AN INTEGRATED COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT FOR SOLUTION OF COMPLEX ENGINEERING PROBLEMS USING THE OBJECT-ORIENTED PROGRAMMING PARADIGM AND A BLACKBOARD ARCHITECTURE

A blackboard architecture is presented for development of an integrate d computing environment for solution of complex engineering problems u sing the object-oriented programming paradigm. The blackboard consists of a controlling system that controls the problem's logic. Controller s are set up at two levels: local and global levels. A graphical objec t-oriented programming notation suitable for engineering computations is presented. An object-oriented database management system is created for effective management of the multitude of input, intermediate and output data in complex engineering software systems. A class library h as been developed for object-oriented finite element analysis. The con cepts, models and methods developed in this research have been applied to the solution of a complex engineering problem, the interlaminar st ress analysis of composite laminates.