Overview
The objective of this project is to combine virtual reality (VR) and engineering design to allow a designer to play an active role in the design sensitivity and optimization process. Virtual reality techniques provide a computer-generated environment for the designer to investigate multiple design changes while viewing and manipulating virtual objects by using natural human motion. Interactive design allows the designer to change design parameters and immediately determine the effect of the change by using sensitivity-based approximations. Keeping the designer active in the VR design process allows insights that have been gained from experience to be incorporated into the optimization process, resulting in better designs achieved in a timely manner.
Additional Media
Publications
- Yeh, Tsung-Pin and Vance, Judy M. : “Combining MSC/NASTRAN, Sensitivity Methods, and Virtual Reality to Facilitate Interactive Design,” Proceedings of MSC World Users’ Conference, May 1995, pp. 1 – 11. Also published in Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, 1997.
- Yeh, Tsung-Pin and Vance, Judy M. : “Interactive Design of Structural Systems in a Virtual Environment,” Proceedings of the 24th Midwest Mechanics Conference, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, October 1-4, 1995, pp. 185-187.
- Yeh, T. P., Applying virtual reality techniques to engineering design optimization, Ph.D. Thesis, Iowa State University, 1997
Personnel
- Judy M. Vance, Principal Investigator, jmvance@iastate.edu
- Tsung-Pin Yeh, Graduate Research Assistant
Funding
- National Science Foundation – Research Initiation Award Number: DDM-9309663: A Virtual Environment for Engineering Design Optimization
For more information see the Research Project: Shape Design with Stress Constraint Considerations in a Virtual Environment.
