An algorithm for merging part nodes of JT models exported by FORAN

Many cognominal parts exist in JT models exported by FORAN V70 R2.0 software, and this leads to an increase in time consumption and the space analysis results becoming hard to process when using clearance analysis software to perform distance computing for such JT models. Aiming at this problem, an algorithm for merging component nodes is put forward based on investigating the assembly configuration and inherent information (i.e. geometric and material information) of JT models created by FORAN. The method is composed of four steps:coordinate transformation, model node renaming, node geometric data transferring and material attribute processing. Finally, the proposed method is implemented by C++ and JT Open Toolkit. The results show that the new JT models generated by the proposed method are comprised of only one assembly node, and they preserve the intrinsic information of the original JT models. Its validity is illustrated by a great deal of examples, and the content of the worked JT models are reduced by about 7% to 20%.