Research Projects Supported by HKU's High Performance Computing Facilities
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Researcher:
Professor S T Tan, Department of Mechanical Engineering
Project Title:
Heterogeneous Solid Modeling Using Materially Defined Geometric Entities
Project Description:
It is known that components designed with heterogeneous materials show key advantages over those designed with a homogeneous material as anisotropic and/or other desired properties of the materials can be incorporated. Traditional limitations due to material incompatibility (e.g. stress concentration and non-uniform thermal expansion) have been overcome by incorporating gradual material variation in the designed component. Arising from this, many engineering studies have focused on heterogeneous solid modeling in recent years.

This project aims to extend and enhance the traditional homogeneous solid modeling methods by incorporating material information in the 1D, 2D and 3D geometric entities. Such a representation guarantees a more flexible material variation to be defined throughout the 3D space and the user¡¦s design intent can be intuitively captured. Moreover, a range of heterogeneous objects which are difficult or unable to be defined with existing methods can be represented.
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Project Duration:
Three Years

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Project Significance:
 The outcome arising from this project would be a software module built on top of the ACIS kernel, which would allow heterogeneous components to be modeled. The representation scheme would guarantee a more flexible material variation to be defined throughout the 3D space and the user¡¦s design intent can be intuitively captured. Moreover, a range of heterogeneous objects, which are difficult or unable to be defined with existing methods, would be able to be modeled. An example object is shown in Fig. 1.
Results Achieved:
The long term impact of this investigation of representation scheme is that it would provide a useful platform for contemporary CAD systems to incorporate facilities for modeling heterogeneous objects. This work would also provide great impetus for research work on the fabrication of heterogeneous objects through state-of-the-art LM technologies.
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Fig.1 A section view of a sorption tube in a refrigerating/heat-pump system (with material gradation)
Remarks on the Use of High Performance Computing Cluster:
HPC Cluster would speed up the computation of the materially defined points in the model. However, it would be very expensive for the users in the industry to afford a HPC Cluster.
Email Address:
sttan@hku.hk

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