Abstract
Keywords: collaboration, finite element analysis, substructure
Collaborative information technologies and tools are successfully used in computer aided design (CAD), providing numerous benefits, such as better productivity and reduced time and cost to their users.
However, availability and usage of such tools amongst finite element (FE) analysts has been relatively poor because of the inability to save or reuse computational time and effort taken during a FE analysis.
This paper presents an innovative methodology that utilises substructures to enable collaboration for FE analysis in vehicle design.
The methodology is proposed and an extended example involving the design and optimisation of a car seat adjuster mechanism assembly is presented to highlight feasibility of the methodology and showcase flexibility and adaptability of the methodology.