TRIMMED-PATCH BOUNDARY ELEMENTS - BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN SOLID MODELING AND ENGINEERING ANALYSIS

A method based on the boundary-element method is presented that integrates engineering analysis with solid modeling. The significant feature of the method is that, unlike in traditional boundary-element analysis, the elements are not limited to three and four edges. The geometry and topology of the elements are taken directly from the trimmed patches that represent the solid. The integration scheme does not assume that the domain of the element is a simple triangle or a square. The boundary integrals are evaluated over the general domains of the trimmed patches. The nodes are not assumed to be at fixed locations within the element, which means that they can be placed in such a way as to reflect how the element has been trimmed.