FEMAP Aerospace Case Studies

Simcenter Femap helps optimize component and parts for Curiosity’s mission to Mars, the most challenging and demanding ever

Sending a package to Mars is a complex undertaking

Delivering a roving science laboratory from Earth to the planet Mars requires meticulous planning and precision performance. You only have one chance to get it right; there’s no margin for error. Engineers and scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at the California Institute of Technology had to make crucial decisions thousands of times over a multi-year product development schedule to successfully land the Mars Rover “Curiosity” on the floor of Gale Crater on August 6, 2012.

Simcenter Femap with NX Nastran reduces modeling/results processing time; software’s accuracy decreases need for physical testing

Accurate engineering for aircraft

Aquila Engineering provides a wide range of services, including systems, avionics and structures engineering; technical writing; training; logistics support; computer-aided design (CAD); and project management. Many of its employees have more than 20 years of experience in the aircraft industry. One of the company’s customers is Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Aquila Engineering operates under contract to the Swiss company as the Pilatus Australian design office. In this role, Aquila Engineering provides engineering and logistics support to various clients throughout Australia and overseas.

Using FEMAP helps ADS International move from virtual CAD prototypes to analysis and simulation.

Cut solving cycle time by 30 percent while leveraging parallel computing

For nearly 30 years, ADS International (ADS) has been designing and building telescope, radio telescope and astronomic instruments, with two main product lines: adaptive optics and optics alignment systems. In a business in which each product is one of a kind, the company supports customers from preliminary study through execution, integration and final installation. ADS customers are universities, research centers and large international observatories, including the European Southern Observatory (ESO).

Using many different finite element analysis (FEA) solvers but performing all pre- and post-processing with Femap.

Making all clients reference clients

Predictive Engineering provides finite element analysis (FEA) support, training and consulting. It also is co-partners in Applied CAx, providing all of its high-quality FEA support.

The firm takes on a wide range of projects, from simulated drop testing of electronic devices, to structural analyses of commercial aircraft landing gear, to seismic evaluations of pressure vessels, to thermal/flow computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analyses of electronic packages and solar panels. George Laird, founder of Predictive Engineering, aims for complete customer satisfaction. “My goal is to ensure that all clients become reference clients,” Laird says. “To do that I want to exceed their expectations for accuracy, timeliness and knowledge transfer.”