A feature-independent mesh generation and integrated solution framework

虽然计算仿真在工业中得到了广泛的应用，但由于所涉及的几何模型的复杂性，其更广泛的使用受到了限制。这一限制是由于将信息从计算机辅助设计(CAD)模型传输到适合于模拟的计算机辅助工程(CAE)模型所需的工时过多，从几天到几个月不等。CAD模型通常涉及的细节级别比使用CAE系统执行计算模拟所需的细节级别高得多。为模拟准备CAD模型，包括网格生成，仍然是一个具有挑战性的瓶颈，需要解决，以使模拟工具在工业中的全部潜力得以实现。这一挑战也是阻碍工业采用通常在计算上优越的高阶方法的一个关键因素。目前的研究集中在开发去特征复杂CAD模型的算法上。这一过程的一个主要缺点是需要人工专业知识以及与CAD系统和几何图形清理工具的手动交互。虽然工程师得到了许多现有商业网格生成程序包中包含的半自动工具的帮助，如COMSOL、Ansys、CATIA、SolidWorks、Patran、MSC、CADfix、ESI可视化环境，但去特征不能完全自动化。此外，通常不可能先验地知道去特征对模拟结果的影响，因为这一过程取决于物理问题和所需的近似水平。问题的核心是在许多商业网格生成器中实现的传统层次范例。这个项目的最终目标是开发一个新的计算环境，其中包括独立于特征的网格生成范例和即插即用库，以使网格能够直接集成到现有的商业和研究解算器中。提出的方法是颠覆性的，因为它提出了非传统计算方法的发展，不仅在为计算模拟生成合适的网格阶段，而且还需要将新的即插即用库结合到现有的求解器中。这些库将作为该项目的一部分交付，它将遵循商业软件中使用的基本原理，在商业软件中，用户可以根据特定模拟的要求选择不同类型的元素。提出的网格生成技术的优势不仅限于消除了许多在设计周期中经常使用计算工程的行业所强调的瓶颈。此外，新的网格将完全消除因取消CAD模型的特征而带来的不确定性。CAD模型不会改变，而不是依靠专家的意见来决定哪些特征可能在模拟中不相关，从而产生更高的保真度和对结果的信心。拟议的研究是及时的，解决了过去三年来独立机构(例如NASA)、致力于计算机建模的国际协会(例如NAFEMS)和私营部门(例如Pointwise Inc.)强调的问题。自20世纪90年代中期以来，这项研究一直专注于开发更快的去特写工具。这个问题二十多年来没有得到解决的事实表明，这里提出的激进的新方法，追求不需要去特写的正交研究方向，可以导致突破。

Although computational simulation is extensively employed in industry, its wider use is limited by the complexity of the geometric models involved. This limitation is due to the excessive number of human hours, ranging from days to months, required to transfer information from a computer aided design (CAD) model to a computer aided engineering (CAE) model suitable for simulation. CAD models frequently involve a level of detail much greater than that required to perform a computational simulation with a CAE system. The preparation of CAD models for simulation, including mesh generation, is still a challenging bottleneck that needs to be resolved to enable realisation of the full potential of simulation tools in industry. This challenge is also a crucial factor delaying the industrial uptake of, the often computationally superior, high-order methods.Current research is focused on the development of algorithms for de-featuring complex CAD models. A major drawback of this process is the requirement for human expertise and manual interaction with CAD systems and geometry cleaning tools. Although engineers are aided by the semi-automatic tools that are included in many existing commercial mesh generation packages, such as COMSOL, ANSYS, CATIA, SolidWorks, Patran, MSC, CADfix, ESI Visual Environment, de-featuring cannot be fully automatised. In addition, it is usually not possible to know, a priori, the effect of de-featuring on the results of a simulation because this process depends upon the physical problem and the level of approximation required.At the heart of the problem is the traditional hierarchical paradigm implemented in many commercial mesh generators. The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a new computational environment that includes a feature-independent mesh generation paradigm and plug--and--play libraries to enable direct integration of the meshes into existing commercial and research solvers. The proposed approach is disruptive, as it proposes the development of unconventional computational approaches, not only at the stage of generating suitable meshes for computational simulations but also requires the incorporation of new plug-and-play libraries into existing solvers. The libraries will be delivered as part of this project and it will follow the rationale used in commercial software where the user can select a different type of element depending on the demands of a particular simulation. The advantage of the proposed mesh generation technique is not restricted to removing the bottleneck that has been highlighted by many industries that routinely use computational engineering in their design cycles. In addition, the new meshes will completely remove the uncertainty introduced by de-featuring CAD models. Instead of relying on the opinion of experts, to decide which features might not be relevant in a simulation, the CAD model will not be altered, leading to higher fidelity simulations and more confidence in the results.The proposed research is timely, tackling a problem that has been highlighted in the last three years by independent agencies (e.g. NASA), international associations dedicated to computer modelling (e.g. NAFEMS) and the private sector (e.g. Pointwise Inc.). Since the mid 1990s the research has focused on the development of tools for faster de-featuring. The fact that this issue has not been resolved in over two decades, suggests that the radical new approach proposed here, pursuing an orthogonal research direction, in which no de-featuring is needed, can lead to a breakthrough.