Solution reuse for model generation in numerical simulation

A knowledge-based tool that assists engineers with mathematical modelling in numerical simulation is described. The application domain covered includes engineering problems described by partial differential equations (e.g. heat transfer, fluid dynamics, structural analysis). In these applications, it is argued that mathematical modelling is primarily experiential in nature and is characterised by a weak domain theory. To date, existing research efforts have largely ignored this problem class and instead have focused on modelling in simpler application domains. This has been mainly achieved by exploiting approaches based on reasoning from first principles. One of the key issues that arises in modelling research is whether existing first principle approaches can be scaled to deal with more complex engineering application problems. In this work, this challenge is addressed by developing a modelling tool based on an alternative approach which exploits solution reuse. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Limited. All rights reserved.