CAE Interfaces

Digimat is capable of communicating micromechanical material models to all major FE solvers found on the market.

Digimat Interface to FEA capabilities include:

  • Communication of user materials and to FE solvers
  • Storage of user data in FE results
  • Choice of solution method to balance individually between the need for accuracy and fast computational time
  • Plug-Ins to different graphical user environments
    • Marc Mentat
    • Abaqus CAE
    • Ansys Workbench

Micro-Macro coupled multi-scale simulations can be set up easily.

The extension of the Digimat multi-scale approach to read locally distributed microstructure information is straight forward. Based on process simulation results it bridges the gap between the influence of the manufacturing on the composite properties and the final impact onto the performance of the part.

All interfaces are bundled together in one Digimat tool. In the final software solution the required parts can be picked individually to address the needs of the personal CAE environment:

Digimat-CAE

Covers interfaces to manufacturing simulation, computer tomography and FEA software. Offers GUI guidance for setting up coupled analyses and supports this approach via embedded Digimat Plug-Ins for native FEA pre-processors.

The following table provides the list of officially supported FEA software versions. This applies to Digimat-RP and Digimat-CAE coupling.

Supported platforms are accessible on MSC Software website

On Windows, graphical user interfaces (GUI) and solvers are delivered. On Linux, only solvers are provided.

To prepare the model, a Windows machine is advised to have access to the GUIs, while the analysis can be run on both Windows and Linux system as you prefer.

Digimat can be installed on HPC (Linux or Windows) and integrated in queuing system (PBS,…). This requires the customization of the queuing system. Support team is at your disposal to help you in the integration of Digimat in HPC queuing system.

In the purpose of Composite Design, Digimat supports reading data from the prediction of the manufacturing step as predicted by injection molding software.

Results from the following processing scenarios can be taken into account:

  • Injection molding
  • MuCell®
  • Injection-compression molding
  • Compression molding
Supported softwares:
  • CADMOULD
  • Moldex3D (3D & Mid-plane)
  • Moldflow (3D & Mid-plane)
  • SIGMASOFT
  • Rem3D
  • Simpoe
  • 3D TIMON
  • VISI Flow

All interfaces are bundled together in one Digimat tool. In the final software solution the required parts can be picked individually to address the needs of the personal CAE environment:

Digimat-CAE

Covers interfaces to manufacturing simulation, computer tomography and FEA software. Offers GUI guidance for setting up coupled analyses and supports this approach via embedded Digimat Plug-Ins for native FEA pre-processors.

Injection molding simulation meshes are typically different from their FEA counterparts. This can easily be addressed by adding respective utilities to the Digimat software solution:

Digimat-MAP

Supports the multi-scale approach by allowing the transfer of data between dissimilar meshes. Capabilities include super-positioning, quality assessment for mapping and visualization of the results.

In the purpose of Composite Design, Digimat supports reading data from the prediction of the manufacturing step as predicted by draping software.

Digimat Interface to Draping environments include:

  • PAM-FORM
  • Simulayt
  • AniForm

All interfaces are bundled together in one Digimat tool. In the final software solution the required parts can be picked individually to address the needs of the personal CAE environment.

Digimat-CAE

Covers interfaces to manufacturing simulation, computer tomography and FEA software.

Digimat is capable of communicating Fatigue characteristics with coupled analysis.

The Digimat strategy of coupled analyses for the structural design of composite parts extends to the topic of lifetime assessment for high cycle fatigue. Digimat deals with S-N curves in an anisotropic fashion and communicates this information to the lifetime prediction software based on local microstructure information. Currently two fatigue models are implemented in the software.

For engineering purposes a macro S-N model is available for chopped fiber reinforced plastics. It enables computing the S-N response for any random fiber orientation state.

A scientific research model was developed to address fatigue of continuous fiber reinforced composites. This model is based on the damage evolution in the matrix phase. It is the first step towards assessing S-N curves based on information from the microscopic level of composite materials.

The S-N model for chopped fiber reinforced plastics can be used in coupled analyses based on injection molding manufacturing simulation.

Supported software
  • nCode (HBM)

Upcoming soon
  • Interface to FEMFAT

All interfaces are bundled together in one Digimat tool. In the final software solution the required parts can be picked individually to address the needs of the personal CAE environment:

Digimat-CAE

Covers interfaces to manufacturing simulation, computer tomography and FEA software.

Microscopic computer tomography (μ-CT) delivers a full range of data that can only be predicted partly by manufacturing simulations.

A new strategy within Digimat is to directly build coupled analyses based on experimental microstructure information. Microscopic computer tomography (μ-CT) is thus a valuable and complementary source of information applicable to a large range of materials.

The following software format is supported until today:

  • Volume Graphics

The first application of this approach is embedded in the context of fiber reinforced plastics. Coupled analyses can be set up using experimental data for:

  • Fiber orientation
  • Fiber volume fraction

All interfaces are bundled together in one Digimat tool. In the final software solution, the required parts can be picked individually to address the needs of the personal CAE environment:

Digimat-CAE

Covers interfaces to manufacturing simulation, computer tomography and FEA software.