FEATURE “Aeronautics” and enhancements possible. With FiberSIM, an organization can also apply the same principles and enjoy similar benefits in areas such as detailed design alternatives, manufacturing and maintenance. Development g…/… Compressing composite part development cycle and improving quality Fig. 5: Thickness plot of complete FiberSIM ply definition mapped into MSC.Software’s SimXpert showing drop-off detail Enhancing performance while compressing development times The dramatic changes to composite design and manufacturing technology that have become available recently place new strains on the development process. At the same time, requirements for increased performance, economy and safety are creating new pressures for the engineering organizations that design the parts. Improving collaboration and concurrency between analysis, design and manufacturing during the composite part development process represents an important method of addressing many of these concerns while simultaneously improving efficiency. By providing engineers from each discipline with the confidence that they can influence modifications to design rules that can be easily integrated into the current product, FiberSIM is making it possible for organizations to greatly improve part performance and compress development, turning the concept of concurrent development from theory into a tangible and beneficial practice. More information: www.samcef.com JEC Composites Magazine / No41 June 2008http://www.dopag.com http://www.samcef.com http://www.oxeon.se