“One of the key successes from using a combination of Altair software products was the ability to carry out an entirely virtual assessment of performance and structural reliability before a single tool or component was manufactured.”
Andrew Patterson, Engineering Capability Lead for Conceptual Design & DFX at the National Composites Centre
Altair OptiStruct™ was used to perform detailed sizing of the laminates in the spring and chassis elements along with the use of the morphing capabilities in Altair HyperMesh™ to optimize the geometry.
Altair Inspire™ and Altair Evolve™, also included in the Altair HyperWorks simulation suite, were used as a convenient means of visualizing the full assembly and producing images for the reports and presentations.
Promising Potential
“One of the key successes from using a combination of Altair software products was the ability to carry out an entirely virtual assessment of performance and structural reliability before a single tool or component was manufactured. The whole process from concept to manufactured assembly took less than 3 months and would not have been possible without the help of the virtual design tools.” said Andrew Patterson, Engineering Capability Lead for Conceptual Design & DFX at the National Composites Centre, the Overall Technical Authority for Sit-ski Systems Integration and Assurance.
Physical testing carried out at the component and assembly level validated the models, demonstrating good correlation with the predicted response of the spring component and overall kinematic behavior of the assembly.
The resultant initial design of the Sit-ski is about 15% lighter than other similar devices available on the market, including some fairly substantial topology-optimized aluminum brackets used to ensure sufficient safety factors and fitment of the suspensions components.
The skiers felt that the device was different, are excited by its potential, and would like to see it developed further.