Isogeometric Analysis in LS-DYNA R13 - key steps towards industrial applications

Hughes et al. [1] introduced the term isogeometric analysis (IGA) in the framework of finite element analysis (FEA). Its main idea is to use the same mathematical description for the geometry as well during the design process in a computer aided design (CAD) environment as in the later analysis phase using FEA. Numerous research papers devoted to IGA have demonstrated beneficial and superior analysis properties, using higher order and higher continuity basis functions compared to standard, low order finite elements. As B-splines and non-uniform rational B-splines (NURBS) are the most widely used geometry descriptions in CAD, NURBS-based finite elements have been developed and implemented into LS-DYNA over the last few years.