Software Development

Division of Structural Mechanics

The department continuously develops software in the areas described below.

Programming techniques in Finite Element Analysis

To develop modern and efficient software for finite element analysis, it is also necessary to integrate the latest advances in the field of programming. Programming techniques that are of interest to finite element programs are:

Parallel programming with CPU and GPU
Integration of finite element computation in scripting environments such as Python (NumPy) and MATLAB
How to take advantage of recent developments in programming languages to facilitate the implementation of finite element programs (C++ / Modern Fortran).
Distributed methods to take advantage of greater computational resources (HPC).
Real-time computations with finite element programs to enable interactive access of computational models.

Visualisation techniques in Finite Element Analysis

An area that is also interesting to develop in a finite element context is visualisation of computational results. Most tools for visualisation in structural and solid mechanics often use standard methods where the results are presented in colour scales mapped to forces and stresses. In the field of visualisation, there is a rapid development of both methods and hardware that enable the visualisation of large models in completely new ways and scales. At the department, we have, among other things, developed methods for the visualisation of fibre networks, the visualisation of old construction methods, and the use of VR (Virtual Reality).