Altair announces the release of its HyperWorks 13.0 CAE software platform, which touts many new bells and whistles aimed at increasing the productivity of its users. HyperWorks uses a wide variety of engineering solvers and multiphysics solutions to help engineers quickly predict and optimize the performance of products.
The system’s simulation and optimization tools help engineers reduce the weight of products while meeting design goals through the use of effective geometries, new materials, and advanced manufacturing methods. Process automation, efficient modeling algorithms and advanced visualization capabilities help to dramatically increase simulation throughput to help bring products to market faster.
In this release, simulation accessibility has been extended to new categories of users for design and optimization, including open access to specialized third-party software from members of the Altair Partner Alliance (APA) and HPC, cloud-based products.
What’s new
All of that sounds good, but let’s drill deeper and look at each area of improvement in more detail.
Performance optimization
OptiStruct. This nonlinear solver offers major improvements that enable it to be used to simulate large displacement analysis and hyper-elastic materials, such as rubber with an extremely efficient use of parallel computing to maximize speed. Its optimization capabilities have been enhanced to introduce new response types and multi-model optimization (MMO), allowing one efficient solution for components that are common across different structures.
AcuSolve can now be coupled with MotionSolve. This pairing enables amore accurate analysis of the flow of air or other fluids while the structural part is moving. An example would be simulating the effect of an adjustable rear wing on sport vehicle aerodynamic performance. This solver coupling represents one of the suite’s many multiphysics capabilities.
RADIOSS. This solution provides more physics and even more accurate results for crack-propagation modeling through the extended finite element method (XFEM) and enhanced capabilities for airbag deployment. RADIOSS also offers improved parallelization for multi-domain methods and advanced mass scaling for better performance.
HyperStudy and OptiStruct now integrated with Excel. An engineer may export tradeoff studies to spreadsheets allowing to do post-processing independent of HyperStudy or, in OptiStruct, include Excel calculations as a response type in the optimization run.
Lightweight design
Composites structure design. Pre-processing features in HyperWorks have been enhanced for improved usability. New, advanced methods of visualizing composite simulations in both the pre- and post-processing stages provide users with the ability to visualize material, element and ply systems and overlay them with stresses. Additionally, new material laws and failure criteria for laminated composites and polymers are included.
HyperForm can now be used for composite forming for sandwich and multilayered structures. The HyperMesh drape estimator calculates thickness and angle variations that result from draping.
Faster lead times
For mass customization, the part-replacement tool has been enhanced so when engineers bring in a new geometry, they can simply exchange the parts and all the connections are updated automatically. A new comparison tool can compare any combination of CAD and finite element geometry and highlight the differences. Enhanced direct modeling capabilities in HyperMesh allow users to quickly generate such geometries as reinforcement ribs without needing to go back to a CAD system.
Post-processing enhancements provide users with faster access to results and better ways to analyze them. Bidirectional communication between the HyperWorks desktop and PowerPoint is now possible. Results are now cached so that users may switch quickly between result sets when working on larger models.
HyperMesh, HyperView and HyperGraph each feature a new, unified Entity Editor to help modify all parameters of model or post-processing session entities faster. In the HyperMesh Entity Editor, new entities, components, properties and materials may be created much more efficiently. Solver documentation also is implemented into the Entity Editor via tool tips.
Bi-directional support for PLM. Interoperability between HyperWorks, CAD and product lifecycle management (PLM) systems allows engineers and designers to communicate easily and share product modifications in a truly collaborative environment. With HyperWorks 13.0, Altair has added bi-directional support for Windchill and Total Materia to the list of supported PLM systems and material databases.
Particular attention has been paid to the development of solutions for industry-specific use cases. HyperWorks Virtual Wind Tunnel, a complete solution for automotive external aerodynamics, is now part of the HyperWorks suite as is a new aerospace user profile. Other solutions for NVH, drop test simulation and more are now available as HyperWorks solutions via an innovative delivery and licensing system.
Access for non-experts
Altair’s optimization technology, which has been available for more than 20 years in OptiStruct, is now part of solidThinking Inspire, an easy-to-use package designed to make finite element analysis (FEA) accessible to non-experts. SolidThinking Inspire allows for quick and easy creation and investigation of structurally efficient concepts and now includes analysis and geometry simplification capabilities. In addition, more than 50 third-party specialized solutions are available to HyperWorks users at no additional charge through the Altair Partner Alliance.
For more detailed information on each of these new features and enhancements, check out these cool videos on the Altair web site here or attend an upcoming webinar.
