Most typical problems in structural engineering are best analyzed by approximating an object's geometry with finite elements. Selecting an appropriate meshing strategy for a given solid requires knowledge about finite element theory in general, and about package-specific details in particular. The adept system integrates a traditional solidmodeler with an expert system equipped with this knowledge. Phase i of this project concluded in the successful completion of a simple working model of adept. The phase iieffort will involve the development of a completely integrated, fully functional adept system. Given a solid tobe analyzed, adept will use a combination of features deduced from the solid's geometry and information supplied by the user to determine a modeling strategy and to automatically generate input files for a chosen set of analysis packages.
