The Altair Partner Alliance Expands Its Comprehensive Composites Modeling Offering Even Further

TROY, Mich., March 26, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Altair Partner Alliance (APA) today announced that Multiscale Design Systems (MDS), LLC has enabled its software, MDS, on the Altair license manager. MDS focuses on composite materials and structures at multiple spatial and temporal scales.

"Multiscale Design Systems is anticipating the start of a long and fruitful partnership with Altair and its Partner Alliance," said Jacob Fish, President of MDS. "Our software will help HyperWorks users perform highly comprehensive composites modeling by applying such processes as multiscale fatigue and multiphysics analyses, as well as microstructural optimization, to help them reach the ideal composite material and/or structure for their projects."

MDS delivers a solution that offers a seamless blend of modeling, simulation and testing, while allowing users to quantify uncertainty and optimize composites. Outfitted with methodical model-reduction technology, MDS reduces complex unit cells from hundreds of thousands of finite elements to a manageable number of deformation modes and state variables. It also is equipped with an extensible library of parametric unit cell models that are generated automatically using the built-in CAD and meshing tools. One benefit of MDS is that it has extremely thorough mathematical processes. It is also versatile for users by offering such advanced capabilities as microstructural optimization, multiscale fatigue and multiphysics analyses.

"Altair is very pleased to add Multiscale Design Systems to the Partner Alliance offering," said Dave Mason, Altair's Senior Vice President, Global Automotive and Aerospace. "As manufacturers expand the use of advanced composites in their designs, there is an absolute requirement for more accurate simulation capabilities for predicting failure modes.  MDS software technology not only provides Altair HyperWorks users accurate multiscale predictions, but also its unique approach provides great efficiency, which is a must for these complex simulations."

Two versions of MDS are available: MDS-Standard and MDS-Professional. MDS-Standard consists of the Multiscale Design System for Continuum (MDS-C) module. This module resolves microscale fields at a computational cost comparable to that of macromechanical modeling. MDS-Professional includes three modules in addition to MDS-C: Multiscale Stochastic Design System (MDS-UQ), Multiscale Multiphysics Design System (MDS-MP) and Multiscale Fatigue Design System (MDS-FT). The MDS-UQ module is a nonintrusive multiscale solver with stochastic forward and inverse capabilities. MDS-MP couples many physical processes at multiple scales. These can include oxygen and/or moisture diffusion along with reaction and deformation. Finally, MDS-FT uses the two-scale asymptotic homogenization approach for time and reduced order homogenization for space. Both can be effectively applied to any material architecture and any constitutive equations of microphases. The APA will include both versions of the software.

Available for the past 13 years, Altair's innovative unit-based licensing system allows HyperWorks users customizable access to a growing portfolio of applications, optimizing their return on investment (ROI) by making more than 20 in-house-developed applications available by use of a single pool of recyclable HyperWorks units (HWUs).

Altair also has offered the opportunity for third-party companies to run their own applications under this unit-based system, a collaboration now known as the Altair Partner Alliance. The overall flexibility of these HWUs empowers users via access to the largest, most complete suite of CAE applications available. 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 more than 50 additional applications available at no incremental cost or long-term commitment.

The introductory webinar for MDS is taking place on April 09, 2014 at 9:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. EDT. HyperWorks users can learn more about the company and download the software at www.altairalliance.com/mds.

About Multiscale Design Systems, Inc.

MDS, LLC was founded in 2008 by Prof. Fish and associates. The main software product, Multiscale Design System (MDS), is based on more than 30 years of his pioneering research in multiscale science and engineering.

Prof. Fish, the Carleton Chaired Professor at Columbia University, is an author of more than 170 journal articles on various aspects of multiscale science and engineering and several books, including the first multiscale textbook, entitled "Practical Multiscaling," published by Wiley in 2013.

Since its inception in 2008, MDS, LLC has won numerous SBIR/STTR Phase I and Phase II awards related to environmental degradation of high temperature polymer and ceramic matrix composites subjected to thermal oxidation, fatigue, moisture ingression and mechanical loading.

About Altair

Altair is focused on the development and broad application of simulation technology to synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved business performance.  Privately held with more than 2,000 employees, Altair is headquartered in Troy, Michigan, USA and operates more than 40 offices in 20 countries.  Today, Altair serves more than 5,000 corporate clients across broad industry segments.  To learn more, please visit www.altair.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 software applications on demand, developed by Altair and third-party companies. The Altair Partner Alliance effectively extends the HyperWorks Platform from more than 20 internally developed solutions to upwards of 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 Engineering