Automated Finite Element Analysis in a Knowledge Based Engineering Environment

Abstract

Efficient use of finite element based analysis in a knowledge based automated design environment requires the solution of two problems. First, it must be ensured that for every instantiation of a parametric product model, the geometry is segmented (discretized) in such a way that proper element connectivity can be assured. Second, since changes in product variables (dimensional changes) and changes in product parameters (configuration changes) will lead to changes in the mesh topology, the product attributes (e.g. material and supports) must be linked to the product geometry and not to element meshing. This paper shows that the segmentation process normally carried out by FEM experts manually, can be implemented with Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE). As a result it is guaranteed that the geometry associated to any instantiation of the product model is properly segmented and the connectivity issue is handled in a robust way. This paper shows that the dependency of the FEM model definition on the underlying mesh can be solved by adding information and/or knowledge to the geometric data from the KBE tool. In a traditional CAD based design environment, the knowledge generated in the geometric design stage is inaccessible to the FEM pre-processing process due to the fact that data transfer formats are incapable of capturing this knowledge. It is shown that in a KBE environment information/knowledge stored in the product model can be extracted and made accessible. Finally, it is shown by an elaborate example of a rudder design case that the combination of properly segmented geometry and the knowledge extracted from the product model together with a newly developed, Python based Knowledge Based Engineering Finite Element Analysis tool allows for the flexible incorporation of automated FEM analysis in a multi-disciplinary design environment.

Design and Implementation of a New Generation Multi-Agent Task Environment Framework

“…It was discovered during operating and integrating DEEs and tools in the first release software, that a need to communicate direct with the framework by various discipline tools (Matlab, PyCoCo -An application to perform automated FEM analysis 13 ) would be beneficial. Several features were introduced to enable this communication.…”

Knowledge-based engineering to support aircraft multidisciplinary design and optimization

“…read the IGES files, map properties from the look-up tables, and generate the grid), and finally run the NASTRAN solver. More implementation details of the MMG-NASTRAN link are available in references [26] and [28]. Other CMs have been developed to link the MMG to other structural analytical tools requiring, for example, a lumped masse and beam representation of the aircraft [29,30] or a solid elements discretization to exploit an advanced p-element FE formulation [31].…”

“…This information is then used by the PMM to generate a detailed model of the movable, whose shape is fully consistent with the master geometry produced by the MMG. For the structural analysis of the movable [26], the aerodynamic loads can be extracted by the VSAERO model generated by the MMG-COALA system addressed above.…”

An automated CAD/CAE integration system for the parametric design of aircraft wing structures

“…Moreover, the required analysis results can be extracted from the output file which can be post processed by programming as well. This is known as the automated finite element modeling technique AFEM (Nawijn et al, 2006) and was used in many works to generate reliable FE models of complicated structures (Rocca and van Tooren, 2009;Sohaib, 2011).…”