US 12,147,745 B2
Engineering analysis of a structural product
Benjamin A. Westin, Charleston, SC (US); Thaddeus L. Wells, Ladson, SC (US); Thomas Duffy Mitchum, Jr., North Charleston, SC (US); and Robert Thomas Sheldon, Ladson, SC (US)
Assigned to THE BOEING COMPANY, Arlington, VA (US)
Filed by The Boeing Company, Chicago, IL (US)
Filed on Sep. 25, 2018, as Appl. No. 16/141,132.
Prior Publication US 2020/0097624 A1, Mar. 26, 2020
Int. Cl. G06F 30/23 (2020.01); G06F 111/20 (2020.01)
CPC G06F 30/23 (2020.01) [G06F 2111/20 (2020.01)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. An apparatus for engineering analysis of a structural product, the apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing executable instructions that, in response to execution by the processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
produce a computer-aided design (CAD) model of a structural product including component parts joined by fasteners, the CAD model excluding structural definitions of the fasteners, and including identifiers of the fasteners that are traceable to respective structural definitions of the fasteners;
produce a finite-difference time-domain model of the structural product from the CAD model, the finite-difference time-domain model representing the component parts and fasteners by a mesh of elements, the finite-difference time-domain model including the identifiers of the fasteners;
assign one or more electrical properties to elements of the mesh of elements representing the component parts and fasteners, the one or more electrical properties describing an effect of electromagnetic radiation on the component parts and fasteners;
perform a finite-difference time-domain analysis on the finite-difference time-domain model with the one or more electrical properties assigned, and with the finite-difference time-domain model exposed to simulated lightning, to predict an impact of lightning on the fasteners and therefrom generate a corresponding prediction;
produce an output based on the corresponding prediction that indicates one or more levels of the impact of lightning on the fasteners, and that includes the identifiers of the fasteners; and
display the output to facilitate design or manufacture of the structural product;
wherein the apparatus being caused to perform the finite-difference time-domain analysis includes being caused to perform the finite-difference time-domain analysis on the finite-difference time-domain model with the one or more electrical properties assigned, and with the finite-difference time-domain model exposed to simulated lightning in the plurality of scenarios in which different fasteners are exposed to different simulated lightning strikes at different points of time, and
wherein the apparatus being caused to produce the output includes being caused to aggregate the corresponding predictions to produce the output.