Computational analysis has become an essential tool for the evaluation
of designs for complex engineering products, and engineers are using
more analysis applications to model a wider range of product behaviour
than ever before. Existing technology is unable to offer effective so
lutions for the management and integration of either the applications
themselves or the information they use and create. This is in part due
to an inadequate understanding of the engineering analysis process. I
n order to facilitate the construction of more automated analysis syst
ems with reduced dependence on specialized data formats, it is necessa
ry to better understand how existing analysis applications use and gen
erate information and what their common (and hence potentially shareab
le) elements are. We present a discussion of the concepts of computati
onal analysis and its use within the engineering design process. The d
esign of gas turbine rotor blades is used to illustrate the wide range
of analyses that need to be supported within mechanical engineering,
and analyses for the calculation of stress and strain values for these
blades are used to exemplify the roles of the primary concepts involv
ed.