High Modulus Achieves Exceptional Productivity Gains by Standardizing on the HyperWorks Virtual Design Suite

This decision is part of High Modulus’ strategy to standardize its virtual composite design technology on HyperWorks tools throughout its global offices. The computer aided engineering (CAE) suite and its integrated solver solution, RADIOSS, were selected because of their ease of use and ability to significantly decrease the timescales involved with complex composite structural design tasks.

“As a consultancy, we have to stay responsive and commercially competitive, without compromising the high service quality our clients have come to expect from High Modulus,” said James Anderson, senior design engineer and FE team leader, High Modulus. “When I joined the company, we were using an alternate virtual design solution at our head office in New Zealand, and despite having very experienced staff, it was taking us a considerable time from start to finish of an FEA project. We halved this time by switching to HyperWorks, so this solution was the clear choice when assessing the design tool requirements for our European office. The CAE suite has allowed us to be extremely flexible for our clients, since we can perform more design iterations more quickly.”

High Modulus has a long history of supplying composite design services and materials to the marine industry and is now expanding into new industries that also wish to benefit from the use of composites. The HyperWorks suite and, in particular, its pre- and post-processors, solvers and optimization technologies are now being leveraged to deliver more efficient composite solutions to High Modulus’ automotive, energy, architectural and general industrial clients in significantly reduced timescales.

“Altair HyperWorks enables us to be more flexible, by allowing us to tailor our services to match our clients’ requirements at every stage of their project cycle. The clean-up tools are invaluable at the initial concept evaluation stage where we often have to work fast, with incomplete or untidy geometry,” continued Mr Anderson. “HyperWorks’ reliable solvers and the ability to model complex composite lay-ups and tailor material properties to match our own test data are invaluable in detailed design. We have significantly improved our productivity through the efficient use of the very powerful optimization tools for composite structures. They help us determine patch size and ply orientation and even drive the whole manufacturing process.”

As a global organization, High Modulus also demands local support for its regional design teams to keep them informed of product updates and to ensure they are well trained and being as productive as possible.

“Working with the local representatives of Altair gives us the responsiveness and service quality of a small local company and the reliability and product quality one expects from a large multinational,” Mr. Anderson emphasised.

“It is satisfying to see more and more composite specialists adopting the HyperWorks enterprise suite as their virtual design tool of choice,” said Maurice Linscott, regional director, Altair UK operations. “Composite materials represent new opportunities for engineers, but they also bring with them new complexities and challenges within the design process. Designing lightweight products with optimum material usage is vital across many industry sectors, and HyperWorks is empowering manufacturers and consultants to deliver truly innovative solutions in reduced timescales and at reduced overall cost.”