Altair and Cellbond Partner to Create Industry’s Most Accurate Virtual Crash-Test Barriers
New finite-element-analysis barrier models for U.S. and European testing are built on Cellbond’s decades of experience with physical crash barriers and Altair’s world-leading crash-test solutions
TROY, Mich. – Nov. 3, 2011 – Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of simulation technology and
engineering services, today announced the release of the first simulation model to emerge from its partnership with U.K.-based test barrier supplier
Cellbond, a highly accurate and reliable finite-element-analysis (FEA) barrier model for virtual side impact crash testing.
Cellbond is one of the world’s foremost developers of physical barriers for crash testing, employing a composite honeycomb technology to create energy-absorption structures. As a result of a recent agreement between Altair and Cellbond, Altair has been able to incorporate all the data that Cellbond has gathered regarding material properties and barrier design into virtual barriers for use with
RADIOSS, Altair’s complete finite element solver for structural analysis found in its
HyperWorks CAE software suite. Altair has built these models on findings from decades of Cellbond work to define material characteristics, barrier geometries, drawings and physical test results.
Altair is developing a series of such models for use in simulating front-end and side-impact crashes that meet U.S. NHTSA and IIHS standards and for European standards, as well.
“Altair’s joint project with Cellbond offers automotive companies a heightened degree of confidence in the integrity of barrier models,” said James Brancheau, Altair’s Chief Technical Officer. “With Altair’s barrier models, designers and test engineers can anticipate a high level of correlation between virtual barrier crashes and physical crash testing, eliminating any potential problems with barrier simulation from the virtual crash-test equation. Through this and other industry partnerships, Altair now integrates world-leading crash-test analysis software, virtual barriers and occupant dummies with one of the industry’s most efficient and flexible solvers, RADIOSS from our HyperWorks suite.”
Many auto companies have developed their own barrier models in house – Altair’s models now offer levels of accuracy and comprehensiveness that are unprecedented in the industry.
Altair has been working in collaboration with Cellbond to develop the new FEA barrier models since August 2010 and now is offering the first of more than half a dozen anticipated models designed exclusively for RADIOSS applications.
“Our partnership with Altair enables Cellbond to advance its leadership in the crash-test arena,” said Petros Goutas, Business Development Manager for Cellbond. “With our decades of experience with physical crash testing, our own work with FEA models and our ability to complement Altair’s suite of crash-test software, we are looking forward to broadening our impact on automotive design and safety.”
To learn more about Altair’s barrier models, please visit the
RADIOSS capabilities web page at
www.altairhyperworks.com, contact your
local Altair Engineering account representative or call Altair’s world headquarters at +1 (248) 614-2400.
About Altair
Altair Engineering, Inc. empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held, with more than 1,500 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 26-year track record for high-end software and consulting services for engineering, computing and enterprise analytics, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit
www.altair.com and
www.simulatetoinnovate.com.
About Cellbond
Cellbond, headquartered in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, specializes in design, development and manufacture of technology-based composite structures for impact absorption. Cellbond provides solutions throughout a wide range of industries, including
automotive,
rail and
marine. Cellbond's many years of experience and technical knowledge have made it internationally recognized experts in all aspects of
energy absorption. Its strategy is to pursue a constant product development program and to expand its product range in all fields of
energy absorption, including deformable aluminum honeycomb crash test barriers. For more information, please visit
www.cellbond.net.