Modeling and Visualization for Engineering
This forum seeks to address the modeling and visualization challenges in the areas of product realization, materials, and processes – both individually and in the domains where they overlap. Progress in advancing an understanding of these important areas develops from a number of factors:
- Development of accurate models
- Reliable and efficient creation, conversion, extraction, manipulation, and representation of knowledge and data
- Meaningful visualizations of the problem
- Presentation of such models and visualizations in a manner that enhances our understanding.
At WSU, the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering has many faculty members working across the disciplinary interfaces and supported by excellent computational, visualization, and analytical resources. Our capabilities include:
- State-of-the art Virtual Reality (VR) laboratory and Engineer’s Office of the Future
- Boeing Global Engineering Laboratory
- Cutting edge numerical materials behavior modeling
- Excellent Mechanical Behavior (MB) laboratory
The faculty members involved in these activities include: S.D. Antolovich, K. Findley. D.V. Hutton, S. Jayaram, U. Jayaram, S. Mesorovic, C. Pezeshki, L.V. Smith, and H. Zbib. There have also been joint proposals and research discussions with faculty in bio-engineering, computer science, and management information systems. The faculty involved has a history of working across disciplinary lines.
Some potential projects which could be addressed as a part of this forum are listed below with a few explanatory comments:
- A. Virtual Reality based Engineering Applications
- Research into methods and models that would allow engineers to use a VR based environment to plan, analyze, and evaluate the assembly of mechanical systems.
- B. Knowledge Representation in Product Life Cycle Management
- Knowledge representation and modeling requirements are evolving in the changing engineering culture. Research in software and information technology tools and techniques with a focus on the engineering domain are needed for representing engineering data and allowing effective, timely, and focused access to the required data.
- C. Modeling of the Fundamentals of Constitutive Behavior
- A very advanced numerical model has already been developed for the behavior of massive number of dislocations when subjected to various mechanical loading schemes. The physics of this can be extended and the results can be put in a VR environment by which will illustrate these behaviors in ways never before attempted or perhaps even contemplated. We expect that the VR enhanced, physics-based results will lead to both research and teaching breakthroughs.
- D. Modeling of Damage Processes in Composites
- As composites and new bio-materials become more ubiquitous, it is increasingly important to understand their limits in an array of environments and to dramatically display those results to lead to even deeper understanding and improved teaching. We propose integration of our numerical modeling, VR capabilities, and expertise in damage mechanics to shed new light on this important class of problems. Again, we are fortunate to have a unique mix of equipment, personnel and background to establish new frontiers in research and teaching.
- E. Distributed and Collaborative Engineering Processes
- Investigate new and visionary models to function effectively in the current globally distributed reality of design, product and process development, manufacturing, and resource use and management. This will allow us to strengthen existing unique capabilities in collaborative engineering, visualization, system integration, styling, and ergonomic evaluation tools and to prepare for the changing engineering culture that involves globalized corporations with distributed product teams.
Some other areas of interest include: Visualization of 2D dislocation mechanisms thru the visual interpretation of modeling equations, 3D preprocessing and post processing of dislocation propagation and interactions, real-time finite-element analysis integrated with CAD systems for simulations, modeling and simulation of bio mechanics of muscles and joints, modeling and analysis of baseball and cricket bats in an integrated 3D CAD environment, etc.