The Second ICASE/LaRC Industry Roundtable: Session Proceedings

The second ICASE/LaRC Industry Roundtable was held October 7-9, 1996 at the Williamsburg Hospitality House, Williamsburg, Virginia. Like the first roundtable in 1994, this meeting had two objectives: (1) to expose ICASE and LaRC scientists to industrial research agendas; and (2) to acquaint industry with the capabilities and technology available at ICASE, LaRC and academic partners of ICASE. Nineteen sessions were held in three parallel tracks. Of the 170 participants, over one third were affiliated with various industries. Proceedings from the different sessions are summarized in this report

On the Evolution of CAE Research

Less than a decade ago it seemed that a new paradigm of engineering–called computer-aided engineering (CAE) – was emerging. This emergence was driven in part by the success of computer support for the tasks of engineering analysis and in part by a new understanding of how computational ideas largely rooted in artificial intelligence (AI) could perhaps improve the practice of engineering, especially in the area of design synthesis. However, while this “revolution” has failed to take root or flourish as a separate discipline, it has spawned research that is very different from traditional engineering research. To the extent that such CAE research is different in style and paradigm, it must also be evaluated according to different metrics. Some of the metrics that can be used are suggested, and some of the evaluation issues that remain as open questions are pointed out

Antenna Design, Radiobiological Modelling, and Non-invasive Monitoring for Microwave Hyperthermia

The death toll of cancers is on the rise worldwide and surviving patients suffer significant side effects from conventional therapies. To reduce the level of toxicity in patients treated with the conventional treatment modalities, hyperthermia (HT) has been investigated as an adjuvant modality and shown to be a potent tumor cell sensitizer for radio- and chemotherapy. During the past couple of decades, several clinical radiofrequency HT systems, aka applicators, have been developed to heat tumors. Systems based on radiative applicators are the most widely used within the hyperthermic community. They consist of a conformal antenna array and need a beamforming method in order to focus EM energy on the tumor through constructive interference while sparing the healthy tissue from excessive heating. Therefore, a hyperthermia treatment planning (HTP) stage is required before each patient\u27s first treatment session to optimize and control the EM power deposition as well as the resultant temperature distribution. Despite the vast amount of effort invested in HTP and the progress made in this regard during recent years, the clinical exploitation of HT is still hampered by technical limitations and patients can still experience discomfort during clinical trials. This, therefore, calls for a more efficient hardware design, better control of EM power deposition to minimize unwanted hotspots, and more accurate quantification and monitoring of the treatment outcome. Given these demands, the present report tries to address some of the above-mentioned challenges by proposing - A new antenna model customized for HT applications that surpasses previously proposed models from several points of view.- A hybrid beamforming method for faster convergence and a versatile, robust thermal solver for handling sophisticated scenarios.- A radiobiological model to quantify the outcome of a combined treatment modality of the Gamma Knife radiosurgery and HT.- A differential image reconstruction method to assess the feasibility of using the same system for both heating and microwave thermometry

A Research Review on Building Information Modeling in Construction―An Area Ripe for IS Research

This article presents a review of the research on Building Information Modeling (BIM) in construction, with the aim of identifying areas in this domain where IS research can contribute. The concept of BIM comprises an infrastructure of IT tools supporting collaborative and integrated design, assembly, and operation of buildings. This integrated construction approach, with all stakeholders editing or retrieving information from commonly shared models, requires major changes to well-established processes, organizational roles, contractual practices, and collaborative arrangements in the construction industry. Through a review of 264 research articles on BIM, we found that this research spans a wide area of technological and organizational topics, of which many have a clear resonance to focal areas in IS research. Our analysis shows that IS, to some extent, serves as a reference discipline and that theories used in IS research are also informing contemporary BIM research. The following areas in need of further IS research were identified: studies on the relationship between BIM’s functional affordance and human agency, adoption and use of BIM for inter-organizational collaboration, the influence of organizational culture on BIM practices, the capabilities of BIM for transforming industry practice, and identifying the business value of BIM. Considering that a well-established knowledge base in IS research can be drawn upon for studying these issues, combined with the exciting potential of BIM for transforming a major industry such as building construction, we conclude that BIM is an area ripe for IS research

NX 10 for Engineering Design -- Learning Edition

NX is one of the world’s most advanced and tightly integrated CAD/CAM/CAE product development solution. Spanning the entire range of product development, NX delivers immense value to enterprises of all sizes. It simplifies complex product designs, thus speeding up the process of introducing products to the market. The NX software integrates knowledge-based principles, industrial design, geometric modeling, advanced analysis, graphic simulation, and concurrent engineering. The software has powerful hybrid modeling capabilities by integrating constraint-based feature modeling and explicit geometric modeling. In addition to modeling standard geometry parts, it allows the user to design complex free-form shapes such as airfoils and manifolds. It also merges solid and surface modeling techniques into one powerful tool set. This self-guiding tutorial provides a step-by-step approach for users to learn NX 10. It is intended for those with no previous experience with NX. However, users of previous versions of NX may also find this tutorial useful for them to learn the new user interfaces and functions. The user will be guided from starting an NX 10 session to creating models and designs that have various applications. Each chapter has components explained with the help of various dialog boxes and screen images. These components are later used in the assembly modeling, machining and finite element analysis. The files of components are also available online to download and use. We first released the tutorial for Unigraphics 18 and later updated for NX 2 followed by the updates for NX 3, NX 5, NX 7 and NX 9. This write-up further updates to NX 10. Our previous efforts to prepare the NX self-guiding tutorial were funded by the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education Program and by the Partners of the Advancement of Collaborative Engineering Education (PACE) program

Digital workflows for the management of existing structures in the pre- and post-earthquake phases: BIM, CDE, drones, laser-scanning and AI

La metodologia BIM, sviluppata in America negli anni '70, ha rivoluzionato l'industria delle costruzioni introducendo i principi di innovazione e digitalizzazione per la gestione dei progetti, in un settore settore produttivo troppo legato a logiche tradizionali. I numerosi processi digitali che sono stati sviluppati da allora hanno riguardato in gran parte la progettazione di nuovi edifici, e sono principalmente legati alla disciplina del construction management. Alcune prime sperimentazioni condotte nel tempo hanno mostrato come l'estensione di questa metodologia agli edifici esistenti comporti molte difficoltà. In questo panorama, il lavoro di tesi si concentra sulla gestione delle strutture nella fase pre e post-sisma con l'obiettivo di sviluppare processi digitali basati sull'uso di tecnologie innovative applicate sia agli edifici ordinari che a quelli storici. Il primo workflow sviluppato, relativo alla fase pre-sisma, è stato denominato scan-to-FEM, ed è finalizzato a particolarizzare il classico processo scan-to-BIM nel campo dell'ingegneria strutturale, analizzando così tutti i passaggi dal rilievo dell'edificio con le tecniche digitali di fotogrammetria e laser-scanning fino all'analisi strutturale e alla valutazione della sicurezza nei confronti delle azioni sismiche. I processi di gestione delle strutture post-sisma sono invece incentrati sulla stima della sicurezza della struttura e sulla definizione delle strategie di intervento, e si basano sull'analisi delle caratteristiche intrinseche della struttura e dei danni indotti dagli eventi sismici. L'intero processo di valutazione del livello operativo di un edificio è stato quindi rivisto alla luce delle moderne tecnologie digitali. Nel dettaglio, sono state sviluppate Reti Neurali Convoluzionali (CNN) per la crack detection, e l'estrazione delle informazioni numeriche associate alle lesioni, gestite poi grazie ai modelli BIM. I quadri fessurativi sono stati digitalizzati grazie allìintroduzione un nuovo oggetto BIM "lesione" (attualmente non codificato nello standard IFC), al quale è stato aggiunto un set di parametri in parte valutati con le CNN ed in parte qualitativi. Durante lo sviluppo di questi processi, sono stati sviluppati nuovi strumenti adhoc per la gestione degli edifici esistenti. In particolare, sono state definite specifiche per lo sviluppo di schede tecniche digitali dei danni, e per la creazione del nuovo oggetto BIM "lesione". I processi di gestione degli edifici danneggiati, grazie agli sviluppi tecnologici realizzati, sono stati applicati per la digitalizzazione dell'edificio storico della chiesa di San Pietro in Vinculis danneggiato a seguito di eventi sismici, grazie ai quali sono stati sperimentati i massimi benefici in termini di riduzione di tempo e risparmio di risorse

Digitised engineering knowledge for prefabricated façades

Façade design is a multidisciplinary activity requiring the balancing of many conflicting design requirements. Very often, however, the designed façade does not respond to these requirement, as relevant design and manufacturing knowledge, normally originating downstream in the design process, is not properly used upstream in the process. The inability to respond to this challenge increases the environmental impact of the construction sector, which is currently covering nearly 40% of the global emissions. Also, improving the stagnant sector’s productivity is of paramount importance today, as it is deemed to be nearly as half as that of the manufacturing sector. This research has thus investigated ways to collect, store, represent and digitalise the engineering knowledge that underpins the design of façade products for façades that are better designed. The work has involved a close collaboration with the British general contractor (and façade manufacturer) Laing O’Rourke. The research has explored ways of using design and manufacturing knowledge and it has developed a digital tool and tested its functionalities. In the first part, after a review of the state-of-the-art in knowledge-based approaches in other fields, the digital tool, and relevant methodology, are developed. The tool informs the user about the expected performance and manufacturability of the façade product under analysis. The boundaries of traditional research were also pushed beyond the proof-of-concept by validating the digital tool in both simulated and real-world scenarios. The goal was to understand how people can develop a design solution while being supported by a digital tool. It was found that using such tool increases the user’s awareness about the consequences of the his/her choices in less time. In the last part of the research, the tool was used to develop a novel optimisation algorithm, by including considerations about aesthetics and manufacturability, in parallel with the traditional performance-based approach. The application of the algorithm to a case study has shown that it is possible to improve existing solutions in terms of performance, without affecting aesthetic and manufacturability significantly.EPSRC, Laing O'Rourk