Patent ID: 7386425
Filing Date: 2008-06-10
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method for distinguishing effects due to bifurcation from effects due to design variable changes used in a finite element analysis (FEA) for designing a structural product by a user of the FEA, the method comprising: obtaining in a computing device a plurality of finite element analysis responses for a set of design experiments, wherein each of the set of design experiments has a specific combination of design variables values; constructing a metamodel from the plurality of finite element analysis responses; selecting a set of outliers from the set of design experiments whose finite element analysis responses are not predicted by the metamodel; identifying high likelihood bifurcation region of a FEA model that represents the structural product by plotting an indicating quantity of the finite element analysis responses; and examining the finite element analysis responses of a couple of the outliers to determine whether the effects are due to the bifurcation or due to the design variable changes, wherein the couple of the outliers is maximum and minimum of the set of outliers.