Patent ID: 8195434

Claim:
A computer-executable method comprising: selecting a first drawing file that includes drawing data specifying a drawing representing one or more parts; wherein the drawing data specifies a plurality of points and lines; identifying a particular part to be modeled from the one or more parts by matching component nomenclature in the first drawing file to corresponding component nomenclature of a finite element model generation application; determining a type of the particular part to be modeled, wherein the type of the particular part to be modeled is associated with validation criteria that specifies a range of a number of points associated with the type of the particular part to be modeled; extracting at least a portion of the drawing data representing the particular part to be modeled from the first drawing file to obtain extracted drawing data, wherein the at least the portion of the drawing data is extracted automatically by an interface application; validating the extracted drawing data by determining whether a number of points in the extracted drawing data is within the range of the number of points associated with the type of the particular part to be modeled; writing first geometry data to a first geometry data file based on the validated extracted drawing data, wherein the first geometry data includes structural configuration data descriptive of the particular part to be modeled; and generating a finite element model of the particular part based on the first geometry data wherein the finite element model is generated after the type of the particular part to be modeled is determined and after the extracted drawing data is validated.