New method for ship finite element method preprocessing based on a 3D parametric technique

A new method for ship finite element method (FEM) preprocessing is presented as well as its program development. The method is applicable for all kinds of ships at different levels, such as a whole ship, cargo hold parts or detailed structures. The 3D parametric technique is used when creating ship structures, which improves the modeling efficiency greatly and makes the model easy to modify. A 3D geometric constraint solver is developed to solve the constraint system of the parametric model. A meshing procedure is presented to automatically convert the parametric structure model into a finite element model, by which high quality mesh is generated in the stress concentrated area. It also becomes possible to create finite element models for different levels from the same structure model. Using this method, the engineers avoid much of the complex and laborious work of FEM preprocessing, which consumes a very significant amount of time in finite element analysis, and can pay more attention to post-processing. This method has proved to be practical and highly efficient by several engineering trials.