ABstructures, Italy, Relies on HyperWorks in Developing Race-Winning Sailboat
Altair’s CAE product family helps to structurally design winner in Volvo Ocean Race, the Ericsson Race Team yacht Ericsson 4
TROY, Mich., July 7th, 2009 – Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of simulation technology and engineering services that empower client innovation and decision-making, announced today that its HyperWorks CAE platform has been used by ABstructures, an Italian structural design company, to structurally design and optimize the winning yacht in the Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson 4. The yacht, skippered by Torben Grael, claimed victory in the Volvo Ocean Race on June 27 in St. Petersburg, Russia, after 8 months and more than 37,000 nautical miles sailed around the world under the harshest conditions.
The HyperWorks simulation suite also was used in the development of Ericsson 3 – first to be launched Ericsson Race Team boat, which came in fourth this year. ABstructures has extensively employed HyperWorks to design and optimize the carbon structures of both Ericsson yachts and has achieved fundamental structural improvements compared to the older-generation yachts that competed in the 2004 edition of the Volvo race. The combination of cutting-edge CAE technology and the extensive hands-on experience of ABstructures’ designers has enabled the engineering company to deliver the best design for lightweight structural projects in all regions of the world.
“We have been using HyperWorks for a long time, in many projects – with ABstructures as well as within former work projects,” said Dr. Andrea Avaldi, managing director, ABstructures. “I like the software suite because it enables us to handle most of the development tasks in structural design within one user interface and under the same license agreement. Thanks to HyperWorks, we could achieve a weight reduction of about 10 percent on all the structurally most important parts of this campaign’s Ericsson yachts. This could not have been possible in the set time frame without the technology provided by Altair.”
“We congratulate the Ericsson Race Team and ABstructures on their outstanding success and are happy to have had the opportunity to be part of such a remarkable project,” said Dr. Michael Hoffmann, Altair vice president for EMEA. “HyperWorks is the best CAE suite that structural design companies like ABstructures can use. It provides the tools needed to drive an optimized design process; and, thanks to the unique licensing system that opens up a whole world of CAE tools, engineers only pay for what they use.”
Original picture courtesy of Volvo Ocean Race (C). HyperWorks design model provided by ABstructures
About HyperWorks
Built on a foundation of design optimization, performance data management and process automation, HyperWorks is an enterprise simulation solution for rapid design exploration and decision-making. As the most comprehensive, open-architecture CAE solution in the industry, HyperWorks includes best-in-class modeling, analysis, visualization and data management solutions for linear and non-linear, structural optimization, fluid-structure interaction, and multi-body dynamics applications. For more information, please visit
www.altairhyperworks.com.
About ABstructures
ABstructures provides innovative design solutions for lightweight structures, both in advanced composite materials and high performance metal alloys. ABstructures is a company that relies on more than a decade of experience of operating on the highest level in international yacht racing - from America's Cup to ‘round-the-world yacht races, such as the Volvo Ocean Race. Additionally ABstructures is providing its services to the aerospace industry and to the development teams of racing cars. From project brief to concept development and product delivery, ABstructures follows the optimized lightweight approach all the way. For more information, please visit:
www.abstructures.com
About Altair
Altair Engineering, Inc. empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held with more than 1,300 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 20-year-plus track record for enterprise analytics, product development, and advanced computing, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit
www.altair.com.
Useful links:
www.volvooceanrace.org,
www.ericssonracingteam.com