T-spline finite element method for CAD/CAE integrated approach

Abstract

T-splines are recently proposed geometric modeling tools. A T-spline surface is a NURBS surface with T-junctions and is defined by a control grid called T-mesh. Local refinement can be performed very easily for T-splines while it is limited for B-splines or NURBS. Using T-splines, patches with unmatched boundaries can be combined easily without special technique. In this study, the analysis methodology using T-splines is proposed. In this methodology, T-splines are used both for description of geometries and for approximation of solution spaces. Two-dimensional linear elastic and dynamic problems will be solved by employing the proposed T-spline finite element method, and the effectiveness of the current analysis methodology will be verified.