JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #93 - December 2014 - 5

The idea here is that you sometimes need fine detailed simulation in one part of the structure
but not everywhere. The challenge
is that in dynamic simu¬lations,
the fine detailed part of the model
dictates the time step for the entire
model so run times can be very
long. Altair has developed technology to allow the user to have
different time steps through¬out
the model which can provide the
detailed analysis where needed
but reasonable run times for the
model. In the composites area, we
partner with micro-mechanical
modelling companies that can
pro¬vide details on what is occurring at the fibre-matrix level
without significantly impacting
run times of the general model.
The goal is to maintain practical
run times while getting detailed
analysis results in critical areas of
the structure.
JCM: How do you organize this
type of research at Altair?

R.Y : Mathematical models

can be reliable and robust when
applied in the right manner. For
composites, simulation has been
used very successfully to accurately predict behaviour. There
have also been problems in the
use of simu¬lation where failure
predictions have been far apart
from actual fail¬ure modes. When
simulation has not accurately
predicted behaviour for composites, it can generally be traced to
the use of simulation methods in

Ply angle visualization

the wrong context. In some cases,
it is simply a lack of understanding
since analysis of composites is a
lesser-known field. In other cases,
it is model¬ling in a way that is
consistent with isotropic material
systems but has limitations for
anisotropic laminated structures
that are not understood by the
analyst.
JCM: These days, how can a newcomer penetrate the simulation
market?

R.Y : There are lots of

opportuni¬ties and small simulation compa¬nies emerge all the
time develop¬ing niche technologies that have good market
appeal. Altair has acquired some
of these compa-nies in the last
few years and they bring great
technologies and great people to
our company. We also have over
40 partner companies as part of
our Partner Alliance, where their
simulation tools can be used under
our licensing system in a manner
that is totally transparent for our
customers. The biggest chal¬lenge
these newcomer companies face
is marketing and promotion on a
world stage. Through our Partner
Alliance, we provide a lot of global
marketing and promo¬tion support and it is a great way for these
small companies to gain visibility
throughout the engineer¬ing
world. Our customers also then
gain access to a lot of great technology that they wouldn't have
known about otherwise.

An example of composites optimization detail

JCM: How do you manage competition in the simulation sector?

R.Y : Altair's general philosophy

is that a single company cannot
provide all of the simulation technology that an organization needs.
Therefore, we strive to develop
the best technologies where we
can, but provide these in an open
system so our technologies can
integrate with other technologies
to solve our customers' problems.
Altair maintains partnerships
with many of our competitors to
provide complimentary solutions
where required. For example,
our modelling and visualization
framework, HyperMesh and
Hy¬perView, have interfaces to
many of our competitors' solvers
as well as our own.

JCM: Has Altair's competitive strategy focused more on a materials
approach, or a process approach?

R.Y : Altair tends to focus more

on the process in developing
the framework and modelling
tools that allow for the efficient
simula¬tion of composite
materials. We partner with many
companies that focus more on the
materials approach and together
we can provide a complete solution to our customers. We strive
hard to inte¬grate with the tools
our customers use, even if they
come from a competitor, to create
No93 December 2014 /

a modelling and simulation environment that is able to solve the
problems our customers want to
solve. We do conduct independent
research on materials modelling
approaches and have introduced
novel meth¬ods for optimizing
the design of laminated composite
structures and components made
with addi¬tive layer manufacturing.
JCM: What do you think simulation
in the composite industry will look
like five years from now?

R.Y : Simulation in the composite

industry will continue to evolve
as it has in the recent past. I expect
moving forward to have better
integration and communication
between the design and analysis
tools. I also expect the analysis
methods to move better between
the micro-mechanical scale and
the macro-component level design. I also see the wider use of design space exploration tools to take
advantage of greater comput¬ing
power and to more efficiently
cycle through design variables
in the development of optimum
designs. I believe knowledge will
continue to be gained on dam¬age
initiation and propagation mechanisms and these improved damage
models will be available to the
analyst. n
More information:
www.altair.com

jec composites magazine 5

http://www.altair.com

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #93 - December 2014

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