Preparation of CAD model for finite element analysis

In spite of the widespread use of Computer Aided Design (CAD) systems for design and Computer Aided Analysis (CAE) systems for analysis, the two processes are not well integrated because CAD and CAE models inherently use different types of geometric models and there currently exists no generic, unified model that allows both design and analysis information to be specified and shared. In this paper, finite element-based model transformation method is proposed to realize information mapping from CAD to CAE. The element and node information is abstracted from finite element model and transformed to CAE system. The finite element model is prepared in CAD system which involves feature recognition and detail removal. In order to make the analysis conforms to practical needs and improve computational efficiency, additional operations are added in local regions before mesh generation to control local mesh density.