Civil Engineering University of Dundee

Object Oriented Programming

And

Finite Element Analysis

Software

Dr R I Mackie has carried out research into the application of object-oriented methods to finite element analysis for many years. The links below contain working programs for software associated with the author’s two books.

Books and Downloads

Mackie, R.I., “Programming Distributed Finite Element Analysis: An Object Oriented Approach”, Saxe-Coburg Publications, Stirling,2007

ISBN 978-1-874672-31-9

Tremendous computing power is now available for relatively low cost. Desktop and notebook computers commonly have multiple processors, and even homes have networks of computers. This offers great potential for taking advantage of distributed computing, but in order to realise this potential suitable program design methodologies are needed. The .NET framework makes it relatively easy to implement distributed computing along with multi-threading. This book describes the implementation of a finite element program using .NET and object-oriented programming in C#. The book describes both overall program design approaches, along with program details. The book describes domain decomposition solution methods, covering both direct and iterative solvers, and their incorporation into a finite element program.

The code associated with the book can be downloaded from the following link:

DFEA Source code

DFEA Data Files

DFEA Speed Test Programs

Note: The code and projects were developed with Visual Studio 2003. However, Visual Studio 2005 should be able to convert them.

Mackie, R.I., “Object oriented methods and finite element analysis”, Saxe-Coburg Publications, Stirling,2001

ISBN 1-874-672-08-3

This book describes much of the author’s research in this area over recent years. It describes the overall design philosophy and many coding details relating to the above software. Moreover, it includes a tutorial on using the above software.

The book can be purchased through bookshops, or by contacting Saxe-Coburg Publications directly.

The code associated with the book can be downloaded from the following links:

DufemPS

Source code

Note: This code was developed using Visual Studio 6.

The programs and source code are the copyright © of the University of Dundee. Both the programs and the source code are research code and intended for academic use only, they are provided “as is”. However, any comments are welcome and should be directed to Dr R I Mackie.

Other OO Publications

Journal Papers

1. Heng, B.C.P. and Mackie, R.I., “Using Design Patterns in Object-Oriented Finite Element Programming”, Computers & Structures, 87, 952-961, 2009. [ DOI :10.1016/j.compstruc.2008.04.016].

2. Mackie, RI, “Design and Deployment of Distributed Numerical Applications Using .NET and Component Oriented Programming”, Advances in Engineering Software, 40, 665-674, 2009. [DOI 10.1016/j.advengsoft.2008.11.009]

3. Mackie, RI, “Practical Advantages of Object-Oriented Finite Element Analysis”, Engineering and Computational Mechanics, 162, 23-29, 2009. [DOI 10.1680/eacm.2009.162.1.23]

4. Heng, BCP, and Mackie, RI, “Parallel modal analysis with concurrent distributed objects”, accepted by Computers and Structures 2008.

5. R.I. Mackie, "Finite Element Software Design for Today's Computers", in M. Papadrakakis, B.H.V. Topping, (Editors), "Trends in Engineering Computational Technology", Saxe-Coburg Publications, Stirlingshire, UK, Chapter 3, pp 41-60, 2008. doi:10.4203/csets.20.3

6. Mackie, R.I., “Object Oriented Programming of Distributed Iterative Equation Solvers”, Computers and Structures, 86, 511-519, 2008. [doi:10.1016/j.compstruc.2007.05.003].

7. Mackie, R.I., “Object Oriented Implementation of Distributed Finite Element Analysis in .NET”, Advances in Engineering Software, 38, 726-737, 2007

8. Mackie, R.I., “Object Oriented Programming of Distributed Iterative Equation Solvers”, accepted by Computers and Structures, 2007 (in press)

9. Mackie, R.I., “Object Oriented Implementation of Distributed Finite Element Analysis in .NET”, revised copy submitted to Advances in Engineering Software, 2005.

10. Mackie, RI, “Extensibility of Finite Element Class Systems – A Case Study”, Computers & Structures, 82, 2241-2249 (2004)

11. Mackie, R I, "Using Objects to Handle Calculation Control In Finite Element Modelling", Computers & Structures, 80, 2001-2009 (2002).

12. R.I.Mackie, “Object Oriented programming for structural mechanics: A Review”, in Civil and Structural Engineering Computing 2001, ed B.H.V. Topping, Saxe-Coburg Publications, Stirling, UK, ISBN 1-874672-15-6, 137-160, (2001).

13. Mackie, R.I., Implementation of Sub-structuring within an object-oriented framework, Advances in Engineering Software, 32(10-11), 1-10, (2001)

14. Mackie, R.I., An object-oriented approach to calculation control in finite element programs, Computers & Structures 77(5), 461-474, (2000)

15. Mackie, R.I., “Object oriented finite element programming - the importance of data modelling”, Advances in Engineering Software 30(9), 775-782, (1999).

16. Mackie, R.I., An object-oriented approach to fully interactive finite element software Advances in Engineering Software, 29(2), 139-149, (1998).

17. Mackie, R.I., “Using Objects to Handle Complexity in Finite Element Software”, Engineering with Computers , 13 99-111 (1997)

18. Mackie RI, "Object Oriented Programming of the Finite Element Method", Int J Num Meth Eng 35, 425-436 (1992).

19. Mackie RI, "Object Oriented Programming and Numerical Methods", Microcomputers in Civil Engineering, 6, 123-128 (1991).

Conferences

1. R.I. Mackie, "Designing Inherently Parallel Software for Finite Element Analysis", in B.H.V. Topping, L.F. Costa Neves, R.C. Barros, (Editors), "Proceedings of the Twelfth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing", Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, UK, Paper 272, 2009. doi:10.4203/ccp.91.272

2. R.I. Mackie, "Component-Oriented Distributed Finite Element Analysis", in Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology, M. Papadrakakis and B.H.V. Topping, (Editors), Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, United Kingdom, paper 93, 2008.

3. R.I. Mackie, "Lessons Learnt from using .NET for Distributed Finite Element Analysis", in Proceedings of the Eleventh International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing, B.H.V. Topping, (Editor), Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, United Kingdom, paper 58, 2007.

4. B.C.P. Heng and R.I. Mackie, "Parallel Modal Analysis using Distributed Objects", in Proceedings of the Fifteenth UK Conference of the Association of Computational Mechanics in Engineering, B.H.V. Topping, (Editor), Civil-Comp Press, Stirling, United Kingdom, paper 55, 2007.

5. R.I. Mackie, "Object-Oriented Design of Pre-conditioned Iterative Equation Solvers using .NET", in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology, B.H.V. Topping, G. Montero and R. Montenegro, (Editors), Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, United Kingdom, paper 111, 2006.

6. B.C.P. Heng and R.I. Mackie, "Design Patterns in Object-Oriented Finite Element Programming", in Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology, B.H.V. Topping, G. Montero and R. Montenegro, (Editors), Civil-Comp Press, Stirlingshire, United Kingdom, paper 109, 2006.

7. R.I. Mackie, "An Object-Oriented Framework for Programming Iterative Solution Algorithms", in Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering Computing, B.H.V. Topping, (Editor), Civil-Comp Press, Stirling, United Kingdom, paper 60, 2005. (ISBN 1-905088-01-9)

8. R.I. Mackie, “Object-oriented design of iterative equation solvers”, CMM 2005, Czestochowa, Poland, 21-24 June 2005.( (ISBN 83-921605-7-6))

9. R.I. Mackie, "Domain Decomposition Methods: .NET, Objects, Elements and Algorithms", in Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology, B.H.V. Topping and C.A. Mota Soares, (Editors), Civil-Comp Press, Stirling, United Kingdom, paper 89, (ISBN 0-948749-98-9) 2004.

10. R.I. Mackie, "Distributed Finite Element Analysis and the .NET Framework", in Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Civil and Structural Engineering Computing, B.H.V. Topping, (Editor), Civil-Comp Press, Stirling, United Kingdom, paper 136,( ISBN 0-948749-89-X) 2003.

11. R.I. Mackie, "Object-Oriented Methods and Non-Linear Finite Element Analysis: Advantages and Difficulties", in Proceedings of the Third International Conference on Engineering Computational Technology, B.H.V. Topping and Z. Bittnar, (Editors), Prague-Czech Republic, 4-6 September, 2002, Civil-Comp Press, Stirling, United Kingdom, paper 7,( ISBN 0-948749-86-5) 2002.

12. Mackie, R I, "Using Objects to Handle Calculation Control In Finite Element Analysis", in Developments in Engineering Computational Technology, ed. B.H.V. Topping, Civil-Comp Press, 123-130, 2000.

13. Mackie, R I, "Object oriented programming and numerical methods in finite element analysis", 7^th Int Conf on Civil and Structural Engineering Computing", 13-15 Sept, Oxford, (1999), Developments in Analysis & Design Using Finite Element Methods, 55-62.

14. Mackie, R I and Gajewski R R, "Object oriented programming and finite element analysis: achieving control over the calculation process", Object-Oriented Technology ECOOP'98 Workshop Reader, 456-457, Springer, ed Demeyer S and Bosch J, ISBN 3-540-65460-7 (1998).

15. Mackie, R.I., "Objects and Finite Elements: An Holistic Approach to Computational Speed Issues", Advances in Engineering Computational Technology, 239-250, Civil-Comp Press, ed B H V Topping, ISBN 0-948-749-55-5. (1998)

16. Mackie, R I, “Objects, Elements and Complexity”, Advances in Computational Structures Technology, 143-150, Civil-Comp Press, ed BHV Topping, ISBN 0-948749-40-7.(1996)

17. Mackie, RI, "Object-Oriented Methods - Finite Element Programming and Engineering Software Design", 6th Int. Conf. on Computing in Civil and Building Engineering", Berlin, July12-15 (1995), vol 1, 133-138, ed Pahl, PJ and Werner, H, ISBN 90 5410 556 9.

Contact

Dr Robert Ian Mackie

Civil Engineering
University of Dundee
Dundee
DD1 4HN
UK

Tel +44 1382 384702
Fax +44 1382 384816

r.i.mackie@dundee.ac.uk