Benchmarks For Finite Element Pre-Processors

This report was produced under NAFEMS contract number NEL/F/520 at the request of the General Technology Working Group. The objective of the contract was to define principles and procedures for the evaluation of finite element pre-processor software with respect to accuracy, robustness, breadth of application and ease of use. The work was divided into two phases. The first was essentially a definition of functionality and a survey of commercially available pre-processor software and was reported in Reference 1. In the second phase, criteria were identified by which to assess such software and a set of benchmark problems was developed. This document deals with mainly the second phase. Accordingly Section 3 discusses the attributes required of pre-processor software and hence the criteria to be considered in evaluating its suitability. Section 4 presents a number of benchmark problems which are designed for software assessment. Section 3 and 4 are intended, as far as possible, to be self-sufficient. However, the discussion of pre-processor attributes in Section 3 necessarily assumes some familiarity with the abilities and operations of current commercial pre-processors. Therefore, for completeness, a summary description of the functionality of such software is provided in Section 2. This has been derived from the survey performed in the first phase of the project which is reported in more detail in Reference 1.