Research On The Feature-based CAD-FEA Integration

Feature-based Computer Aided Design (CAD) has been widely used for product design. Meanwhile, Finite Element Analysis (FEA) has been integrated into the product design and development process to evaluate the design results. In order to improve the product design process, it is crucial to integrate CAD and FEA closely and seamlessly. In this thesis, the related work about CAD-FEA integration is analyzed systematically, and three main parts of work are presented which include a CAD-FEA integration model based on analysis features, rapid generation of feature-based multi-resolution FEM model, and an approach for the mapping between design feature and analysis feature.Chapter 1 summarizes related technologies for CAD-FEA integration firstly, and then introduces existing research activities and their problems. At last the research's significance and contents are also presented.Chapter 2 proposes an analysis feature based CAD-FEA integration model. According to the requirements of the CAD-FEA integration system, a CAD-FEA integration model is proposed which efficiently supports the information exchange and sharing among different processes involved in the CAD-FEA integration. The analysis feature model is also introduced to support the information exchange among the design model, the analysis model and the mesh model effectively and conveniently.Chapter 3 proposes a feature-based approach for rapid generation of multi-resolution FEM models. Firstly, the interfaces between every two features of the model are determined; then, the mesh model of each design feature or analysis feature is generated by taking the related interfaces as constraints; finally, the corresponding mesh models are selected to compose the multi-resolution FEM models at a specific level of resolution.Chapter 4 proposes an approach for the mapping between design features and analysis features. According to the complexity caused by the feature itself and the feature intersections, two feature mapping strategies are proposed which are based on feature decomposition and feature composition. During the process of feature mapping, the relationships between certain entities are established, namely the associations between design features and analysis features, and those among the topology entities belonging to different features, which facilitate the information exchange between design model and analysis model. In order to support the concurrent engineering, an incremental approach for the mapping between design features and analysis features is also discussed.Chapter 5 summarizes the contents of this work, and also describes the future development trend.