Adaptive Multi-Scale & Multi-Fidelity Progressive Failure Analysis of Composites

14 Nov 2022

Although high-fidelity modeling of progressive damage has advanced our understanding of failure mechanisms in fibre-reinforced composites, such techniques are currently still too computationally intensive for direct application to composite structures. The multi-scale nature of damage in...

Practical Developments in Multiscale Modeling of Composites

07 Apr 2021

Validated models (be they data driven or physics based) can accelerate the design, certification, and ultimate deployment of novel materials and structures by allowing rapid iteration and virtual experimentation while at the same time minimizing the need for expensive and time consuming physical...

VABS: Modeling Composite Beam-like Structures with 3D FEA Fidelity

06 Feb 2021 | Contributor(s): Nikki Huang

This presentation was given at Altair Virtual ATCx Composites: https://atcxcomposites.virtual.altair.com/. Variational asymptotic beam section (VABS) is a unique technology continuously funded by the US Army since 1988 and it has become a tool of choice in the helicopter and wind turbine...

iVABS

19 Nov 2020 | Contributor(s): Nikki Huang

iVABS (namely integrated VABS), is a design framework for composite slender structures (also called composite beams) such as helicopter rotor blades, wind turbine blades, high aspect ratio wings, bridges, shafts, etc. This framework bundles PreVABS, VABS, GEBT, Dakota, along with msgpi for...

MSC.Patran/Nastran-SwiftComp GUI

01 Apr 2019

A graphical user interface (GUI) has been developed to integrate SwiftComp into MSC.Patran/Nastran for constitutive modeling and providing the automated conversion of the MSG plate and beam stiffness matrix into MSC.Nastran shell and beam element properties and materials. In order to reduce...

PreVABS

16 Nov 2017 | Contributor(s): Nikki Huang

PreVABS is a pre-processing tool for VABS and SwiftComp. This tool is designed to reduce the workload of preparing input files of beam cross sections for VABS and SwiftComp, and to make the process automatic for the design and optimization purpose. Cross sections with general and...

VABS: Powering Simple Beam Elements with Detailed 3D FEA Fidelity

06 Jan 2017 | Contributor(s): Nikki Huang

This presentation gives a brief introduction to VABS, a general-purpose cross-sectional analysis, which can power conventional, simple beam elements with detailed 3D FEA fidelity. 

A Unified Theory for Constitutive Modeling of Composites

18 Apr 2016

A unified theory for multiscale constitutive modeling of composites is developed using the concept of structure genomes. Generalized from the concept of the representative volume element, a structure genome is defined as the smallest mathematical building block of a structure. Structure...

ANSYS-VABS Graphic User Interface (GUI)

03 Aug 2015 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Nikki Huang

This resource contains the release package of ANSYS-VABS GUI.VABS code is NOT included. Manual and the source scripts for the interface can be found in the Supporting Documents.This GUI was developed based on ANSYS Release...

ABAQUS-VABS GUI

29 Jun 2015 | Downloads | Contributor(s): Nikki Huang

A Python script used to convert the input file generated by ABAQUS for VABS, a detailed step-by-step instruction using ABAQUS CAE to generate a simple beam section (composite anisotropic pipe)  is also given. Python scripts for generating more complex sections such as real...

A Critical Assessment of Computer Tools for Calculating Composites Wind Turbine Blade Properties

16 Mar 2015 | Publications | Contributor(s): Nikki Huang

The purpose of this paper is to critically assess several computer tools for calculating the inertial and structural properties of wind turbine blades. The theoretical foundation of each tool is briefly summarized, and the advantages and disadvantages of each tool are pointed out. Several...

Structure Genome: Fill the Gap between Materials Genome and Structural Analysis

29 Nov 2014 | Publications

A new concept, Structure Genome (SG), is proposed to fill the gap between materials genome and structural analysis. SG acts as the basic building block of the structure connecting materials to structures and the mechanics of SG governs the necessary information to link materials genome and...