A simplified tool is provided for simultaneous prediction of dent resistance and snap-through buckling resistance of roof panels including the effect of roof bow placement, curvatures of the roof panel, thickness of the roof, and steel grade. In one embodiment, a method of predicting snap-through buckling resistance of a sheet metal panel to an applied load under localized loading conditions is provided, wherein the sheet panel has certain defined geometries. The method includes the steps of: identifying first and second principal radii of curvature of the panel; identifying a thickness of the panel; identifying the distance of a portion of the panel between structural supports; creating a mathematical function to determine load deflection behavior for snap-through buckling; and determining the likelihood of the panel to display snap-through buckling characteristics under various localized applied loads by inputting the parameters.

The material structure prediction apparatus includes a temperature calculator calculating temperatures at calculation points, based on a temperature condition, a nucleation count calculator calculating a nucleation count in the calculation target region, a precipitated phase generation point determining module determining, from the calculation points, a precipitated phase generation point, a grain growth calculator calculating a grain growth of the precipitated phase at the precipitated phase generation point, and a material structure prediction module predicting the structure of the material, based on the grain growth of the precipitated phase.

A computer-implemented method and device are directed to a geometric analysis of a result of a manufacturing process or of a simulation of a manufacturing process in which a part (14) is formed from a planar sheet of material by means of a tool (1). The result comprises result model, being a computer based representation of the part after the (real or simulated) manufacturing process. The method comprises the computer-implemented steps of retrieving the result model (2); retrieving a reference model (3), the reference model being a mesh based model derived from a CAD model representing a target shape of the part or a tool shape; determining an improved result model (33) by transforming the mesh of the reference model (3) to match the shape of the result model (2); performing a geometric analysis on the basis of the improved result model (33).

A computer-implemented method for analysing a result of a simulation of a manufacturing or deformation process, comprises retrieving the result of the simulation, comprising at least the geometry of the part (2) and stress tensors (23) in the part (2) caused by the forming process; for one or more starting points (32) in a critical region (22), determining a cause line (3) by following the stress or a corresponding force in the direction in which it is maximal; for each cause line (3), determining at least one line section (31) of the cause line (3), and a cause trajectory (5) representing values of a stress or a force directed along the cause line (3);
and performing at least one of presenting information representing the line section (31) and the cause trajectory (5) along the line section (31) to a user; and automatically adapting, parameters of the forming process.

A computer-implemented method for simulating and optimising a process of forming and assembling parts comprises simulating a forming process (2) by a forming simulation (20), thereby generating a sprung back part simulation model (30) corresponding to a reference geometry (10) of the at least one formed part (3); simulating an assembly process (4) by an assembly simulation (40), based on the sprung back part simulation model (30) of the at least one formed part (3), and generating an assembled sprung back part simulated model (50).

Therein, if the geometry of the assembled sprung back part simulated model (50) does not match the reference geometry (10), a compensated sprung back part geometry (60) is iteratively adapted, and the assembly simulation (40) based on this is repeated until the assembled sprung back part simulated model (50) matches the reference geometry (10), resulting in an optimised compensated sprung back part geometry (60). Based on this, the design of the parts and of tools for forming the parts is determined, and the parts and tools are manufactured.

A computer-implemented method serves for simulating and analysing an assembly of two or more formed sheet metal parts. It comprises simulating a forming process of each part by an approximate simulation (20), and then performing an assembly simulation (40). In order to allow for a quick iteration over different part geometries to assess the assembly, the approximate simulation (20) comprises based on a reference geometry (10) of each part, estimating the deformation of a sheet metal blank required to attain the reference geometry (10); based on this deformation, estimating stresses within the material of the formed part; based on these stresses, estimating the shape of the formed part in which these stresses are in equilibrium, and using this shape as result (31) of the approximate simulation.

A computer-implemented method for simulating and designing a support structure (2) for assembling or gaging a sheet metal part (1) comprises, in a simulation of the sheet metal part (1) and support structure (2), designing a selection of support elements (3) and a position and orientation of the support elements (3) by displaying a computer based visual representation (5) of the sheet metal part (1) to a user. According to a user input, support elements (3) are placed relative to the sheet metal part (1). The method further comprises automatically determining a stability status indicating whether the sheet metal part (1) is stably held by the support elements (3), and displaying the stability status to the user.

Systems and methods are provided for developing and producing a die using mesh data. A mesh data file representing a surface of the die is created. The mesh data file is configured in an original format that is one of a point-facet format or a node-element format. The mesh data file is translated into a translated format that is another of the point-facet format or the node-element format. Prior to building, the die, as represented by the mesh data file, is evaluated virtually.

A computer-implemented method, computer program product and prototyping platform creates a design blueprint for a substrate-based microfluidic device. A design and prototyping platform receives at least one blueprint parameter and at least one constraint associated with a proposed substrate-based microfluidic device including a hydrophilic material and arrangement of a pattern of a hydrophobic material. The platform determines an arrangement of a plurality of microfluidic device elements as candidates for implementation of the proposed substrate-based microfluidic device and outputs a design blueprint of the proposed substrate-based microfluidic device.

A method includes providing a three-dimensional representation of a doubly curved surface as a smooth function or triangulated mesh. The three-dimensional surface is cut into one or more panels representing each panel by a triangulated mesh. A two-dimensional approximation of the set of panels is created by representing the two-dimensional pattern as a triangulated mesh that is topologically equivalent to the three-dimensional meshes representing the panels.