Enabling concurrent engineering in the computational fluid dynamics environment

This paper describes a knowlege-based concurrent engineering approach to automate the activities of the product analysis process. The major focus in this paper is the development of the analysis model from the product specification data. The approach discussed in this paper recognizes the differences between product design and model design. The product specification (or computer-aided design) data can be used as the starting point to build performance models for analysis which, in turn, can be used to generate the appropriate mesh specification. The unconventional approach described in this paper proposes a way to help reduce the difficulty and tedium of the analysis model building and mesh specification tasks in the product analysis process. A description of an AI-based framework to perform the activities of analysis model formulation and mesh specification is provided. Implementation aspects related to analysis model formulation are also addressed.