The goal of the project is to develop a prototype for an advanced 3D mesh morphing
tool—named Shaper—for computer-aided engineering (CAE) applications.
Shaper will allow the user to efficiently re-shape and re-size three-dimensional computer models used for structural and fluid-dynamics simulations, which are extensively used during the design phase of new products in the aerospace, automotive and renewable energy industry.
Shaper will provide a novel approach to mesh morphing by combining classic morphing
techniques with innovative algorithms recently developed in the computer graphics field, thus resulting in a more powerful tool than similar products already available in the market.
A key aspect of Shaper will be its open architecture: the implemented mesh morphing
techniques are completely independent from the underlying computer model used and hence the product will be able to support any of the structural and computational fluid-dynamics softwares available on the market. In fact, through the use of public application programming interfaces, end users can easily integrate the software into their existing engineering design
procedure, which, in turn, will result in a significant reduction of the development time of a new product and hence of project costs. This is extremely beneficial to the design cycle of a new product, especially when the complexity of the project requires a computationally intensive, time-consuming, iterative optimisation of the initial design.