New finite-element modelling software that can simulate an entire airframe has been developed by simulation software specialist company Ansys.
The company claims it has developed a structural analysis model 10 times as powerful as existing analysis software.
Describing its ability to calculate the material properties of an aerostructure in terms of degrees of freedom (DOF), the company claims it can now model 111 million DOF, while existing products can achieve only 5-10 million.
Ansys is in talks with engine manufacturers including Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce and says it has had expressions of interest from aerospace manufacturers wanting to use the software's ability to simulate airframes.
"We can model entire aircraft, such as the Airbus A340,"says Ansys.
The software runs on an Intel Itanium 2 processor chip in a shared-memory parallel computer. The software development work was conducted in co-operation with Silicon Graphics (SGI) using its SGI Altix computer.
The work is part of a three-year agreement Ansys has entered into with SGI to advance its capabilities in parallel pro-cessing for computer aided engineering.
The 111 million DOF analysis was showcased earlier this year at the 2004 International Ansys conference in Pittsburgh.
Source: Flight International
