Development of a lightweight CAE middleware for CAE data exchange

Abstract

Computer-aided engineering (CAE) analysis is considered essential for product development because it decreases the simulation time, reduces the prototyping costs, and enhances the reusability of product parts. The reuse of quality-assured CAE data has been continually increasing in order to shorten the product development cycle and to improve the product quality. However, less attention has been paid to systematic research on the interoperability of CAE data because of the diversity of CAE data and because the structure of CAE data is more complex than that of CAD data. In this paper, we suggest a CAE data exchange method for the effective sharing of geometric and analysis data. The method relies on heterogeneous CAE systems, a virtual reality system, and our developed lightweight CAE middleware for CAE data exchange. We also designed a generic CAE kernel, which is a critical part of the CAE middleware. The kernel offers a way of storing analysis data from various CAE systems, and, with the aid of a script command, enabling the data to be translated for a different system. The reuse of CAE data is enhanced by the fact that the CAE middleware can be linked with a virtual reality system or a product data management system.