Collier Aerospace launches HyperX structural analysis and design software at JEC World 2022

On May 3 at JEC World 2022, Collier Aerospace Corp. (Newport News, Va., U.S.) introduced its new HyperX design and analysis software for composite and metallic structures used in aircraft, space and automotive vehicles, and many other high-end applications. This computer-aided engineering (CAE) solution is reported to provide powerful and sophisticated capabilities, including stress analysis and sizing optimization, which enable structural analysis and design teams to achieve several goals, including reduced structural weight, shortened development schedules, improved producibility and airframe certification.

At Collier Aerospace’s booth (K44 in hall 6), engineers are conducting live demonstrations that show how the company’s HyperX software can reduce structural weight by up to 20% and shorten design schedule while still achieving optimized designs. The company is also spotlighting two projects that used HyperX software for sizing optimization: the Swiss SP80 team’s kite-powered composite racing sailboat; and a natural fiber wind turbine blade, a Korean collaboration between the Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering (USNA, Annapolis, Md., U.S.), Hongik University (Seoul, South Korea) and Samwon Millennia Inc. (Seongnam, South Korea).

“HyperX is our new flagship product, replacing HyperSizer,” Craig Collier, co-founder, CEO and president of Collier Aerospace, says. “It’s been reimagined from the ground up with greater speed, power and data capacity to meet the demands of larger models and more complex designs.”

Collier Aerospace claims that the software can perform aerospace processes 10 times faster with HyperX than with aerospace company tools.

Collier Aerospace says it used the latest software development technologies, methods and best practices to create the most comprehensive and capable design sizing and aerospace analysis tool possible. This strategy delivered a host of enhancements, the company notes, including streamlined workflows, an improved graphics engine, enhanced CAD integration, a redesigned relational database that can hold terabytes of data and a highly intuitive interface. The HyperX software provides stress and failure analysis, sizing, reporting, and analysis traceability and visibility.

HyperX software has been built around composites, especially around customer applications considering thermosets, thermoplastics, tape, fabric or resin infusion or out-of-autoclave (OOA) processes. The software can also analyze metals.

Moreover, Collier Aerospace says it helps ensure the producibility of a composite part by creating a design that is optimized for manufacturing. It enables large ply surface coverage with simple layouts that do not significantly increase weight but do reduce variation in build; reduces schedule time by speeding up the engineering cycle; and — in the case of aerostructures — is said to help shorten the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) certification processes.

In the case of aerostructures, in addition to giving users the ability to concurrently analyze and design them, Collier Aerospace claims that the software can perform aerospace processes 10 times faster with HyperX than with aerospace company tools. Another efficiency benefit is the ability to generate stress reports in the form most usable for certification by the FAA and other agencies globally. In addition to aerospace and automotive, HyperX software can be used by the high-performance sports, medical, shipbuilding and wind energy industries.

The new software, which is licensed on a subscription basis, will replace HyperSizer, the company’s previous product. Existing customers will be invited to migrate to the new software. Collier Aerospace will continue to support HyperSizer throughout a customer’s transition to HyperX.

To inform and educate customers, Collier Aerospace has created a new website that is being formally unveiled at JEC World. To further explain and demonstrate the new software, Collier Aerospace will host a technical webinar on May 12. Those interested in attending the webinar can register here.