Patent Document ID: 8494819
Application ID: 12868660
Patent Flag: 1

Claim One:
1. A method for obtaining numerically simulated structural behaviors of layered composite materials within a structure in a time-marching simulation using finite element analysis (FEA), said method comprising: receiving, in a computer system, a FEA model of a structure containing more than one type of layered composite materials represented by a plurality of shell finite elements, wherein said plurality of shell finite elements are each identified with a single identifier defined by a user that are identified with a single identifier defined by user; sorting the shell finite element elements by types into a plurality of internal groups in the computer system such that those shell finite elements in each group are resided in contiguous memory locations of the computer system's main memory when a time-marching simulation of the structure is conducted using computer performance enhancement techniques specifically applying to said those shell finite elements, wherein each of the shell finite elements is configured with an arbitrary number of through-thickness integration points with each integration point corresponding to one layer of the layered composite material; and obtaining a time-history of structural responses including behaviors of the layered composite materials from the time-marching simulation.