Appendix: Technical modeling areas available
Structural modeling software: supply analysis

A clarification of vocabulary is essential for a proper assessment of the functionalities available in software. The concept of a finite element encompasses two notions:

• mesh made up of geometric meshes (segment with 2 or 3 nodes, triangle, quadrangle, etc.);

• the finite element model, which involves a choice of continuous equations and a discretization of these equations on the support mesh.

These two notions are practically independent, since different finite element models can be assigned to the...