Purdue University’s affiliated software provider AnalySwift LLC has received a $125,000 grant from NASA to help further develop its SwiftComp software which provides high-fidelity modelling of structures made from high-strain composites.
High-strain composites experience strains much higher than most other uses of composite materials and NASA will use this software to model these high-strain composites and research deployable’s that are lightweight and feature time and temperature-dependent behaviour.
SwiftComp takes details of the fundamental building block of materials and structures as input, then outputs the structural properties needed for macroscopic analysis. It can be used for composite beams, plates and shells, and 3D structures, for both micromechanical and structural modelling.
Allan Wood, president and CEO of AnalySwift
In addition to deployable composite booms, NASA could leverage the software for structures such as living vessels, foldable panels, hinges and reflectors, as well as lightweight structures such as satellite buses, landers, rovers, solar arrays and antennas. Other applications include highly flexible wings for future aircraft and highly fatigue- and damage-tolerant structures for revolutionary vertical lift aircraft.
The technology was developed by Wenbin Yu, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics in Purdue’s College of Engineering. The software has been licensed to companies and universities worldwide, including those using it for work on satellites and mobile phone components, including printed circuit boards.
