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Interactive real-time physics: an intuitive approach to form-finding and structural analysis for design and education

Senatore, G; Piker, D; (2014) Interactive real-time physics: an intuitive approach to form-finding and structural analysis for design and education. Computer Aided Design , 61 pp. 32-41. 10.1016/j.cad.2014.02.007. Green open access

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Abstract

Real-time physics simulation has been extensively used in computer games, but its potential has yet to be fully realised in design and education. We present an interactive 3D physics engine with a wide variety of applications. In common with traditional FEM, the use of a local element stiffness matrix is retained. However, unlike typical non-linear FEM routines, elements forces, moments and inertia are appropriately lumped at nodes following the Dynamic Relaxation Method. A semi-implicit time integration scheme updates linear and angular momentum, and subsequently the local coordinate frames of the nodes. The Co-Rotational formulation is used to compute the resultant field of displacements in global coordinates including large deformations. The results obtained compare well against established commercial software. We demonstrate that the method presented allows the making of interactive structural models that can be used in teaching to develop an intuitive understanding of structural behaviour. We also show that the same interactive physics framework allows real-time optimization that can be used for geometric and structural design applications

Type: Article
Title: Interactive real-time physics: an intuitive approach to form-finding and structural analysis for design and education
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.cad.2014.02.007
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2014.02.007
Language: English
Additional information: This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Keywords: interactive structural analysis, interactive structural form finding, co-rotational formulation, dynamic relaxation
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1414360
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