Detection of Plausibility and Error Reasons in Finite Element Simulations with Deep Learning Networks

Abstract

The field of application of data-driven product development is diverse and ranges from requirements through the early phases to the detailed design of the product. The goal is to consistently analyze data to support and improve individual steps in the development process. In the context of this work, the focus is on the design and detailing phase, represented by the virtual testing of products through Finite Element (FE) simulations. However, due to the heterogeneous data of a simulation model, automatic use is a big challenge. A method is therefore presented that utilizes the entire stock of calculated simulations to predict the plausibility of new simulations. Correspondingly, a large amount of data is utilized to support less experienced users of FE software in the application. Thus, obvious errors in the simulation should be detected immediately with this procedure and unnecessary iterations are therefore avoided. Previous solutions were only able to perform a general plausibility classification, whereas the approach presented in this paper is intended to predict specific error sources in FE simulations.