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Altair

Acquisition of FluiDyna accelerates Altair’s Computational Fluid Dynamics Technology

May 21, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair (Nasdaq:ALTR) has acquired Germany-based FluiDyna GmbH, a renowned developer of NVIDIA CUDA and GPU-based Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and numerical simulation technologies in whom Altair made an initial investment in 2015. FluiDyna’s simulation software products ultraFluidX and nanoFluidX have been available to Altair’s customers through the Altair Partner Alliance and also offered as standalone licenses.

ultraFluidX solves large-scale internal and external aerodynamics problems for a broad class of applications including ultra-fast prediction and evaluation of vehicle, building, and environmental aerodynamics. The software is based on the Lattice Boltzmann Method, providing users with superior performance and dramatically reducing the model preparation time for large, complex models. The integrated volume meshing and fast transient analyses deliver short turnaround times, resulting in completely new possibilities for simulation-driven design and significant cost savings.

nanoFluidX is a fluid dynamics simulation tool based on the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method to predict the flow in complex geometries with complex motion. For example, it can be used to predict the oiling in powertrain systems with rotating shafts and gears, and analyze forces and torques on individual components of the system.

James Scapa, Founder, Chairman, and CEO at Altair said, “We are excited about FluiDyna and especially their work with NVIDIA technology for CFD applications. We believe the increased throughput and lower cost of GPU solutions is going to allow for a significant increase in simulations which can be used to further impact the design process.”

“We’ve worked closely for more than 10 years with FluiDyna, an Elite Solution Provider in our NVIDIA Partner Network Program,” said Shanker Trivedi, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Business, NVIDIA. “Together, we’ve helped develop forward-thinking simulation tools that leverage NVIDIA technology for better performance and efficiency throughout the design process.”

In addition to continued growth and development of current FluiDyna products, the acquisition is intended to help the complementary technical teams of both organizations accelerate Altair’s broader offerings in CFD.

Altair
www.altair.com

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Altair

GE and Altair Sign Agreement for Exclusive Distribution of GE’s Flow Simulator Software

May 3, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair (Nasdaq:ALTR) and GE have signed a multi-year software agreement making Altair the exclusive distributor for GE’s Flow Simulator software. This comprehensive engine system modeling software provides the functionality of numerous tools for fluid systems to enable multi-disciplinary analyses. Altair will leverage its expertise in commercial software deployment and support, broad industry domain knowledge, and global footprint to expand the technology’s adoption.

“We are very excited to work with Altair Engineering to commercialize our Flow Simulator software, a GE state-of-the-art engine system modeling tool,” said Gary Mercer, Vice President and General Manager of Engineering for GE Aviation. “This software helped guide GE to design world record efficient gas turbines and the more advanced aircraft engines in the industry.”

Developed internally by GE with a modern Graphics User Interface (GUI), GE’s Flow Simulator is a robust multi-grid based solver. It uses the powerful continuity-based Newton-Raphson method, encompassing several numerical techniques that conquer the robustness issues of stiff fluid system designs. It currently serves more than 1,500 users as a single-fluid system modeling tool across the aerothermal and combustion engineering design communities at GE.

“Flow Simulator’s mixed fidelity simulation capabilities for engine systems fill an important gap to help improve design processes and reduce development, manufacturing and operational costs for many organizations. It is a welcome addition to Altair’s strong multiphysics system modeling portfolio,” said Dr. Uwe Schramm, Chief Technical Officer at Altair.

Altair
www.altair.com

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Altair

Altair releases Inspire 2018 simulation-driven design software

February 2, 2018 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair (Nasdaq:ALTR) announced the release of Inspire 2018 simulation-driven design software. It is available through its solidThinking channel partner network and directly to its HyperWorks user community.

“Inspire 2018 enables designers and engineers to leverage simulation in new and inventive ways to accelerate the development of high-performance, innovative products,” says James Dagg, CTO for User Experience at Altair.  “Inspire integrates well into large manufacturing enterprises for rapid simulation and lightweighting insights, and has an intuitive user experience for small and medium-size businesses with little or no simulation experience.”

Applied at the very beginning of clean-sheet design programs and for design exploration of current production parts, Inspire simulation-driven design software allows designers and engineers to:

–Rapidly assemble and simulate dynamic mechanical systems to automatically resolve loads on system components for optimization and analysis

–Generate weight-efficient design proposals unique to specified conventional or additive manufacturing processes with Altair’s industry-leading topology optimization technology

–Simulate the performance of competing design concepts for static loads, normal modes and buckling

–Directly export Inspire CAD geometry to 3D printers to produce high-performance, quality parts

Andy Bartels, Inspire Program Manager explained, “In order to stay competitive while pushing the innovation envelope, simulation must drive the entire design process from the early concept design phase all the way through to production. We continue to add tools to make Inspire more beneficial to its users in each step of the design process.”

With Inspire 2018, users can:

–Generate optimized lattice and mixed solid – lattice structures, visualize simulation results in 3D, and export lattice designs in .stl file format for 3D printing

–View and interactively assign loads to load cases and import / export design loads in .csv file format with the new Load Cases Table

–Design for additive manufacturing with overhang shape controls to help reduce overhangs to create more self-supporting structures

–Automatically optimize the fit of PolyNURBS CAD geometry to generative design results with the new PolyNURBS Fit Tool

“Inspire 2018 is available immediately to clients as an application software download and later this year as a cloud-based offering,” says Dagg.  “Branded as Inspire Unlimited, the cloud offering of Inspire will include additional functionality such as secure data management, team collaboration tools, and on-demand high-performance computing (HPC).”

Visit altair.com/Inspire2018 to view video demos, register for a webinar introduction to Inspire 2018, and to request a free trial.

Altair
www.altair.com

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Altair

ThyssenKrupp Elevator: Developing a revolutionary elevator system for tall buildings

August 31, 2017 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Bruce Jenkins, Ora Research

Commercial building designs from today’s architectural engineering industry are growing ever taller and more elaborate. Currently the world’s tallest skyscraper is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, UAE, standing at 828 meters (2,717 feet). This commanding height brings a unique set of engineering challenges, one being how to transport people efficiently from the ground floor to the top.

Most elevator systems raise and lower the elevator cabin by means of a motor-driven cable system installed at the top of the building. However, such systems generally afford a maximum ride length of 400 meters (1,312 feet)—just half the height of the Burj Khalifa, meaning passengers would have to board two, or possibly more, elevators to reach the top level.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator’s electromagnetic drive enables unprecedented freedom of travel.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator, a unit of ThyssenKrupp Corporation, is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of elevator systems, with annual sales of €6.4 billion and more than 50,000 employees at 900 locations. To meet the challenge of efficiently transporting occupants within the Burj Khalifa, the company’s design and engineering teams conceived and developed a novel design that uses electromagnetic drives attached to the frame of each elevator cabin for propulsion. This eliminates the need for roof-mounted cable systems and lets a single elevator traverse the Burj Khalifa’s full 800-meter height. In addition, it allows the elevator cage to move horizontally as well as vertically. But this new concept also brought new challenges, chief among them being that the cabin would not be able to carry as much passenger weight as a traditional elevator.

Working with Altair ProductDesign to lightweight the cabin design

To make the new cabin design as lightweight as possible in order to maximize loading capacity, ThyssenKrupp Elevator selected the Altair ProductDesign engineering services organization to explore methods and materials that could help minimize cabin weight, based on its recognized experience and expertise in removing mass from products in the automotive and aerospace industries.

ThyssenKrupp Elevator had developed two concept designs for how the electromagnetic drives would lift the cabin. The first was a “BackPack” concept that used an electromagnetic drive positioned on the rear of the cabin, lifting it by a support structure from underneath. The second was a “SideGuide” concept that used a frame built around the cabin with drives on the left and right sides to provide lift. ThyssenKrupp Elevator’s weight targets for both designs were extremely low compared with traditional cabin designs.

Using optimization technology to minimize weight

To achieve the required design targets, Altair ProductDesign developed a three-stage approach. In the first stage, the team performed a topology optimization study on the BackPack concept using OptiStruct, the design optimization solution within Altair’s HyperWorks suite of simulation tools. With the freedom to create a totally new design, the team specified the cabin’s physical “design space”—the areas of the structure where the software was free to remove material, and those where material had to remain as specified, such as the door guides.

Concept topology optimization results.

Loading information—acceleration forces on the floor, occupants leaning on one of the walls, a person standing on top of the cabin, and the like—was gathered from ThyssenKrupp Elevator and entered into the software. OptiStruct then calculated the most efficient material layout for the cabin’s structure that would meet the design requirements. The results of the topology optimization study were then interpreted by Altair ProductDesign into a material layout that could be manufactured.

Exploring new material configurations

With the basic structure of the cabin defined, Altair ProductDesign moved to the second stage of the project, which was to investigate material thicknesses in search of further opportunities to minimize weight through use of different material configurations.

The walls of elevator cabins are usually made of metallic sheet panels, but Altair and ThyssenKrupp Elevator wanted to explore the lightweight potential of sandwich-panel structures wherein aluminum or plastic facing sheets are used with a foam core. Again using OptiStruct, the team performed a sizing optimization exercise wherein the technology explored the thicknesses of the wall facing sheets and foam core. Profile sections and sheet thicknesses were optimized at the same time to find the ideal layout for the various material combinations.

The third stage of the project involved exploring new materials. Altair ProductDesign has considerable experience working with carbon fiber in automotive and aerospace, where the material is gaining traction as a lighter-weight alternative to metals. To explore its potential for the walls of the new elevator cabin, the team developed an optimization study to find not only the ideal material thickness but also the ideal fiber ply shapes and lay-up orientation of each layer. The same process was applied to the SideGuide concept, with the aim of providing detailed results to ThyssenKrupp Elevator to inform its decision on which of the two systems to select for further development.

Achieving weight and performance targets

The weight reduction project delivered dramatic results. The concept optimization process on the BackPack structure, in combination with the sizing optimization of the sandwich panel walls, yielded a cabin that was 42% lighter than the target weight. If the walls were constructed from carbon fiber, it would be possible to go even further, down to 56% below target. The SideGuide concept also saw weight savings—16% lighter than target using traditional materials, with the potential to reach 33% under target using carbon fiber.

Rendering of final BackPack design.

These weight savings gave ThyssenKrupp Elevator added confidence that its electromagnetic concept is a practical alternative to the traditional cable system. Motivated by the positive results from this project, the company is continuing development of its BackPack concept, and has now advanced this design for further testing and prototyping.

About Altair ProductDesign

Altair ProductDesign is staffed by an integrated team of 800+ people across more than 45 offices worldwide. “Together, we break the boundaries of engineering and design,” the business says. “From concept to execution, or at any stage of your product lifecycle, let Altair ProductDesign offer our expertise.”

  • Product development—Design and analysis support from the component level up to complete product engineering at any stage of the lifecycle.
  • Industrial design—End-to-end product development, strategy and design services, all under one roof.
  • Workflow automation—Increasing engineering efficiency by creating customizable process flows that automate CAE tasks.
  • Staffing services—Supplying engineering and IT resources onsite and offsite at all skill levels.

Altair ProductDesign

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Altair

Altair Releases HyperWorks 13.0

September 17, 2014 By Barb Schmitz Leave a Comment

Altair announces the release of its HyperWorks 13.0 CAE software platform, which touts many new bells and whistles aimed at increasing the productivity of its users. HyperWorks uses a wide variety of engineering solvers and multiphysics solutions to help engineers quickly predict and optimize the performance of products.

The system’s simulation and optimization tools help engineers reduce the weight of products while meeting design goals through the use of effective geometries, new materials, and advanced manufacturing methods. Process automation, efficient modeling algorithms and advanced visualization capabilities help to dramatically increase simulation throughput to help bring products to market faster.

In this release, simulation accessibility has been extended to new categories of users for design and optimization, including open access to specialized third-party software from members of the Altair Partner Alliance (APA) and HPC, cloud-based products.

What’s new

All of that sounds good, but let’s drill deeper and look at each area of improvement in more detail.

Performance optimization

OptiStruct. This nonlinear solver offers major improvements that enable it to be used to simulate large displacement analysis and hyper-elastic materials, such as rubber with an extremely efficient use of parallel computing to maximize speed. Its optimization capabilities have been enhanced to introduce new response types and multi-model optimization (MMO), allowing one efficient solution for components that are common across different structures.

OptiStruct is a structural analysis solver for detecting linear and non-linear structural problems under static and dynamic loadings.
OptiStruct is a structural analysis solver for detecting linear and non-linear structural problems under static and dynamic loadings.

AcuSolve can now be coupled with MotionSolve. This pairing enables amore accurate analysis of the flow of air or other fluids while the structural part is moving. An example would be simulating the effect of an adjustable rear wing on sport vehicle aerodynamic performance. This solver coupling represents one of the suite’s many multiphysics capabilities.

RADIOSS. This solution provides more physics and even more accurate results for crack-propagation modeling through the extended finite element method (XFEM) and enhanced capabilities for airbag deployment. RADIOSS also offers improved parallelization for multi-domain methods and advanced mass scaling for better performance.

HyperStudy and OptiStruct now integrated with Excel. An engineer may export tradeoff studies to spreadsheets allowing to do post-processing independent of HyperStudy or, in OptiStruct, include Excel calculations as a response type in the optimization run.

Lightweight design

Composites structure design. Pre-processing features in HyperWorks have been enhanced for improved usability. New, advanced methods of visualizing composite simulations in both the pre- and post-processing stages provide users with the ability to visualize material, element and ply systems and overlay them with stresses. Additionally, new material laws and failure criteria for laminated composites and polymers are included.

HyperForm can now be used for composite forming for sandwich and multilayered structures. The HyperMesh drape estimator calculates thickness and angle variations that result from draping.

Faster lead times

For mass customization, the part-replacement tool has been enhanced so when engineers bring in a new geometry, they can simply exchange the parts and all the connections are updated automatically. A new comparison tool can compare any combination of CAD and finite element geometry and highlight the differences. Enhanced direct modeling capabilities in HyperMesh allow users to quickly generate such geometries as reinforcement ribs without needing to go back to a CAD system.

Post-processing enhancements provide users with faster access to results and better ways to analyze them. Bidirectional communication between the HyperWorks desktop and PowerPoint is now possible. Results are now cached so that users may switch quickly between result sets when working on larger models.

HyperMesh, HyperView and HyperGraph each feature a new, unified Entity Editor to help modify all parameters of model or post-processing session entities faster. In the HyperMesh Entity Editor, new entities, components, properties and materials may be created much more efficiently. Solver documentation also is implemented into the Entity Editor via tool tips.

Bi-directional support for PLM. Interoperability between HyperWorks, CAD and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems allows engineers and designers to communicate easily and share product modifications in a truly collaborative environment. With HyperWorks 13.0, Altair has added bi-directional support for Windchill and Total Materia to the list of supported PLM systems and material databases.

With a highly automated and streamlined workflow process and high quality CFD technology, Altair’s HyperWorks VWT is able to more accurately and quickly predict an automobile’s aerodynamic performance, including aerodynamic lift, drag, pressure distribution, flow field (flow separation), aero-acoustics and other factors.
Altair’s HyperWorks VWT can now more accurately and quickly predict an automobile’s aerodynamic performance, including aerodynamic lift, drag, pressure distribution, flow field (flow separation), aero-acoustics and other factors.

Particular attention has been paid to the development of solutions for industry-specific use cases. HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel, a complete solution for automotive external aerodynamics, is now part of the HyperWorks suite as is a new aerospace user profile. Other solutions for NVH, drop test simulation and more are now available as HyperWorks solutions via an innovative delivery and licensing system.

Access for non-experts

Altair’s optimization technology, which has been available for more than 20 years in OptiStruct, is now part of solidThinking Inspire, an easy-to-use package designed to make finite element analysis (FEA) accessible to non-experts. SolidThinking Inspire allows for quick and easy creation and investigation of structurally efficient concepts and now includes analysis and geometry simplification capabilities. In addition, more than 50 third-party specialized solutions are available to HyperWorks users at no additional charge through the Altair Partner Alliance.

For more detailed information on each of these new features and enhancements, check out these cool videos on the Altair web site here or attend an upcoming webinar.

Filed Under: CAE, News, Simulation Software Tagged With: Altair

Sea monster of a yacht

September 21, 2011 By Laura Carrabine Leave a Comment

The Volvo Ocean Race for 2011-2012 includes 70-ft Mar Mosto, the “Monster of the Sea” entry. Designed by Juan Yacht Design of Valencia, Spain and constructed at New England Boatworks in Portsmouth, RI, the mono-hull was created to sail around the world and face extreme conditions.

The yacht weighs approximately 15 tons and will reach speeds up to 40.5 knots (46.6 mph) during the race. According to designer Juan Kouyoumdjian, the design process was divided into two sections: research and development and manufacturing. His team used Catia software as the basis of the 3D modeling, Hyperworks for the structural analysis, and Star CCM for all the CFD work such as hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, and structures.

For the 2011-2012 race, Puma Ocean Racing partnered with Berg Propulsion, a leading designer and producer of controllable pitch propellers for commercial shipping. During the nine months of the Volvo Ocean Race which starts in Alicante, Spain in November 2011 and concludes in Galway, Ireland in July 2012, the teams will sail more than 39,000 nautical miles.

Other interesting facts about Mar Mosto

Mast height: 105 ft
Boom length: 28.5 ft
Total sail area: 2,215 sq ft
Mainsail area: 1,884 sq ft
Spinnaker area: 5,384 sq ft
Boat material: carbon fiber
Sail material: Aramid/Spectra Blend
Build hours: 39,536
Paint hours: 600

Puma Ocean Racing
www.pumaoceanracing.com

Dassault Systemes
www.3ds.com

Altair
www.altair.com

CD-Adapco
www.cd-adapco.com

Filed Under: 3D CAD Package Tips, CAD Package, Catia, Catia News & Events, Simulation Software Tagged With: Altair, Catia, CD-Adapco, Dassault, Hyperworks, Juan Yacht Design, New England Boatworks, Puma, Star CCM 3C CAD, Volvo

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