Altair Releases HyperWorks 10.0 with New Solver Capabilities

By DE Editors

Altair Engineering has announced the release of Altair HyperWorks 10.0, its integrated computer-aided engineering (CAE) software suite. This new release builds upon the solver solutions and computation speed of RADIOSS, launches several design optimization advancements, and introduces a new mathematical analysis software technology.

“HyperWorks 10.0 lets engineers be engineers,” says Altair HyperWorks Vice President Jeffrey M. Brennan. “Altair’s goal for modeling, analysis, and visualization is to bring a high level of automation to these processes, allowing engineers to have more time to study, improve, and optimize their designs and apply their problem-solving skills to address today’s complex design challenges. From a business perspective, this allows staff resources to invest more time on value-added activities that can have an immediate impact on both efficiency and innovation.”

One new feature is RADIOSS 10.0, an implicit and explicit solver technology for linear, nonlinear, and crashworthiness problems. RADIOSS solver advancements include:

• Expanded solutions for noise-vibration-and-harshness (NVH) and heat-transfer analysis.
• A new “fast parabolic” tetrahedral element for impact and explicit analyses that improves analysis throughput by up to three times faster without sacrificing results accuracy, according to the company. 
• New parallelized solutions for linear statics, linear buckling, and direct frequency response analyses that increase computational speeds.
• A new multi-domain analysis algorithm that allows large crash models to be analyzed faster.
• New implicit and explicit composites analysis capabilities to support lightweight design initiatives.

MotionSolve 10.0, HyperWorks’ mechanical system simulation solution, introduces co-simulation capabilities with Simulink control systems and also with DSHplus hydraulic/pneumatic systems by FLUIDON, a HyperWorks Enabled Partner. Co-simulation allows analysis of the coupled interaction between mechanical systems with other systems to better understand system level behavior. Also, with the 10.0 release, MotionSolve now calculates more than 90 different Suspension Design Factors (SDF).

The suite’s optimization products, OptiStruct and HyperStudy, introduce structural optimization innovations that include:

• Optimization for combined structural and multi-body dynamics problems.
• A reliability-based module for design optimization that also provides improved data mining, evaluation, and rating modules.
• Optimization for fatigue life and damage considerations.
• New acoustic optimization and combined thermal/mechanical optimization.

Also in the suite, HyperMath is a general purpose numerical computing environment that allows customers to develop and perform custom mathematical operations on various types of data, including data associated with CAE pre- and post-processing.  This new software technology includes a flexible programming language, math and utility libraries, an integrated code development environment, data visualization, and direct support of common data formats.  HyperMath works with the suite’s design optimization and process automation tools, as well as third-party applications with command line support, to provide faster design direction and improved decision making.

HyperMesh, Altair’s product for finite element pre-processing, includes several new algorithms for tetrahedral, hexahedral, "mesh flow" and mid-surface meshing. In addition to meshing efficiencies, other enhancements include the ability to view one-dimensional elements as 3D objects to visually verify modeling information for accuracy, and a new multi-directional morphing functionality that allows finite element models to be smoothly morphed to a surface or group of nodes.

HyperView 10.0 also includes visualization speed enhancements and new post-processing capabilities for polar plots, advanced super-positioning, and envelope tracing capabilities.

For more information, visit Altair.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.