Altair provides comprehensive tools to design, optimize, and analyze parts and assemblies manufactured with laminate, chopped fiber, and particulate composites. OptiStruct is widely used for the design and optimization of laminate composites. It delivers optimal ply shapes, number of plies, and stacking sequence, while observing manufacturing constraints. Altair Multiscale Designer™ provides accurate and efficient simulation of materials and parts manufactured with continuous and chopped fibers, honeycomb cores, lattice structures, and more.
Generating and evaluating a finite-element analysis (FEA) model with composites adds another dimension to the pre- and post-processing requirements. The next generation of HyperWorks generates laminate definitions efficiently and visualizes the stacking sequence, ply orientation, and draping angle deviations on the FEA model. It maps geometry ply shapes to element sets and performs sophisticated post-processing at the laminate or ply level.
Composite material analysis can be carried out in OptiStruct for linear and non-linear structural problems under static, dynamic, and thermal loadings, and Altair Radioss™ for highly non-linear problems under dynamic loading. Altair tools model delamination, crack propagation, and fiber and matrix failure under real-world conditions. Without physical testing teams can assess the stiffness, strength, durability, and stability of a structure, in addition to understanding the impact performance of composite designs.
