Data structure employed in mechanical engineering software instruments.

Oanta, Emil ; Dumitrache, Constantin ; Barhalescu, Mihaela 等

1. INTRODUCTION

One can notice that the progresses in science and technology are closely related with the instrument employed to perform the calculi. In the past 25 years we noticed important changes of the computer hardware and the progress was followed by the advancement in software. At present, new computer software use concepts considered impossible to relate one to the other years ago (OOP, metaheuristics based on the natural behavior, etc.). Actual software applications allow the user to analyze in a more profound way the technical problems, but a thorough research requires interdisciplinary approaches which lead to a metalevel of understanding.

2. GENERAL ASPECTS REGARDING THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING RESEARCH

Usually, in the mechanical engineering field, the research is dedicated to a narrow topic, such as: the behavior of a given material in different conditions (Dumitrache, 2000), (Barhalescu, 2007), (Susanu & al., 2008); study of a given phenomenon with special mathematical, ecological, or economical features (Sabau, 2007); behavior of a structure in well defined conditions, (figure 1).

There are also special cases when the research subject is complex and it must take into account several phenomena (Oanta, 2001). In this situation the problem is decomposed in more simple problems which are solved separately and the results are employed in the upper level complex models.

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3. COMPUTER AIDED ORIGINAL INSTRUMENT

One of the basic concerns years ago was the use of the large matrices, problem which was solved using computing methods (Oanta & Nicolescu, 1999). Optimizations regarding the access time were also done and the basic libraries were implemented in upper level applications, employed for numerical methods, FEM, FDM, experimental data processing, etc.

Using the basic mathematical layer together with the corresponding software original instruments was an idea which proved to be extremely effective. The basic concept together with the software libraries for matrix-based approaches, was used, at a later stage, in several disciplines and domains of science (Oanta, 2007 b, c), (Oanta & al., 2007 a), figure 2.

The basic data structure was defined in a flexible way and together with the libraries already created it was employed as a foundation for the development of other data structures in several software applications, figure 3.

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The use of the 'matrix' data structure along the time in developing new software instruments lead to an unexpected effect. Thus, it offered the opportunity to integrate the knowledge from different disciplines by developing a set of advanced libraries (Oanta & Nicolescu, 2004). Moreover, the applications already created can be reused, either to solve a dedicated problem, or in a more general context.

One of the actual concerns was to update the libraries from the information technology point of view, with respect to all the disciplines already approached (Oanta & al., 2007 b.). We can notice that each previous programming language had a basic feature which made it useful for a given type of applications, like databases, numerical methods, artificial intelligence. Actual programming languages naturally include several functionalities, fact which makes them suitable for a wider range of software instruments.

Another problem to be solved is to create a software application which uses CAD facilities in order to implement a Boolean algebra which employs so-called simple geometrical shapes to be used as a data pre-processor.

4. CONCLUSION

Comparing the solution with other possibilities to solve the initial problems we can conclude that the outcomes are overcoming the initial expectations in terms of software libraries as well as in terms of integrated knowledge.

The libraries already developed can be used to create new applications dedicated to classic technical disciplines. In this way the analytic models are more complex and employ new algorithms and data processing techniques. This approach offers a new youth to classic technical disciplines which can be related with other types of models, experimental or numerical, in the attempt to solve a given research problem. The solution is to create original and advanced computer based research instruments which are used to completely solve a research problem using non-trivial obsolete techniques.

Computer based approaches depend on the technology which offer modern hardware and software, figure 4. Based on the actual technology new computing methods are conceived, some of them using the biosciences as an inspiration environment. Models which use these methods are fast, accurate, intelligent and stimulate the creative and analytic thinking. The result of the complex research based on modern models should be not only a progress in acquiring information but hopefully a leap in wisdom.

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Several ideas presented in the paper regarding the computer based models are the direct result of the research and development activity performed in the framework of the "Computer Aided Advanced Studies in Applied Elasticity from an Interdisciplinary Perspective" ID1223 scientific research project, under the supervision of the National University Research Council (CNCSIS), Romania (Oanta & al., 2007 b).

6. REFERENCES

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Dumitrache, C. (2000). Researches about ultrasonic influences on the metal welded structures, PhD Thesis, 182 pages, Field of science: Mechanical Engineering, 2000, 'Gheorghe Asachi' University of Iasi, promoter: Prof. Ioan Alexandru

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