EXPERT SYSTEM FOR FINITE ELEMENT MODELING

MOST TYPICAL PROBLEMS IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING ARE BEST ANALYZED BY APPROXIMATING AN OBJECT'S GEOMETRY WITH FINITE ELEMENTS. SELECTING AN APPROPRIATE MESHING STRATEGY FOR A GIVEN SOLID REQUIRES KNOWLEDGE ABOUT FINITE ELEMENT THEORY IN GENERAL, AND ABOUT PACKAGE-SPECIFIC DETAILS IN PARTICULAR. THE ADEPT SYSTEM INTEGRATES A TRADITIONAL SOLIDMODELER WITH AN EXPERT SYSTEM EQUIPPED WITH THIS KNOWLEDGE. PHASE I OF THIS PROJECT CONCLUDED IN THE SUCCESSFUL COMPLETION OF A SIMPLE WORKING MODEL OF ADEPT. THE PHASE IIEFFORT WILL INVOLVE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMPLETELY INTEGRATED, FULLY FUNCTIONAL ADEPT SYSTEM. GIVEN A SOLID TOBE ANALYZED, ADEPT WILL USE A COMBINATION OF FEATURES DEDUCED FROM THE SOLID'S GEOMETRY AND INFORMATION SUPPLIED BY THE USER TO DETERMINE A MODELING STRATEGY AND TO AUTOMATICALLY GENERATE INPUT FILES FOR A CHOSEN SET OF ANALYSIS PACKAGES.