Aerostructures

Aerospace structures need to survive in some of the harshest environments imaginable. Variations from extreme heat to extreme cold, debris impact from birds and hail, structural fatigue due to extreme loading cycles and many other factors all need to be considered in aerostructure design. In addition, the joining of many parts of various materials, such as composites to metals, requires a great deal of care and attention. The behavior of complex fasteners used in aerostructure design including welds, rivets, z-pins and many others make analysis of these structures even more challenging.

SIMULIA provides realistic simulation solutions, such as our Abaqus Unified FEA product suite, Multiphysics, simulation automation and optimization capabilities, and SLM products, that stand up to many aerostructure engineering challenges. Our products can be used to perform detailed analysis of all aspects of aerostructure designs. Linear capabilities for natural frequency prediction, forced response analysis, and coupling to aeroelastic analysis software provide complete coverage of modal dynamic prediction requirements. Nonlinear geometric effects, such as wing deflection under extreme load, contact between parts and panel buckling can be considered in SIMULIA’s aerostructures solution. In addition, dynamic events such as bird strike, hail strike and tire debris impact can be simulated from within a single software environment.

Solution Capabilities

• Mesh independent fasteners to simulate rivets and other connections without the requirement to place these components at a mesh node
• Complete composite material modeling including pre and postprocessing as well as damage and failure prediction to confidently include composite materials in aerostructure design
• Linear and nonlinear capabilities in one software package for improved simulation efficiency
• Buckling and post-buckling prediction for metals and composites
• Best in class scaling of multiple CPU analysis to reduce computational time and improve design turnaround
• Simulation process automation
• Design optimization