Beijing Institute of Technology leverages SwiftComp for composites research

AnalySwift LLC (West Jordan, Utah, U.S.) recently announced that Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT; Beijing, China) is using its SwiftComp simulation software for researching new composite materials, as part of the company’s recently launched Academic Partner Program. Real-world applications for the research being done at BIT are said to include fiber-reinforced epoxy resin composites, 2D plain-woven fiber-reinforced ceramic-based composites, and sandwich structures used as part of a thermal protection system.

“BIT’s overall research program in this area is to identify the constitutive parameters,
relationships and damage evolution of the polymer-based or ceramic-based composites using some new techniques given by the experimental mechanics,” says Dr. Liu Liu, associate professor in the School of Aerospace Engineering at Beijing Institute of Technology.

“SwiftComp is a powerful tool to help us efficiently understand the mechanism observed from the experiments and a user-friendly software for engineers and researchers in the composite mechanics-related areas,” Liu adds. “Furthermore, some new functions such as the polymer-matrix dominated nonlinear mechanical response and the homogenization and dehomogenization for thick plates are expected to be included in the next released package.”

The Academic Partner Program (APP) offers participating universities no-cost licenses of engineering software programs SwiftComp and VABS so that students, researchers and faculty can leverage the tools in their academic research. It also is said to provide students an avenue to highlight their research, as AnalySwift periodically spotlights papers, theses and articles involving the codes. AnalySwift also has a community of developers and users on hand to help answer questions through the online cdmHUB (composite design & manufacturing HUB) platform.

SwiftComp is a general-purpose multiscale modeling code that reportedly enables users to perform efficient and accurate modeling of composites and other advanced materials. It can be used either independently as a tool for virtual testing of composites or as a plugin to power conventional finite element analysis (FEA) codes with high-fidelity multiscale modeling for composites. SwiftComp directly links detailed microstructure and structural behavior for composite structures including beams, plates/shells and 3D structures. Broad applications include high strain composites in deployable space structures, PCBs, high-end fishing rods, woven and honeycomb sandwich structures.

“We are excited by the work being done by Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) on these
innovative materials and pleased they have selected SwiftComp as part of their composites modeling workflow,” says Allan Wood, president and CEO of AnalySwift. “In addition to several unique modeling capabilities, SwiftComp helps engineers consider more design options and arrive at the best solution more quickly.”