FINITE ELEMENT MESH GENERATION FROM A SOLID GEOMETRIC MODEL

THE PRIMARY TECHNIQUES FOR CONDUCTING VULNERABILITY ANALYSES OF MOBILE OR FIXED TARGETS ARE (1) PROBABILISTIC STUDIES USING SIMPLIFIED METHODOLOGIES TO MODEL THE ENTIRE SYSTEM OR PROBLEM AND (2) FIRST PRINCIPLES FINITE ELEMENT OR HYDROCODE CALCULATIONS THAT MODEL DETAILED PHYSICAL INTERACTIONS AND STUDY A SPECIFIC PROBLEM OR PORTION OF A PROBLEM. BOTH TYPES OF ANALYSES REQUIRE A DETAILED TARGET MODEL. BECAUSE THE TARGET TO BE ANALYZED IN A FIRST PRINCIPLES CALCULATION IS OFTEN A PORTION OF A TARGET USED IN A PROBABILISTIC ANALYSIS, IT IS DESIRABLE TO OBTAIN INPUT FOR BOTH FROM THE SAME GEOMETRIC MODEL. THIS EFFORT WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF GENERATING A FINITE ELEMENT MESH FROM THE GEOMETRIC SOLID AND SURFACE DESCRIPTIONS OF A BRL-CAD SOLID MODEL. AN INTEGRATED VOLUME MESHING APPROACH HAS THE BENEFIT OF COMPLETE KNOWLEDGE OF THE MODEL, IN CONTRAST TO AN EXISTING RAY-TRACING APPROACH THAT DOES NOT AND CONSEQUENTLY HAS PROBLEMS WITH FINE DETAIL SUCH AS REBAR REINFORCEMENT. THE SUITABILITY OF THE BRL-CAO SURFACE DESCRIPTION AS A BASIS FOR DEVELOPNENT OF A VOLUME MESH WILL BE DETERMINED. A LIMITED PROTOTYPE VOLUME MESHING UTILITY WILL BE DESIGNED AND IMPLEMENTED. THIS INTEGRATED VOLUME MESHING APPROACH WILL BE DEMONSTRATED AND COMPARED TO THE RAY-TRACING APPROACH. THE OVERALL SUITABILITY OF THE INTEGRATED VOLUME MESHING APPROACH WILL BE ASSESSED.