Altair has partnered with Intergraph® Process, Power & Marine (PP&M) to create an interface that transfers a complete structural model from Intergraph Smart™ 3D software to Altair’s HyperMesh. This integrated interface will greatly increase the efficiency of marine vessel design and engineering for HyperMesh and Smart 3D users.
Many marine engineering and design companies are required to use multiple 3D modeling tools to build idealized models for performing analyses in order to meet regulatory and classification approvals. A common requirement these companies face is the ability to quickly create a Finite Element Mesh (FEM) model suitable for structural, hydrodynamic or thermal Finite Element Analysis (FEA). In the case of shipbuilding, these meshed models must represent a global model of all structural plates, stiffeners, members and openings with their mechanical properties, such as material grade, plate thicknesses and profile cross-section sizes.
The Smart 3D to HyperMesh interface exports the 3D model at any stage in the vessel design or construction process in an XML format into HyperMesh. The configurable, filter based interface exports the structural model hierarchy and all components containing a full description of the objects, including all properties and geometry.
HyperMesh is extensively used by thousands of customers worldwide to generate and manage their FEA models and supports a wide variety of analysis solvers.
“HyperMesh’s superiority in preparation, geometry simplification, and clean-up is particularly suited to handle the simulations and analyses associated with extremely large structures like ships and offshore structures. As a unique simulation technology and engineering service company, Altair understands the engineering challenges that our marine customers are facing and is committed to continually invest in providing powerful technology to help them optimize efficiency and be more competitive. Adding this marine specific interface is another example of that commitment” said Molly Heskitt, Senior Director of Business Development, Marine and Shipbuilding Industry.
“Intergraph customers will benefit from this interface because they will not have to spend additional engineering hours building multiple models for engineering and analysis,” said Marcel Veldhuizen, Intergraph PP&M vice president, Fabrication Solutions. “Since the analytic model is derived from the 3D model, there is less chance of human error or missing and possibly inaccurate data that would impact the analysis results. Due to Smart 3D’s unique architecture, a single model can be used for early design, detailed design, construction and production, and this interface enables users to extract the information necessary to produce an analytic model at any stage of the design.”
To view the original press release, please click here.
