From Computer Aided Engineering Software to Information Driven Decision Making for High-Consequence Engineering Systems

1. An overview of the evolution of computer aided engineering (CAE) software since the 1980's to today's rapid development of user-friendly adaptive visual environment (AVE) packages that will drive the next generation of information technology tools for decision making.
2. Two examples of such AVE packages, i.e., a navigation program named NAVIA_EO and a multi-physics pre-post-processor named MPAVE, and how they are linked to finite-element-analysis solvers (e.g., ABAQUS, MARC, MPACT, NASTRAN, etc.) for decision making.
3. The development of a laser-based hand-held instrument (Green's Strain Rosette) for the direct measurement of strains during the life cycle of a component in a vehicle, train, aircraft, or space shuttle. Measurements made in situ on a bar code etched on the surfaces of a component are analyzed and interpreted by the mathematical and computational models in MPAVE with a view to predicting and monitoring the life of the component.

The need to calibrate AVE software for specific tasks such as plasticity, creep, buckling, etc. using verification and validation (V&V) methodologies for estimating confidence limits in order to close the life-cycle V&V loop for decision making will be explored and discussed.

Note: This talk is based on the joint work of the speaker and Prof. Bill Ranson of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC. Prof. Ranson will accompany the speaker at this seminar and answer questions on a prototype hand-held instrument that measures the surface strains of a component and integrates the data for component life-cycle prediction.

Speaker Bio: Dr. Marçal began his career as a Lecturer at the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London University, in 1963 and later as a Professor in the Division of Engineering, Brown University. He left Brown to found a software company that developed and marketed the first general purpose nonlinear finite-element-analysis program named MARC. A Fellow of ASME (1975), he was also honored for his technical contributions with the award of the ASME Pressure Vessel and Piping Medal (1989). He is the author of over 65 scientific papers and has organized and contributed to many scientific meetings on Computational Structural Mechanics.

Presentation Slides: PDF

Note: Visitors from outside NIST must contact Robin Bickel; (301) 975-3668; at least 24 hours in advance.