Following the JEC World 2022 event held in Paris in May, Rob Coker spoke to Collier Aerospace President and CEO Craig Collier about how Collier software technology is helping to put plastics in high-end engineering applications.
Aside from the engineering applications that contain Collier’s signature, what else did visitors to JEC World 2022 experience at the booth?
Collier Aerospace
Airborne software
Craig Collier
Engineers conducted live demonstrations that showed how the company’s HyperX software can reduce structural weight by up to 20 per cent through optimised designs while also drastically shortening the composite design schedule. The company also spotlighted two major projects that used HyperX software for sizing optimisation: the Swiss SP80 team’s kite-powered composite racing sailboat; and a natural fibre wind turbine blade, a Korean collaboration between the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, Hongik University and Samwon Millennia Inc. A one-meter scale model of the sailboat was also on show at the event.
How does the software help improve the manufacturing process for these composite parts?
Collier Aerospace’s cutting-edge computer-aided engineering (CAE) HyperX software offers designers and engineers sophisticated new tools for balancing weight reduction with manufacturability, accelerating part development and helping to quickly achieve airframe certification. It runs faster and handles larger models with a new and powerful graphics engine and underlying relational database to hold terabytes of data. Along with streamline workflows and a redesigned modern interface, engineers can do more in less time. By adopting this new solution, designers can gain important advantages, from greater efficiency to expanded flexibility to analyse and optimise any type of composite, and other materials such as metals.
HyperX software helps ensure the producibility of a composite part by creating a design that is optimised for manufacturing. It allows larger ply surface coverage with simpler layouts that do not significantly increase weight but do reduce variation in build; reduces schedule time by speeding up the engineering cycle; and—in the case of aerostructures—helps shorten the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification processes.
The new software gives customers the ability to concurrently analyse and design aerostructures, making it more efficient than other general tools. In fact, it is possible to perform aerospace engineering workflows 10 times faster with HyperX than with aerospace company tools. Another efficiency benefit is the ability to generate stress reports in the form most usable for certification by the FAA and other agencies around the world.
Is the new software suitable for composite materials alone or can it be included in the design of components made solely of engineering plastics such as PEEK or PA 6?
The advanced HyperX software has been built around polymer composites. Any material reinforced or not is directly applicable, such as PEEK thermoplastic. Currently in aerospace, newer material systems of interest are next-gen thermosets, thermoplastics, and resin infusion. Curing with autoclave or out-of-autoclave is still an option that needs to be evaluated for the specific application. All of these alternatives, along with slit tape, unidirectional and fabric forms, can be explored with high accuracy in seconds to quantify how they will affect a given design.
Collier Aerospace
Airborne software
Collier Aerospace SP80 Sailboat
Through collaboration with which industries has Collier established its reputation?
Collier has established itself within the aerospace, maritime, wind and space launch industries. Collier Aerospace Corporation is a leading provider of CAE software for designing composite and metal structures used across multiple industries: aviation, space launch, automotive, wind energy, and high-performance sports. However, the Collier Aerospace team has been consistently and deeply involved with major OEMs on space programs—from initial concept to final design and successful launch since it was established in 1995. The company offers unmatched experience working on launch vehicles, satellites, aircraft—both fixed and moving rotor designs—UAMs, UAVs, X-planes, and more. From experience as an integrated partner and as embedded engineers in programs, the team understands the entire engineering maturation process.
What does it mean for both the business and personally to return to the live and in-person event environment?
Collier Aerospace is a highly collaborative organisation and getting back to live and in-person events is our preferred way of connecting. Our staff is often embedded with partners on-site and on various projects, and we highly value face-to-face interactions. Live events offer Collier Aerospace an opportunity to engage with existing and potential partners simultaneously in a high-energy environment as we work our way out of the pandemic.
How has Collier contributed to pushing the limitations associated with composite engineering?
Collier Aerospace’s new HyperX enables designers to gain important advantages over traditional options, from greater efficiency to expanded flexibility to analyse and optimise any type of composite, and other materials such as metals. The company helps customers find the sweet spot at the intersection of weight reduction, development speed, on-time certification and producibility. Armed with this tool, designers may very likely find new opportunities for the use of composites.
I believe engineering plastics, particularly those used within composite materials, are the ultimate use for plastics generally. Are we likely to see Collier expertise in plastic-based applications on, say, the Moon or Mars at any point in the near future?
Collier Aerospace’s sophisticated structural analysis and design optimisation software has extensive, proven experience in the aerospace industry. As an example of a spacecraft project, for the NASA Ames Lunar Atmosphere Dust and Environment Explorer (LADEE) satellite space structure, Collier Aerospace’s HyperX software performed extensive trade-off studies, determined suitable materials and calculated safety margins at all design stages from preliminary layout to flight certifications. In all, the software calculated one billion structural margins and organised the data into detailed illustrations of critical load and failure modes. Thermoset composite was used for the large acreage panels of the satellite. This material has the advantage of having a low coefficient of expansion, highly beneficial during the thermal cycles of heat from the sun’s radiation.
In another example, Sierra Nevada Corporation engineers used Collier Aerospace’s software for sizing optimisation of composite structures for the NASA-contracted space launch, cargo-resupply vehicle Dream Chaser. The software provided critical insights into the strength, weight, and manufacturability of designs for both composite and metal structures.