Multidisciplinary design of composite structures

• Wind Turbine Blade Design
• Domain-specific design tool that guides the user through the design process, incrementally exposing new levels of analysis and requesting additional detail the design matures.
• MetaMorph Tools provided the modular framework for the combined analysis of structural, manufacturing, and financial objectives and constraints
• Leverages commercial and open source analysis tools:
  • XFOIL: design and analysis of subsonic airfoils.
  • Composite design & analysis tools
  • Finite Element Analysis tools (NASTRAN/PATRAN)

Case Study

The Problem:

Since their introduction in the first half of the 20th century, composite materials have shown great promise for reducing weight and increasing performance of a variety of structures.  Several factors have limited their growth, from high materials costs and poorly understood failure mechanisms to labor intensive manufacturing methods and a lack of experienced designers.

Our Role:

Working with Green Dynamics, MetaMorph developed an integrated composite structures assessment tool (BladeMDA) that allows designers to reduce the cost of wind power by enabling the on-site construction of the next generation of large wind turbine blades. By integrating several industry-leading design and analysis tools, along with various open source and private partner analysis tools into the OpenMETA framework, we were able to help Green Dynamics develop a design tool that empowers engineers to address a progression of critical design assessments, from statics and dynamics to cost, performance and manufacturability.