Mechanical Technology

Mechanical Technology — October 2015

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Computer-aided engineering

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The combination OptiStruct

and Inspire puts simulation and

optimisation within reach of

mainstream designers.

to reductions in cost, development time,

material consumption, and product weight,

says Smith. “The program’s optimisation

capabilities are sought after in multiple

industries including aerospace, automo-

tive, heavy equipment, architecture, and

consumer products,” he adds.

Altair is focused on the development

and broad application of simulation

technology to synthesise and optimise

designs, processes, and decisions

for improved business performance.

Privately held with more than 2 300

employees, Altair is headquartered

in Troy, Michigan, USA, and operates

more than 40 offices throughout 22

countries. Today, Altair serves more

than 5 000 corporate clients across

broad industry segments.

The solidThinking set of tools is

aimed at structural analysis and op-

timisation, as a precursor to full-scale

CAD (pre-CAD). “Inspire’s power is in

early design exploration and puts high

level analysis tools in the hands of

designers so that CAD users can focus

on the detailing without worrying quite

so much about the structural or functional

engineering side,” Smith exclaims. “Any

company looking at lightweighting in prod-

uct design has three basic options: using

advanced materials; changing the topology/

geometry; or redesigning the entire product,”

he adds. “solidThinking Inspire focuses on

the topology/geometry optimisation option

and, with Inspire 2015, users can do this

faster and more easily and accurately than

ever before,” he concludes.

Earlier this year, solidThinking an-

nounced the signing of channel partnership

agreements with productONE, Rapid3D and

Access CAD/CAM to introduce the South

African market to solidThinking Inspire.

With solidThinking Inspire 2015, Smith says users can do topology/geometry optimisation faster and

more easily and accurately than ever before.

tibody dynamics technology, combined

with advanced optimisation algorithms,

OptiStruct lets engineers analyse and

optimise structures and mechanisms for

their strength, durability and noise and vi-

bration harshness (NVH) characteristics.

While OptiStruct has the muscle to tackle

the most complex design problems in

great detail, Altair’s solidThinking Inspire

unleashes the power of simulation and

optimisation for concept designers during

early idea validation.

Inspire masks the complexity sur-

rounding simulation and optimisation

and makes it accessible to a less simu-

lation-savvy audience. For example, the

software treats tasks like creating mesh-

es and boundary conditions in a way

that’s friendly to non-experts so they can

immediately dive in. Through its intuitive

user interface, Inspire performs such

tasks with the click of a button, opening

up a world of optimisation possibilities

for design engineers without any hand-

holding or direction from time strapped

simulation experts. In addition to its

intuitive user interface, Inspire delivers

simulation and optimisation capabilities

that meet the needs of design engineers.

It can depict stress distribution, displace-

ment, or deformation characteristics like

traditional CAE tools, plus Inspire helps

design engineers determine the optimal

load path and where materials can be

removed to improve the design.

In a continuous engineering workflow,

design engineers work with Inspire to

come up with concepts that meet basic

performance requirements, while CAE

experts pick up where they leave off,

leveraging OptiStruct’s more advanced

functionality to further refine designs.

Polaris, a snowmobile manufacturer,

is driving efficiencies and design improve-

ments throughout its engineering work-

flow thanks to the use of OptiStruct and

Inspire. On a specific chassis project with

pretty rigorous weight reduction goals,

Inspire was tapped during the concept

stage to quickly identify the basic shape

and engineering, while OptiStruct was

brought in to refine the shape for manu-

facturability and stress requirements.

Inspire and OptiStruct were also paired to

help evaluate the weight reduction poten-

tial of using aluminium as a substitute for

steel in several subassembly structures.

Not only did OptiStruct and Inspire

help Polaris engineers substantially re-

duce the weight of the structures, it also

greatly reduced the number of design

iterations – from 10 to 12 cycles down

to 5 or 6.

Simulation and optimisation work

best as an integrated team that is put

to use continually throughout the design

workflow. By democratising the practices

so they are within reach of mainstream

designers, not just simulation experts,

companies can achieve dramatic engi-

neering efficiency that will steer them on

a course to greater innovation.