Object-Oriented Finite Element Analysis Program Architecture Design

With the development of CAE techniques, the Finite Element Method program, writtenin Fortran programming language, designed by structural method faces the problems ofmaintainability and expansibility. Finite Element program has developed to be one of the Coretechniques in CAE, and now CAE, CAD, CAO, PMD, SDM and TMD have combined to beVPD(Virtual Product Development) technology. Therefore, it is necessary to design anexpandable finite element program with good maintainability. Since the Object-Orientedmethod Was introduced in developing the Finite Element Method program in the 1990s, thepast years has seen a rapidly development in this field. However there is still a long way to gobefore generating a program that meets the needs of the Finite Element MethodThis paper, using Unified Process, presents an expendable program architecture, anddevelops an Object-Oriented Finite Element analysis program prototype in C++ programlanguage.This paper not only sums up the characters of the Finite Element analysis program, andpoints out the main reason that leads the Finite Element analysis program to be a rigid andhard expanding mass, but also introduces a solution to this problem, a program architecturebased on Object-Oriented method.The architecture presented divides the classes of the program into two groups: dataclasses and algorithm classes. The data classes derive from the concepts of the Finite ElementMethod, and the algorithm classes derive from the algorithms of the Finite Element Method,This paper uses mediator pattern (one of patterns recommended in book "design pattern") toeliminate the dependence relationships between the data classes.Using UML (Unified Modeling Language), this paper gives a Clear portrait of thiscomplex program.The following is the arrangement of this paper.In the introduction, the research on Object-Oriented FEM program is reviewed.In chapterâ… , introduce the tools and the theory used in this paper, such as softwaredevelopment method, the C++ programming language, UML, UP, EA and so on.In chapterâ…¡, sums up the character of the FEM program, and introduces the vision of theprogram, architecture of classes, data classes, algorithm class, and use cases. In chapterâ…¢, presents the architecture of the program prototype, full text of the key usecases, and the method of expanding the function of the program.In the conclusion, the main contributions of this dissertation are summed up, and thefurther work is suggested.The research of the dissertation is supported by the National Natural Science Foundationof China (10421202), "Computational Mechanics and Science engineering computation" ofthe Program for and the National Key Basic Research Specifiable Foundation of China(2005CB321704).