OptiAssist for Abaqus

Requiring no further Abaqus simulations, OptiAssist’s Real Time Response module allows engineers to interrogate laminates, instantly predicting changes in displacement, mass and global stiffness.

Use Real Time Response to explore laminate changes, accelerating design iteration time to deliver solutions more quickly.

OptiAssist’s Real Time Response provides an automated flow to augment Abaqus analyses, providing live prediction & exploration of laminate changes. The fully automated flow can be integrated into standard Abaqus local or HPC based analysis solves to create the additional post-processing files for design exploration.

The automated mode delivers predictions for:<

• Mass
• Compliance (Global Stiffness)
• Displacement

Requiring no user input or data setup, incorporate Real Time Response into your Abaqus analysis submissions to add:

• Live performance prediction of laminate changes
• Sort plies by maximum influence or maximum efficiency for selected responses
• Automatic update of Abaqus model data
• Automatic creation of updated CATIA .layup file

The technique, developed through OptiAssist’s application in Formula 1™, allows users to automatically develop laminates based upon multiple structural requirements with the freedom to evolve the ply preforms.

Users can define candidate ply materials, types and orientations and closely control the sub-division of preforms in order to achieve manufacturable solutions.

When developing a laminate for new part geometry, composite materials present tremendous flexibility to place fibres precisely where they are needed. Understanding the ideal placement of fibres, particularly when considering multiple loading requirements, is understandably challenging.

OptiAssist’s ply shape optimisation capability enables Abaqus users to efficiently identify and develop composite laminates, evolving ply shapes to efficiently meet structural requirements.

Starting from user selected ‘candidate plies’ of chosen material types and orientations, OptiAssist develops laminates with a minimal number of Abaqus simulations, presenting results in .odb, updated .inp and exported .layup formats.

Ply Shape Optimisation key features:

• User controllable ply sub-division in global and local orientations
• Link plies in pairs or groups to follow manufacturing rules
• Mirror plies
• Laminate thickness controls
• Optimise for stiffness, strength, mass and displacement

Optimise existing laminates, considering both the number of plies and orientation. Considering multiple structural requirements, the detailed laminate optimisation techniques allow engineers to refine their existing designs through revisions to their existing laminate definitions, whilst not making changes to ply preform definitions.

Within both ply shape and detailed laminate optimisation methods, the OptiAssist solver engine uses a minimum number of Abaqus solves, enabling results to be obtained within practical development timescales.

Working directly with the Abaqus layup definitions, OptiAssist allows users to control which plies may be considered for optimisation and which must remain unchanged. Design rules allowing the change in the number of plies and orientations can be assigned to selected plies.

Manufacturing rules can be applied by:

• Defining multiple symmetry paired plies, based upon Abaqus layup ply names
• Grouping plies to maintain consistent relative material distributions
• Laminate thickness control for total laminate, ply sections or regional selections

OptiAssist automatically manages the modification and submission of Abaqus models to meet your engineering goals. Detailed results are provided in the form of graphical results in the Abaqus .odb. Enabling seamless transition within your analysis and design workflow, results are provided as:

• Summary CSV data detailing change in count of each ply
• Updated Abaqus model data and separate include for ELSET and SECTION data
• Layup file of updated laminate definition