Automated symmetry exploitation in engineering analysis

In engineering analysis, geometric symmetry, when exploited, has two potential benefits: (1) it can significantly reduce the computational time, and (2) it can simultaneously improve the accuracy of the computed solution. Consequently, most CAD\CAE systems have standard ‘provisions’ for exploiting symmetry. These provisions are however inadequate in that they needlessly burden the design engineer with time consuming and error-prone tasks of: (1) symmetry detection, (2) symmetry cell construction, (3) boundary mapping and (4) symmetry reduction. In this paper, we propose a framework for automated symmetry exploitation in engineering analysis. By formalizing all four tasks listed above, and by unifying them under a single framework, we show how automated symmetry exploitation can be achieved. We discuss implementations of the proposed work within two commercially available CAD\CAE systems, namely FEMLABTM and SolidWorksTM.