Analysis-aware modeling: Understanding quality considerations in modeling for isogeometric analysis

Isogeometric analysis has been proposed as a methodology for bridging the gap between computer aided design (CAD) and finite element analysis (FEA). Although both the traditional and isogeometric pipelines rely upon the same conceptualization to solid model steps, they drastically differ in how they bring the solid model both to and through the analysis process. The isogeometric analysis process circumvents many of the meshing pitfalls experienced by the traditional pipeline by working directly within the approximation spaces used by the model representation. In this paper, we demonstrate that in a similar way as how mesh quality is used in traditional FEA to help characterize the impact of the mesh on analysis, an analogous concept of model quality exists within isogeometric analysis. The consequence of these observations is the need for a new area within modeling - analysis-aware modeling - in which model properties and parameters are selected to facilitate isogeometric analysis. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.