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ATA Engineering (ATA) provides analysis services to support clients with their product development processes. The staff has worked with companies over the last 30 years to help get their products to market faster. Our experience with all analysis issues associated with product development helps reduce the number of prototypes and mechanical tests necessary to arrive at a high quality product. ATA can support you with:
Aeroelastic Analysis Airplanes, missiles, and launch vehicles must be free of aeroelastic flutter and divergence within their operating envelope. ATA has performed flutter and divergence analyses of many aerospace systems, including aeroservoelastic effects. We use both ZAERO® and NASTRAN as our aeroelastic solvers. We have worked with ZONA Technology® to develop an interface from ZAERO® to I-deas® to postprocess models and flutter results. We have also developed special procedures to postprocess NASTRAN results including V-G and V-F plots with root tracking and animated flutter mode shapes. We have experience in subsonic, transonic, supersonic, and hypersonic flutter analysis using ZAERO® and strip theory, doublet lattice, Mach box, and piston theory methods in NASTRAN. Case Studies: X-34 | Predator UAV High-Speed Impact Dynamics ATA uses the Abaqus/Explicit solver to calculate the dynamic responses of structures undergoing high speed impacts. These solutions can handle very complex dynamic contact situations including friction, nonlinear material behavior and failure. The Explicit solver can also handle complicated mechanisms undergoing large angle rotations with complex nonlinear joints. Applications include crash analysis of automobiles, aircraft, etc., multi-body dynamics and impact analysis of electronic components. 
Mechanism Simulation ATA performs mechanism design and analysis by leveraging a diverse portfolio of software solutions and in-house expertise. Project examples include implementation of I-deas in the dynamic response analysis of robotic manipulators and the use of MSC.ADAMS in multi-body dynamic simulation of spacecraft landing, animatronics, and amusement park motion simulators. The ability to incorporate flexible bodies in ADAMS and to perform design sensitivity studies have also been utilized, as have the extensive and general capabilities of ABAQUS to solve highly nonlinear mechanism simulation problems involving contact and plasticity.
Noise/Vibration/Harshness (NVH) The sound quality of today's vehicles is affected by many, often independently designed and manufactured, automotive subsystems and components. Consequently, developing design goals or targets that ensure vehicle NVH acceptance and allocating these targets to bench level component and subsystem noise and vibration targets is essential to product development success. ATA has successfully developed systematic procedures for identifying the sound characteristics that determine acceptable sound quality or loudness, then breaking these characteristics down into individual noise paths and components using techniques such as advanced signal processing, noise path analysis, principal component analysis, numerical trend analysis, and competitive product assessment.
Pre-Test Analysis A key task in many modal surveys is development of a TAM (test-analysis model) to determine accelerometer and exciter locations and a mass matrix for orthogonality checking of test mode shapes. ATA has substantial capabilities for performing pretest analysis and accurately constructing a TAM. We have found that traditional methods (e.g., Guyan reduction) are not always appropriate. A thorough pretest analysis can increase the productivity of the modal survey by:
ATA's
software methods are very conducive to the transfer of pretest analysis
data to modal test software. This facilitates analysis-to-test
comparisons, orthogonality, etc so these tasks can be performed as soon
as test mode shapes are available (typically within a few hours of data
collection). Structural Analysis ATA performs structural analysis using advanced finite element analysis (FEA) and traditional handbook methods. We develop, analyze, and display finite element models and results using I-deas® Simulation pre- and post-processing and I-deas® Model Solution Linear and Nonlinear solvers. For specialty applications, we use additional software tools including NASTRAN, ABAQUS®, and BOSOR®. We evaluate structural endurance using I-deas® Durability™ and Fatigue™ modules as well as traditional methods. We perform detailed stress analysis of fastener loads, pullout, bearing, and other factors using established design handbooks augmented by semi-automated procedures including Mathcad® and spreadsheets. Case Study: THAAD Missile Dynamic Stress Analysis Structural Optimization Optimized structures provide significant benefits including low materials cost and maximum system performance. ATA performs structural optimization to minimize structural weight subject to frequency, displacement, and stress constraints. We use I-deas® optimization for statics, buckling, and modal analyses. We use NASTRAN for specialty applications. ATA can also advise on design and manufacturing approaches to further optimize performance and manufacturabilty.
Thermal Model Review Building I-deas® TMG™ thermal models is a complex process, especially for models involving radiation and other non-linear effects. Consequently, many models may not be designed to maximize computational efficiency or may contain modeling inaccuracies. As a service offered to those organizations that already use I-deas® TMG™, ATA will review existing thermal models or advise on how to build new models. We have extensive experience with modeling various thermal effects, optimizing models for solution time, and determining optimum modeling strategies. We are experts on building models with TMG™ and the nuances of thermal analysis. Models can be reviewed either in-house, or we can schedule an on-site visit for you to meet with the entire thermal engineering staff.
Vibroacoustic Analysis Extremely high sound levels can cause severe structural vibration and fatigue problems. Typical systems with acoustic challenges include launch vehicles, payloads, military aircraft, and commercial transports. ATA is experienced in defining acoustic environments and predicting structural response using the Vibro/Acoustic module in I-deas®. We have also used VAPEPS on previous aerospace projects. |