Automated symmetry exploitation in engineering analysis

  • Authors:

  • Krishnan Suresh;Ameya Sirpotdar

  • Affiliations:

  • 347, Mechanical Engineering Building, 1513 University Avenue, University of Wisconsin, 53706, Madison, WI, USA;347, Mechanical Engineering Building, 1513 University Avenue, University of Wisconsin, 53706, Madison, WI, USA

  • Venue:
  • Engineering with Computers
  • Year:
  • 2006

Quantified Score

Hi-index 0.00

Visualization

Abstract

In engineering analysis, geometric symmetry, when exploited, has two potential benefits: (1) it can significantly reduce the computational time, and (2) it can simultaneously improve the accuracy of the computed solution. Consequently, most CAD/CAE systems have standard ‘provisions’ for exploiting symmetry. These provisions are however inadequate in that they needlessly burden the design engineer with time consuming and error-prone tasks of: (1) symmetry detection, (2) symmetry cell construction, (3) boundary mapping and (4) symmetry reduction. In this paper, we propose a framework for automated symmetry exploitation in engineering analysis. By formalizing all four tasks listed above, and by unifying them under a single framework, we show how automated symmetry exploitation can be achieved. We discuss implementations of the proposed work within two commercially available CAD/CAE systems, namely FEMLABTM and SolidWorksTM.