Cost-effective use of minicomputers to solve structural problems

In the past, large, expensive computers were required to perform most calculations in the aerospace industry. Today, low-cost minicomputers (both 16- and 32-bit) offer significant capability and are finding increased use, particularly for calculations requiring interactive response or interactive display of results. The advent of virtual memory on minicomputers was the turning point. Now minicomputers have operating system and software capabilities often surpassing those of large, mainframe computers. Minicomputers can solve any problems which can be solved by large computers, except those requiring an expensive (but faster) central processing unit (CPU) and more than 64-bit accuracy. Finite-element structural calculations are often one of the biggest challenges to large mainframe computers. This paper shows how even finite-element structural calculations can be solved cost-effectively on a minicomputer.