EP4320542A1

EP4320542A1 - System for ascertaining internal load states of a mechanical component

Info

Publication number: EP4320542A1
Application number: EP22765794.7A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Marcus Stoffel; Saurabh Balkrishna Tandale
Original assignee: Rheinisch Westlische Technische Hochschuke RWTH
Current assignee: Rheinisch Westlische Technische Hochschuke RWTH
Priority date: 2021-08-16
Filing date: 2022-08-16
Publication date: 2024-02-14
Also published as: DE102021121264A1; WO2023021022A1

Abstract

The invention relates to a system for ascertaining internal load states of a mechanical component under the effect of external forces. The system has the following components: - an input interface which is designed to receive geometry data that represents the component, - a finite element pre-processor which is designed to divide the component into finite elements and assign at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition to at least one element, - a finite element equation solver which is designed to provide a global stiffness matrix for the component, said global stiffness matrix indicating how the elements of the component are deformed on the basis of the assigned material property and/or boundary condition, and to identify the regions in the component in which the component is deformed and other regions in which the geometry of the component remains substantially unchanged despite the influence of external forces, and - a finite element post-processor which is designed to display the internal load state of the mechanical component under the effect of external forces. The system additionally comprises at least one trained neural network, wherein the trained neural network is trained to determine stiffness components of an element stiffness matrix from at least one finite element of the component, and the finite element is preferably located in the region of the component in which the component is deformed under the effect of external forces, thus resulting in a change in the geometry of the component. The finite element equation solver is additionally designed to use the element stiffness matrix determined by the trained neural network for the deformed element in order to update the global stiffness matrix and determine the internal load state of the mechanical component under the effect of external forces on the basis of the updated global stiffness matrix.

Description

System for determining the internal load conditions of a mechanical component

The invention relates to a system and a method for determining the internal load conditions of a mechanical component when external forces act on it.

Mechanical components such as components of a chassis or a drive of a vehicle should not fail in use. For this reason, components are tested during a development process, for example, and deformations that occur as a result of acting forces are recorded with strain gauges. However, it is not possible - at least not easily - to measure the stresses that act inside a component. It is therefore known, for example, to subject plexiglass models of mechanical components to an external force and to observe stresses in the plexiglass under polarized light. This method also has very narrow limits, mainly because the actual components are usually not made of Plexiglas. Mechanical components can also have complex geometries and be exposed to diverse, sometimes high and overlapping forces. For example, a drive shaft is regular in torque transmission

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Exposed to lateral and longitudinal forces as well as bearing forces. For operation, a drive shaft must be designed in such a way that it withstands the forces acting on it over the long term and does not break.

The internal load conditions in the component, which result from external forces acting on the component, are decisive for the resilience of a component. However, internal stress conditions are difficult to predict, especially in the case of components with complex geometry or composite components made of different materials, so that simplifying assumptions are often made in the design. This often leads to oversizing of the components, but occasionally also to an unexpected failure in service.

For this reason, prototypes are often manufactured and exposed to the expected impact of forces. Based on the mechanical behavior of the prototype under the expected force, it can then be seen at which points the prototype should be improved. When testing prototypes or series products, however, internal stress conditions caused by external forces cannot be easily recorded, and in particular cannot be measured directly. The internal load conditions, such as internal stresses, internal strains and the resulting deformations of the component, are usually not easily accessible and therefore not easy to determine. They depend, among other things, on the magnitude and direction of the external forces, the actual geometry of the component and its material properties. In particular, the material properties can also vary spatially within the component due to the manufacturing process of the component. A further complication can be that mechanical components cannot consist of just one isotropic material, but can, for example, have composite components, e.g. layer systems with layers made of different materials. If the internal stress states of such composite components are to be determined under the influence of external forces, it is often necessary to take into account the mechanical behavior of the individual materials and also the interaction with the other materials. The geometry of the mechanical component and the arrangement of the different materials in the component are also crucial.

In the case of complex components in particular, it may be necessary to carry out a comparatively large number of tests on prototypes until the final product has the desired properties.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) In order to determine and represent the internal stress conditions, a component is regularly examined on a test bench, which is supplemented by simulation tools. In concrete terms, a component can be exposed to external forces on a test bench and the resulting deformations of the component can be measured. Since the internal load conditions cannot be measured - at least not easily - the internal load conditions must be derived from the applied external forces and the resulting deformations. This is particularly difficult when the internal stress conditions lead to material failure inside a component, so that cracks occurring inside the component, for example, cannot be seen from the outside.

A method that makes it possible to determine the internal stress conditions of a mechanical component under the influence of external forces is the finite element method, or FEM for short. The FEM makes it possible to determine the internal load conditions in a mechanical component under the influence of specified external forces.

The basic idea of FEM is to consider, for example, a mechanical component as consisting of a large number of small elements that deform and move due to the action of neighboring elements when external forces act on the component and are exposed to internal mechanical stresses. The resulting displacements of the elements - and thus the deformation of the component - as well as the internal stresses that prevail in or between the (finite) elements can then be displayed graphically.

A finite element (FE) preprocessor, a FE solver, and a FE postprocessor are typically used to perform the FEM. First, a model of the mechanical component is created that already shows the actual aspect ratios of the mechanical component. A great advantage of the FEM is that the properties of the materials from which the components of the mechanical component are made are also included in the model and can be taken into account for the determination of internal stress states. For example, a composite component made of layers of different materials can also be examined.

For this purpose, an FE preprocessor divides the component into finite elements, to which material properties and boundary conditions can be assigned. An FE equation solver creates a system of equations for the component that describes how the finite elements deform and move under the influence of force and which internal forces occur between the elements. This finite element model can

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Solve the FE equation solver iteratively and thus determine the stresses and deformations that occur inside the component when external forces are applied. The FE post-processor can then generate a graphical representation that represents the internal stress conditions, in particular the internal mechanical stresses, and thus allows the desired view of the interior of the component.

A technical challenge is the fact that the FE solver solves the occurring displacements, stresses and forces only iteratively, which leads to a considerable expenditure of resources in terms of computing and storage capacity as well as in terms of time.

Therefore, in addition to the desire to display the internal states of a mechanical component, there is also a desire to do this with as few resources as possible in the shortest possible time.

Compared to the component that is represented by the large number of finite elements, the finite elements typically have a comparatively simple geometry, e.g. the shape of a hexahedron or a tetrahedron, so that the mechanical behavior of the individual finite elements can be determined much more easily, than that of the complete component.

Finite elements are represented by nodes in a kind of mesh model. Material properties, such as a Young's modulus and a Poisson's ratio for a linear relationship between stress and strain, as well as boundary conditions are assigned to the nodes. The boundary conditions can, for example, include an external force and act on the nodes of the FEM model.

Furthermore, a number of shape functions are defined for each finite element. The shape functions describe the displacement of the nodes and points in between. The shape functions are defined in such a way that the transitions between the finite elements are continuous. A simple shape function for a tension member can be defined as follows u(x)=(1 -X/L)*UI+(X/L)*UJ

It contains the displacements ui and uj at nodes I and J as unknowns. Here x denotes the location between the two nodes I and J and L the distance between the nodes. At x=0 the displacement corresponds to the displacement ui of node I and at x=L the displacement corresponds to the displacement uj of node J.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) In the general case, the formulation functions generally include polynomials of the first, second, third or higher degree and describe mathematically how a finite element reacts to external influences, such as a mechanical force exerted on the component from the outside. A local Ritz approach is regularly selected as the approach function. The shape functions have to fulfill continuity conditions in the transition from a finite element to a neighboring finite element and contain the nodes of the finite element as parameters.

Using the shape functions of a finite element, a system of equations can be set up for each finite element, which includes an element stiffness matrix that contains the nodes as unknowns.

The dimension of the element stiffness matrix corresponds to the number of degrees of freedom of the nodes, i.e. six degrees of freedom in the three-dimensional case. In the FEM, an element stiffness matrix is set up for each individual finite element.

The sum of all element stiffness matrices results in a global stiffness matrix that describes the component and whose occupation depends on the geometry of the component. All element stiffness matrices have the same dimension as the global stiffness matrix.

If the element stiffness matrices of the individual finite elements are combined to form the global stiffness matrix of the component, a linear system of equations of the form

K*X=F where K is the global stiffness matrix, X is the displacement matrix and F is the force matrix. The global stiffness matrix maps the displacements at the nodes to the forces acting on the nodes. The components of a stiffness matrix are called stiffness components.

The component can be deformed by an external force acting on the component. The deformation of the component causes the node positions in the finite element of the component to change relative to one another. With the FEM, the displacement at the nodes is evaluated and the displacement at points in space where there is no node is interpolated between the nearest nodes. The displacement of the finite elements implies the deformation of the component and causes the components of the element stiffness matrices - i.e. the stiffness components - to change as well.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) When determining the mechanical behavior of an individual finite element of the component, boundary conditions and the effect of the mechanical behavior of the neighboring finite elements are taken into account. It takes into account how forces and other boundary conditions affect the individual finite elements, propagate in the component and affect neighboring finite elements.

The system of equations K*X=F is usually solved iteratively with an FE equation solver in order to determine deformations of the component based on the displacements of the finite elements and the resulting internal mechanical stresses.

An FE equation solver typically proceeds in such a way that it iteratively solves the system of equations K*X=F in several increments and for each increment. Each increment represents a specific load condition, also referred to as a load increment. Various load states are determined one after the other, each starting from the previous load state and approaching a final load state in equilibrium of forces. If the load condition has been determined in the equilibrium of forces, the solution for the mechanical behavior of a component under the influence of external forces has been found.

For the iterative solution of the system of equations K*X=F in a respective increment, the FE equation solver usually includes a Newton-Raphson equation solver.

The system of equations is solved iteratively because the deformations that occur cause the stiffness components in the element stiffness matrices and thus in the global stiffness matrix to change as well. With each iteration, the deviation of the solution found from the previous solution should decrease, so that the approximation converges and approaches the actual solution for the respective increment. The iterative determination of the new stiffness component can sometimes take a long time. This step alone on the way to representing the internal load conditions of a mechanical component can therefore lead to a significant extension and accordingly tie up computing capacities for a longer period of time.

The mechanical behavior of the entire component can be deduced from the mechanical behavior of the individual finite elements.

Depending on the complexity of the component and the number of nodes, the iterative solution of the system of equations K*X=F with the FE equation solver can take several hours or even days, depending on the available computing capacity. In addition, there is no guarantee that the solutions found iteratively come close to the actual solution

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) means whether the iteratively found solutions converge. It may be that the calculation is repeated until a termination criterion is met, if such a termination criterion is defined at all.

In order to shorten the time required for the iterative solution of the system of equations K*X=F, it was proposed to replace individual material laws underlying the simulation with a trained neural network (NN).

For example, in the article "Artificial neural networks and intelligent finite elements in non-linear structural mechanics" by M. Stoffel et al. published in Thin-Walled Structures 131 (2018) 102-106, proposed replacing individual material laws such as that of viscoplasticity in the evaluation points of Gaussian quadrature with a trained neural network. This means that relationships between state variables, e.g. between stress and strain, are already known before the actual FEM simulation is started and do not have to be determined iteratively by the FE equation solver.

In the doctoral thesis "Smart Finite Elements: An Application of Machine Learning to reduced-order Modeling of Multi-Scale Problems" by German Capuano, Georgia Tech Theses and Dissertations [22684], an FEM simulation is proposed by using so-called "smarter" finite accelerate items. A "smart" finite element approximates the internal forces of a conventional finite element and is represented by a trained neural network.

However, in the case of plastic deformation of a mechanical component under the influence of external forces, it can happen that no solution can be found for the internal load condition with the known FEM approaches because the known FEM approaches do not converge. For example, a physically non-linear material behavior, such as damage to a component through cracks, cannot be determined with known FEM approaches. Even comparatively large geometric deformations, such as the deformation of a car body during a crash test, can regularly not be determined with known FEM approaches.

The invention is based on the object of specifying a system and a method that make it possible to determine the internal stress states of a component when external forces act with the least possible expenditure of resources and time.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) According to the invention, a system is proposed to solve the problem, which has an input interface, a finite element preprocessor, a finite element equation solver, and a finite element postprocessor.

The input interface is designed to receive geometry data that represent the component.

The finite element preprocessor is designed to subdivide the component into finite elements and to assign at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition to at least one element.

The finite element solver is configured to generate a global stiffness matrix for the part that specifies how the elements of the part deform due to the assigned material property and/or boundary condition and to identify areas in the part where the part deforms and to identify other areas in which a geometry of the component remains essentially unchanged despite the action of external forces.

The finite element post processor is designed to visualize the internal stress state of the mechanical component when external forces are applied.

The system further includes at least one trained neural network. The neural network is trained to determine stiffness components of an element stiffness matrix of at least one finite element of the component, preferably for a finite element that is located in that area of the component in which the component deforms when external forces are applied and thus its geometry changes.

The finite element solver is further configured to use the element stiffness matrix determined by the trained neural network for the deformed element to update the global stiffness matrix and to determine the internal stress state of the mechanical component when external forces are applied based on the updated global stiffness matrix.

The FE equation solver is designed in particular to determine the stiffness components of the element stiffness matrices that change for a respective increment by means of a trained neural network. This is done in particular by calling up the trained neural network in each increment and using the trained neural network directly converged stiffness components for a respective finite element

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) to be determined. Since the trained neural network already determines the converged stiffness of its components, no further iterations are necessary in the respective increment in order to determine the converged stiffness of its components. This is possible because the neural network is trained in such a way that it can already determine the converged stiffness of its components.

In contrast to determining the internal stress states of a mechanical component with the known FEM, with the system according to the invention it is not necessary to iteratively solve the system of equations K*X=F in each increment. Instead, in each increment, the equation system K*X=F can be solved directly using the converged stiffness of its components determined by the trained neural network. The use of stiffness components that have already converged has the advantage that the FEM always converges and a solution can be found. In particular, a solution can be found for such problems where known FEM approaches regularly fail, e.g. because non-linear plastic or geometric deformations occur, so that the known FEM does not converge to a solution.

In the system, in particular, the displacements occurring in each increment for a mechanical component are determined as in a conventional FEM. However, the displacements for each increment can be determined faster because the internal stress states of a member in each increment can be determined directly using the converged stiffness of its components determined by the neural network.

The invention is based on the consideration that, in the case of material laws, it is possible to use artificial neural networks to mathematically approximate evolution equations that describe the development of state variables for inelastic material behavior. If you want to go one step further and also replace local stiffness components with neural networks, you can use the components of the equilibrium condition K*X=F in the form to express. Here, on the right side of the latter equation are the generalized force components, which are expressed by an activation function A. In the case of geometrically and/or physically nonlinear mechanical deformations, the activation function will typically also be nonlinear and depends on the generalized displacements u _t and the weights. The weights can be optimized during a workout and physically represent an alternative description of the stiffness of its components, so that in this way one can replace stiffness of its components with neural networks.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) The invention is now based on the finding that replacing the stiffness components with neural networks as described above can lead to a mathematical problem in solving the system of equations K*X=F on which the FEM is based, in which the stiffness components are now replaced by the weightings express and solve for the displacement vector X. In this case, this procedure, which is otherwise common in FEM, is made more difficult or prevented by the use of non-linear activation functions, which are necessary for geometrically and/or physically non-linear structure and material behavior. This problem can be further complicated when additional hidden layers are present in a network. In this case, there would be further nested non-linear functions within the activation function, which could complicate or even make it impossible to resolve the equilibrium conditions for the shifts sought. This problem is circumvented in the system according to the invention in that the neural network is trained in such a way that it can be used to determine directly converged stiffness components for a finite element. With element stiffness matrices updated in this way, the global stiffness matrix can be updated and used to determine the global displacement matrix. With the system it is thus possible to determine geometrically and/or physically nonlinear structural and material behavior in a mechanical component that could not be determined with conventional FEM because the FEM does not converge to a solution.

The invention is based on the further finding that in particular the determination of stiffness components of such finite elements that are located in a region of the component that is subjected to deformation can take a particularly long time. On the other hand, the stiffness components of elements in areas that do not or only insignificantly deform can be determined much more quickly. The many iteration steps in each increment are necessary in particular because the stiffness components of the finite elements have to be re-determined from the deforming areas of the component. This is necessary because the geometry of the component changes, particularly in the deforming areas. The change in geometry means that the population of the stiffness matrix, i.e. the stiffness components that are attributed to these deformations, has to be redetermined.

With the trained neural network, precisely those stiffness components are redetermined that were assigned to an area in which the component deforms in a first run of the FEM.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) It is an advantage of the system that, as a result of the converged stiffness components determined by the trained neural network, a displacement vector can be directly assigned to each generalized load vector by the FE solver. In this way, time-consuming iterations in the respective increments are avoided. By using stiffness components that have already converged, it can thus be ensured that the FEM converges and a solution is found. This also applies if the FEM is to be used to determine an internal load condition that includes a physical or geometric non-linearity. The internal load conditions of a component are thus available comparatively faster and more reliably. Furthermore, the system also reliably provides comparatively accurate internal load states of a mechanical component when external forces act if physical non-linearities such as damage or geometric non-linearities such as severe curvatures occur in the component due to the action of the force.

In order to determine internal stress states for a component to be tested, the system preferably has a loading and measuring device that is designed to exert a predefined external force or multiple predefined external forces on a provided mechanical component, and the resulting external deformations of the mechanical component to be measured under the defined force.

The finite element preprocessor is then preferably designed to assign at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition to at least one element. The at least one boundary condition includes the predefined external force or multiple predefined external forces exerted by the measuring device and/or the measured external deformation of the component.

The system can then determine not only the external deformations for a component to be tested, but also the internal stress conditions that cannot be measured directly, which result from the forces exerted on the mechanical component by the loading and measuring device.

It is a particular advantage of the system that the determined internal load states can also be determined reliably and precisely if the mechanical component undergoes non-linear plastic deformation due to the forces exerted or if, for example, internal cracks occur that are not visible from the outside, or if the mechanical component undergoes non-linear geometric deformation due to the forces exerted, i.e. the surfaces of the component are strongly curved, for example like a body in a crash test. This special advantage of the system is caused by the fact that the

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) FE solver using the converged stiffness components determined by the trained neural network.

The invention also relates to a method for determining the internal load conditions of a mechanical component when external forces act on it. The method can be carried out with the system described above.

The procedure includes the steps:

receiving geometry data representing the component,

Subdividing the component into finite elements and assigning at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition to at least one of the elements, and

Establish a global stiffness matrix for the part that specifies how the elements of the part deform due to the assigned material property and/or boundary condition.

Then, for a first increment, those areas in the component are identified in which the component deforms and preferably other areas are identified in which a geometry of the component remains essentially unchanged despite the action of external forces.

This is followed by one or more further increments

Determining stiffness components of an element stiffness matrix of at least one finite element of the component using a trained neural network, preferably for each finite element that is located in that area of the component in which the component deforms when external forces are applied and thus changes its geometry , and a

updating the global stiffness matrix with the element stiffness matrix determined by the trained neural network for the deformed element and a

Determination of the internal stress state of the mechanical component when external forces are applied based on the updated global stiffness matrix.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) If, after one or more increments, the final internal load state of the mechanical component in the equilibrium of forces has been found, an optional

Representation of the internal load condition of the mechanical component when external forces act.

To determine the internal stress states of a mechanical component when external forces act, the trained neural network is used to determine the converged stiffness components for those elements of the component that are deformed by the action of external forces. Preferably not all stiffness components of a global stiffness matrix are updated by the neural network, but only specific stiffness components. The remaining stiffness components of the global stiffness matrix, which belong to elements of the component in which the component does not deform or only insignificantly deform, are preferably not determined again by the neural network. The global stiffness matrix is then adapted to the new geometry of the part, which is caused by external forces acting on the part and deforming it. In the parts of the component that are not deformed, the geometry of the component does not change or only changes insignificantly, and accordingly the occupation of the stiffness matrix by the corresponding stiffness components does not change either or only insignificantly.

In particular, the stiffness components of the global stiffness matrix are adapted by calling the trained neural network for each finite element in one or more increments. The components of the displacement matrix or the stress tensor of the respective finite element, for example, are fed to the trained neural network as an input matrix. The trained neural network supplies the components of the force matrix as an output matrix if a displacement matrix was selected as the input matrix, or directly the stiffness components if the strain or stress tensor was selected as the input matrix.

The method thus implies the use of a trained neural network to determine the converged stiffness components for those elements of the component that are deformed by the action of external forces. The neural network can be trained before the method steps mentioned above and does not have to be repeated during the course of the method. This does not rule out the possibility that retraining during the course of the method can be advantageous

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) but with two advantages: on the one hand, the method can be carried out with fewer iteration steps and is therefore more resource-saving in terms of time and computing requirements than conventional FE methods. On the other hand, the neural network can be trained with finer iteration steps during training, so that the method is still able to determine internal stress states, even if severe deformations or internal damage to the component occur, where this is no longer possible with conventional FE methods .

Preferably, the method comprises the further steps:

providing a mechanical component,

Exercising at least one predefined external force on the mechanical component, and

Measuring at least one deformation of the component that occurs due to the exertion of the at least one predefined external force.

The force or forces exerted are known, in particular with regard to their direction and magnitude, so that the force or forces can be included as boundary conditions in the determination of the internal load states using the above-described method for determining internal load states of a mechanical component when external forces act . As a further boundary condition, the measured deformation of the mechanical component is preferably included in the above-described method for determining internal stress states of a mechanical component when external forces act. The method is then used to determine the internal load condition of the mechanical component, which results during the measurement from the action of the predefined external force or multiple predefined external forces on the component. The method has the particular advantage that internal stress states can also be reliably determined when the predefined external force or multiple predefined external forces exerted on the component lead to invisible internal damage, e.g. internal cracks, or non-linear geometric deformation of the component. This is regularly not possible with the known FEM.

Because the method can be used to assign internal stress states to a measured external deformation in a particularly reliable manner, it is also possible to more reliably assess whether a mechanical component can actually be manufactured in such a way

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) that it can withstand the expected forces. In this way, safety can also be increased when using a mechanical component.

An advantageous aspect is that the method mentioned and the generation of the trained neural networks used in the method can be carried out independently of one another in terms of time and space. With regard to the generation of the trained neural network, it is again advantageous that the generation of training data and the training of a neural network with the training data can also take place independently of one another. A dependency only exists to the extent that training data generated for training a neural network must be available and that a trained neural network must be available for carrying out the FEM. The generation of the training data and the training of the neural network can take place on different computers, which can be located at different locations. The same applies to performing the FEM using a trained neural network.

The generation of training data and the training of the neural network can each be further components of the method for displaying determination of internal stress states of a mechanical component when external forces are applied, with the generation of training data and the training of the neural network also being independent of the actual method for determining internal Load conditions of a mechanical component can be performed using a trained neural network. This is because the generation of training data and the training of the neural network can already have taken place before the internal load states are determined for a component. This means that the actual determination of the internal load states of a mechanical component when external forces are applied can be carried out more efficiently and—as described here—also more reliably.

The neural network was preferably trained by first providing an untrained neural network which has a topology with an input layer, an output layer and one or more intermediate layers, each of which has a large number of neurons and weights assigned to them. The neurons of a subsequent layer are each preferably linked (fully connected) to all neurons of a preceding layer.

The neural network is trained with a training data set that includes input vectors and associated output vectors. The input vectors can include displacement components or strain components, for example. The associated output vectors can include forces or stiffness components, for example.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) The neural network is preferably trained by adjusting the weights in such a way that a deviation determined by an error function is minimized, which is caused by a difference between predetermined values of the Jacobi matrix components öf/öu and a value of the Jacobi matrix components öf/ predicted by the neural network. ou is defined.

The training data are preferably generated by initially providing a single finite element to which at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition representing the action of an external force is assigned.

An FE equation solver is preferably used to determine how the individual finite element deforms due to the assigned at least one material property under the influence of an external force, and corresponding input vectors and associated output vectors are determined.

1 . Structure/topology of the neural network

A suitable neural network has an input layer with a number of input neurons and an output layer with a number of output neurons. The number of input neurons can, for example, correspond to the number of degrees of freedom of a node multiplied by the number of nodes of a finite element.

A neuron in a layer is typically connected to several neurons in the preceding or following layers. Output values of the neurons of previous layers - or in the case of the input layer: the elements of an input vector - are processed by a neuron to an output value, which is passed on to neurons of a subsequent layer and forms an input value for the neurons there. In a neuron, the input values - i.e. the output values of the neurons of the previous layer - are first summed up in a weighted manner. A neuron may further contain a bias that controls the neuron's average level of activation. The bias can also be part of the weighted sum. The weighted sum obtained in this way is fed to an activation function and processed by the activation function to form the output value.

The neural network can be a feed-forward neural network, for example. Alternatively, the neural network can also be a radial basis function neural network or a recurrent neural network. It is also possible and beneficial for the neural network to be a gated recurrent neural network, also known as Long Short Term Memory (LSTM)

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) referred to as. A core concept of the LSTM is to learn long and short term dependencies. The LSTM thus enables a kind of memory of previous experiences.

The neural network can have one, two, three or more than three intermediate layers (hidden layers). Alternatively or additionally, the neural network can have one or more convolutional layers and pooling layers.

In the event that the trained neural network replaces the system of equations K*X=F, the input vector X and the output vector F (in Voigt notation) are correspondingly as defined, with s = i - m (20) where i denotes the number of degrees of freedom of an element node and m denotes the number of nodes per element, and the neural network can be defined on the level of individual finite elements by the equation to be discribed. Here, X is an input vector given on the input layer, which represents generalized displacements u, and F is the output vector formed by the neural network from the input vector, which represents generalized forces. The neural network comprises a number of intermediate layers, the first intermediate layer being denoted by L and the last intermediate layer by L'. The number of intermediate layers present is denoted by k, where k>2 applies. The neural network is also defined by activation functions A) and their derivatives A) with reference to the weighted sum. If the input vector X represents generalized displacements u and the neural network is trained with training data in which the output vector F maps generalized forces, the trained neural network maps the generalized displacements X to the generalized forces F. The stiffness components of a finite element can be determined using the generalized forces F. The neural network, which maps generalized displacements X to the generalized forces F, initially supplies generalized forces F, which are converted into stiffness components.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Alternatively, the neural network may be trained such that the input vector whose components are passed to the input layer neurons represent the normalized strain or stress tensor components, the internal state of a finite element

<= [ _E ?I^ ₂ S^3 « ₂ ] (23)

In the output layer, the output neurons can represent converged stiffness components, so that with the neural network normalized strain tensor components can be directly mapped to converged stiffness components. Here, the input vector and K the output vector.

The number of output neurons can correspond to the number of input neurons. The number of input neurons preferably corresponds to the number of degrees of freedom of a node. The number of neurons in an intermediate layer can differ from, and preferably exceeds, the number of input neurons. If there are several intermediate layers, they can each have a different number of neurons compared to a number of neurons in one of the other intermediate layers.

In the input layer, the neural network can optionally include further input neurons for input values that represent geometry parameters. However, this is not necessary since all geometric properties are already contained in the neural network. However, the training success of the neural network can be improved by additional input neurons that represent geometry parameters.

The neural network includes activation functions assigned to the neurons of the neural network, which can be, for example, a hyperbolic tangent activation function or a sigmoidal activation function or radial basis function.

2. Training of the neural network

The neural network used in the FEM is trained. Training data containing output vectors associated with different input vectors are used for this purpose. The aim of the training is to adjust the weights of the neural network in such a way that the output vector formed by the neural network from an input vector comes as close as possible to the corresponding training data.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) For use in FEM, the neural network is trained with training data that is composed in such a way that the output vector of the trained neural network contributes to

2.1 Generation of training data

The neural network is trained accordingly with training data so that the system can display the internal stress conditions of a mechanical component. The training data should be generated in such a way that they fit into the value range of the magnitudes of state variables to be expected, e.g. the stresses and strains, as well as the internal forces. In other words, the training data should encompass a range of values that can be expected to represent the internal stress states of a mechanical component.

A subdivision is preferably selected within the training data which is suitable for the neural network to be able to interpolate between these values with sufficient accuracy when determining the stiffness components.

Training data is preferably generated on a single finite element by performing FEM simulations for various combinations of generalized force and displacement vectors. In this way, local stiffness matrices of the finite element are obtained for each of these combinations. This training data is obtained using classic FEM and the Newton-Raphson equation solver.

In this case, the individual finite element preferably has the geometry of a hexahedron or a tetrahedron. At its corners, the single finite element has nodes assigned material properties such as Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio, and boundary conditions. For example, an elastic-plastic material behavior can be assumed for the training, which can include a non-linear isotropic hardening.

With the help of the FEM analysis of this individual finite element, training data is obtained by running through complete FEM simulations in a known manner for different material properties and boundary conditions, e.g. different forces, and in this way using FEM for a finite element, many pairs of input and output vectors calculated and made available for training the neural network in the form of training data sets. Alternatively, the material properties of the component whose mechanical behavior is to be represented can be assumed.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Through the FEM analysis of a single finite element, pairs of input vectors, which represent, for example, the components of the displacement matrix or the strain tensor of the respective finite element, and associated output vectors, which represent the components of the force matrix resulting from the input vector, if a displacement matrix was selected as the input matrix, or directly represent the stiffness components if the strain tensor is chosen as the input matrix.

The training data generated in this way comprises input vectors and output vectors assigned to them. The training data may include geometry parameters of the single finite element used for training.

It may be necessary for a trained neural network used in the context of the FEM to be retrained. As long as the FEM shows that the component deforms in the linear elastic range, the training of the neural network does not have to be repeated even if the geometry of the component changes. It may only be necessary to repeat the training if the deformation of the component takes place in the geometrically non-linear area. Even in the physically non-linear domain, it is not necessary for the neural network training to be repeated when the geometry of a component changes if normalized quantities are used in the neural network training. There are scaling parameters between physical and normalized training data. If a component geometry changes, the same normalized training data can be generated by adjusting scaling variables as with existing training data.

Preferably, approximately 15,000 data points are generated for training the untrained neural network.

The initially untrained neural network is trained with the training data in order to then use it to determine the stiffness components of the element stiffness matrix in an FEM simulation at the level of individual elements.

To generate the training data, the system can have a training data generation device for generating training data for a neural network. The training data generating device is preferably designed to provide a single finite element and to generate a multiplicity of combinations of generalized force and displacement vectors for this single finite element.

The training data generation device is preferably also designed to select such a subdivision for the training data that the trained neural network for

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Determining stiffness its components can interpolate between these force and displacement values.

The training data generation device can be implemented and used independently of the system for determining internal stress states of a mechanical component.

2.2 Training of the neural network

The neural network is trained iteratively with the aid of a training data set that contains input vectors and associated output vectors. The neural network is trained iteratively, with the weights of the neurons being changed in each iteration step in such a way that the prediction, ie the output vector of the neural network, deviates as little as possible from the associated output vector from the training data set. It is preferred that comparatively narrow iteration steps, ie a high iteration step density, are used when training the neural network. If a comparatively high density of iteration steps is used for training the neural network, this has the advantage that a comparatively lower density of iteration steps can be used when the system and/or the method for determining internal stress states is used later. As a result, the solution of a technical problem can be further accelerated by the system and/or the method. For example, a speed gain of over 90% can be achieved compared to using a conventional FEM.

For example, training data comprising 15000 data points can be used for the training. The training data may include geometry parameters of the single finite element used for training.

The neural network is trained by using an error function to determine a deviation of an output vector predicted by the neural network from an output vector of the training data set and this deviation is iteratively minimized by adapting the weights of the neural network.

The components of the input vectors from the training data are transferred as input data to the input neurons of the neural network. The neural network forms an output vector for each input vector, which is composed of the output values of the output layer. Sobolev training is preferably used, i.e. both the output vectors of the output neurons and their derivatives are considered for the training. Through the Sobolev training, Jacobi

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Matrix components öf/öu approximated. A neural network trained in this way provides reliable values for the stiffness components as a prediction. This allows the desired use of the neural network to determine updated stiffness components in the FEM.

This is made possible by the Jacobian matrix components öf/öu being taken into account by each neuron of the neural network in the error function itself. The consideration of the Jacobi matrix components öf/öu in the error function is based on the following considerations.

The starting point is the Jacobi matrix of conventional FEM where Ao ⁿ is the normalized increment of the stress tensor and Ae ⁿ is the normalized increment of the strain tensor.

Based on this, an error function Are defined. The last term of Equation 13 gives the material stiffnesses predicted by the neural network and can be obtained using automatic differencing.

However, if one were to use Equation 13 for training the neural network, additional output neurons representing the material stiffnesses would have to be provided in the output layer. The neural network has to be trained accordingly and the topology of the neural network has to be adapted accordingly.

The invention includes the knowledge that this is not necessary if another error function is used for training the neural network, in which the material stiffnesses are already replaced by the structural stiffnesses öf/öu in the error function, i.e. by the Jacobi matrix components of the neural network. These need not be specified in the form of (additional) training data, but can be determined during training by deriving the output values of the neural network.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) The neural network trained in this way can be used to directly determine the stiffness components of a finite element within the framework of the FEM.

The trained neural network can be used to determine internal stress states for components with widely differing geometries without having to adjust the topology of the neural network or retrain it.

Three different approaches are proposed for training the neural network using the structural stiffnesses öf/öu, numerical differentiation, automatic differentiation and the evolution of converged stiffnesses.

If the approach of numerical differentiation or automatic differentiation is used for the training, the error function is preferably used for the training used. Here, d represents the number of data points used for the training, eg 15000. Furthermore, i and j represent the components of the input and output vectors respectively and can at most assume the value of the maximum number of degrees of freedom of the nodes. The components of the normalized output vector are denoted by f ⁿ i . The indices a and p correspond to the actual output vector and the output vector predicted by the neural network, respectively.

The error function contains a first term that represents the error in the generalized forces f predicted by the neural network. In addition, the error function contains a second term that gives the material stiffness predicted by the neural network. This term contains stiffness components öf/öu. The weights of the neurons are changed as part of the training, e.g. using a gradient descent method, in such a way that the error function is minimized. In the case of the error function specified in Equation 24, this means that both the error in the generalized forces f predicted by the neural network and the error in the Jacobian matrix components öf/öu of the material of the component are minimized. In this case, it is not necessary to provide additional output neurons in the output layer that represent stiffness components δf/δu since these are already determined as part of the training.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) In addition, the error of the additional term containing the stiffness components öf/öu is minimized with the Sobolev training.

Optionally, the error function can be used in the training of the neural network a backpropagation algorithm can be executed, ie an output vector of the neural network is compared with an output vector which is known from a conventional FEM simulation. The deviation between the output vector of the neural network and the output vector of the FEM is propagated back as an error through the neural network to adjust weights of the neurons of the neural network so that the deviation becomes smaller.

The backpropagation algorithm can include, for example, the use of the Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm in order to improve a convergence of the output vector of the neural network to the output vector obtained by FEM from the training data set. The Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm involves considering a Jacobian matrix of the derivatives of the errors on the neurons of the neural network.

In the event that the training is done using a third approach, evolution of converged stiffnesses, a different error function is preferably used, which is defined as follows:

After training the neural network before solving a boundary value problem, the neural network only knows the stiffness components for arbitrary deformations, which in the course of training were correlated with the FEM at a single finite element with the force and displacement vectors.

The trained neural network may therefore need to interpolate between pairs of values of force and displacement vectors to determine updated stiffness components for a finite element. A possible error resulting from this can be minimized by appropriate prior training.

In order to provide the trained neural network, the system can have a provisioning device for providing the trained neural network. is preferred

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) the provision device is designed to use the training data from a plurality of combinations of generalized force and displacement vectors to train a neural network in such a way that it can predict stiffness components for a finite element, and then to provide the trained neural network.

The provision device for providing the trained neural network can be implemented and used independently of the training data generation device and of the system for determining internal stress states of a mechanical component. The provision device for providing the trained neural network can also form a subsystem of the system for determining internal load states of a mechanical component, independently of the training data generation device.

3. Function of the trained neural network in the context of the FEM

How the stiffness components of an element stiffness matrix for a finite element of a deformed part are updated depends in particular on which of the three different approaches, numerical differencing, automatic differencing or evolution of converged stiffnesses, was trained.

First, it is described how the stiffness components can be determined when the neural network has been trained according to the first approach of numerical differentiation.

If an element node has s degrees of freedom and m number of generalized displacements and forces are unique, only m number of unique stiffness information needs to be considered for training.

In numerical differencing, the neural network provides an output vector representing generalized forces, again using the equation can be converted into normalized stiffness components of the i-th element, where f'nn is a component of the output vector of the trained neural network, u ⁿ _m is the m-th component of the generalized displacement matrix, e _m is a disturbance value introduced into the neural network value) and öf ⁿ i/öu ⁿ _m represent the normalized stiffness component.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) It is assumed here that the weights and biases of the neurons of the neural network are contained in the components of the output vector of the trained neural network f'nn.

The normalized stiffness components can be obtained by solving the equation x~ ^x

■'■max ^A min after x in physical quantities, with which then the element stiffness matrix of the deforming finite element can be updated.

If the neural network has been trained using the automatic differencing approach, the stiffness components can be calculated using the equation to be determined. In contrast to Equation 27, Equation 37 includes the weighted sum and the output vectors, which in turn depend on the weights and the biases of the neurons in the neural network. With the auto-differentiation approach, no perturbation value is needed to determine the normalized stiffness components.

The normalized stiffness components can be obtained by solving the equation

> ^x ~ ^x min norm

■'■max ^A min according to x in physical quantities, with which then the element stiffness matrix of the deforming finite element can be updated.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) When the neural network has been trained according to the converged stiffness evolution approach, the stiffness components can be calculated using the equation to be determined. Once the stiffness components have been determined, these preferably converted into physical quantities using the equation. Then the converged stiffness components are inserted into the element stiffness matrix to update the element stiffness matrix.

The trained neural network can be integrated into a conventional FE equation solver or connected to it for data exchange.

4. Updating the stiffness components during the determination of internal loading states

To determine the internal load conditions of a mechanical component, the equilibrium F=K*X is sought. However, it can happen, particularly in the case of plastic or non-linear geometric deformations in the component, that this equilibrium is only approximately established when using a feed-forward neural network within the framework of the FEM.

The balance F=K*X can be determined more reliably if the neural network used in the FEM is an LSTM or has an LSTM. In particular, when the neural network is or comprises an LSTM, it is possible to update the converged stiffness components during the determination of internal stress states. The LSTM makes it possible to process state variables through which the LSTM can learn a path dependency. This is accomplished with the LSTM by the LSTM updating the state variables during a forward pass. This update of the state variables can implicitly handle path dependent behavior.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) If the neural network used in the system or method for determining internal stress states of a mechanical component is or comprises an LSTM, the forward path can be used to calculate the converged internal force vector and the backward path can be used to compute the converged stiffness components for the to receive the respective increment. In particular, the LSTM replaces the iterations required for material integration to calculate an increment of the equivalent plastic strain and the iterations required in the nonlinear solver (eg a Newton-Raphson solver) to reach the equilibrium F=K*X.

The stiffness components can either be calculated with the equation calculated and updated accordingly.

So, the neural network with LSTM can be deployed in the FEM and used to update the internal force vector and the stiffness calculation for each element in the elastic-plastic domain. In a further step, the global stiffness matrix can be assembled from the stiffness calculations for each element and the corresponding displacement vector can be calculated.

Updating the stiffness components as part of the FEM by using an LSTM has the advantage of avoiding further iterations that would be required with the traditional FEM. On the one hand, this can further reduce the computing time and thus save resources. On the other hand, it can be ensured that the FEM converges to an equilibrium solution F=K*X, so that the FEM becomes more reliable and more accurate. In fact, a number of technical problems in the elastic-plastic domain can only be solved reliably or at all by using an LSTM to update the stiffness components in the context of the FEM.

Accordingly, using an LSTM is particularly advantageous when the underlying problem becomes more complex, e.g. becomes nonlinear, and e.g. more Gaussian

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) points required. In this regard, it has been found that the computational gain is comparatively clear, especially in the elastic-plastic range (over 90% compared to conventional FEM), since the iterations in material integration and Gaussian integration are obsolete due to the implicit approximation of the nonlinear behavior is replaced, which is required to calculate the non-linear evolution of the internal force vector and the stiffness matrix.

To determine the internal stress states of a mechanical component when external forces are applied, an FE solver and the trained neural network preferably perform the following steps:

1) Providing the relationship between nodes and elements, i.e. structural information and boundary conditions for the part.

2) Determine the element stiffness matrices for the finite elements. The calculated element stiffness matrices can be combined into a global stiffness matrix that includes the stiffness components of the element stiffness matrices.

3) Determine the global displacement matrix of the displacement vectors of all finite elements with the Newton-Raphson solver using the global stiffness matrix.

For a first increment:

4) Determining for which elements the displacement vectors are smaller than a predetermined amount in order to identify those finite elements which are located in regions of the component in which the component deforms.

For one or more more increments:

For those areas where the component is subjected to deformation:

5) Update the element stiffness matrices of those finite elements undergoing deformation by the trained neural network.

6) Update the global stiffness matrix by the stiffness components of the updated element stiffness matrices of the corresponding finite elements.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) 7) Determine the global displacement vector using the updated global stiffness matrix. The displacements determined in one increment can in turn be used as an input vector for a neural network, which is used in a subsequent increment to determine stiffness components of a finite element in the subsequent increment. In this case, a Newton-Raphson equation solver is no longer required, since element stiffnesses from the trained neural network that have already converged are used.

After the internal load state has been determined in the balance of forces, finally:

8) Representation of the internal stress condition of the mechanical component when external forces are applied.

The procedure described above for solving a boundary value problem is incremental, as in classical FEM, but iterations within an increment are no longer required and therefore the Newton-Raphson equation solver is no longer required either. The stiffness components are known to the neural network from the training in each iteration step. This means that when determining a mechanical deformation of a component, known stiffness components from the training are used and assigned to the generalized force and displacement vectors that occur. This bypasses the iteration in one increment.

The principle of the incremental procedure using FEM is therefore retained, but the iterations in each increment are eliminated. Once one has trained a single element as described above, one can apply it to an arbitrarily complex structure of a device composed of these single elements to calculate complex structural deformations. This makes the procedure efficient in terms of computing time and convergence.

The invention will now be explained in more detail using exemplary embodiments with reference to the figures. From the figures shows:

1 shows a schematic of a system for determining the internal load conditions of a mechanical component when external forces act;

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart for a method for training a neural network for use in a system as described with reference to FIG. 1;

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for a method for generating training data for training a neural network for use in a system as described with reference to FIG. 1;

4 shows a schematically illustrated neural network with feed-forward topology, which is designed to map displacements onto forces;

5 shows a section of a schematically illustrated neural network 500 with feedforward topology for determining Jacobi matrix components, which is trained using a backpropagation algorithm;

6 shows a schematically illustrated neural network with feed-forward topology, which is designed to map state variables to normalized stiffness components;

7 shows a flowchart for a method for updating the stiffness components of a global stiffness matrix, with the stiffness components being able to be determined in three different ways;

8 shows a flow chart for a method in which the FEM is used to simulate a mechanical behavior of a component, in which method a trained neural network determines stiffness components for a finite element which is subjected to deformation;

9: three curves generated on the basis of different assumptions, which represent the stiffness behavior of a beam and are compared with the stiffness behavior predicted by the FEM;

Fig. 10: a 2D simulation of a plate structure.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic of a system 100 for determining the internal load conditions of a mechanical component 102 when external forces 104 act. A hollow shaft, which is mounted at two points 106, 108, is assumed here as an example as component 102.

An external force 104 specified by a measuring device 113 acts centrally on this hollow shaft 102. Due to the bearing 106, 108 of the hollow shaft 102, it can be assumed that the hollow shaft 102, particularly in the area 110 between the bearing points 106, 108, will move due to the action of the external Force 104 deformed. The external deformation is measured by the measuring device 113 .

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Geometry data 112, which represent the geometry of the hollow shaft 102, are transferred to an FE preprocessor 114 via an input interface. Furthermore, the measured external deformation and the specified force 104 are transferred as input data 117 to the FE preprocessor 114 via the input interface.

The FE preprocessor 114 is part of a computer 115 which further comprises an FE solver 116, a trained neural network 118 and an FE postprocessor 120. The FE preprocessor 114, the FE solver 116, the trained neural network 118 and the FE postprocessor 120 form a FEM subsystem.

The FE preprocessor 114 divides the hollow shaft 102 into a number of finite elements and assigns material properties and boundary conditions to the elements. The boundary conditions include, in particular, the direction and the magnitude of the force 104 acting from the outside, as well as the external deformation of the hollow shaft 102 measured by the measuring device.

A global stiffness matrix is set up for the hollow shaft 102 by the FE preprocessor 114, which matrix is based on the original geometry of the hollow shaft 102, without taking into account deformations induced by external forces.

Due to the deformation of the hollow shaft 102, its geometry changes and thus also the population of the global stiffness matrix with stiffness components.

The change in the stiffness components of the global stiffness matrix is first determined iteratively with an FE solver 116 using the Newton-Raphson solver. Based on this first determination of the stiffness components of the global stiffness matrix by the FE equation solver 116, those elements of the hollow shaft 102 in which the hollow shaft 102 deforms can be identified. The stiffness components, in particular of these elements in which the hollow shaft 102 deforms, can change and should be redetermined. The global stiffness matrix is preferably updated to represent the changed geometry of the deformed hollow shaft 102 .

According to a conventional implementation of the FEM, an FE equation solver is used to determine the new stiffness components in several increments and iteratively for each increment to solve the equation system K*X=F. The iteratively determined stiffness components should approach the actual stiffness components, i.e. the solutions found must converge.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) In the system 100 described here, the stiffness components of those finite elements in which the hollow shaft 102 deforms are determined by a trained neural network 118 for each increment. The iterative solution of the system of equations K*X=F using a Newton-Raphson solver is no longer necessary.

The training data 126 used for the trained neural network 118 is generated in the system 100 with a training data generation device 128 . The training data generation device 128 is configured to provide a single finite element and to generate a plurality of combinations of generalized force and displacement vectors for this single finite element. In particular, the training data generation device 128 is designed to select such a subdivision for the training data 126 that the trained neural network 118 can interpolate between these values to determine stiffness components.

The system 100 has a provision device 130 for providing the trained neural network 118 . The provision device 130 is designed to use the training data 126 to train a provided untrained neural network in such a way that it supplies stiffness components for a finite element for force and displacement vectors acting on a finite element. After the training is complete, the provisioning device 130 provides the trained neural network 118 .

The training data generation device 128 and the provision device 130 can also be components of the computer 115 and form a training subsystem.

Advantageously, the FEM subsystem (comprising the FE preprocessor 114, the FE solver 116, the trained neural network 118 and the FE postprocessor 120) and the training subsystem (comprising the training data generator 128 and the provider 130) can be implemented independently of one another and can also be operated independently of one another in terms of time.

The trained neural network 118 receives an input vector from the FE solver 116 for a corresponding element, which represents the displacements or state variables determined for this finite element. The trained neural network then supplies an output vector that represents normalized forces or directly normalized stiffness components. This means that the trained neural network maps the displacements or state variables determined for this finite element to normalized forces or directly to normalized stiffness components.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) If the trained neural network 118 outputs normalized forces as the output vector, these are converted into stiffness components.

The trained neural network 118 thus updates the stiffness components for each of the finite elements in which the hollow shaft 102 deforms. This is done for each finite element in each increment for which the trained neural network 118 is invoked.

The global stiffness matrix is updated in the respective increment with the stiffness components newly determined by the trained neural network 118 for the respective finite elements. The stiffness components newly determined by the trained neural network 118 are normalized stiffness components that have already converged. The stiffness components therefore do not have to be determined again iteratively, e.g., by using a Newton-Raphson solver with the FE solver 116.

The FE equation solver 116 then determines the mechanical deformation of the hollow shaft 102 in one or more increments based on the updated global stiffness matrix. The iterative determination of the new stiffness components by the FE equation solver 116 is therefore omitted in the system 100 described here. This reduces the need for working memory capacities and speeds up the determination of the updated global stiffness matrix.

The deformed hollow shaft can be displayed graphically on a monitor 122 of the computer 115 with an FE post-processor 120 . The deformation can also be quantified and, for example, the expansion field 124 or stress field inherent in the hollow shaft can be displayed. The inherent strain field 124 or stress field represents the internal stress conditions of the quill 102 that occur during the measured external deflection of the quill 102 . Advantageously, the internal stress states of the hollow shaft 102 can also be determined reliably and precisely with the system if the hollow shaft 102 is plastically deformed or has internal damage due to the force 104 exerted, or if the hollow shaft 102 is deformed non-linearly geometrically due to the force 104 exerted .

FIG. 2 shows a flowchart for a method for training a neural network for use in a system as described with reference to FIG.

In the method, a neural network is first provided (step S1). The neural network has an input layer, which has a number of input neurons, and an output layer, which has a number of output neurons. Furthermore, that shows

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) neural network has at least one intermediate layer comprising a number of intermediate layer neurons. The neural network also includes weights assigned to the neurons. The neural network can be, for example, the neural network described with reference to FIG. 4, 5, or 6.

The neural network is trained with training data (step S2), the training data representing a mechanical behavior (displacement, strain) of an individual finite element under the influence of external forces.

The neural network is trained using an error function. In case the numerical differencing or automatic differencing approach is followed, the error function can be defined as

In the method, an error with regard to the generalized forces f ⁿ i predicted by the neural network is then preferably further minimized by using the error function and the weights of the neurons of the neural network are adjusted accordingly (step S3). In addition, an error in deviation defined by a difference between a predetermined value of Jacobian matrix components δf/δu and a value of Jacobian matrix components δf/δu predicted by the neural network can be minimized. In particular, the training includes adjusting the weights of the neurons of the neural network.

In addition, a backpropagation algorithm can be used in the method, with which a deviation between an output vector of the neural network and an output vector of the training data is calculated as an error and propagated back through the neural network. The weights of the neurons of the neural network are then adjusted during training so that the deviation is minimized. A backpropagation algorithm is preferably used to train the neural network described with reference to FIG.

However, if the converged stiffness evolution approach is followed, the error function is preferably defined as

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Sobolev training is preferably used in the method.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart for a method for generating training data for training a neural network for use in a system as described with reference to FIG.

In the method, a single finite element is provided (step T1) to which at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition representing an action of an external force is assigned.

A finite element solver is used to determine (step T2) how the individual finite element deforms due to the assigned at least one material property under the action of an external force.

The input vectors in a training data set for the neural network can contain, for example, displacement components or stress tensor components.

Resulting forces or stiffness components form the output vector associated with the respective input vector.

The generation of the training data using a single finite element is performed with combinations of generalized force and displacement vectors. In this way, local stiffness matrices of the finite element are obtained for each of these combinations. This training data is obtained with classical FEM and the Newton-Raphson equation solver.

Training data are then output (step T3), which contain input vectors with, for example, displacement components or strain tensor components and an output vector that represents a mechanical behavior of the individual finite element under the influence of the external force.

FIG. 4 shows a schematically illustrated neural network 400 with feed-forward topology, which is designed to map displacements u to forces f.

For example, the neural network 400 may be trained to determine the stiffness components according to the first approach of numerical differentiation or the second approach of automatic differentiation.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) The neural network 400 represents or replaces the force balance equation

F = KX with the force vector F and the displacement vector X defined as

The neural network 400 maps the displacement components u ⁿ _s 406 to the force components f ⁿ _s 408 .

The displacement vector X is applied to the input layer 402 as an input vector and is mapped in the feed-forward direction to the output layer 404, whose output vector represents the force vector F.

The neural network lets itself through describe, with s = i - m where i represents the number of degrees of freedom of an element node and m the number of nodes of an element. X is the input vector whose components are passed to the neurons of the input layer of the neural network, F is the output vector formed by the neural network from the input vector due to the weighted summation and the activation function in the neurons. The neural network 400 is trained to approximate the force-displacement relationship for a finite element.

The neural network 400 comprises a number of intermediate layers 410, 412, the first intermediate layer 410 being denoted by L and the last intermediate layer 412 being denoted by L'. Further intermediate layers can be provided between the first and the last intermediate layer. However, such further intermediate layers are optional. The number of existing intermediate layers is denoted by k, so that k>2 applies.

The neural network 400 is further defined in terms of activation functions A'j and their derivatives A'j with respect to the weighted sum.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) FIG. 5 shows a section of a neural network 500 shown schematically with feed-forward topology for determining Jacobi matrix components, which is trained using a backpropagation algorithm.

The neural network 500 shown in detail comprises an input layer 502 with an input neuron 503 and an output layer 504 with an output neuron 505. Between the input layer 502 and the output layer 505, the neural network 500 comprises intermediate layers 506, 508, each with two neurons.

The weighted sum of the i-th neuron in the l-th layer is denoted z'u and represents the argument of the activation function a'u of the same neuron. The number of neurons in the previous layer is denoted by j.

The error function for the training of the neural network, whose input vector X represents generalized displacements u and whose output vector F represents generalized forces f, takes into account the derivatives 5f/5u, which represent structural rigidities and which are obtained by numerical or automatic differentiation (first and second approach) .

To explain the third approach, FIG. 6 shows a schematically represented neural network 600 with feed-forward topology, which is designed by its topology and its training to map normalized state variables, such as strain or stress, to normalized stiffness components öf/öu. In the trained state, the neural network can be used to determine the stiffness components according to the third approach, the evolution of converged stiffnesses.

For training according to the third approach (evolution of converged stiffnesses), the neural network is not supplied with input vectors X that represent generalized displacements, but input vectors whose components represent the normalized components of the strain tensor or the stress tensor of the finite element.

The neural network 600 can be described as follows: where fnn represents a vector function, k represents the number of intermediate layers 606, 608 and L represents the number of neurons in the respective intermediate layers 606, 608. A) represents the activation function of a respective neuron. K is the output vector

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) (Voigt notation) representing normalized structural stiffness components of a finite element and is the input vector whose components represent the normalized components of the finite element strain tensor or stress tensor.

The neural network 600 has an input layer 602 and an output layer 604 . An input vector can be given to the input neurons 603 of the input layer 602, the components of which represent the normalized components of the strain tensor of the nth finite element. In Voigt notation, the input matrix for the input layer can be written as

<= [ _E ?I^ _{2 E} ^3« ₂ ] (23).

Alternatively, the components of an input vector can also be sent to the input neurons 603, the components of which represent the normalized components of the stress tensor of the nth finite element.

The output layer 604 comprises output neurons 605 whose output values form the components of an output vector K which represent normalized structural stiffness components of the nth finite element.

The normalized state variables and the normalized structural stiffnesses can be converted into physical quantities by using the equation

> ^x ~ ^x min norm

■'■max ^A min is solved for x.

Between the input layer 602 and the output layer 604, the neural network 600 comprises a plurality of intermediate layers (hidden layers) 606, 608.

FIG. 7 shows a flow chart for a method for updating the stiffness components of a global stiffness matrix.

First, the structural information, i.e. the geometry of the component and its material properties as well as the external forces are provided (step t1).

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) The global stiffness matrix K for the component is set up on the basis of the structural information (step t2). An FE equation solver is used to determine those finite elements that belong to an area of the component that deforms under the influence of external forces. The component is divided into areas that deform and areas that do not deform or only insignificantly deform. A measure can be defined here that indicates when an element is included in the deforming area and when not.

The stiffness components of those finite elements that belong to a deforming region of the component are determined in a respective increment with a trained neural network (step t3). Only the stiffness components of those finite elements that belong to a deforming area of the component are determined, because here the geometry of the component changes and accordingly the occupation of the stiffness matrix with stiffness components. In those areas where there is no deformation and therefore no change in the geometry of the component, the stiffness components do not need to be determined again.

Different approaches can be taken to determine the stiffness components of the finite elements using a neural network, depending on how the neural network was trained.

If the neural network has been trained according to the first or the second approach, a neural network as described with reference to FIG. 4 can be used and if the neural network has been trained according to the third approach, a neural network as described with reference to FIG network are used.

Based on the first approach, the numerical differentiation, the neural network first determines the function for the i-th finite element where Au represents the shift of the finite element and ε represents a disturbance value of the neural network (step t4). The neural network receives the shifts associated with the ith element as the input matrix, as described above with reference to FIG.

The neural network then calculates the function f _nn (AUi), ie here without an interference value (step t5).

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) On the basis of these calculations, the normalized stiffness components of the ith element can be determined (step t6) according to

Here it is assumed that the weights and biases of the neural network are contained in the functions fnn.

The normalized stiffness components can be calculated using the equation

> ^x ~ ^x min norm

■'■max ^A min transferred into physical quantities, with which then the element stiffness matrix of the deforming finite element can be updated (step t7).

The global stiffness matrix K of the component is then updated with the updated element stiffness matrix K _ei (step t8) and the global displacement matrix X for a respective increment is calculated with the FE equation solver (step t9). This procedure is repeated for a number of increments until a final force-balance loading state is reached. In each increment, the trained neural network can be invoked to determine stiffness components for one or more finite elements that have converged in the corresponding increment.

The mechanical behavior, i.e. the internal stress conditions, of the component can then be displayed on the basis of the solved system of equations for the component, e.g. visualized on a screen.

Following the training according to the second approach, automatic differentiation, the internal forces of the component are determined in the forward direction by the trained neural network from the input layer to the output layer of the neural network (step t1 1) and in the backward direction the Jacobian matrix components of the material of the part are determined (step t12). Using the equation

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) the converged stiffnesses are determined and by means of the equation these are converted into physical quantities. The stiffness components determined in this way are used to calculate the element stiffness matrix of the deforming element (step t13).

When the neural network has been trained according to the third approach, evolution of converged stiffnesses, state variables are directly mapped to normalized converged stiffness components (step t14). The converged stiffness components thus obtained can be in the form of a component of the function of the trained neural network are defined, where f ⁿ i and u ⁿ _m respectively represent the normalized generalized forces (f ⁿ i ) and displacements (u ⁿ _m ). The converged stiffnesses can be found by solving the equation transferred to x in physical quantities and then in the element stiffness matrix of the deforming member are used (step t15).

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) FIG. 8 shows a flow chart for a method in which a mechanical behavior of a component is represented, in which method a trained neural network supplies stiffness components for at least one finite element which is subject to deformation.

The method described below can be carried out, for example, with a system as described with reference to FIG.

In the method, geometry data are first provided which represent a geometry of a component (step s1). The geometry data can represent the component, for example, as CAD (computer-aided design) mode\\.

The geometry data is passed to an input interface and processed by an FE preprocessor. The FE preprocessor divides the component into finite elements and assigns material properties and boundary conditions to the finite elements (step s2).

A system of equations is then set up for the component, which describes the mechanical behavior of the component and uses a global stiffness matrix to map displacements acting on the nodes to forces acting on the nodes (step s3).

The components of the global stiffness matrix, ie the stiffness components, are determined by an FE equation solver, in particular by solving the system of equations K*X=F with a Newton-Raphson equation solver (step s4). First, the stiffness components are determined iteratively in a first run for a first increment, so that they represent only a first approximation to the actual stiffness components of the deformed component with geometry that has changed according to the deformation.

Subsequently, the areas of the component are preferably identified that deform under the influence of force beyond a predetermined amount (step s5). In doing so, it is determined whether a finite element belongs to an area of the component in which the component is subjected to deformation, or whether a finite element belongs to an area of the component in which the component is not deformed or only insignificantly deformed, i.e., in which the component does not change its geometry. On this basis, the component is divided into different areas for which the mechanical behavior of the component is determined in different ways.

For finite elements in areas where the component does not or hardly deforms, the FE solver determines the actual stiffness components (step s6).

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) Only a few iterations are usually required to determine these stiffness components of areas in which the geometry of the component remains unchanged, so that the computing effort remains low.

However, if a finite element belongs to a region of the part that undergoes deformation, the Newton-Raphson solver is not used to determine the actual stiffness components of the finite elements shifting as a result of the deformation, but a trained neural network. The stiffness components of the remaining finite elements that do not shift or only barely shift are not recalculated by the neural network, but remain unchanged as components of the global stiffness matrix.

Only those stiffness components of the finite elements that shift due to the deformation of the component are determined again in one or more increments by the trained neural network. For this purpose, the trained neural network receives state variables of the previous increment determined by the FE equation solver as an input vector, such as a strain tensor or a stress tensor.

For a respective increment, the trained neural network supplies, as an output vector, already converged stiffness components of that or those finite elements that lie in a region of the component that is subject to deformation (step s7). As a result, stiffness components of the deforming finite elements do not have to be determined in several iterations by the Newton-Raphson equation solver. Thus, both the computing time required to determine the converged stiffness components and working memory capacities can be saved.

The element stiffness matrices of the deforming finite elements are then updated with the already converged stiffness components determined by the trained neural network. Since stiffness components that have already converged are determined by the trained neural network, no further iterations are necessary for this step. The converged stiffness components can be determined by the trained neural network for a respective increment in just one step.

The converged stiffness components of those finite elements that lie in an area of the component that deforms under the load of the applied force are inserted into the global stiffness matrix (step s8) and the newly set up complete system of equations (step s9) is then derived from the FE Equation solver solved (step s10), i.e. the actual stiffness components are determined. This is done for one or

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) for several increments until the internal load state of the component in force equilibrium has been found. The mechanical behavior of the component in the equilibrium of forces is then determined on the basis of the solved system of equations and output data representing this are provided and visualized on a monitor (step s11).

Figure 9 shows three curves representing the stiffness behavior of a beam compared to the stiffness behavior predicted by the FEM.

The comparison of the curves shows the effect of including the Jacobian matrix components of the neural network in the respective error function in the context of the Sobolev training.

The starting point is a beam with the modulus of elasticity E, the cross-sectional area A and the length L.

In this case, the element stiffness matrix can be in the form be set up.

The first curve 900 represents the stiffness behavior of the beam as predicted from the FEM. This curve 900 serves as a reference.

The curve 902 was generated on the basis of the output vector of a neural network trained according to the converged stiffness evolution approach, ie with the error function

This error function contains the Jacobian matrix components of the neural network.

The curve 904 was generated based on the output vector of a neural network trained according to the automatic differencing approach, ie with the error function

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) The Jacobi matrix also contains this error function as components of the neural network.

The curve 906 was generated on the basis of a neural network that was not trained according to Sobolev training and, accordingly, the Jacobi matrix components of the neural network were not taken into account during training.

FIG. 9 shows that the curves 902 and 904 match the reference curve 900 very well. However, when no Sobolev training is applied, the stiffness behavior predicted by the neural network differs very significantly from the stiffness behavior predicted by the FEM, as can be clearly seen from curve 906 .

A neural network that was trained using the Sobolev training described here or using the stiffness evolution approach allows resource-saving updating of the stiffness components of those finite elements within the framework of FEM that are assigned to a region of a component that deforms under the action of a force. The system described here and the method described here thus enable an efficient representation of the internal states of a component.

Figure 10 shows a 2D simulation of a plate structure 1000. By the action of an external force F 1002, the plate structure 1000 deforms from a non-deformed state 1004 to a deformed state 1006.

The panel structure 1000 follows a first order shear strain theory with nine nodes, each node having six degrees of freedom. Looking at the mean surface, each element has thirteen integration points, nine for the normal stresses and four for the shear stresses. In the simulation, the stress, strain and material tangent development were recorded over 13 x 5 = 65 integration points. This made it possible to efficiently generate enough training data for training the neural network, and within an element to track the localized evolution of the nonlinearity in the full depth through the extracted training sequences. Finally, an LSTM was trained and deployed to track the path-dependent evolution of material behavior for the slab structure 1000.

It has been shown that once the plate structure 1000 started non-linear deformation, the LSTM-enhanced FEM was clearly superior to the classical FEM in terms of convergence properties as well as the computational resources consumed. A considerable calculation gain could be achieved. In particular, this has been achieved for the following reasons.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) - The iterations required for the implicit Euler method to calculate the equivalent plastic strain could be eliminated.

- The iterations required to satisfy the in-plane stress condition (cr33 = 0) could be eliminated. By updating the stiffness components using the LSTM, a solution can also be reliably found for a non-linear deformation of the plate structure 1000 with the neural network-enhanced FEM. In addition, comparatively fewer computing resources are required for this. This is because the computational effort for the forward and backward traversal in 2D problems becomes comparatively more efficient by fully approximating the elastic elements. In summary, the more complex the problem and the more Gauss points required, the more efficient the neural network-enhanced FEM approach becomes. This applies in particular to the elastic-plastic area of a component, in which conventional FEM regularly reaches its limits and, due to a lack of convergence, does not even provide any solutions.

SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26)

Claims

48

Claims System (100) for determining internal stress states of a mechanical component (102) when external forces (104) act, the system (100) having the following components: an input interface which is designed to receive geometric data that the component (102), a finite element preprocessor (114) which is designed to subdivide the component (102) into finite elements and to assign at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition to at least one element, a finite element equation solver ( 116), which is designed to set up a global stiffness matrix for the component (102), which specifies how the elements of the component (102) deform due to the assigned material property and/or boundary condition, and in the component (102) such areas identify in which the component (102) deforms and identify other areas in which a geometry of the component (102) despite On acting external forces (104) remains substantially unchanged, and a finite element post-processor (120) configured to represent the internal stress state of the mechanical component (102) when external forces (104) act, the system (100) further comprises at least one trained neural network (118), and the trained neural network (118) is trained to determine stiffness components of an element stiffness matrix of at least one finite element of the component (102), preferably for a finite element located in that region of the component (102) is located, in which the component (102) deforms when external forces (104) act and thus changes its geometry, and the finite element equation solver (116) is further configured, which is generated by the trained neural network (118 ) element stiffness matrix determined for the deformed element to update the global stiffness matrix Use 49 and determine the internal stress state of the mechanical component (102) when external forces (104) act on the basis of the updated global stiffness matrix.

2. System (100) according to claim 1, which has a loading and measuring device which is designed to exert at least one predefined external force on a provided mechanical component and to measure a resulting external deformation of the mechanical component.

3. System (100) according to claim 2, wherein the finite element preprocessor is designed to assign at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition to the at least one element, the at least one boundary condition being the predefined external force or the plurality exerted by the measuring device predefined external forces and/or the measured external deformation of the component.

4. System according to at least one of the preceding claims, which has a training data generation device for generating training data for a neural network, wherein the training data generation device is designed to provide a single finite element and for this single finite element for a plurality of combinations of generalized force and displacement vectors to create.

5. The system as claimed in claim 4, wherein the training data generation device is designed to select such a subdivision for the training data that the trained neural network can interpolate between force and displacement values to determine stiffness components.

6. System according to at least one of the preceding claims, which has a provision device for providing the trained neural network, wherein the provision device is designed to train a neural network using training data from a large number of combinations of generalized force and displacement vectors such that the neural network Predict stiffness components for a finite element and provide the trained neural network.

7. System according to claim 6, which has a FEM subsystem and a training subsystem which can be implemented independently of one another in terms of space and time and of which the FEM subsystem includes the FE preprocessor (114), the FE 50

Equation solver (116), the trained neural network (118) and the FE postprocessor (120), while the training subsystem comprises the training data generation device (128) and the provision device (130) and trained neural networks (118) formed by the training subsystem the FEM Subsystem can be made available. System (100) according to at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the trained neural network (118) in an input layer comprises a number of input neurons which represent a vector of generalized displacements and in an output layer comprises a number of output neurons which comprise a represent a vector of generalized forces, and wherein the neural network (118) is trained to map the generalized displacements to the generalized forces for determining the stiffness components. The system (100) of at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the neural network (118) is trained to determine normalized stiffness components of at least one element of the component (102) converged from generalized forces using a disturbance value. The system (100) of claim 1 or 8, wherein the neural network (118) is trained to determine the stiffness components of at least one finite element of the model using at least one activation function, at least one weight and at least one bias of a neuron. System (100) according to claim 1, wherein the trained neural network (118) in an input layer comprises a number of input neurons which represent at least one internal state variable of a finite element and in an output layer comprises a number of output neurons which converged normalized stiffness components represent, and wherein the neural network (1 18) is trained to map the at least one internal state variable to converged normalized stiffness components. System (100) according to Claim 9 or 11, which is designed to convert the converged standardized stiffnesses into physical quantities and to update the element stiffness matrix of the element of the component (102) in the deforming region with the stiffness components converted into physical quantities. 51

13. System (100) according to at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the neural network (118) is trained to determine stiffness components of an element stiffness matrix of at least one element of the component (102) which, on the basis of the at least one material property assigned to the element and/or at least one boundary condition is subjected to deformation during operation of the system (100).

The system (100) according to at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the trained neural network (118) has an input layer with a number of input neurons, the number of input neurons being multiplied by a number of degrees of freedom of a node of a finite element of the model corresponds to the number of nodes of the finite element.

15. System (100) according to at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the trained neural network (118) comprises an input layer with a number of input neurons, wherein at least one input neuron comprises a geometry parameter which defines a geometry of the component (102 ) represented.

16. System (100) according to at least one of the preceding claims, wherein the trained neural network (118) comprises an activation function associated with a neuron of the trained neural network (118), which is a hyperbolic tangent activation function, a sigmoidal activation function or a radial basis function.

17. A method for training a neural network (118) for use in a system (100) according to any one of the preceding claims, the method comprising the steps of:

Providing a neural network (S1) with an input layer, which has a number of input neurons, and with an output layer, which has a number of output neurons, at least one intermediate layer, which comprises a number of intermediate layer neurons, the neural network ( 118) also includes weights assigned to the neurons,

Training the neural network (S2) with training data, the training data representing a mechanical behavior of an individual finite element under the influence of external forces (104), and Adjusting the weights of the neural network (1 18) such that a deviation determined by an error function is minimized by a difference between a predetermined value of a Jacobian matrix components öf/öu and a value of the Jacobian predicted by the neural network (118). Matrix components öf/öu is defined (S3). The method of claim 17, wherein the weights are further adjusted to minimize a deviation calculated with the error function with respect to the generalized forces predicted by the neural network (118) and predetermined generalized forces. Method according to Claim 17 or 18, in which a backpropagation algorithm is used, with which a deviation between an output vector of the neural network (118) and an output vector of a training data set is calculated as an error and propagated back through the neural network (118) in order to Adjust weights of the neural network (118) so that the deviation is minimized. Method according to at least one of Claims 17 to 19, in which Sobolev training is used. Method for generating training data for training a neural network (1-18) for use in a system (100) according to at least one of claims 1 to 16, the method comprising the steps of:

Providing a single finite element (T1) to which at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition representing the action of an external force is assigned,

determining with a finite element solver (116) how the individual finite element deforms (T2) due to the assigned at least one material property under the action of an external force, and

Output of the training data (T3) representing a mechanical behavior of the individual finite element under the influence of the external force. Method for determining internal stress states of a mechanical component (102) when external forces (104) act, the method comprising the steps: Providing and receiving geometry data (s1) representing the component (102),

Subdividing the component (102) into finite elements and assigning at least one material property and/or at least one boundary condition to at least one of the elements (s2),

Establishing a global stiffness matrix for the component (102), which indicates how the elements of the component (102) deform due to the assigned material property and/or boundary condition (s3),

Identifying such areas in the component (102) in which the component (102) deforms (s5),

Determining stiffness components of an element stiffness matrix of at least one finite element of the component (102) with a trained neural network (s7), preferably for a finite element that is located in that area of the component (102) in which the component ( 102) deformed under the influence of external forces (104) and thus changes its geometry,

updating the global stiffness matrix with the element stiffness matrix (s8) determined by the trained neural network (118) for the deformed element, and

Determining the internal load state of the mechanical component (102) when external forces (104) act on the basis of the updated global stiffness matrix (s10), and optionally, displaying the internal load state of the mechanical component (102) when external forces act (s11).

23. The method according to claim 22, which comprises providing a mechanical component, exerting at least one predefined external force on the component, and measuring an external deformation of the mechanical component occurring as a result of the predefined external force exerted, wherein 54 the exerted predefined external force or several predefined external forces and/or the measured deformation can be assigned as a boundary condition to at least one of the elements.