An information retrieval system for finite element and boundary element literature and software

Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 11 (1993) 177-187

An information retrieval system for finite element and boundary element literature and software Jaroslav Mackerle Department of Mechanical Engineering, Link@ing Institute of Technology, S-581 83 Link6ping, Sweden (Received 15 August 1992; accepted 8 December 1992) Information is the most valuable tool that professionals have. The volume of scientific and technical literature, as well as the number of developed computer programs is growing at a prodigious rate and most researchers/engineers are no longer able to keep up-to-date with all the relevant information. The state of published literature and software where finite and boundary elements are involved is reviewed. A special purpose database, MAKEBASE, which stores information on finite and boundary element literature and software is described. This database is implemented on Apollo workstations and, at present, contains more than 48,000 literature references and information about 1700 finite element and boundary element programs. Two Appendices present a short guide to finite and boundary element information sources.

Key words: information retrieval, finite element, boundary element, database, MAKEBASE, literature, software. knowledge channels are the most frequently used means of obtaining information. The 'do-it-yourself' syndrome, manifested by the professional loner, was also believed to have perturbing results. These included missing out on vital information and acquiring inaccurate or inadequate information (see Ref. 2). Those professionals using information from the primary and secondary information sources also have problems, mainly in finding this information. An ideal information system would be real-time and on-line. It would provide rapid and easy access to specifications, operating and published technical data, vendor information, standards, technical reports and literature, etc. An information system, easily accessed through an office workstation, is a logical extension of the engineer's personal inventory of engineering information. First, let us look at information sources in general. Typical information sources are documents. There are three classes of documents which can be found in a personal documentation file:

1 INTRODUCTION Science today is a crucial and very expensive part of human activity. Information is the most valuable, but least valued, tool the scientist/researcher has. The first step a professional takes towards solving a problem is to collect all the information that may have a bearing on the question; this is the observation stage and is the basis for continued research steps. The main problem is that the volume of scientific and technical literature is growing exponentially, and most professionals are no longer able to find (let alone read) all of the relevant literature. Another fact is that many professionals have problems in using the literature of their discipline. Usually they prefer to rely on personal judgement or on the wisdom of their colleagues whenever they have problems to solve. A study by Shuchman 1 disclosed that 93% of engineers work with what they perceive as their own inventory of technical skills and information. Their personal database is comprised of education, experience, vendor data, and personal files. A notable amount of personal experience is based on seemingly random information exchange made with colleagues. It has been pointed out that in engineering, informal

- open literature; internal documents (letters, reports, manuals); - p e r s o n a l documents (notes, manuscripts, own abstracts).

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The primary and most important sources are the original reports, which are published in a variety of forms:

Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements 0955-7997/93/$05.00 © 1993 Elsevier Science Publishers Ltd. 177

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books, research reports, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations, standards, etc. All of these sources are scattered and unorganized. Secondary information sources are compiled from the primary ones and are arranged according to some type of classification. They do not present 'new' knowledge but they organize the primary literature in a more convenient form. Often used secondary information sources are, for example, indexing and abstracting journals, reference books and databases. Today, journals are the most frequently used and most important primary information sources. Their great advantage over books is the frequency of publication; it means that journals are more up-to-date than information appearing in books. One positive factor in the process of dissemination is that there is always a small number of so called 'core' journals containing a large portion of papers dealing with the subject of interest. Also references in papers published in 'core' journals will lead the reader to other sources outside this group. Conferences play an important role in scientific and technological communication by bringing together scientists, researchers and engineers, permitting informal exchange of ideas and information, and building up a network of personal contacts. Some conference papers report on research progress several months before publication in the scientific journals. The main criticism of conferences is that the material presented is often a repetition of what is published elsewhere in the literature. Also the complaint of an uneven quality of papers is often heard. Surveys have shown a low usage of published conference proceedings in practice. Surveys have estimated that many professionals spend as much as 30% of their working time looking for information. Even a saving of only a few per cent of the total effort presently spent in 'selecting out' may in fact represent a considerable saving of man-hours. An effective information management may also stimulate creative thinking, leading to improvement in the quality of the resultant work and elimination of 'double' work at geographically different places of research activity. Section 2 covers the state of finite and boundary element literature in more detail. A general introduction to databases is given in Section 3. Description of a special purpose database for information retrieval on finite and boundary element literature and software is provided in Section 4. Section 5 discusses information retrieval. Appendices A and B present a short guide to finite and boundary element information sources.

2 INFORMATION ON FINITE AND BOUNDARY ELEMENTS During the last two decades, finite element, and later also boundary element techniques, have been successfully used in various scientific and technical fields

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800.

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0

1976

1980

1985

1990 YEAR

3500-

36236 references

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2500 1500 500 1976

1980

1985

1990 YEAR

Note:

1990, 1991 is not correct-delayed literature acquisition

MAKEBASE

Fig. 1. The number of FE and BE published papers as a function of date. such as structural mechanics, fluid mechanics, fracture mechanics, biomechanics, geomechanics, thermal analysis, electromagnetics, acoustics, etc. Practising engineers today use finite element packages on a routine basis to solve structural problems in many areas of engineering. The output of scientific papers tends to double within a period of 10-15 years. Not all areas of scientific activity are growing at the same rate; some areas grow faster, others slower. The state of the finite element and boundary element literature output as a function of date is illustrated in Fig. 1. The number of literature references is taken from the author's database MAKEBASE which is described later. The fluid flow problems in the diagram for finite elements are not included. The author is also aware that a large number of references in MAKEBASE are missing. At present, about 3500 papers on finite elements and 700 papers on boundary dements are published annually, in more than 300 various journals, and an unknown number of conference proceedings. It seems that the output of finite element and boundary element literature has an exponential growth, at least in the period 1976-1987. The question is for how long this trend can continue. It is known that not many processes in the real world have an exponential growth. After some time the growth reaches some limit at which the process has to stop before reaching absurdity. Can we say from last three years that the output of finite as well as boundary element literature has reached the limit? Because the available information on published papers is always delayed we can get the answer to this question in the next 2-3 years. A short guide to finite element information sources is presented in Appendix A, and to the boundary element information sources in Appendix B.

An information retrieval system for finite element and boundary element literature and software 3

DATABASES

Existing information is useless if it is not accessible in an effective way. The most important factor that has influenced almost every aspect of scientific and technical communication is the implementation of computers. As a direct consequence of their applications to information processing, has been the availability of a large number of bibliographic databases because the on-line access to databases is the most effective and flexible way of information retrieval. Also one of the most active areas of development in information technology has been the growth of software search aids for accessing information retrieval systems. Databases can be roughly divided into two main categories according to data manipulation: command driven and menu driven. A command driven database supports a query language in which the user can formulate commands that will invoke the four main operations: retrieval, modification, deletion and insertion. The most well-known of these languages is the SQL (strucstructured query language) implementations, marketed by IBM and Oracle Corporation amongst others. Most end users find current software barriers to be formidable. The variety of protocols, the lack of a universal command language, the lack of skills necessary to manipulate a controlled vocabulary database, etc., create doubt and frustration in engineering end users. On the contrary, menu driven databases are userfriendly and easy to employ because they provide inexperienced users with on-screen prompts. Some benefits of a database can be listed as follow: large volume of data can be stored; - speed; - correctness (human beings easily make errors when faced with boring and highly repetitive tasks); - access to up-to-date information is available at any time; a database helps to organize thinking of the user.

There are a large number of general and special purpose databases from which we are able to retrieve information in any field of haman activity. A brief description of author's special purpose database, MAKEBASE, is given in the next section.

4 MAKEBASE DESCRIPTION MAKEBASE is a special, menu driven database, written in FORTRAN. It is implemented on Apollo workstations. The database is updated on a daily basis and can be used in both academic and industrial environments. MAKEBASE is an integrated database composed of two distinct parts: literature references and software information. It is directed to support research workers, other professionals and potential buyers of

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FE and BE software to the use of specialist literature and information on existing software. This is the main difference from other existing databases, as well as the choice of subjects limited to the field of finite elements and boundary elements only. The intent in MAKEBASE development was to make an on-fine system directly accessible to end users, nonlibrarians (researchers and engineers), without the need to rely on human intermediaries (documentalists). Enduser searching requires a user-friendly interface to make the search process as simple as possible. A menu driven approach provides inexpensive, high-quality searching; the knowledge of query/command language is not necessary. Type of information gored MAKEBASE contains information on primary and secondary sources. This means information on books, book-chapters, journal papers, conference proceedings, theses and dissertations, internal reports, and relevant information retrieved from bibliographic and abstracting journals. About 50 different 'core' journals and six abstracting journals are regularly inspected. Software information is obtained through questionnaires directly from the program developers. Subject

areas

stored

MAKEBASE provides storage of information on literature and software, dealing mainly with finite element and boundary element techniques. Subject areas can be summarized as follow: literature references covering finite element and boundary element techniques, theory and applications; literature references on pre- and post-processing in connection with finite element and boundary element programs; finite element and boundary clement software considerations in general; -literature references on design optimization, all methods are included; literature references on expert systems in connection with structural mechanics; expert system concept in general and expert system development tools; - finite element software information; - boundary element software information; - expert system software information; - pre- and postprocessor software information; - program documentation available. -

Literature references can be retrieved retrospectively to 1975, software information to 1970. The emphasis is on the field of structural mechanics, but all other fields of engineering activities are also included, except

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Fig. 2. Subject areas and type of information in MAKEBASE. fluid mechanics. Various types of information stored in MAKEBASE are illustrated in Fig. 2. At the time of writing, MAKEBASE contained more than 48 000 literature references and information about 1700 finite element and boundary element programs. Information

input

Records for literature references have the following fields: - article title; author/editor name/names; - journal name/conference proceedings name; - volume/place (if conference); number; year of issue; pages; - note, (i.e. archive access number for copies of papers stored in an archive or program name if a paper contains an application with a specific program); - keywords (up to 10 different keywords for subject and other aspects of significance description). The documentation is first classified into a respective group and subgroup. The classification is one of the basic ways of organizing information. For each broad area covered, (i.e. composite materials) it is necessary to derive a 'pattern', a set of subclasses, into which the literature seems to fall naturally, (i.e. micromechanics, macromechanics, static, dynamic, buckling, failure, etc.). Figure 3 gives available classes and subclasses in MAKEBASE. After classification an indexing tech-

nique is applied. Keywords from the vocabulary describing the content of the paper are picked out and input into the database together with the bibliographic data for a respective paper. A many-tomany relationship is conceptualized without data duplication. The indexing is based on a critical selection of terms occurring not only in the title of the paper, but, if possible, in the whole text. Increasing the number of keywords assigned to a document increases the chances of a hit, but success is not guaranteed. In MAKEBASE up to 10 keywords can be used. Records for finite element and boundary element software as well as for pre- and post-processor programs or expert systems have different types of fields. Their descriptions are given in Fig. 4. Options, which are available for a specific finite element/boundary element program, are inserted by means of numerical codes according to answers on questionnaires obtained from the program developers. Each program is also described in a free-form text in the Abstract section of the program description. Three categories of software are presented in MAKEBASE: - programs serving primarily as a research tool, not intended for other users; their documentation is often very poor; - programs developed as a research tool with limited documentation, available for a nominal fee for other users; their usage is often limited for noncommercial applications only; - p r o g r a m s commercially available, fully documented. Stored software information includes programs implemented on supercomputers, main-frames, minicomputers, workstations, and PCs. Program origin: all countries.

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INFORMATION

RETRIEVAL

The purpose of information retrieval is to allow information to flow efficiently from information sources to those who need it. This process consists of the fetching of a specific, or collection of, items. The argument of a search as keywords or their combinations will, in the retrieval process, match the proper record/ records. For the process of information retrieval there are three search strategies: scanning (covering a large area of interest without depth), browsing (following a path until a goal is achieved), and searching (striving to find an explicit goal). The user's enquiries can be listed as: author/journal/program enquiries; - fact-finding enquiries;

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An information retrieval system for finite element and boundary element fiterature and software MAKEBASE: CLASSES AND SUBCLASSES FOR LITERATUREREFERENCES

BIOMECHANICS

n

COMPOSrlES

n

Dynamic analysis Element librmy Fracture and damage Mac¢on~mllmdcsanalysis Micromechanicsa n a l y s i s "rhennal i:,roi~ems

Element library Fractureand damage Generallheon/ Matedallibran/ PruUessed/minforced concrete ~ problems

CONTACT PROBLEMS

COUPLED PROBLEMS

DYNAMICS/VIBRATION

Ekudic foundalion Elementlbrmy FdclJonand oontact GeneralIhoo0'y Joining sad fastening Therm~ical effects

Electmmagneto-~oHdmedmnics Element ibrmy Fluid-ldruotum interaclion General IheoW ~l-~n~ture inlomol~on Themoomechanics of solids

Element lit)raw General Iheo~/ Kinernalicsand dynamics Nonlinearanalysis Vibmlion of dements/structures Wave mo~ns in ~olids

HI

ELEMENT LIBRARY

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F~c'rU~HAmCS

Generaltheory Linearthoow Nonhomogeneousmedia Strum concentrations St,ucturaJapplications Throo-dimoneio~alproblems

Beam et~aenls Element testa Mathem~cai aspects Rates and shells Special elements ~ solid obmenta

EklmOntlibrary Fatigue General theory Micromechanics Nonlinearfntctum mechanics Strum intmanitylJ-,m~

MATH. ASPECTS

MATERIAL PROCESS,

NONLINEAR PROBLEMS

Oomputdonal a s p e c t s Errom/adap~vemethods FormulalJons GeneralIheory Hybridand olher methods Stoaha~c analy~s

Exlmsionlforging/dmwing General theo~f Machining Metal forming Pdymem and o~or materials Rolling/ahqmtbnning

OPTIMIZATION

P~PROCESSING

FE/BE SOFTWARE

D e l f t NI'I~IJtJVJ~ theoW Limit ~ Opim~zlSon and F E M / B E M Probabilislic/reliabil~deign S ~ atructurm opemizalion

H a ~ a r e c~3ns*dD~ Improv. of compuL efficiency Mesh genera~on P r ~ r o c e m o r codes Ruult in~q~mtaUona Softwarec ~ b m ~ o n s

FF.~ codes MicrocomputJng Minicomputers,wodtstalions SoftwareoonsJderations Software vedf'¢ations Sul~dn9

STABILITY PROBLEMS

STRUCTURES

T H E R M A L SCIENCES

Computationaltechniques Dynamicstability Generaltheon/ Nonlineartheory Postbuclding Stability of q~cific stmotums

Aircraft Automobile Automoive Bridge/Dam Building Geotochnics

General Iheo~/ Heat transfer Heat trealment Phm change Specific structures Thqmnomedmnics

MilitaP/ Offahom Pipe/Pre~.ve~. Railway Reactor Shipbuilding

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CONCRETE

Cardmva=cularmechanic~ Dentalmechanics Impact injury mechanics Tmme mechanics Other fields

ELASTICITY

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Dynamic analyais El~mmt library Generalthooly Geometricnonlinearity . Materialnonlinearity Ruidual strm~m

Fig. 3. Classes and sublclasses for literature references. - material-finding enquiries; - research enquiries. Author/journal/program enquiries The user is seeking a particular work. He/she knows that the work does exist. To search for records which have a particular author's name, or have been published in a specific journal, or to find information about a specific program, is relatively easy.

Fact-finding enquiries The user is seeking specific items of information. Some examples: address of the program developer for a specific program; how many boundary element programs are implemented on Apollo workstations; which finite element programs can be used for the nonlinear analysis of concrete structures; which finite element programs have implemented a substructure technique; how many papers on parallel processing in connec-

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DOC~ATION

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~ APPLICATIONS ox. linear re.k; nonlimmr mti¢ heat trander eicctmmagneics PHENOMENA ex. total =tretns large ~rains

dy~mc r e ~ e creep, pudding ABSTRACT ELEMENT U B R A R Y ex. beam. IdatJ g~oll, SO acrid MATERIAL UBRAFIY ex. onicolmpic nonlinear ~uJ~ soiVmck, creep LOADING ex. nodal, preesure lhem~l, impact OTHER CAPABIL. ex restart uesr's ambreolines ~oo~llnalm conUlct, hk:~icn ~tmotumg FORMULATION e~ mored,hybdd d i ~ t SOLUTION METHODS MODELLING ex. rmmhgeneration ge~em~ pic~ng PRE/POSTPROCESS. OPERATIONAL ON computer type SOURCE FOR PROG. address

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pm~ty dynamic meponae I~ddlng AB81'RACT ELEMENT LIBRARY *x. ~ Nmmr ~ Mengular MATERIAL UBRARY u . bo~opic ~lrOl~C elaaL'-pla=~c honk.mr ela~c esil/mck LOADING Ix. nodal, preasure ~ load eoml~Ml~m OTHER CAPABIL. ex. reaUut ues~'• subroutines eonl~et, fdction ~n,~udng fdlum cdle~ SOLUTION METHODS MOOELLING ex. mesh genera~on k~d g o n e r a t i c n plolllng PRFJPO'ffrPROCESS. OPERATIONALON ~'q~uter type SOURCE FOR PROG.

PROGRAM NAME TYPE OF PROGRAM Go(.p ~

po~m~m.~r gmm~d puqDoea npooil I ~ ABSTRACT DATA GENERATION ~ . am~nlp 2D med~ gemm$~n SD medt gmeraJon ELEMENT GENERAT.

es. uW~u~r Cl~ml 3D elemonk, DATA INPUT ex. digitizer,pen on4no odlllng DATA VIEWING ex. section Nlact. model r o t a ~ o n ~on4~ OTHER PREP. CAPAB. ex. me~ o ~ o n uesCs -,l~oulnes PLOTrlNG es. deformeda~mct, iaocurves, 3D plots OTHER POST.CAPAB. e~. nmult ~ icackxnaecombination code checks m ~ • ~broulb~es onim~ion odor graphics INTERFACES spes. FE/BE program SPECIAL VERSIONS DOCUMENTATION HARDWARE REQ. OPERATIONAL ON oomput~r type SOURCE FOR PROG. address

PROGRAM NAME APPLICATION IN ex. FEM, BEM

¢k..m opt~zat~. ADVISING ON ex. esk~t etramw esltw=m eslee~ion rnocbmng nmuRwalua~n PHENOMENA ex. dora. type recomm adla[~ medt open.

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program opaon eslKl. input fie pmpareticn ABSTRACT ADVISOR FOR FE/tE PROGRAMS program names ADVISOR FOR PHE,I~OSTPI:IOC. program names TOOI.~.ANGUAGE ~ name KNOWL. REPRESENT. ex. ~dgofllhmic m ~ , frames INFER. ENGINE ex. l~ick'vmn~chain¢,g i c ~ g mixed-e.ha~k~ OTHER CAPNBIL ex. unearlainilJes explana#on~"'top, ~ceses OPERATIONAL ON computer SOURCE FOR PROG. address

Fig. 4. Software records in MAKEBASE. tion with finite elements have been published from 1989; etc. Material-flnd!~.

enquiries

The user is seeking a range of information. This is a more difficult retrieval. He/she has to uniquely identify the particular subject in question. To facilitate the search in an effective way, it is recommended that the user utilizes the same criteria as are used in the process of indexing, and that is not easy. One essential feature of these enquiries is to provide the user with information concerning the status of a specific research field.

Material-finding enquiries have for example post-graduate students starting their research projects with a literature review in the field of their future interest. Some examples: what theses have been published on dynamic impact problems from 1980; what papers have been published in orthopedic mechanics from 1985; known applications of DYNA3D in crash simulations; etc. Research enquiries The user's problem cannot be solved from the literature or from other available sources. What are needed are the more specialized tools of research, such as deduction,

An information retrieval system for finite element a~d boundary element fiterature and software

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hypothesis, critical judgement, expert systems available, etc. Some examples: the user needs recommendations for the most suitable and effective general shell element for the defined problem; algorithm selection in nonlinear finite element analysis; scheme selection for error estimation for adaptive mesh generation; etc. Information

retrieval

in MAKEBASE

Retrieval for literature references has options for author's name, journal, subject and publishing year. In the subject search the user describes the field of his/her interest by means of keywords. Up to 10 different keywords in combination can be used. These keywords may be combined by means of logical operators AND and OR. As an output from MAKEBASE a list of references is given. They may be sorted alphabetically according to the author and all printed or selected. For software informational retrieval an on-line dialogue is directed by the program where the user specifies requirements on program options. As an output a list of program names fulfilling the requirements, together with addresses of program developers, is obtained. This list of programs will give an idea of which programs to investigate further. Another program module can be called to display/print-out detailed information about every program stored in database. Practical

use of MAKEBASE

To illustrate the practical use of MAKEBASE, some typical areas of application are given, as follows: a support for post-graduate students in the preparation of a literature review on a specific subject; - an assistance to researchers writing survey papers; - an assistance to companies which are potential buyers of FE/BE software; - an assistance to researchers needed information to be up-to-date in the chosen subject area; - an assistance to program users on the applications of a specific program and subject which appears in the open literature; - also intended for those with a minimal knowledge on the subject. -

The author uses the database as a support for preparation of software guides, and bibliographies on different topics. An example of the output from MAKEBASE on a literature reference search and software information are given in Appendix C and D respectively.

6 CONCLUSIONS In the author's opinion it is highly desirable to use the

a~ailable information sources on finite and boundary e~ements more effectively. Databases are the most valuable tools that professionals have for up-to-date information. Unfortunately, they are not frequently used. Dalrymple 3 compares the searching of card catalogues With the searching of on-line catalogues, looking at the activity as essentially a problem-solving task. Presented results show that users found more relevant items and Were more satisfied with their results from the card catalogue. Users spent more time and reformulated their strategies more often when using the on-line catalogue. A subject search is probably the most important process of receiving information in the field of engineering. A comprehensive information search of the subject can open new viewpoints and deepen the understanding of the problem. Indexing fails the researcher because it deals only in a general way with what a document is 'about' and does not focus on what the document offers that is 'new' concerning a topic. Techniques of AI can be used for example for the construction of human-database interfaces. An expert system could help in solving the problems of indeterminancy in both indexing and term selection for retrieval. This system could be used as a tool for query formulation/keywords selection. A flexible approach to constraining the problem of information retrieval is to keep the user in control of the search process but allow the expert system to offer advice. Another possibility is to use the hypermedia technique, supporting selection of information by association rather than by indexing. The developer of hypermedia databases does not need to impose the same degree of structural rigour as is required from the developer of conventional databases. Another problem is repeated information. It is estimated that only about 10%-20% of the published scientific/technical literature presents any new ideas or facts - the rest is repeated information. Many published papers are not read by anybody, they are published just for the record. It is the author's hope that there are more readers of specialized scientific/technical papers in the engineering community, than their writers, but nobody can be sure. A UNESCO study has, for example, shown that a single paper in a highly specialized journal may interest no more than 10% of the readers from the subject area of that journal.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The author would like to see wide-spread utilization of the database. Information retrieval services are offered tO universities and research institutes at very low rates. Also the MAKEBASE licenc~ for Apollo workstations can be purchased.

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REFERENCES 1. Shuchman, H.L. Information Transfer In Engineering, Glastonbury, CT, 1981. 2. Slater, M. The Neglected Resource: Non-usage of Library Information Services in Industry and Commerce, Vol. 25, Aslib Publ., London, 1981. 3. Dalrymple, P.W. Retrieval by reformulation in two library catalogs: toward a cognitive model of scarehing behavior. PhD Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, 1987.

APPENDIX A A selected guide to finite element information sources Background information The pioneering works on finite element methods started in the early 1960s at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the University of Wales, Swansea, UK. Other important works were carried out at the M I T in Cambridge and the University of Stuttgart in Germany. The first conference on the topic was held at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Dayton, Ohio in 1965 (Matrix Methods in Structural Mechanics). The first book on the finite element method was published in 1967. It was written by O. C. Zienkiewicz & Y. K. Cheung. Other readings on the FEM history:

1. Robinson, J. Early FEM Pioneers, Robinson and Assoc., Wimborne, Dorset, 1985. The primary information sources A selection o f FE textbooks printed in several editions:

1. Cook, R.D. Concepts and Applications of Finite Element Analysis, J. Wiley and Sons, New York, 1989, (1981, 1974). 2. Huebner, K.H. & Thornton, E.A. The Finite Element Method for Engineers, J. Wiley and Sons, New York, 1983, (1975). 3. Mukhopadhyay, M. Matrix, Finite Element, Computer and Structural Analysis, Oxford and IBH Publ., Calcutta, 1987, (1984). 4. Rao, S.S. The Finite Element Method in Engineering, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1989, (1982). 5. Rockey, K.C. et al. The Finite Element Method - A Basic Introduction for Engineers, J. Wiley and Sons, New York, 1983, (1979). 6. Segerlind, L.J. Applied Finite Element Analysis, J. Wiley and Sons, New York, 1984, (1976). 7. Zienkiewicz, O. C. & Taylor, R.L. Finite Element Method - Basic Formulation and Linear Problems, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1989, (without R.L. Taylor-1977, 1971). A selection of new FE textbooks (1990-1992): 1. Chandrupatla, T.R. & Belegundu, A.D. Introduction to Finite Elements in Engineering, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1991.

2. Cheung, Y.K. & Leung, A.Y.T. Finite Element Methods in Dynamics, Kluwer Academic Publ., 1991. 3. Crisfield, M.A. Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Solids and Structures, VoL 1: Essentials, J. Wiley and Sons, New York, 1991. 4. Lewis, P.E. & Ward, J.P. Finite Element Method. Principles and Applications, Addison-Wesley, 1991. 5. Melosh, R.J. Structural Engineering Analysis by Finite Elements, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1990. 6. Pepper, D. & Heinrich, J. The Finite Element Method: Basic Concepts and Applications, Hemisphere Publ. Corp., 1992. 7. Ross, C.T.F. Finite Element Methods in Engineering Science, Ellis Horwood, Chichester, 1990. 8. Szabo, B.A. & Babuska, I. Finite Element Analysis, J. Wiley and Sons, New York, 1991. 9. Zahavi, E. Finite Element Method in Machine Design, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, 1992. 10. Zienkiewiez, O.C. & Taylor, R.L. Finite Element Method, Solid and Fluid Mechanics." Dynamics and Nonlinearity, Vol. II, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1991. A selection o f books on FE software: 1. Brebbia, C.A. (ed.) Finite Element Systems - A Handbook, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1985, (1981, 1983). 2. Mackerle, J. & Fredriksson, B. Handbook of Finite Element Software-Supercomputers, Main-Frames, Minicomputers, Microcomputers, Studentlitteratur and Chartwell-Bratt, 1988. 3. Niku-Lari, A. (ed.) Structural Analysis Systems - Software, Hardware, Capability, Applications, Vol. 1-3, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1986.

Approximately 360 books and conference proceedings have been published on finite elements. A selection o f journals with frequently publishedpapers on FE: Communications in Applied Numerical Methods, Com-putational Mechanics, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Computer and Structures, Engineering Computations, Finite Elements in Analysis and Design, International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering, Journal of Applied Mechanics (ASME), Journal of Engineering Mechanics (ASCE), Journal of Structural Engineering (ASCE), Computing Systems in Engineering.

The secondary information sources Bibliography o f F E books and monographs: 1. Noor, A.K. Bibliography of books and monographs on finite element technology, Appl. Mech. Rev., 1991, 44, 307317. 2. Mackerle, J. Finite Element Methods - A Guide to Information Sources, Elsevier Applied Science, Amsterdam, 1991. Bibliography o f published papers on FE: 1. Norrie, D. & de Vries, G. Finite Element Bibliography, Plenum Press, New York, 1976. - Note: that this is the last bibliography published on FE! Abstracting journals: Applied Mechanics Review (books, published papers), Current Contents (books, published papers, current-awareness tableof-contents service), Electrical and Electronics Abstracts,

An information retrieval system for finite element and boundary element literature and software Computer and Information Systems Abstracts Journal, Mathematical Reviews (books, published papers), Index to Scientific and Technical Pro-ceedings (conferences), Dissertation Abstracts Inter-national-B-The Science and Engineering (theses and dissertations).

APPENDIX B A selected guide to boundary element information sources

Background information The pioneering works on boundary element methods can be dated back to the 1960s (Jaswon, Hess, Symm, etc.). At that time also a small group of researchers at Southampton University, U K started working on the application of integral equations for solving stress analysis problems. An increasing activity in boundary element research started in the middle of the 1970s. The first conference on the topic was held at Southampton University in 1978. The first book on boundary elements was written by C.A. Brebbia and published in 1978. Other readings on the BEM history:

1. Mackerle, J. & Brebbia, C.A. (eds) The Boundary Element Reference Book, Springer-Verlag and Computational Mechanics Publ., 1988.

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The secondary information sources

Bibliography of BE books and monographs: 1. Maekerle, J. A guide to the literature on finite and boundary element techniques and software, Engng. Anal. with Boundary Elem., 1989, 6, 84-96. 2. Mackerle, J. & Brebbia, C.A. (eds.) The Boundary Element Reference Book, Springer-Verlag and Computational Mechanics Publ., 1988. Abstracting journals: Boundary Elements Abstracts and Newsletter (books, published papers, conference proceedings), Applied Mechanics Review (books, published papers), Current Contents (books, published papers, current-awareness table-of-contents service), Electrical and Electronics Abstracts, Computer and Information Systems Abstracts Journal, Mathematical Reviews (books, published papers), Index to Scientific and Technical Proceedings (conferences), Dissertation Abstracts International-B-The Science and Engineering (theses and dissertations).

APPENDIX C *MAKEBASE-FEM/BEM*

BEM and i n e l a s t i c problems (1989-1992)

The primary information sources

1 A ~ a d S and Banerjee P K, Inelastic Transient Dynamic Analysis of ThreeDimensional Problems by BEM, Int J mum Meth Engng, Vol 29, No 2, 1990, 371-390

A selection of BE textbooks: 1. Brebbia, C.A. & Dominguez, J. Boundary Elements - An Introductory Course, Computational Mechanics Publ. and McGraw-Hill, 1989. 2. Balas, J. et aL Stress Analysis by Boundary Element Methods, Elsevier Applied Science, Amsterdam, 1989. 3. Hartman, F. Introduction to Boundary Elements: Theory and Applications, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 1989.

2 Al-V~--i A A N, Efficient Fracture Mechanics Programming System for Linear and Nonlinear Problems Using Finite Element and Boundary Element Methods, Ph D Thesis, Cranfield Inst of Tech, UK, 1990, 483pp

A Selection of books on BE software: 1. Maekerle, J. & Brebbia, C.A. (eds) The Boundary Element Reference Book, Springer-Verlag and Computational Mechanics Publ., 1988. 2. Niku-Lari, A. Structural Analysis Systems - Finite, Boundary Element and Expert Systems in Structural Analysis, Vol. 5, Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1986.

Approximately 115 books and conference proceedings have been published on boundary elements. A selection of journals with frequently publishedpapers on BE: Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, Communications in Applied Numerical Methods, Computational Mechanics, Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, Computers and Structures, Engineering Computations, International Journalfor Numerical Methods in Engineering, Journal of Applied Mechanics (ASME).

3 Alcantud N e t al, Analysis of the Contact Problem Between Elastoplastic 2-D Bodies by Means of the BEM,

BE Mech E l e c t r Eng, C A Brebbia et a l , CMP, 1990, 15-30 4 Atkinson C, Boundary Elements and Fracture Stress Analysis, Engng Anal Boundary Elem, Vol 8, No 1, 1991, 16-23

5 Atluri S N, Computational Techniques for Inelastic Stresses and Fracture Analyses, Nucl Engng Design, Vol 116, No 3, 1989, 329-342

6 Banerjee P K e t a l , Advanced Inelastic Analysis of Solids by the

Z Macker~

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Boundary Element Method, Int J Mech Sci, Vol 31, 1989, 309-322 7 B m a e r j e e P K e t al , Progress in Applications of BEM to I n e l a s t i c Analysis of Solids, BEMEngng, B S Annigeriand K Tseng, Springer, 1990, 276-285 8 Carrer J A M andTellss J C F, The Boundary Element Method Applied to the Solution of Elastoplastic Problems With the Use of Implicit Procedures, in BETECH89, C A Brebbia & N G Zamani, CMP, 1989, 35-46

9 C a r r e r J A M a,a Telles J C F , Transient Dynamic ElastoplasticAnalysis by the Boundary Element Method, Bound Elem Technol VI, C A Brebbia, ed, CMP, 1991, 265-277 I0 CenZ e t a l, On Boundary Element Inelastic Analysis in the Presence of Softening, BEM Engng, B S Annigeri and K Tseng, Springer, 1990, 300-309 11 ~---dva A a n d e S ,

A Boundary Element Analysis of the Axisymmetric Extrusion Processes, Int J Non-LinearMech, Vol 28, No 1, 1991, 1-13 The literature reference search on boundary elements - An example of NAIOmASE output

APPENDIX D ~ I A I ~ :

DIANA

*

*

~

-

111 ** Type o f p r o g r a l / l p p l i c a t i o n " : general purpose, concrete struct., mechanics **~n~ofapplication:

~

*

fracture

linear statics, nonlinear statics, linear dynamics, nonlinear dynamics, heat transfer, soil/structure * * P ~ : small displacements, large displacements, small strains, plasticity, viscoel/viscoplast., creep, thermal effect, modal analysis, dynamic resp. linear, dynam.resp.nonlinear, buckling, earthquake response ** Abstract: DIANA (Displacement Method Analyser) is a comprehensive set of computer programs for stress analysis of a wide variety of structures. Field

of application includes linear and nonlinear static and dynamic analyses, as well as heat transfer problems. Data management and dynamic memoryallocation is handledbyFILOS, a dedicated package for DIANA. It manages and optimizes the data-flow between the various DIANA-programs and the central database which contains all data, appropriate for analysis of a particular FEM-model. Dynamic capabilities: eigenvalue analysis, the response to a harmonic, impact or spectrum load. The impact of artificial load, such as explosions and collisions is possible. DIANA can be implemented on micro working under UNIX operating system. • *Elmmnt library: b a r / r o d / b e a m , membrane, p l a t e ,

shell,

3D s o l i d ,

axisymmetric, shear panel, crack-tip, laminated, pipe, elbow, spring/mass, thermal element, isoparametric, stiffener **Nateriallibrary: isotropic, anisotropic, linear elastic, nonlinear elastic, temperature-depend., elastoplastic, viscoelastic, composite, creep, soil/ rock, incompressible • *Type of lo-di-Z: s t a t i c , f u n c t i o n of t i m e , d e f o r m a t i o n - d e p e n d . , nodal load, distributed l o a d , volume l o a d ,

init.stress/strain, thermal, centrifugal, load combination, nonsymmetric load, impact, torsion **Otherlarogramcapabilities: prescribed boundary, multiple constraints, local coord.system, restart, free format input, node renumbering, user subroutines ** Formulation: displacement **Solution~thods: Wave front, symmetric and nonsymmetric. Geometric nonlinearities: Total Lagrangianmethod. Besselingfraction model. Creep maybe described using a creep potential surface as well as through a compliance matrix, or any creep functions via a user-supplied subroutine.

** Modelli-Z options: passive graphics, mesh generation, plotting, result selection ** Related pre-/postprocessors: SCAN-reads the free format input and interpretares user-commands. CONTROL controls loading and executing of the other DIANA programs in a sequence which is derived from the usercommands. ** O p e r a t i o n a l on:

VAX, Harris

An information retrieval system for finite element and boundary element literature and software ** S o u r c e f o r p r o ~ a n : TNO, I n s t i t u t e TNO f o r B u i l d i n g M a t e r i a l s and B u i l d i n g S t r u c t u r e s , PO Box 49, 2600 AA D e l f t , The N e t h e r l a n d s SOf Lvore 4 n f o x ~ a t i o a o a t h e s p e c i f i c FE p r o g r a i An e x a m p l e o f HA]Q~A~ o u t p u t

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