VISTAGY Releases FiberSIM 2010

By DE Editors

VISTAGY, Inc. has announced the release of FiberSIM 2010, the latest version of its engineering software for designing and manufacturing innovative, durable and lightweight composite structures.

FiberSIM 2010 continues to deliver capabilities to optimize designs and increase productivity throughout the composites design and manufacturing lifecycle. It can be used individually or as part of VISTAGY’s AeroSuite, a solution that enables aircraft designers and manufacturers to engineer optimized parts and assemblies. AeroSuite also includes SyncroFIT software for designing and manufacturing complex assemblies and large aerostructures, the Quality Planning Environment for developing plans to assess aerostructure quality, and Custom Consulting Services to assist manufacturers in implementing optimized processes for developing composite aerostructures.

The new version of FiberSIM provides features for preserving composite design intent, which captures the inputs that drive the composite part design at the earliest stages of development and automate the creation of the composite part definition to increase productivity, ensure adherence to design rules, and adapt to changes during the iterative design process. The new rules-driven, structure-based design capability enables users to capture design intent and corporate standards to ensure the production of optimized and manufacturable composite structures by leveraging basic layout geometry and design rules. In addition, Volume Fill Composite Ply Development capability maintains the intent of engineers designing thick laminates by automating the creation of ply shapes to fill the area between the upper and lower surfaces,  which dictate the shape of the part. This provides the most efficient development process available in the market today for turbine/rotor blades and other thick laminates.

Enhanced ability to design for manufacture of advanced materials and processes, including new multi-layer material simulation that provides insight into the drapeability of non-crimp fabrics (NCF) and other advanced materials, as well as the corresponding manufacturing processes, such as forming. This reduces the need for physical prototypes that result in scrap and increases confidence that the as-built part will meet specifications.

An improved connection between design and analysis to enable more efficient transfer of composite design requirements. Tightly coupling the interface between design and analysis promotes design optimization by allowing for quicker and more frequent iterations, delivering products of the highest durability and lowest weight possible. FiberSIM 2010 introduces new FEA Interfaces with ANSYS Composite PrepPost (ACP), MSC Patran, NX Laminate Composites, BETA CAE Systems ANSA, and a generic BDF data format that maps all laminate properties to the mesh. This continues VISTAGY’s open strategy that enables users to choose best-in-class solutions ideally suited to their particular product and development process.

A standardized 3D model-based representation of the composite part definition. FiberSIM’s 3D CAD integration represents the composite part in the native CAD model format, conveying the basic elements of the composite part in a standard format and improving the communication of composite design data throughout the enterprise and extended supply chain. 

It also includes new functionality for validating that the as-built part is representative of the as-designed/analyzed part, ensuring adherence to design specifications. One of the challenges of using composites is that it creates a blind part so once assembled and cured, it is nearly impossible to inspect the critical characteristics of the design.  FiberSIM 2010 introduces new functionality for validating parts, including the ability to import machine paths from fiber placement NC Software and an interface to drive automated ply verification (APV) inspection equipment. These capabilities ensure that at each step—from analysis, design, manufacturing and quality—a part meets the original engineering specifications so costly manufacturing errors can be avoided.

An improved user experience through a redesigned interface tailored to specific use cases, which puts key functionality at the users’ fingertips. With a shortage of skilled composite design engineers and aggressive program timelines, FiberSIM 2010 was designed to be intuitive so new composite engineers could ramp up quickly.

“FiberSIM has been the cornerstone of our composites engineering process for the last eight years,” says Ian Goddard, senior CAE engineer for Renault F1 Team. “It’s the only comprehensive software product that addresses the entire composites engineering process, meeting challenges from conception to deployment of the vehicles on the track. New functionally in FiberSIM 2010 makes it possible for us to exploit the advantages of the newest materials and processes in an effort to get the most optimized and competitive race cars to the starting line as quickly as possible.”

For more information, visit VISTAGY.

Sources:  Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.