WBCSim: an environment for modeling wood-based composites manufacture

This paper describes a computing environment WBCSim that increases the productivity of wood scientists conducting research on wood-based composite materials and manufacturing processes. WBCSim integrates Fortran 90 simulation codes with a Web-based graphical front end, an optimization tool, and various visualization tools. WBCSim serves as an example for the design, construction, and evaluation of small-scale problem solving environments. WBCSim supports six models. A detailed description of the system architecture and a typical scenario of usage are presented, along with optimization and visualization features.