A CONSTRAINT-BASED ENGINEERING MECHANICS APPLICATION BUILT ON A SYMBOLIC MATHEMATICS SYSTEM

A SIGNIFICANT COMMERCIAL OPPORTUNITY LIES IN PROVIDING SOFTWARE SYSTEMS WHICH TAKE REAL WORLD ENGINEERING PROBLEMS,EXPRESSED IN ENGINEERING RATHER THAN MATHEMATICAL TERMS, ANDCONVERT THESE PROBLEMS INTO SYSTEMS OF MATHEMATICAL EQUATIONS. THESE EQUATIONS MAY THEN BE ANALYZED USING THE SYMBOLIC AND NUMERICAL FACILITIES OF A GENERAL PURPOSE MATHEMATICS PACKAGE. THIS APPROACH SEPARATES APPLICATION SPECIFIC ENGINEERING KNOWLEDGE FROM THE APPLICATION INDEPENDENT CAPABILITIES OF GENERAL PURPOSE MATHEMATICAL SOFTWARE. IN THE LAST FOUR YEARS, VARIATIONAL GEOMETRY HAS EMERGED AS NATURAL AND POWERFUL LANGUAGE FOR THE EXPRESSION OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROBLEMS; PARTICULARLY PROBLEMS INTHE REALM OF ENGINEERING MECHANICS. THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP AN ENGINEERING MECHANICS PACKAGE WHICH WILL SERVE TO CONVERT A VARIATIONAL GEOMETRY BASED DESCRIPTION OF THE ENGINEERING PROBLEM INTO A SYMBOLIC MATHEMATICAL DESCRIPTION, WHICH MAY THEN BE ANALYZED INSIDE A GENERAL PURPOSE MATHEMATICAL PACKAGE. THE PHASE I RESEARCH WILL ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF TAKING THIS APPROACH AND THE PERFORMANCE GAINS WHICH MAY BE REALIZED.