HyperSizer

= HyperSizer Composite & Laminate Analysis Software =

HyperSizer is a composite material analysis software providing stress analysis and preliminary structural design for weight reduction, system level trade studies, and part sizing including sizing stiffened panel cross-sectional dimensions, material selection, and optimum composite layup stacking. HyperSizer performs detailed failure analyses and reporting as a post process to a loads finite element model (FEM).

It is an enterprise tool used by both designers and stress analysts from early concept to final design.

For over a decade, HyperSizer hassignificantly reduced weight on majoraerospace programs with rapidanalysis and composite optimization.Originally developed at NASA, it’snow greatly enhanced and supportedas a commercial product worldwide.HyperSizer is not CAD and is notfinite element analysis (FEA).

Software

HyperSizer is a software system for management of all data associated withthe structural analysis and test data of a major aircraft program. Multipledatabases can be setup, with each database able to contain hundreds ofvariations of an airframe configuration (i.e. different FEMs), materialproperties, panel and beam concepts, dimensions, and loads. This approachprovides apples-to-apples weight prediction comparisons, and a guaranteedstore of all margins-of-safety for every configuration. The database alsoprovides an organized and efficient means to capture essential data relatedto a project with a guaranteed ability to immediately locate and retrievehistorical data. Stress reports can be generated at the click of a button atany time documenting current status of a project, indicating critical margins,critical load cases, and critical structural parts.

Analyses

HyperSizer performs hundreds of different analyses such aspanel buckling, crippling, beam-column, bonded and bolted joint,composite strength to damage initiation and damage tolerancecriteria, etc. for the entire vehicle from engine nacelles to airframesurface panels and substructure. The figure illustrates howHyperSizer imports a FEM and manages all data associated witha configuration. Wing spars and ribs can consider a range ofmaterials and panel concepts that are different than the subset ofuser determined design options for the wing skins and fuselagebody. HyperSizer also analyses and optimizes internal beamssuch as spar caps and many other open and closed shapes.A primary foundational capability of HyperSizer is to accuratelyanalyze any panel concept without the need to discretely meshwith finite elements the shape of the stiffeners or their spacing.This permits tremendous flexibility and rapid turn around of tradeswith different panel concepts all from the same coarsely meshedFEM.

Progressive Design Process

The HyperSizer Progressive Design Process consists of three activities. All three activities can interact with each other throughout designmaturation. HyperSizer provides unique automation and integration capabilities to each of these design activities.

A funneling process performed in stages to target an optimum design. Innovative “back to the drawing board”concepts are proposed, evaluated, and filtered out for the next stage of the design maturation process.

An incremental process of including more computationally demanding analysis solutions starting with damageinitiation, tracking the progression of failure, and ending with the resulting residual strength at ultimate failure.

An incremental process of including more design detail, such as bonded and bolted joints, ply drop-offs,etc. for both optimization and analysis.

Supported File Formats

.hdb HyperSizer Database
.hmr HyperSizer Material Report
.hve HyperSizer Verification Document

Stress reports [http://www.stressreports.com] are outputted in either Microsoft Word format or HTML for ease of viewing and distribution.

Some Projects & Users

NASA
Langley Research Center (Hampton, VA) Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, AL) Glenn Research Center (Cleveland, OH) Johnson Space Center (Houston, TX) Ames Research Center (Moffett Field, CA) Boeing
Huntington Beach, CA (Integrated Defense & Space) Seattle, WA (Commercial Airplanes) Seattle, WA (Integrated Defense Systems) Phantom Works (Aerospace R&D) Houston, TX (NASA Systems) Lockheed Martin
Denver, CO (Space Systems) Marietta, GA (Aeronautics) New Orleans, LA (Michoud Space Systems) Palmdale, CA (Aeronautics Skunk Works) Fort Worth, TX (Aeronautics) Syracuse, NY (Maritime Systems & Sensors) "' Northrop Grumman"'
El Segundo, CA (Integrated Systems) San Diego, CA (Teledyne Ryan) Biloxi, MS (Ship Systems) Newport News, VA (Ship Systems) Goodrich Aerostructures Chula Vista, CA AFRL (Air Force Research Lab)
Wright-Patterson AFB, OH Edwards AFB, CA Hill AFB, Ogden, UT Albuquerque, NM

GM - General Motors R & D Center Detroit, MI

Product Modules

The three primary products of the HyperToolbox Composite Software are HyperSizer Material Manager™, HyperSizer Basic™, and HyperSizer Pro™, all designed for Windows XP/2000.

Material Manager
With Material Manager, you can build composite laminates with any arbitrary stacking of material forms or material types. Use native Windows cut, paste, and copy functions for quick ply insertions and layup arrangements. Define and save stack templates and use other advanced layup tools. Graph failure envelopes and stress/strain profiles automatically. Perform highly interactive ‘what-if’ design changes and see their effects real time.

Basic
HyperSizer Basic™ includes all the functionality of HyperSizer Material Manager, such as composite laminate analysis, plus stress analysis and detailed design optimization for over 50 different stiffened and sandwich panel and beam concepts. Any material or cross sectional dimension can be optimized to all load cases. Apply general edge loadings and/or boundary conditions through the Free Body Diagram software tab and solve for the resulting stresses and structural integrity using over 100 different failure analyses. Analyses include traditional industry methods and modern analytical and numerical solutions.

Pro
HyperSizer Pro™ includes all the functionality of Basic, plus coupling with FEA for system level analysis and automatic finite element model resizing and results display. Using panel, beam, and laminate analyses from the Basic and Material Manager products, Pro provides a complete and detailed analysis of entire systems such as airframes, rocket engines, ship hulls, and train bodies. Complete margin-of-safety (MS) summaries of all potential structural failure modes for all load cases are reported. FEA computed internal loads are retrieved and input automatically for sizing the panels and beams. HyperSizer then creates generalized thermoelastic stiffness terms to send back to the FEM for another iteration of computed internal load paths. HyperSizer controls this iterative convergence and controls FEM global responses such as wing-twist deflections.

In addition to these three primary products are another two highly integrated tools that shares the same database for the analysis and material data input and computed data output:

HyperSizer TPS™
The HyperSizer Thermal Protection System (TPS) capability is available as an add-on module to HyperSizer Pro™. HyperSizer TPS combines the disciplines of TPS analysis with structural analysis in a single program. This integrated TPS-Structures capability provides a commercial quality TPS analysis and sizing program that will become a standard analysis method for future space launch vehicles.

HyperSizer Micromechanics™
HyperSizer Micromechanics™ is an add-on module for HyperSizer Structural Sizing Software™, and was developed by integrating a powerful University/NASA developed Micromechanics analysis capability with HyperSizer. This new add-on module combines the constitutive (fiber/matrix) buildup non-linear analysis of MAC/GMC (Micromechanics Analysis Code with Generalized Method of Cells) with the data integrity and established laminate and material property editing interface of the HyperSizer product.

Software Specifications

To run on a PC, the operating system must be either Windows XP or 2000. It is recommended to use Windows XP with the latest service pack. HyperSizer has been tested successfully on Microsoft Vista, and is compatible - although not Vista-certified.

For the HyperSizer Basic or Pro products they recommend at least a 600 MHz Pentium III with at least 512 Mbytes of memory. The HyperSizer GUI is much more useful running on large monitors (19 or 21 inch). The HyperSizer Material Manager Product will run effectively on almost all PC hardware.

The minimum required resolution setting to fit the HyperSizer GUI onto the desktop is 1024x768 pixels (with small fonts) but we recommend 1280x1024 with large fonts. With resolutions less than 1024x768, the user must scroll to see some of the forms fully. In addition, high color (more than 256 colors) is recommended for viewing the imbedded graphics.

USING EMULATION: HyperSizer has been successfully installed and used on MAC computers. However, due to the operating system emulation, HyperSizer runs much slower on a MAC than on a PC. The slow down will also be apparent running on Unix.

USING TERMINAL SERVICES: HyperSizer may effectively be used from a NT server with your computer as a client.

HyperSizer has been successfully tested to run in other countries such as France, Italy, Japan, and Korea using XP/2000 with the latest service pack. The latest service pack for Windows 2000 can be obtained from the Microsoft website, or from the Windows Update feature of Internet Explorer.

Running HyperSizer with your preferred country OS installation (therefore a non-United States installation) is possible and requires only a slight change to your system. As an example, if you are in Italy, we suggest you install the Italian version of XP/2000. However, before you start HyperSizer, you must make a slight modification to the regional settings of your computer. There are two options. First, you can change the regional settings to "English (United States)" and then HyperSizer will work fine. A preferable option for you may be to choose Italy as your regional settings. In this case, you will need to change the comma to a decimal separator. Open the control panel, and double click the applet, "Regional Options" ("Opzioni internazionali") and click on the "Numbers" ("Numeri") tab. In the dropdown box labeled, "Decimal Symbol" ("Separatore decimale") change the symbol from a comma (,) to a period (.) Next in the dropdown list next to "Digit grouping symbol" ("symbollo raggruppamento cifre") change the symbol from a period (.) to a comma (,) Press the "Apply" ("Applica") button.

Metric and English units are fully supported with version 3.4 and up.

External links

[http://www.hypersizer.com Official HyperSizer Website]

[http://www.hypersizer.com/faq HyperSizer Community Forum]

[http://www.hypersizer.com/support Online Customer Support System]

[http://www.hypersizer.com/project-briefs.html Projects and Trade Studies]