符号运算在工程分析中的应用

从用户的角度出发，简单介绍了国外符号运算在工程分析中的应用现况和发展趋势，旨在引起同行对这个领域的兴趣和重视。文中给出了一个符号运算的简单例子—用ＭＡＰＬＥ导出了１２自由度矩形板弯曲单元刚度矩阵的显式并将其自动转换成ＦＯＲＴＲＡＮ程序，以说明符号运算的优越性。可以看出，符号运算的程序简洁、直观，且不易出错。繁锁的公式推导和程序编制均由计算机自动完成，这不但大大提高了效率，而且也确保了公式推导和程序编制的可靠性。顺便指出，本文导出的矩形板弯曲单元比目前不少教材中采用的单元在性能上要优越。由于本文已给出了单元的插值函数的显式，故可望用该单元来替代教材中所用的单元．

Application of Symbolic Computation for Engineering Analysis

The current stage and its future development of the title problem are briefly described from a user's point of view. It is our hope to draw attention of the Chinese engineering circles to the emerging field of the symbolic compution. A simple application is given to show the superiority of the symbolic computation.The explicit expression of the stiffness matrix of a 12-dof rectangular bending plate element is derived and then translat-ed to FORTRAN codes automatically via MAPLE. It can be seen that the related MAPLE procedure is simple and straightforward. Since complicated formulations are derived and translated to FORTRAN codes (if necessary) automatically by the computer,higher efficiency and reliability have been achieved. It should be pointed out that the plate bending element given herein is superior to the one used in most textbooks,thus,it may be also used in the classroom since the interpolation function for this element is explicitly given in the appendix.