Altair Case Studies Efficient Simulation of Smart Materials with VABS Software

	Efficient Simulation of Smart Materials with VABS Software Altair

Efficient Simulation of Smart Materials with VABS Software

Altair

Technology Category	Sensors - Infrared Sensors Sensors - Thermal Conductivity Sensors
Applicable Industries	Buildings Construction & Infrastructure
Use Cases	Virtual Prototyping & Product Testing
Challenge	The challenge lies in the efficient and accurate simulation of smart materials, specifically initially curved and twisted anisotropic beams such as those found on wind turbines and helicopters. These materials are complex due to their arbitrary sectional topology and the coupling effects between multiple physical domains. Direct analysis of these composite beam structures is computationally expensive, even with advanced supercomputers. The use of beam theory reduces computational cost significantly, but the lack of reliable mathematical modeling and analysis for smart systems presents a major barrier. This is due to the difficulty in modeling coupling effects and the anisotropic and heterogeneous nature of composite materials. Read More
About Customer	The customers for the VABS software are engineers and researchers working with smart materials and structures. These include those working on wind turbines, helicopters, and other applications where smart structures are used. Smart structures, often functioning as actuators and sensors, are used in applications such as vibration suppression, shape control of composite plates, and aeroelastic stability augmentation. The software is particularly useful for those dealing with the behavior of engineering structures composed of smart materials working under multiple physical fields: mechanical, thermal, electric, and magnetic. Read More
Solution	The solution is the Variation Asymptotical Beam Sectional Analysis (VABS) software, a high-fidelity cross-sectional analysis program. It serves as a link between 3D solid and 1D beam models by reducing an original 3D structure to a beam model and recovering the 3D field quantities. The software has been extended to handle multiphysics problems, including thermal-hygro, piezoelectric, piezomagnetic, pyro, and any combination between these physics fields. The software uses the variational-asymptotic method (VAM) to construct a series of composite-beam models for efficient multiphysics beam analysis. The newly developed beam models have been implemented into VABS, which will be released with the new version of the software. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Sensors - Infrared Sensors

Sensors - Thermal Conductivity Sensors

Applicable Industries

Buildings

Construction & Infrastructure

Use Cases

Virtual Prototyping & Product Testing

Challenge

The challenge lies in the efficient and accurate simulation of smart materials, specifically initially curved and twisted anisotropic beams such as those found on wind turbines and helicopters. These materials are complex due to their arbitrary sectional topology and the coupling effects between multiple physical domains. Direct analysis of these composite beam structures is computationally expensive, even with advanced supercomputers. The use of beam theory reduces computational cost significantly, but the lack of reliable mathematical modeling and analysis for smart systems presents a major barrier. This is due to the difficulty in modeling coupling effects and the anisotropic and heterogeneous nature of composite materials.

About Customer

The customers for the VABS software are engineers and researchers working with smart materials and structures. These include those working on wind turbines, helicopters, and other applications where smart structures are used. Smart structures, often functioning as actuators and sensors, are used in applications such as vibration suppression, shape control of composite plates, and aeroelastic stability augmentation. The software is particularly useful for those dealing with the behavior of engineering structures composed of smart materials working under multiple physical fields: mechanical, thermal, electric, and magnetic.

Solution

The solution is the Variation Asymptotical Beam Sectional Analysis (VABS) software, a high-fidelity cross-sectional analysis program. It serves as a link between 3D solid and 1D beam models by reducing an original 3D structure to a beam model and recovering the 3D field quantities. The software has been extended to handle multiphysics problems, including thermal-hygro, piezoelectric, piezomagnetic, pyro, and any combination between these physics fields. The software uses the variational-asymptotic method (VAM) to construct a series of composite-beam models for efficient multiphysics beam analysis. The newly developed beam models have been implemented into VABS, which will be released with the new version of the software.

Impact #1	The operational results of using the VABS software are highly accurate and efficient simulations of smart materials. The software is capable of realistic modeling of initially curved and twisted anisotropic beams with arbitrary sectional topology and materials. It can handle multiphysics problems and is capable of reducing an original 3D structure to a beam model, and with the information obtained by 1D analysis, recovering the 3D field quantities. This makes it a unique and powerful tool for engineers and researchers working with smart materials and structures.

Impact #1

The operational results of using the VABS software are highly accurate and efficient simulations of smart materials. The software is capable of realistic modeling of initially curved and twisted anisotropic beams with arbitrary sectional topology and materials. It can handle multiphysics problems and is capable of reducing an original 3D structure to a beam model, and with the information obtained by 1D analysis, recovering the 3D field quantities. This makes it a unique and powerful tool for engineers and researchers working with smart materials and structures.

Benefit #1	The VABS software significantly reduces computational cost compared to full 3D analysis.
Benefit #2	The software can handle multiphysics problems, including thermal-hygro, piezoelectric, piezomagnetic, pyro, and any combination between these physics fields.
Benefit #3	In a case study, the 3D FEA took 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 23 seconds to finish the calculation, while it only took 37 seconds for VABS analysis.

Benefit #1

The VABS software significantly reduces computational cost compared to full 3D analysis.

Benefit #2

The software can handle multiphysics problems, including thermal-hygro, piezoelectric, piezomagnetic, pyro, and any combination between these physics fields.

Benefit #3

In a case study, the 3D FEA took 3 hours, 5 minutes, and 23 seconds to finish the calculation, while it only took 37 seconds for VABS analysis.

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Overview

Efficient Simulation of Smart Materials with VABS Software

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit