9) Thermal simulation via heat transfer coefficients, multi-material22:31
How to define the thermal resistance from junction to case (DPAK example)4:32
Basic Example: Heat conduction from copper trace to PCB14:51
Basic Example: Heat conduction between different materials (meshing with Salome)11:49
Basic Example: Heat conduction between different materials (meshing with GMSH)4:12
(KiCad 6) Thermal simulation via heat transfer coefficients, single material17:27
(KiCad 6) Thermal simulation with natural airflow/convection, single material19:44

Requirements

You should at least know what KiCad is, everything else you will learn inside the course.

Description

This course is for you if you already use KiCad but either cannot or choose not to invest in a commercial FEM tool.

Beyond learning how to perform FEM (and FDTD) simulations with free tools, you will also discover fascinating insights that will undoubtedly make you a better hardware design engineer by the end of this course.

By the end of this course, you'll have a solid foundation in using free FEM tools for PCB design, empowering you to make better design decisions.

What You Will Learn

In this course, I will guide you through simulating the following topics using free software tools for KiCad:

Current Flow in PCB Traces (DC) / PDN analysis / PI analysis
- Learn how to simulate the current flowing through a PCB trace.
- Based on current density, we will analyze and simulate voltage drops along the trace.
- This will in return also give you information about the trace resistances
Electric Fields Around Traces and Components
- Understand how to simulate electric fields around traces and components.
- Explore 3D field simulations to visualize signal propagation and identify areas where PCB routing can be improved.
- We will simulate static electric fields with the free tool Elmerfem and dynamic electromagnetic fields with OpenEMS.
Troubleshooting
- I will show you many ways to troubleshoot typical errors when working with the free tools which will hopefully lead to a fast learning curve.

Who this course is for:

This course is for beginners and advanced users. Many people have no acess to FEM simulation tools as they can cost tens of thousands of dollars. This course only uses completely free tools.

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Preview lectures2 lectures • 3min

Electromagnetic simulations in 3D with the free tool "openEMS"25 lectures • 5hr 9min

Common Errors, Workarounds and useful tips when working with "openEMS"11 lectures • 20min

Static Voltage drop and Current distribution simulation with the tool "ElmerFEM"12 lectures • 2hr 19min

Common Errors, Workarounds and useful tips when working with "ElmerFEM"4 lectures • 19min

Static Electric Field Simulation for KiCad in 3D with the free tool "ElmerFEM"6 lectures • 1hr 6min

Common Errors and Workarounds - Static Electric Field Simulation with "ElmerFEM"2 lectures • 2min

Thermal Simulations for KiCad in 3D with the free tool "ElmerFEM"7 lectures • 1hr 35min

Thank you1 lecture • 1min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: