The most basic panels are sheet metal and laminates. These concepts do not have stiffeners or cores to provide buckling stability.

Useful for structures that have biaxial compression and/or shear loading causing buckling. A commonly used aerospace composite panel concept, but not for primary loaded commercial airframes.

Used for metal biaxial and shear loaded structure such as an aircraft rib. These concepts have many dimensions to optimize.

Beams can be analyzed and sized. Specific beam stiffness formulation and failure analyses are performed. Modeled with 1D elements.

A FEM joint is a HyperX derived entity. They are generated automatically from the intersection of structural zones.  One- and two-member line joints are used for load processing.

Design of a joint begins with edge allowable joints. FEA loads are extracted in the joint coordinate system and compared to pull off and shear allowables.

Rivet types, diameters, spacing, and number of rows are sized. Analysis is based on allowables from testing rivet and sheet metal combinations. 

Adhesive material, thickness, overlap length, and taper angle are sized. Analyses include linear/nonlinear peel and interlaminar shear stresses; and VCCT energy solution for disbonds.

A smeared representation of a laminate. Three variables: ply material, laminate thickness, and laminate angle % in the 0/45/90 directions.

Layup stacking. Four variables: ply material, thickness, angle, and stacking order. Primarily used to represent imported laminates from the FEM defined with data such as Nastran PCOMP.

In a few seconds size many FEM zones to all load cases with different materials and panel concepts. Variable bounds automatically set.

In a few minutes rigorously size many structural zones to all load cases with different materials for a given panel or beam concept. User controls variable bounds.

HyperX’s interactive optimization approach facilitates the user to start with an open design space with millions of candidates and funnel down to a preferred design.

During conceptual phase of design explore alternative configurations and architectural layouts.

During preliminary phase of design evaluate the performance of different materials and panel & joint concepts.

Upload HyperX results to a database hosted in either the cloud or on company servers. Users and project managers can view the results using typical web browsers from a laptop or smart phone.

Interact directly with the model and HyperX entities at all times. The user has multiple ways to manage visibility, selection, organization, and assignment.

As an analysis or sizing run is executing, the process monitor displays a summary progress of completed results, as well as logs, warnings, and errors with suggested corrections.

Import your FEM to analyze and size each FEM property zone. Leverage preprocessor specific data to set up structure entities.

Extract FEA computed element forces per load case. Process large solution output data sets very efficiently to define factored design-to loads for analysis and sizing.

After optimizing the model zones, HyperX automatically updates FEM properties with new shell thicknesses, laminates, and beam properties.

HyperFEA™ automatically iterates FEA solutions and HyperX sizing. Converge load paths and enforce global deflection, buckling, or frequency requirements.

Flexible modeling approaches are supported. Smeared models do not require stiffeners to be modeled, while discrete modeling techniques include stiffeners explicitly defined with beams and shells.

Set the types of analyses to execute. Analysis criteria can be individually toggled on/off, providing flexibility and visibility of their assignment on the FEM.

Process thousands of element forces into zone design-to loads to analyze and size. Envelope load cases and tailor the level of conservatism.

Automatically generate a detailed local FEM from the global FEM for verification. HyperFEMgen™ will make the mesh, apply boundary conditions, and apply the global loads to the local FEM.

Use Design Properties to select between rapid sizing, detail sizing, or analysis only. Identify material, laminate and optimization bounds per variable.

Store material data in HyperX to use in analysis and sizing. Establish sophisticated laminate allowables, bearing-bypass envelopes, and correction factors in a shared database to deploy to team members.

Split large FEM property areas into many analysis/sizing zones at geometric boundaries such as intersecting structure. Optimize zone shapes and sizes to load gradients.

Calculate cross-section stiffnesses, center of gravity, and shear center. Apply minimum values that are enforced when sizing. Report summation of “built up” section cut loads, per loadcase.

Generated families have stacking sequences and ply counts that are tuned to provide low weight and manufacturable solutions for specific zones or structures.

Existing families can be imported to HyperX and used for composite optimization.

HyperX’s laminate family design study tool is used to analyze weight and manufacturability trends resulting from different drop patterns, ply shapes and Main Stacking Sequences (MSS).

The minimum-weight laminate for a zone is not always the most producible. Ply sequencing assembles zone laminates into producible plies on a structure.

Producibility of plies is assessed by considering two primary features: ratio of perimeter length to ply area, and orientation of fibers relative to ply boundaries.

Users can manually modify plies after generation. HyperX provides several tools for easy editing. Updated margins can be generated after ply modification.

Cross section ratio bounds can be used to ensure that the optimized geometry is producible. Designs with short, squat or tall, slender geometry can be filtered out.

HyperX goes beyond finding an optimum layup for each stiffened panel object (web, cap, etc) and determines ply connectivity between objects.

As-manufactured fiber directions and thickness for AFP structures on double curvature can vary from the original design. HyperX can import this data for re-analysis.

HyperX can optimize “organic” boundaries of plies and zones to suit structural loads. The boundaries of these zones or plies can be exported in a CAD format.

HyperX generates producible designs for machined grid stiffened panels (such as orthogrid) by considering factors such as machining tolerance and geometry rules.

Although machined structures can support variable thicknesses, considerations such as fastener grip length require specific dimensions to be specified in HyperX

Use HyperX in all phases of vehicle design to maintain consistency in workflow and implemented analysis.

Design cycle consistency is provided by HyperX’s thermoelastic formulation of stiffened panels that works with many different FEM modeling techniques.

Save all project level data and method preferences in a HyperX Database Template. Use these templates as a starting place for all team members to ensure one source of truth for analysis and sizing.

Maintain consistent material data, margin policy, load conditions and factors, across all separate engineer databases.

Plot all relevant input and computed data directly on the model for enhanced understanding of all sizing and analysis results occurring throughout the analysis.

Tabulate data for a selection of zones. Use this real time, interactive data to trace through analysis calculations and supplement reports.

Spreadsheet Stress Reports extract all relevant data to summarize: FEM files, database settings, margin summary tables, critical load cases, and sizing results.

Word-based Stress Reports are generated in an organized format with headers, table of contents, and sample calculations of each failure criterion with identified critical data.  

Loads corresponding to discretely modeled fasteners are exposed by these reports.

Instantaneously analyze and size structure for positive margin with respect to hundreds of non-FEA based failure methods commonly used in industry.

Directly incorporate in-house analysis methods into HyperX via plugin. Obtain analysis method and legacy code implementation while maintaining HyperX workflow.