Archimedes is a 3D modeling application based on Open CASCADE, the 3D modeling and numerical kernel. It allows creating in several ways complex compound shapes.
One of the strong features of the application is its scripting functionality. For instance, the parametric definition of a face may be achieved using a script. Furthermore, a face created in this manner may be extruded along a curved that is defined parametrically.
The framework of this application is built on a dynamic object creation mechanism as described in the article by Ed Smetak and Jean Caputo. One of the strong points of this mechanism is that it ensures a strict object dependency policy: modifying parent objects affects depending objects. This dependency mechanism allows modifying base elements of the geometry at a late stage of model building, without having to rebuild the whole model from scratch.
In this framework, “object-factories” are categorized and can create object of a certain type. This allows the users to easily interact with existing objects in a predefined way and it allows extending the application with new functionality by creating plugins.
A central feature of the application is the “Boolean” operation on shapes, which allows creating complex compound shapes by joining, cutting or intersecting simpler shapes.
The NETGEN algorithm is used to mesh 3D solid shapes. More information on NETGEN may be found on http://www.hpfem.jku.at/netgen/.
A post-processing module has been implemented using openGL to visualize FEM results on the 3D mesh. In this module, scripts are available to calculate derived result from primary results (scalar or vectors).
Another interesting feature is the “MeshGroup”module developed to allow grouping (or filtering) nodes and element in a mesh. This is achieved using macros. This feature makes it possible to automatically repopulate predefined element and node groups even after extensive modification of the underlying geometry or mesh. In this way, element groups required in the attribution of material properties, for instance, may be defined in a “symbolic” way (with a macro) without having to refer to specific item numbering.
Archimedes supports the following import and export formats: IGES, STEP, Brep (OCC), STL
