FEM Operations Toolbox

The FEM Operations Toolbox is an extension of the Geometric Operations Toolbox with functions for the evaluation and analysis of the results of numerical simulations created with the finite element method (FEM).

In addition to the dynamic geometry and the FE results, it is possible to enrich them with further data due to the basic, flexible data structure. As a result, simulation data, e.g. with real test data, can be processed together, whereby diverse, complex applications can be developed and analyses can be carried out.

Among other things, the FEM Operations Toolbox enables AI-based post-processing and automated in-depth analyses for FEM simulations.

The FEM Operations Toolbox is the technical basis for many commodo solutions.

Purpose
Features
Architecture

The FEM Operations Toolbox is used for algorithmic processing of finite element simulations and enables the application of methods of artificial intelligence, machine learning and pattern recognition for simple to highly complex tasks, such as

automated, mesh-independent evaluation of FEM simulations in post-processing,
normalization (regarding the FE mesh) and extraction of features and characteristic values from the simulation results in order to make them accessible for AI methods,
dynamic topological and geometrical investigations,
anomaly and error detection for quality management in simulation data management (SDM),
damage, failure and injury assessments,
problem- and result-specific visualizations and automated reporting of simulation results.

Selection of model parts, subsets, and Finite Element entities (nodes, elements, partitions, groups, material,... )

model-specific selections

by entity attributes (e.g. ID, element type, material type, component name, ...)

result specific selection

by certain values and value ranges of FE input and results data

topological selections

neighbourhood entities
geometrically near entities
boundaries and edges
coordinates
geometric regions
projections

Detection of structures

boundary detection
tracking the motion and orientation of the selection
detection of connected regions (e.g. for component detection)
evaluating the envelope of the selection

box (oriented or with fixed axes)
cylinder (oriented or with fixed axes)
sphere
convex envelope

manipulation of envelope

shift, rotate, scale, offset

evaluation of rigid body motion (translation and rotation) from displacements
detection of out-most nodes within a direction
evaluation of normal and centre

Feature extraction for Machine Learning

conversion of FE values to other entities by accumulation and statistic methods (e.g. FE results of nodes being cumulated to element values)
various statistics

over entities of selections
over entities of a certain size
over the neighbours of an entity
over the time

distance calculations

Evaluation of FE values from model attributes and other FE values

calculations of lengths, areas, volumina, masses of entities, envelopes
magnitude, differences and numerical derivatives
arithmetic operations of FE values

Display and plotting of values

full model and selected subsets
fringe plots and scalar values
deformed and undeformed
opaque or (partially) transparent
at arbitrary time steps by interpolation and deformation figures and FE values
high-lightening of selections
cursor for the identifications of node IDs

Basis formats

.A4DB (and hereby all formats, which Animator4 can read and convert)
.STL

Supporting formats (for the integration of solver specific (meta-)data)

LS-Dyna input .K (partially)
customer specific formats (on request)

Integration of further (meta-)data

for each entity arbitrary data can be added and organized
definition of custom groups/partition (inclusion of custom labels)
access to arbitrary data

Treatment of complex FEM sub models (under consideration of customer specific modelling conventions)

ties with master/slave
spots welds
combined element and node groups
hierarchical groups

Expectator functionalities

application of complex, criteria based evaluation
application of general, multivariate statistics and pattern recognition methods on simulation results (e.g. statistics of component failures)
generation of automated, result-dependent, adaptive reports
results integration in A4DB

Reporting

display of models and results in (interactive) MATLAB figures
generation of adaptive HTML reports
export of results for the display in Animator

by scripts, session files
by enrichment of A4DB files

custom formats for direct integration in the SDMS

Support functions

edit of FE entities (removal, adding)
manipulation of FE geometries (shift, rotation, scaling)
transformation of coordinate systems
converting in triangulations to interface MATLAB's triangulation algorithms
various conversions in graphs to interface MATLAB's triangulation algorithms
numerous referenced access functions
generation of custom entities
identification of interlacing geometries

The FEM Operations Toolbox is an extension of the

and cannot operate without these two. As consequence also MATLAB is necessary for the execution of the FEM Operations Toolbox.

The toolbox is divided into two interfaces. Using the engineering interface, a toolbox user can create medium-complex processing via SignalProcessing in Stipulator. Via the developer interface, experts can develop solutions for highly complex tasks and make them available in the form of scripts, signal processing and extensions.

By integrating the functionalities of the FEM Operations Toolbox into Stipulator, scenario-based development based on FEM simulations is possible.

For quality assurance of FEM simulations, e.g. in Simulation Data Management, the FEM Operations Toolbox can be combined with the Expectator.

The optional combination with the

Parallel Computing Toolbox

from Mathworks is beneficial for speeding up the calculations.

MATLAB is registered trademark of The Mathworks, Inc.