Product category:
Materials design and moulding design software
News Release from: Vistagy | Subject: Fibersim v5.1
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 23 March 2006
Software allows earlier automation in
development
Design environment for composite products provides specialised tools that let engineers working in commercial CAD systems automate design processes earlier in product development.
Vistagy has released Fibersim v5.1, the latest version of its design environment for composite products Version 5.1 provides specialised tools that let engineers working in commercial CAD systems automate design processes early in product development
This results in more efficient and accurate manufacture of complex or large composite parts, including products produced in multiple stages.
"With Fibersim v5.1, we've reinforced our commitment to helping engineers capitalise on the vast potential of composite parts and development processes so they can create cutting-edge, innovative products", said Bob Flory, VP of Product Development at Vistagy.
"By automating many of the most repetitive or complex composites design tasks early in development, Fibersim v5.1 enables engineers to select the optimum product design choices and manufacturing methods to reduce cycle time and costs".
"As a result, our customers will realise a significant competitive advantage with Fibersim v5.1".
The software introduces a number of features that improve the latest composites design and manufacturing processes.
Engineers who produce large or complex composite parts use Fibersim to help them design and validate laminates, zones, layers and ply sequences.
The software provides capabilities to automate design methods earlier in product development for more efficient manufacture of composite parts.
For example, the merge model capability lets engineers quickly and automatically divide an electronically generated model, such as a representation of an aircraft fuselage, into several separate models and combine them again later.
This capability allows a number of engineers to work simultaneously on the parts of a large composite product to decrease development time.
The symmetric laminate utility generates a model, such as an aircraft's composite left wing section, and then applies all the data to create automatically a corresponding structure for the opposite, right-hand side, saving hours of manual design time.
Composite designs will not be economically feasible unless they are tailored to the manufacturing processes being used to produce them.
The automated deposition design option automates the creation of composite product geometry that is specific to manufacturing processes such as tape-laying or fibre placement, saving weeks of manual work for large structures.
The extended ramp object, for example, extends boundaries of material and defines a natural drop-off to make it easier for a fibre placement machine to ramp up onto a tool and do its job properly.
Fibersim v5.1 provides tools for ply lay-up, material overlay, tape-laying and splicing that optimise composite designs for quicker downstream manufacturing.
There are also documentation enhancements, such as automatic generation of 2D plybooks that list the sequence of laminate plies, eliminating drawings and manual note-taking methods.
With the added capabilities and support of open standards, engineers can create a complete composite design definition with all associated citations and data necessary to drive downstream processes.
Using the power of XML, the complete data set can be shared across the enterprise.
As a result, engineers understand the history and context of design details, which helps reduce errors downstream, achieve desired part quality and meet specifications in less time.
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