Altair Partner Alliance Welcomes SEAM and Deepens its NVH Capabilities

TROY, Mich., June 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The Altair Partner Alliance announced this morning the expansion of its noise, vibration and harshness (NVH) capabilities with the addition of new partner Cambridge Collaborative Inc. Its software, SEAM, uses statistical energy analysis (SEA) to evaluate the dynamic response of complex structures at mid and high frequencies.

"Cambridge Collaborative is excited to have the opportunity to partner with Altair," said Stephen Manning, product manager for SEAM. "With both companies having more than 20 years experience in software development, we will have a tremendous amount of knowledge and energy to contribute in an effort to provide better NVH solutions to the product engineering world."

Originally developed to study structure-borne noise in submarines in 1980, SEAM has grown to be accepted as an analysis procedure by automobile manufacturers and suppliers, major shipyards, Navy research establishments and aerospace companies. It is used to predict interior noise and vibration in automobiles, aircraft and construction equipment cabs, as well as the radiated noise from ships and the vibroacoustic environments for spacecraft. Other applications include machinery and industrial noise, as well as building acoustics.

SEAM analyzes a complex dynamic system by dividing it into a set of substructures and acoustic elements. These are then grouped into the appropriate modes and SEA subsystems, keeping the flow of energy between them proportional to the modal energies and coupling factors. All coupling factors and power balances for each subsystem are calculated by SEAM. This results in equations that are solved for the modal energy and response of each subsystem.

"We are delighted to be able to offer SEAM to our HyperWorks customers through the Altair Partner Alliance," said Jianmin Guan, Altair's senior program manager for noise, vibration and harshness. "SEAM brings exceptional capabilities that have made it a standard solution in a number of industries for mid-to-high-frequency vibro-acoustic analysis, and it complements Altair's existing FEA-, BEA- and EFEA- based NVH offerings in meeting our customers' needs of full-frequency NVH simulations."

SEAM, using the industry's leading SEA solver speed, is able to produce results to help answer many different problems. It has the ability to create multiple acoustic radiation models with unique formulations specific to aerospace panels and fuselage sections. It is also capable of developing models with thousands of SEA subsystems to incorporate both predicted and measured stiffening and pressurization effects into hybrid SEA models. SEAM performs fast and automated model updates with parametric modeling using symbolic constants and algebraic equations, as well as possesses many other beneficial capabilities.

Available for the last twelve years, Altair's innovative unit-based licensing system allows HyperWorks users customizable access to a growing portfolio of applications while optimizing their return on investment (ROI) with each new partner added. From that point on, every license has been composed of a pool of recyclable HyperWorks units (HWUs), which can be used to access any application within the HyperWorks family.

After witnessing this original licensing model's success, Altair has offered the opportunity for third-party companies to run their own applications under this unit-based system, a collaboration known as the Altair Partner Alliance. The overall flexibility of these HWUs empowers users and allows them access to the largest and most complete suite of CAE applications available, making the benefits to participating HyperWorks customers infinite. The ROI increases for users each time a new application is added to the offering, since any of the partner programs can be accessed using the same leased HWUs they are already using to run HyperWorks. This makes over 50 additional applications available at no incremental cost or long-term commitment.

To learn more about SEAM, please attend one of the introductory webinars on June 27, 2013, at 10 a.m. and 2 .p.m. EDT. These webinars will be hosted by Altair and presented by Cambridge Collaborative.

About Cambridge Collaborative Inc.

Cambridge Collaborative (CCi) provides a wide range of engineering services, including software, testing, R&D and consulting. These services address general noise and vibration problems as well as SEA-related work. While the engineers and scientists at CC are considered to be experts on SEA, the company is also active in testing and data analysis, product optimization, and product design. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss your noise and vibration project.

About Altair

Altair empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held, with 1,800 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 27-year track record for high-end software for engineering and computing, enterprise analytics solutions, and innovative product design and development, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com or www.simulatetoinnovate.com.

About the Altair Partner Alliance

Altair's HyperWorks platform applies a revolutionary subscription-based licensing model in which customers use floating licenses to access a broad suite of Altair-developed, as well as third-party, software applications on demand. The Altair Partner Alliance effectively extends the HyperWorks Platform from 28 internally developed solutions to more than 50 applications with the addition of new partner applications. Customers can invoke these third-party applications at no incremental cost using their existing HyperWorks licenses. Customers benefit from unmatched flexibility and access, resulting in maximum software utilization, productivity and ROI. For more information about the Altair Partner Alliance, visit www.altairalliance.com.

SOURCE Altair