Altair, headquartered in Troy, Michigan, has a large client base of around 5,000 and a global presence boasting offices in 22 different countries. Their lineup of products is one that requires constant quality control and refinement as soon as any new technology that could benefit their products arises. With the advent of 3D printing they’ve been able to offer their customers never before heard of options in terms of building lattice structures.
Because 3D printing is so conducive to printing complex geometries, as well as those with hollows and intricacies, it has been a welcome technology for companies like Altair to be able to offer to their client base. Altair has integrated 3D printing and OpstiStruct into their software suite called HyperWorks, with OptiStruct having been created solely so that individuals could construct complex 3D printed lattices.
Engineers and other professionals typically use lattices for structural and design use with topography and topology. The free-form structures are not possible to create using more traditional methods, thus the excitement over OptiStruct, which has just been updated with version 13.0, offering designers greater optimization for 3D printing, as well as new features for maximizing testing of complex issues regarding strength and potential for performance across a wide variety of sectors.
New features such as smart multi-physics like contact improvements and better analysis and optimization allow greater functionality options for many industry verticals, according to Altair. Release 13.0 features a wide variety of not only new but also improved capabilities, to include:
- Nonlinear analysis regarding large displacement, materials with hyperelastic qualities, and parallelization employing the domain decomposition method for reduced solution times
- Heat transfer analysis
- NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) analysis, regarding BIOT and frequency-dependent material properties for frequency response analyses, and rotor dynamics for modal frequency response and complex Eigenvalue analyses
- Modeling for parts and instances in building models, subcase specific modeling to analyze multiple structures in a single solver run, global local analysis for improved solution accuracy, and periodic boundary conditions that allow one side of a model to be matched with the other one
- Optimization for grid point force response for weld life optimization, definition of external responses with use of Microsoft Excel, multiple models with common design variables in a single run, and fatigue optimization with Dang Van factor of safety constraints
Is this a product you would require in your line of work for strength optimization? Do you find the creation of the new 3D printed lattices to be something beneficial in your work, as well as the features in the new release for OptiStruct? Share your thoughts with us in the OptiStruct 13.0 forum thread over at 3DPB.com.
