An object-oriented approach is used to implement a fully interactive f
inite element program. The program provides rapid response to user cha
nges to the structure. The main features of the design of the program
are: (i) an object-oriented distributed data model is used for the fin
ite element objects; (ii) the calculation process is substructure-base
d; (iii) multi-threading (i.e. concurrent processing) is used. The dis
tributed data structure used matches closely the data structure used b
y the mathematics of the sub-structure-based calculation process, and
that of the multi-threading used in the program. The object-oriented a
pproach makes it much easier to exercise control over the calculation
processes, both in terms of the algorithms used, and in taking advanta
ge of the multi-threading, (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.
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