This book is an entertaining, easy to read introduction to advanced
numerical modeling. The aim of the book is to lead the reader on a
journey towards the 'holy grail' of numerical simulation, namely one
without the requirement of mesh generation, that takes data directly
from CAD programs. On this journey readers will discover the beauty of
Non-uniform Rational B-Splines or NURBS and see how well they are suited
for describing geometry, discover how CAD programs work and how their
data can be used for simulation. The implementation of NURBS-based
simulation is discussed using Finite Element and Boundary Element
technology. This is a hands-on book with emphasis on implementation and
examples of programming in a higher level language are given. It has
been written for users of simulation software, so they can understand
the benefits of this new technology and demand progress from a somewhat
conservative industry, for software developers, so they can see that
this is a technology with a big future and for researchers, in the hope
that it will attract more people to work in this exciting new field.