Simufact Engineering has advanced their welding simulation software Simufact.welding and is releasing the new software version 4. Significant innovations of the current product version are the integration of a new simplification method to shorten the calculation time of welding processes, the optional availability of an integrated Altair®-based meshing tool and a whole range of functions, which considerably improve the software usability.
Simufact.welding is a particularly high performance Finite-Element-based software with state-of-the-art solver technology, with which the elastic- plastic material behavior can be modeled. As one of the most important tasks, the software succeeds in realistically predicting the distortions and residual stresses that occur during welding, while considering phase transformations and controlling these in the component. Simufact.welding considers microstructural properties in the heat-affected zone; its form
allows conclusions about the properties of the weld seam, in particular its strength. The user gains valuable clues to identify welding defects such as hot cracks in the simulation to avoid them in practice.
The software assists in finding the optimal clamping devices for the welding process and delivers facts to determine the best welding sequence. Simufact.welding predicts the final contour of the component and helps to produce parts in series with precise tolerance.
New Functions in Simufact.welding 4
New simplification method to shorten calculation time With Thermal Cycle Simufact has integrated another scalable calculation method in Simufact.welding, which simplifies the calculation of long welds and reduces the simulation time by a factor of 2 to 5. Where standard methods of simplification usually rely on estimates, Thermal Cycle has a
different approach: it is based on calculations by specifying the temperature cycle for the entire weld section. Essential Advantage for the users: they have the possibility of scaling the degree of simplification directly on the user interface and herby adjusting the result accuracy to their needs.
Thermal Cycle supplements the Simufact.welding standard method of transient calculation, in which the energy per unit length is input, and which is characterized by the utmost calculation precision and correspondingly longer calculation times. In practice this additional method offers new possibilities of shorting the development time of welding processes: the user can run a greater number of possible process settings in the
simplified Thermal Cycle mode and then run a more detailed transient calculation of a narrowed assortment. Thermal Cycle assists in reducing the number of plausible versions quicker and limits the areas of relevant process settings.
Optional use of an integrated meshing tool (Altair®-based)
As an optional module add-on Simufact now offers Simufact.welding with an integrated meshing tool, which is Altair®-based. The mesher is a streamlined and low price version of the well-known SimLab-Mesher tailored to the requirements of welding simulation. SimLab automatizes the modeling of FE-meshes reducing the time needed to interpret CAD models. Thereby Simufact opens up a new possibility to the user, with which the complex geometries of hexa-, penta, and tetrahedrons can be meshed on CAD basis.
Improved usability of the software
In Simufact.welding 4 simulation videos can be generated increment-based or in real time. The user can define by section, at which speed certain processes are shown in the video; he or she can, for example, show processes of long-duration such as the component cooling in time lapse. In the result, the user can create a vividly cinematic illustration of the welding process, in which all relevant details are shown in one video by
varying the illustration speed and angle.
With a streamlined adjustment of database material data to the real material condition –which includes the adjusting of the flow stress and the values of hardness and tensile strength in dependency of t8/5-time – Simufact.welding 4 promises greater calculation precision. The flow stress in particular is sensitive for the introduction of internal stresses and therefore also for distortion and springback effects.
The new software version now enables a post-processing analysis with the help of user-defined coordinate systems. Newly available is the analysis parameter “area change”, an indicator for buckles. The user can also generate individual post-processing values by mathematical cross-linking of existing results, e.g. to define individual fail criteria.
Practical innovations have also been made in the data management: Through a rearrangement of data management, larger models with up to one to two terabyte of data can now be visualized. For the management of simulation results, Simufact has developed a tool, with which the result files can be thinned out. It simplifies the disk-space efficient archiving.
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