AUTOMATED MESH GENERATION/EDITING SCHEMES FOR TWO- AND THREE-DIMENSIONAL CONTINUUM/DISCRETE FINITE ELEMENT MODELING.

The technology for creating complex geometric models within a computer-aided design framework, although rapidly increasing in popularity, is still under developmental stages. Generating and modeling complex structural configurations and data files to serve as input for typical finite element applications are known to be laborious and time consuming. The paper describes basic concepts and features towards the development of useful computer-aided geometric models and generation/editing schemes utilizing computer graphics principles and finite elements. The concepts described in the paper have been successfully applied to generate and model complex structural models with emphasis on applications to aerospace related structures.