Distributed Object–Oriented Blackboard Model for Integrated Design of Steel Structures

Abstract

Distributed computing on a cluster of workstations connected via a local area network provides a cost–effective approach to high–performance computing. The goal of this research is to lay the foundation for developing maintainable, extendable, and reusable programmer–defined object–oriented software systems on a cluster of networked workstations. A distributed object–oriented blackboard model (OOBM) is presented for integrated design of large structures on a cluster of workstations. The model includes an object–oriented alternative to model the functions of message passing and process control required in a distributed processing environment. The operational idea behind the distributed OOBM is to perform two missions iteratively until the desired solution is found. The first mission is to pass and monitor data messages through network communication using a network file server. The second mission is to generate a number of processes at heterogeneous workstations using appropriate process–generating models and techniques. The models and concepts developed in this research are applied to the problem of integrated design of steel structures.