Simulation Setup

Palace simulations are configured through JSON files. PalaceToolkit provides helpers to generate these configs and launch Palace from Python.

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Running Palace

from palacetoolkit.simulation import run_palace

run_palace("config.json", num_procs=4)

By default, this uses the Palace executable shipped/fetched by PalaceToolkit.

If you want to run through an Apptainer/Singularity image instead, pass a .sif path explicitly:

run_palace("config.json", num_procs=4, sif_path="/path/to/Palace.sif")

If sif_path is omitted, PALACE_SIF is still supported as a fallback.

Generating a config from entities

After meshing with the Entity pipeline, you can auto-generate a Palace JSON config:

from palacetoolkit.simulation import generate_palace_config_from_entities

config = generate_palace_config_from_entities(
    entity_defs=[
        {"name": "conductor",  "boundary_type": "pec"},
        {"name": "dielectric", "boundary_type": "dielectric", "eps_r": 2.1},
        {"name": "port_in",    "boundary_type": "lumped_port", "R": 50, "Direction": "+Z"},
    ],
    pg_map=pg_map,          # dict mapping physical group names → tags
    mesh_file="model.msh",
    output_file="config.json",
    freq_min=1.0,
    freq_max=10.0,
    freq_step=0.5,
)

Boundary types

Type	Description	Extra keys
"pec"	Perfect electric conductor surface.	—
"dielectric"	Volumetric material.	eps_r, mu_r, loss_tan
"lumped_port"	Lumped port excitation.	R, Direction, Excitation
"waveport"	Wave port excitation.	Mode, Excitation

Surfaces present in the mesh but not listed in entity_defs are automatically treated as absorbing boundary conditions.

Solver types

Palace supports several solver types, selected in the config JSON:

• Driven — frequency-domain sweep (S-parameters, impedance).

• Eigenmode — resonant frequencies, Q-factors, and field patterns.

• Transient — time-domain simulation of pulse propagation.

• Electrostatic / Magnetostatic — static field solutions.

Config structure

A typical Palace JSON config has these top-level keys:

{
  "Problem": { "Type": "Driven" },
  "Model": { "Mesh": "model.msh", "L0": 1e-3 },
  "Domains": { "Materials": [] },
  "Boundaries": { "PEC": {}, "LumpedPort": [], "Absorbing": {} },
  "Solver": { "Driven": { "MinFreq": 1.0, "MaxFreq": 10.0, "FreqStep": 0.5 } }
}

Refer to the Palace documentation for the full specification.