Interactive re-analysis in mechanical design evolution. Part I. Backgroundand implementation

The role of stress analysis in design is limited by the batch processing of single design geometries when subjected to prescribed load cases. While th is approach is reasonable for detailed design, it limits the engineer in ea rly stage design, when rapid availability of stress information for differe nt geometries is perhaps more important than geometric precision. This pape r presents structural re-analysis in a boundary element context, providing information on a suitable object-oriented structure, and giving details on the operations required when processing various types of re-analysis. Compu tational performance improvements (over a full analysis) of 50-80% are foun d, depending on the degree of perturbation to a pre-existing boundary eleme nt method model. An illustration, in which multiple modifications are made to different parts of a design geometry, shows how stress reduction and wei ght reduction may be achieved as analysis results guide the design in the c oncept stage. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.