SBIR Phase II: A Toolbox for Optimal Design

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project combines large-scale simulation of wave propagation phenomena with optimization. Simulation in itself is seldom a final objective. Rather, simulation is usually a step in an iterative process to solve the real problem, that could be the determination of material properties from indirect measurements, imaging, parameter estimation or optimal design, to name a few. All these problems share the need to couple a large simulation package with an optimization one. This project will formalize this concept and proceed to create a set of tools to facilitate this coupling in the area of transient wave propagation phenomena, with special applications to piezoelectric transducer design, oil exploration and production, and optimal and protective structural design. These applications are chosen to exemplify the usage of the toolbox and emphasize its generality. It will couple a wave propagation finite element system and a system for 3D forward and inverse geological modeling, with a number of optimization programs. The target market for the proposed solution is small to medium sized companies in need of a set of affordable design tools that will cover a number of different classes of application areas which have been previously available only to large firms. The results of this project will have a broad impact on a large number of small and medium size industries that rely on Computer Aided Design and Engineering to develop their products, accelerating and making more efficient the process between product conception, production and market introduction, key in a highly competitive world.