An unified CAD/CAE/VR tool for ship structure design and evaluation based on multi-domain feature mapping

Computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided engineering (CAE), and virtual reality (VR) are three distinct disciplines. For the collaborative design and interactive evaluation of ship structures, the main obstacle lies in the large differences in model data structures. In this regard, a unified tool for ship structure design/analysis/virtual evaluation based on Multi-Domain Feature Mapping (MDFM) is proposed. The multi-layer transmission and matching mechanism between data, information and knowledge established by Extensible Markup Language (XML) can realize the feature association among design, analysis and evaluation domain, so that CAD, CAE and VR become an organic entity. In the virtual scene, a visual expression strategy of CAD model and FEA data based on Unified Mesh Model (UMM) is proposed. The advantage of this unified tool lies in the intelligent generation of finite element models, as well as the virtual visualization and model reconstruction and evaluation of models with different topologies. Intelligent finite element (FE) meshing and analysis applications integrating knowledge templates represent a major subset of unified CAD/CAE/VR tools for structural models from CAD systems. The structure and data flow management of this unified tool is based on a common design process, which allows designers to link anticipated scenarios with proposed engineering changes. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed tool is demonstrated by engineering examples. •CAD/CAE/VR integration software framework for ship structural design is proposed.•FEA schemes based on knowledge and engineering semantics are intelligently generated.•Multi-layered transfer of data, information and knowledge based on multi-domain feature mapping is carried out.•CAD and CAE models share unified mesh data in a virtual reality environment.