Development of a robust and integrable pre-processing tool for isogeometric analysis

Abstract

The geometries constructed using the standard CAD software are always boundary-represented (B-Rep). Due to this, analysis-suitable volumetric parameterization of the geometries constructed using the standard CAD software is necessary for three-dimensional isogeometric analysis (IGA). This paper presents a user-friendly, robust volumetric parametrization tool capable of processing the B-Rep of the geometries constructed in one of the most popular CAD software, i.e. Rhinoceros^®. The developed tool traverses multiple stages, starting with reading the standard 3DM CAD files of an arbitrarily shaped geometry. It then extracts surface control points, organizes them to establish an outer structural framework, and employs Coons volume parameterization to generate internal control points based on user-defined specifications. We use the NURBS-Python library for reading 3DM files and the NURBS toolbox to visualize and evaluate NURBS functions in the constructed geometries. We construct several baseline and intricate shape geometries to showcase the robustness and generality of the developed tool. Additionally, to demonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of our tool for IGA of non-linear three-dimensional problems, we simulate frictionless contact between two deformable geometries constructed using the developed tool.