This paper on "Practical Application of STEP to FEA Systems" was presented at the 5th International Conference on Reliability of Finite Element Methods for Engineering Applications - 10-12 May 1995, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Summary

ISO 10303, the Standard for Exchange of Product Data (“STEP”) becomes more and more used in industrial applications with an emphasis on geometrical shape representation. Efforts to include Finite Element Analysis have been limited to few people in the STEP community. Two European projects (ESPRIT) have invested in this area and achieved considerable results. In PRODEX the representation of FEA data was realised in both Application Protocols and in software; in GEM a general analysis model is worked out for further FEA integration.
This presentation shows the status of FEA in STEP and how this can be actually used in current systems. Relevant Application Protocols and software tools are explained. An experience report is given based on the implementations of PRODEX and GEM members.