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Virtual engineering is a powerful concept, defined as a technology that integrates geometric models and related engineering tools such as analysis and simulation, optimization and decision-making tools, etc. within a computer generated environment that facilitates multidisciplinary and collaborative product realization [1]. Virtual engineering applications can be constructed from scratch with high-level programming languages. However, since the end-user of the virtual engineering application is most likely not a programming expert, high-level support is needed to provide the user with the capability to construct his own application in an intuitive manner and with minimal coding. In this paper, we present a framework of the virtual engineering environment and its implementation, identify the general requirements for a virtual engineering application, and summarize the architecture. A virtual engineering application on computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based interactive design is used to motivate the research as well as to evaluate the performance of the system. The sample application is related to the coal transport system of a coal-fired power plant. Finally, the topics for future research are given. Virtual engineering is a powerful concept, defined as a technology that integrates geometric models and related engineering tools such as analysis and simulation, optimization and decision-making tools, etc. within a computer generated environment that facilitates multidisciplinary and collaborative product realization [1]. Virtual engineering applications can be constructed from scratch with high-level programming languages. However, since the end-user of the virtual engineering application is most likely not a programming expert, high-level support is needed to provide the user with the capability to construct his own application in an intuitive manner and with minimal coding. In this paper, we present a framework of the virtual engineering environment and its implementation, identify the general requirements for a virtual engineering application, and summarize the architecture. A virtual engineering application on computational fluid dynamics (CFD)-based interactive design is used to motivate the research as well as to evaluate the performance of the system. The sample application is related to the coal transport system of a coal-fired power plant. Disciplines Computer-Aided Engineering and Design Comments

Product design optimization is a complex decision-making process requiring intensive interactions between designers and the designed product. However, most current optimization tools do not support this type of direct interaction. Typically, resolving a converged result with an optimization tool takes a long solution time and high computing cost. However, designers are not involved in the optimization process and cannot control the quality of the so-called optimal result. In this paper, we introduce a virtual engineering design tool that expands the application scope of virtual reality from visualization to interaction and decision support. This design tool allows designers to easily experiment with different product designs using high fidelity CFD solver and observe the effects in an almost real-time manner. This can help designers understand the nature of the product and make superior decisions. Most importantly, the design tool enables designers to control the optimization computing process by selecting superior starting points or changing an obviously unpromising search direction. Hence, by adding human creativity and experience into the optimization process, designers can resolve the design optimization problem more efficiently. A coal pipe design and optimization scenario is presented to demonstrate the efficacy of this virtual engineering design tool. The goal of this tool is to enable a designer to modify the size and shape of a coal pipe to obtain evenly distributed coal at the outlet. In this tool after the initial population was chosen, a standard evolutionary algorithm was used to find the most superior pipe design within a much shorter time.

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