Advances and trends in computational structures technology

Abstract

The status and some recent developments of computational structural technology (CST) are summarized. Discussion focuses on a number of aspects, including goals of CST, state-of-practice of CST; recent advances in computational models for material behavior, stochastic modeling of structural response; computational strategies and numerical algorithms for new computing systems; and large-scale optimization. Research areas in computational structural technology which have high potential for meeting the future technological needs are identified. These are the primary and secondary items that pace the progress of CST, and are therefore recommended as future directions for research. The primary pacing items include high fidelity modeling of complex structures, prediction and analysis of failure of structural components made of new materials, development of computational strategies and solution methodologies for large-scale structural calculations, and assessment of the reliability of the response predictions and their adaptive improvement. The secondary pacing items include integration of structural analysis software into CAD/CAM systems, predata and postdata processing, and effective use of visualization technology.