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Collier Research Releases HyperSizer v6 with Improved Design and Manufacturability Optimization for Composites

Dépèche transmise le 10 mai 2011 par Business Wire

HAMPTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Collier Research Corporation today announced the release of HyperSizer^® v6 structural sizing and analysis software for reducing weight, maintaining strength, and improving the manufacturability of complex composite and metallic designs. Developed and proven at NASA, the software—the first ever commercialized by the agency—has a track record of 20 percent weight reduction in high-profile government and commercial aerospace projects.

“It’s challenging to cut weight while maintaining strength and controlling cost”

Composites have now gained wide acceptance and validation in aerospace applications and accelerating growth in a variety of other industries. Their weight-to-strength properties promote fuel efficiency and the achievement of energy targets without impacting durability. “One of the biggest roadblocks to effective composite design is the inability of engineers to adequately explore optimized layups simultaneously with other design variables,” says Craig Collier, president of Collier Research. “This results in design inefficiencies and compromises.”

To address these issues, HyperSizer integrates with FEA solvers in a continuous, automated iterative loop, conducting trade studies and examining millions of potential design candidates down to the ply, even element, level. The software ensures structural integrity through an extensive suite of failure analysis predictions that are validated to test data. The tool also enhances manufacturability by minimizing ply drops, identifying and controlling laminate transition drop/add boundaries, and defining best ply shapes and patterns. HyperSizer can be used from preliminary design to final analysis.

New features in HyperSizer v6 include:

• Manufacturability Optimization – To help design for efficient manufacturing, the software now has the capability to identify, define, and control ply-count compatibility, laminate sequencing, interleaving, and ply-drop minimization. This results in fewer processing steps, cost-effective layups, and faster turnaround in the mold.
• Post-Buckling Analyses – Automated compression, shear, and compression-shear post-buckling analyses, based on complex NASA-developed methods that serve as the foundation for metal aircraft design, have now been added.
• Panel Concepts – Two novel, damage-tolerant composite architectures are also available (PRSEUS and ‘reinforced core sandwich’), providing more structural sizing variables and optimization flexibility. Specialized analyses for both these panel concepts have been implemented and correlated to test data established for accurate predictions of strength.

Serving as the analysis hub and automating data transfer during both design and manufacturing cycles, HyperSizer integrates with FEA software, such as Nastran and Abaqus, and with composite CAD tools, such as CATIA and FiberSIM. HyperSizer ensures that design and analysis departments are kept current and working with the same design data.

“Given the increasing emphasis on more complex materials, engineers need to improve and automate their design processes to reach even higher levels of efficiency,” says Collier. “It’s no longer good enough just to spot-check. Each part needs to be examined as a system. HyperSizer allows engineers to more fully explore the entire design space.”

In addition to aerospace, HyperSizer’s design and manufacturing capabilities are appropriate for optimizing composite-driven designs in a wide variety of industries including wind energy (turbine blades), marine (ship superstructures) and transportation (high-speed railcars).

“It’s challenging to cut weight while maintaining strength and controlling cost,” says Tom Ashwill, technical leader in Sandia National Laboratories Wind Energy Technology Department. “HyperSizer has the capability to systematically optimize the placement of a variety of different materials throughout the blade to maximize load resistance and minimize weight and thus cost.”

For more information and a complete list of enhancements in HyperSizer v6 go to www.hypersizer.com.