MSC Software Corporation announced that the R&D department at Riba Composites, a leader in the design and manufacture of structural parts and components in advanced composite materials, is using MSC Nastran Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software to support the co-design process of structural and non-structural components made up of advanced composites, based on their customers unique and specific requirements. Riba's customers include major aerospace OEMS in Europe, for example. The capabilities and features offered by MSC Nastran are especially attractive to Riba, whose range of services is wide and varied. Riba offers tailored solutions to the needs and requirements of each client, from structural to aesthetic parts, small to large components and from prototype to mass production.
Riba Composites R&D Manager, Enrico Dolcini, says, "We selected MSC Nastran to analyze the mechanical behavior of composite materials structures because the software demonstrated the ability to provide accurate results in problems involving complex materials properties." According to Dolcini, “MSC Nastran accurately models the structural behavior of composites material components and systems, so we can provide a consolidated co-design and co-engineering process with customers, delivering satisfactory answers to the numerous diverse demands for innovation arising from the new composites market."
The increasing use of composite materials has developed as a result of the limitations of traditional materials to meet new technological requirements. Composites offer a variety of benefits over traditional materials including:
- High mechanical performance
- Stiffness and lightness of components
- Reduction in the number of parts
- Simplification of the design and the manufacturing process
- Strength and stability when tested against various temperatures, loads, corrosion, impacts, fatigue, etc.
Unquestionably, composites are becoming a practical alternative across industrial sectors.
MSC Nastran can be used to efficiently and effectively model laminated composites, allowing the user to specify material properties, orientation, and thickness for each lamina in the composite layup. Stresses, strains and failure indices can be retrieved at the lamina level. The ability to predict the initiation and growth of damage is essential to anticipate the performance of composite structures and consequently, develop reliable, safe designs, which exploit the abundant advantages offered by composite materials. This approach also offers the option to 'track' the failure modes in detail for every load step through to the final failure of the composite structure.
