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Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference: GR/N31092/01
Title: RAPID STRESS ANALYSIS USING THE FAST MULTIPOLE METHOD
Principal Investigator: Walker, Dr S
Other Investigators:
Fenner, Dr R
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
MSC Software Ltd
Department: Mechanical Engineering
Organisation: Imperial College London
Scheme: Standard Research (Pre-FEC)
Starts: 01 March 2000 Ends: 30 November 2003 Value (£): 130,962
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:
Eng. Dynamics & Tribology
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Aerospace, Defence and Marine Manufacturing
Construction No relevance to Underpinning Sectors
Related Grants:
Panel History:  
Summary on Grant Application Form
Industrial use of large 3-D finite element stress analysis is surprisingly modest compared to the potential for such use. Reasons include the expense of generating large finite element models, and the computational task of solving these. Boundary elements are even less used; they offer much easier mesh generation, but this benefit cannot be realised because they are computationally very expensive on large industrial problems.Computationally similar challenges arise in large electromagnetic (EM) scattering (radar 'stealth') computations, where > 10^7 surface elements can be needed. Here vast gains have recently been made by incorporating the Fast Multipole Method (FMM) into integral equation (boundary element) treatments, with cost scaling reduced from nodes-cubed (N^3) to as low as N^1.2 logN, with similar reductions in storage needs. Problems with >2 million surface unknowns have already been solved.Cross-disciplinary research is proposed; to develop an elastostatic boundary element treatment incorporating the FMM, exploiting advances made in the area of computational electromagnetics.Gains anything like those already achieved in EM will make: cheaper surface-only meshing able to be realised; much larger analyses possible; solutions sufficiently rapid to permit interactive analyses and eg automated design optimisation
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Organisation Website: http://www.imperial.ac.uk