Subject: Re: Finite Element data formats -- do they exist?

From: [email-masked] (Stefan Schwarz)
Date: 19 Dec 94 11:09:35 GMT

[email-masked] (L.G. "Ted" Stern) writes:

>I was wondering whether any readers of this group have experience with
>standardized data formats for Solid Mechanics type programs.  There are
>several proprietary standards such as PATRAN and ANSYS, but I don't see
>reference to relevant libraries in the FAQ.

>Any package that has some way of describing elements, nodes, connectivity,
>etc. would be useful.

>Also, has anybody had experience with using some standardized format for
>simple databases?  I would be interested in something that could be used for
>material properties.  If there is a standard, then an individual's database
>could be easily converted for use in proprietary packages and the like.

Hi,

i would suggest to have a look at the upcoming standard ISO 10303 (known as
STEP). Included parts (among others) are:

Part 104: Finite Element Analysis
Part 45:  Materials

You can find informations on:
ftp://ftp.cme.nist.gov/pub/step

Hope this helps,
	Stefan
--
Stefan Schwarz      University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich
Laboratory for graphical data processing  85577 Neubiberg Germany
  http://www.bauv.unibw-muenchen.de/people/stefan/portrait.html
--