At this year’s ASIP 2023 Conference in Denver, CO, ESRD provided a 2-hour training course titled “Enhancements in StressCheck v12.0 for DaDT Analysis of 3D Fastened Connections”, presented a technical paper titled “Experimental Validation of DTA Modeling of Bonded Wing Skin Repairs“, and passed out 3D printed F-35 and C-130 models at our booth inside the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Conference Center. The models were a big hit — look out for some new aircraft next year!

Conference Snapshot

ESRD’s Brent Lancaster, Patrick Goulding, and Brian Lockwood spent the week chatting with ASIP attendees and meeting many enthusiastic StressCheck users. The ASIP Conference has become an exciting platform for demonstrating many strong use cases of StressCheck spanning the ASIP community, with around a dozen technical presentations utilizing our technology for their DaDT analyses. We are honored to be such a prominent part of this event and to have so many talented and loyal users in this industry.

We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to all those who attended Brent’s training, Brian’s technical paper presentation, and/or stopped by our booth to say hello to us. In addition, this was Patrick’s first ASIP Conference and he was thrilled to have the opportunity to meet you all. We really enjoy getting the chance to see you each year and we’re already looking forward to attending ASIP 2024 in Austin, TX.

ASIP 2023 Training Materials Available

On Monday, November 27th, Brent had the pleasure of providing a training course to a large group of attentive ASIP engineers on Enhancements in StressCheck v12.0 for DaDT Analysis of 3D Fastened Connections. We were thrilled with the level of interest and engagement, and the opportunity to present the latest in StressCheck. Thanks to those who attended the training course in person (as well as virtually)!

If you are interested in this topic, you can download Brent’s training presentation (in PowerPoint show or PDF format) and watch the video demo via the below link (note: you must be a registered user to view the training materials):

We are looking forward to receiving your feedback on the training course presentation, as well as your ideas for ASIP 2024 training course topics.

ASIP 2023 Technical Paper Presentation Available

On Thursday, November 30th, Brian had the honor of presenting his technical paper “Experimental Validation of DTA Modeling of Bonded Wing Skin Repairs” to a strong audience of engaged ASIP attendees. The paper was a collaboration between ESRD, AP/ES (Dr. Scott Prost-Domasky) and USAF AFMC WRALC/ENC (Laura Pawlikowski), and continued their project discussed in last year’s presentation (“DTA of Bonded Repairs on the Wing Skin of the C130 Using Finite Elements“) by providing experimental testing data to validate their simulation results.

If you are interested in this topic, you can view Brian’s technical paper presentation (in PowerPoint show or PDF format) via the below link (note: you must be a registered user to view the training materials):

Preview StressCheck v12.0!

Would you like to schedule a preview demonstration of the new features in StressCheck v12?

We would be happy to walk you through the exciting updates to the user interface design, model navigation and visualization tools, and enhanced meshing features.

ESRD, Inc. will be exhibiting, presenting a technical paper (on DTA of bonded repairs) and providing a 2-hour training course in person and virtually at the ASIP Conference 2023 in Denver, CO from November 27-November 30, 2023.  We hope you will drop by our technical presentation, training course and/or booth to check out the latest ESRD developments!

ESRD’s Training Course

A 2-hour training course titled “Enhancements in StressCheck v12.0 for DaDT Analysis of 3D Fastened Joints” will be held Monday, November 27th from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM MST by ESRD’s Brent Lancaster.  The course description is as follows:

As more DaDT and service life analysis (SLA) engineers look to incorporate the influence of assembly multi-body contact, fastener hole propping and/or fastener load transfer into their beta factor and/or stress intensity factor (SIF) predictions, it is imperative that the numerical simulation of these effects on 3D fracture mechanics parameters can be ascertained without inflicting cumbersome modeling workflows, endless meshing cycles, and high computational costs on the end user. This training course will outline proposed methodologies, guidelines and best practices for ESRD’s StressCheck Professional finite element analysis (FEA) software to perform efficient and accurate DaDT analysis of flawed 3D fastened connections and multi-body contact assemblies, including enhanced automeshing and SIF extraction techniques now available in StressCheck v12.0. In addition, several live demonstrations of technology will be performed for representative use cases.

In this 2-hour training course, we will focus on the following topics:

• StressCheck’s FEA technology implementation for the modeling, meshing and analysis of arbitrarily shaped 3D crack geometries, with and without the local effects of multi-body contact.
• Strategies for automatic meshing of 3D cracks with high-aspect ratio, 3D-solid pentahedral and hexahedral elements to support high-quality SIF extractions at any location on the crack front.
• New StressCheck v12.0 method to support multi-body contact assembly meshing, auto-detection of contact regions, and automatic assignment of contact pairs for 3D solid bodies.

The training course content will be based on concepts from the following resources, available on ESRD’s Resource Library and online documentation:

• ASIP 2018 Training – Modeling Fastened Connections: Hierarchic Approaches Discussion and Demo
• Helpful Hints and Tips: 3D Stiffened Lug Stress + Crack SIF Analyses
• Helpful Hints and Tips: Interference Fit Bushing + SIFs
• StressCheck Demo: Part-Thru Crack SIFs for Stiffened Lug
• StressCheck Tutorial: 3D Elliptical Part-Thru Crack with Multi-Body Contact
• StressCheck Tutorial: Filled vs Open Hole SIF Comparison for 3D Offset Hole

ESRD’s Technical Presentation

A 30-minute technical presentation titled “Experimental Validation of DTA Modeling of Bonded Wing Skin Repairs” and authored by Mr. Brian Lockwood (ESRD), Ms. Laura Pawlikowski (Warner Robins ALC) and Dr. Scott Prost-Domasky (AP/ES) will be presented by Brian Lockwood on Thursday, November 30th at 10:30 AM MST.

As the principal investigator on this USAF SBIR-funded project, Brian will be presenting an update to his work so far in utilizing StressCheck’s finite element analysis implementation to assess the effectiveness of bonded skin repairs on the C-130 center wing. The technical presentation description is as follows:

This presentation is a follow-up to ESRD’s 2022 ASIP presentation titled “DTA of Bonded Repairs on the Wing Skin of the C-130 Using Finite Elements.” That presentation explored a robust method for finite element analysis of bonded skin repairs from the perspective of both static strength and fatigue crack growth. The proposed analysis methodology was presented in a comparative sense, examining a number of criteria in the skin in an undamaged state, a damaged state and a repaired state, in order to allow the analyst to make an assessment of repair effectiveness without detailed knowledge of either the exact boundary conditions of the problem, or of the intricacies of the model itself. One of the criteria for a patch to be deemed effective is that the fatigue life of the skin be at or above that of the pristine configuration.

Given the sparse nature of research on the topic of crack growth under bonded repair patches, ESRD partnered with AP/ES to conduct an experimental program to investigate in detail how a small initial flaw propagates in the aluminum skin under a titanium repair up through failure. Experiments were performed alongside blind predictions of life and crack morphology using ESRD’s research tool, CPAT. Additionally, statistical analysis was performed to assess confidence in the predictions. Given the aleatory uncertainty associated with the available crack growth data for the specimen material, it was important that predictions of fatigue life be accompanied by a confidence level when comparing them with experimental outcomes. Because most of the crack propagation occurred under the repair, a marker band spectrum was used during the test and the crack-cycle data was constructed from fractographic examination. The experimental program covered three specimen configurations:

• Undamaged skin with a surface crack or a corner crack at a hole.
• Skin with a grindout (to remove hypothetical corrosion damage) and either a surface crack at the bottom of the grindout or a corner crack at a hole located at the center of the grindout.
• Same as previous configuration, but including a bonded titanium repair.

Experimental and predicted results will be presented.

ESRD’s Exhibit Booth

ESRD can be found at Booth 5 and will have several staff members available to chat, provide demonstrations, troubleshoot issues (StressCheck Clinic), and answer questions about our training course, our technical presentation, our software products and our composite repair solutions.

We’ll be handing out some fun giveaways at our booth! Stop by early to chat with us and grab one!

Participating ESRD Staff

Contact information for ESRD staff participating in ASIP Conference 2023 is as follows:

• Mr. Brent Lancaster – brent.lancaster@esrd.com
• Mr. Brian Lockwood – brian.lockwood@esrd.com
• Mr. Patrick Goulding – patrick.goulding@esrd.com

ESRD, Inc. will be exhibiting, presenting a technical paper (on DTA of bonded repairs) and providing a 2-hour training course in person and virtually at the ASIP Conference 2022 in Phoenix, AZ from November 28-December 1, 2022.  We hope you will drop by our technical presentation, training course and/or booth to check out the latest ESRD developments!

ESRD’s Training Course

A 2-hour training course titled “Best Practices for the Modeling & Analysis of Bonded Doubler Repairs” will be held Monday, November 28th from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM local time by ESRD’s Brent Lancaster.  The course description is as follows:

Current methodologies for modeling and analysis of bonded repair patch designs for application to damaged sections of aircraft wing skin can be computationally expensive and difficult to implement in practice, relying instead on accumulated practical experience to determine the effectiveness of a given repair design. These methods, although effective, require a knowledge base acquired over many years of experience making sustainment organizations vulnerable to gaps in knowledge between newer members and more seasoned experts.

This training course will outline proposed methodologies, guidelines and best practices for utilizing ESRD’s StressCheck Professional finite element analysis (FEA) software to parametrically model, analyze and assess the effectiveness of composite or metallic bonded repair patch designs and variations. The effectiveness of repairs regarding static strength and damage tolerance will be addressed. In addition, strategies for efficient solution verification and hierarchic modeling approaches of 3D repair patches will be explored, and a set of representative demonstrations of technology will be provided.

In this 2-hour training course, we will focus on the following topics:

• StressCheck’s FEA technology implementation enabling modeling of very thin domains, including adhesive layers with 3D-solid elements.
• Best practices and guidelines for modeling and analyzing 3D bonded repair doubler variations (e.g. racetrack/rectangular, circular/elliptical, tapered, metallic, ply-by-ply, homogenized, etc.) for circular cutouts and grindouts.
• Performing “what if?” logic-driven studies of a digital 3D bonded repair handbook solution via StressCheck API-powered Engineering Simulation App, in which user-defined input data is passed from Python or Excel VBA to StressCheck Professional to perform scripted “on-the-fly” model adjustments and repair-oriented computations.

The training course content will be based on concepts from the following resources, available on ESRD’s Resource Library and online documentation:

• A System for Simulation Governance of Engineered Repairs of Composite Aircraft Structures
• Bonded Composite Repair Patch for Cracked Hole (Video)
• Laminated Composite Repair Patch Part I – Geometry & Meshing (Video)
• Laminated Composite Repair Patch Part II – Materials, BC’s & Results
• Laminated Composite Repair Patch Part III – Geometric Nonlinear Analysis

ESRD’s Technical Presentation

A 30-minute technical presentation titled “DTA of Bonded Repairs on the Wing Skin of the C-130 Using Finite Elements” and authored by Mr. Brian Lockwood (ESRD), Mr. Ryan Patterson (Warner Robins ALC) and Dr. Scott Prost-Domasky (AP/ES) will be presented by Brian Lockwood on Thursday, December 1st at 3:30 PM local time.

As the principal investigator on this USAF SBIR-funded project, Brian will be presenting his work so far utilizing StressCheck’s finite element analysis implementation to assess the effectiveness of bonded skin repairs on the C-130 center wing. The technical presentation description is as follows:

Current methodologies for the design and application of repairs to damaged sections of aircraft wing skin can be lacking in analytical support, relying instead on accumulated practical experience to determine the effectiveness of a given patch design. These methods are, by their nature, effective, being based on observation, but inefficient, requiring a knowledge base acquired over years of experience. This can make sustainment organizations inflexible and vulnerable to gaps in knowledge between newer members and more seasoned experts. This approach is also problematic in its potential for wasted effort and material, applying repairs that may be more intensive than is required for a given situation.

These problems can all be addressed by the introduction of an accessible, robust analysis methodology cast in the form of an Engineering Simulation Application for the verification of a repair’s performance qualities prior to an actual aircraft application. The finite element method is ideally suited to provide an analysis procedure for this type of problems that can be used by analysts with widely varying degrees of expertise both in numerical simulation and bonded repair application. This presentation will outline a proposed methodology for utilizing finite element analysis to assess the effectiveness of a given bonded repair.

ESRD’s Exhibit Booth

ESRD can be found at Booth 12 and will have several staff members available to chat, provide demonstrations, troubleshoot issues (StressCheck Clinic), and answer questions about our training course, our technical presentation, our software products and our composite repair solutions.

The StressCheck Clinic

StressCheck users may drop by our booth on a first-come, first-served basis to discuss any StressCheck-related questions, issues or feature requests with us. This includes troubleshooting customer models, demonstrating StressCheck features, and providing best practices/tips on how best to optimize StressCheck’s use.

Want to ensure ESRD’s booth staff is well-equipped to answer your StressCheck Clinic request? Click the below button, include “StressCheck Clinic Request” in the message subject, provide a brief explanation, and we will be prepared to discuss your request at our booth. Note: Customer membership level is required.

As a courtesy to other conference participants, we request that StressCheck Clinic visits be capped at 30 minutes.

Participating ESRD Staff

Contact information for ESRD staff participating in ASIP Conference 2022 is as follows:

• Mr. Brent Lancaster – brent.lancaster@esrd.com
• Mr. Brian Lockwood – brian.lockwood@esrd.com

ESRD, Inc. will be exhibiting and providing a training course at the ASIP Conference 2019 in San Antonio, TX from December 2-5, 2019.  We hope you will drop by our training course and booth to check out the latest!

ESRD’s Training Course

The training course titled “Automated 3-D Crack Beta Curve Development via Smart Sim Apps” will be held Monday, December 2, 2019 / 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM by Mr. Brent Lancaster.  The description is as follows:

In the past, fatigue crack growth in 3D was typically analyzed with a compounding (or superposition) of beta factors to represent various configurations and loadings for complex components. While compounding approaches can be simulated quickly, many of the beta factors used for DaDT simulations were derived from analytical or empirical models of much simpler configurations, which may not be representative of the 3D case at hand. Thus, a risk of the “unknown” is introduced into the simulation, endangering the ability of DaDT analysts to provide a justifiable assessment of 3D fatigue crack life. To mitigate this risk, recently the numerical simulation community initiated the development of engineering simulation applications, or Sim Apps, to automate parametric finite element analyses (FEA) of complex crack components such that the practice of compounding beta factors could be replaced with fully representative beta factors.

Example Smart Sim App for Automated Computation of Multi-Phase Beta Factors (with Built-In Solution Verification)

This short training course will discuss the creation of Sim Apps for the automatic generation of complex, solution-verified 2D and 3D beta factors via the integration of StressCheck’s parametric FEA engine, the Windows Component Object Model (COM) and Microsoft Excel VBA. This SAFER Simulation approach reduces the error-prone superposition of stress intensity factors (SIF’s) to represent complex beta factors.

Course Outline:

• Overview of fracture mechanics parameters for fatigue crack growth: SIF’s, J-integrals and beta factors.
• Pros and cons of compounding beta factors: what are the risks?
• What is a Sim App, and how can they help DaDT engineers produce more accurate analyses?
• Case studies in Sim Apps for the automation of 2D and 3D beta factor generation
• Live Sim App Demo: automated beta curve generation via an Excel VBA + StressCheck-based Sim App
• Q&A

The training course content will be based on concepts from the following resources, available on ESRD’s Resource Library:

• Automated Beta Curve Development Using Parametric FEA
• StressCheck Demo: Sim App Development via Excel VBA and StressCheck API
• Fracture Mechanics Sim Apps: Sample Visual Basic Application
• Crack Propagation Analysis Tool for 3D Crack Simulation: A Simulation App Case Study
• Deployment of Smart Simulation Apps in Support of DaDT Activities
• 3D Crack Growth Simulation: Advancements & Applications Webinar
• Democratization of Simulation Governance-Compliant Sim Apps Webinar

Register

ESRD’s Exhibit Booth

ESRD’s Brent Lancaster chats with ASIP 2018 attendees.

ESRD can be found at Booth 25 and will have several staff members available to chat and answer questions about our software products and DaDT solutions.

Introducing the StressCheck Clinic

We will also be introducing the StressCheck Clinic at ASIP Conference 2019, where StressCheck users may drop by our exhibit booth (at a communicated time or on a first-come, first-served basis) to discuss any questions, issues or feature requests with a qualified ESRD representative. Stay tuned more more details on this new offering!

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Participating ESRD Staff

Contact information for ESRD staff participating in ASIP Conference 2019 is as follows:

• Mr. Gordon Lehman, PE – gordon.lehman@esrd.com
• Mr. Brent Lancaster – brent.lancaster@esrd.com

ESRD’s Brent Lancaster prepares to discuss StressCheck with attendees during a break at ASIP 2019.

This past week at ASIP 2019, ESRD provided a 2-hour training course titled “Automated 3D Crack Beta Curve Development via Smart Sim Apps”, chatted with “patients” at the StressCheck Clinic, and exhibited at our convenient booth (above).

ESRD’s Brent Lancaster and Gordon Lehman enjoyed meeting many of the ASIP attendees, connecting with a wide variety of customers and colleagues, and sharing ESRD’s expertise on the development of FEA-based Sim Apps during our training course. As always, thanks to those who attended the training presentation and/or stopped by our booth to say hello to Brent and Gordon.

We were also pleased to learn that quite a few of this year’s ASIP presentations incorporated StressCheck (or StressCheck-Powered Sim Apps) to enhance their DaDT simulations. We are grateful to be included in the “toolboxes” of these ASIP engineers, and look forward to supporting their future fracture mechanics modeling challenges.

ASIP 2019 Training Materials Available…

ESRD Training Course Poster at ASIP 2019.

On Monday, December 2nd, Brent had the pleasure of providing a training course on the development of FEA-based Sim Apps for the automation of 2D and 3D beta factors to a group of ASIP engineers. Thanks to those who attended and/or requested the training course presentation.

ESRD’s Brent Lancaster provides a training course at ASIP 2019.

If you are interested in this topic, you can download Mr. Lancaster’s training presentation (in PowerPoint show or PDF format) from the link below:

ASIP 2019 Training – Automated 3D Crack Beta Curve Development via Smart Sim Apps

We are looking forward to receiving your feedback on the training course presentation.

Note: if you are not a current ESRD customer and would like to evaluate the Sim App examples, please contact us for a trial evaluation of StressCheck. In the “Comment or Message” box, please write “I would like to explore the ASIP 2019 Sim Apps.”

Upcoming Webinar…

Keys to mastering StressCheck Professional are explored.

We are pleased to announce a Q1 2020 webinar titled “Mastering StressCheck: Practical Training Approaches & Online Resources for A&D Engineers“. The abstract is as follows:

Strategies for mastering StressCheck Professional for a variety of Aerospace & Defense engineering applications, and a review of the available training options and online resources, will be explored.

Learn more and register for the February 12th, 2020 webinar:

Keys to mastering StressCheck Professional are explored.

ESRD is pleased to announce our first webinar of 2020, scheduled for February 12 @ 1:00 pm EST. This 2-hour, user-oriented webinar “Mastering StressCheck: Practical Training Approaches & Online Resources for A&D Engineers” will detail training approaches focused on applications to make numerical simulation via finite element analysis S.A.F.E.R. – Simple, Accurate, Fast, Efficient, and Reliable.

During this webinar, you will learn about the latest StressCheck training options for Aerospace & Defense (A&D) engineering analysts, how to improve your mastery of StressCheck via the FAQ’s, tutorials & best practices in the ESRD Resource Library, and get a ‘sneak peek’ at some typical topics & practical applications covered in our 2020 StressCheck Basic Training course.

We look forward to your attendance!

Register Now

ESRD, Inc. will be exhibiting and providing a training course at the AA&S/PS&S Conference 2019 in Washington, D.C. from April 22-26, 2019.  We hope you will drop by our training course and booth to check out the latest!

Training Course

The training course titled “How Do You Verify the Accuracy of Engineering Simulations?” will be held Monday, April 22, 2019 / 3:00 PM – 5:00 PM by Mr. Gordon Lehman, PE. The description is as follows:

Convergence of minimum principal stress in an aircraft keel beam structure (courtesy Digital Engineering)

This Training Class will review strategies for verifying the accuracy of engineering simulation data, including best practices and common pitfalls engineers may encounter when assessing the quality of their engineering simulation results.

We will explore why is the practice of solution verification for FEA results important? And what checks must always be performed before reporting your FEA results as “accurate”?

The class will dive into the four key quality of solution checks that should be examined to confirm solution verification of detailed stress results.

This will be accomplished by examining a variety of publicly-available and industry-applicable case studies, benchmarks and industry examples, to determine the most efficient and reliable methodologies to perform solution verification.

The training course content structure will be based on our January 2019 webinar and recent S.A.F.E.R. Simulation blog article “What Are the Key Quality Checks for FEA Solution Verification?”. You can watch the 38-minute recording and read the article below:

• Webinar Recording: How Do You Verify the Accuracy of Engineering Simulations?
• S.A.F.E.R. Simulation Blog Article: What Are the Key Quality Checks for FEA Solution Verification?

Register

Exhibit Booth

ESRD can be found at Booth 110, conveniently located near the entrance to the exhibit hall.  Feel free to stop by and discuss the training course content, S.A.F.E.R. Simulation, StressCheck Professional, CAE Handbook, StressCheck Tool Box, and What’s New with ESRD!

ESRD’s Andrew Ledbetter talks to an AA&S 2018 attendee.

While you’re at the ESRD booth, be sure to grab one of our giveaways, including this nifty foam flyer:

StressCheck foam plane (it actually flies!)

Contact information for ESRD staff is as follows:

• Mr. Gordon Lehman, PE – gordon.lehman@esrd.com

Recently at ASIP 2022 in Phoenix, AZ, ESRD provided a 2-hour training course titled “Best Practices for the Modeling and Analysis of Bonded Doubler Repairs”, presented a technical paper titled “DTA of Bonded Repairs on the Wing Skin of the C-130 Using Finite Elements“, chatted with “patients” at the StressCheck Clinic, and exhibited at our captivating booth inside the Sheraton Phoenix Hotel & Conference Center.

We are also planning a webinar for February 7, 2023 titled “What’s New and Improved in StressCheck Professional”. We hope you can attend this “must-see” event!

Conference Snapshot

ESRD’s Brent Lancaster and Brian Lockwood enjoyed meeting many of the ASIP attendees, connecting with a wide variety of our customers and colleagues, and sharing ESRD’s expertise on the development of bonded repair solutions for aircraft structural applications. We were also pleased to learn how valuable StressCheck’s solutions are becoming to ASIP engineers and DaDT analysts, with more than a half-dozen ASIP 2022 technical presentations referencing StressCheck and/or Hill Engineering’s BAMpF (which uses StressCheck to compute FEA-based SIF solutions).

As always, thanks to those who attended Brent’s training presentation, Brian’s technical paper presentation and/or stopped by our booth to say hello to Brent and Brian. We are already looking forward to attending ASIP 2023 in Denver, Colorado.

ASIP 2022 Training Materials Available

On Monday, November 28th, Brent had the pleasure of providing a training course to a group of attentive ASIP engineers on best practices, tips and tricks for modeling bonded repair doublers in StressCheck Professional. Thanks to those who attended the training course in person (as well as virtually)!

If you are interested in this topic, you can download Brent’s training presentation (in PowerPoint show or PDF format) and watch the twenty-one (21) video demos via the below link (note: you must be a registered user to view the training materials):

We are looking forward to receiving your feedback on the training course presentation, as well as your ideas for ASIP 2023 training course topics.

ASIP 2022 Technical Paper Presentation Available

On Thursday, December 1st, Brian had the honor of presenting his technical paper “DTA of Bonded Repairs on the Wing Skin of the C-130 Using Finite Elements” to a strong audience of engaged ASIP attendees. The paper was a collaboration between ESRD, AP/ES (Dr. Scott Prost-Domasky) and USAF AFMC WRALC/ENC (Laura Pawlikowski), and discussed the progress so far on their SBIR Phase II project (AF193-024 Finite Element Method for Bonded Repair Design).

More results will be presented at ASIP 2023. If you are interested in this topic, you can view Brian’s technical paper presentation (in PowerPoint show or PDF format) via the below link (note: you must be a registered user to view the training materials):

Upcoming Webinar

We are pleased to announce a 2-hour webinar on February 7, 2023 @ noon EST titled “What’s New and Improved in StressCheck Professional“. Demos and briefings will be provided on the following new features and enhancements, as well as features under development for our next release.

New features and enhancements already available with the latest StressCheck release (v11.1) include but are not limited to:

• Support for mixed (tetra/penta/hexa) meshes
• Support for parametric scaling of global-local loads
• Upgraded infrastructure for faster model rendering and updating
• Improvements to load record management and load attribute rendering
• Improved strategies for 3D crack automeshing
• Improved strategies for 3D stress intensity factor (SIF) computation
• Enhancements to support the automeshing of thin parts and domains
• New CHM-based offline documentation
• New COM API documentation

Expected features and enhancements for our next StressCheck release (v11.2) will include:

• Mesh seeding to guide the Automesh by automatically using pre-existing node locations.
• Upgraded toolbar icons for a clear and improved user experience.
• New option to select the toolbar icons between 16×16 (default), 20×20 and 24×24 pixels size.
• Movable Min/Max labels for Results plotting and extractions.
• A Dependencies button on the Parameter pane which lists all dependencies on the selected parameter.
• Column sorting and filtering for Parameters pane table including “Go To” to search for parameters.
• Predictive text on input fields has been implemented for parameter and formula names.
• Enhanced Index controls for filtering and sorting Geometry and Mesh object lists. including “Go To ID…” to access a specific ID.
• Improved visualization of Selected status on dropdown lists containing assignment/set records.
• Overhauled the Display Objects pane to support selective number ranges and additional object types.
• Re-designed color definitions pane.
• A list of object IDs belonging to a set “Contents:” and a list of objects that reference the set “Used By:” are now displayed when selecting a record on the Sets page.
• Improved consistency of DeLast/Undo functionality
• And much more under development!

We will also host a Q&A session at the end of the webinar to allow attendees to interact with and provide feedback to members of our product development team.

To register for this “can’t miss” webinar, please complete the form below:

Recently at ASIP 2021 in Austin, TX, ESRD provided a 4-hour training course titled “Standardization and Automation of DaDT Solutions via FEA-Based Sim Apps”, chatted with “patients” at the StressCheck Clinic, and exhibited at our captivating booth inside the Hyatt Regency Austin Conference Center.

Conference Snapshot

ESRD’s Brent Lancaster and Gordon Lehman enjoyed meeting many of the ASIP attendees, connecting with a wide variety of our customers and colleagues, and sharing ESRD’s expertise on the development of FEA-based Sim Apps. We also had the honor of providing multiple live demos of StressCheck v11’s current and upcoming features for improved 3D crack automeshing and SIF extractions (more on this below). As always, thanks to those who attended the training presentation and/or stopped by our booth to say hello to Brent and Gordon.

We were also pleased to learn that several of this year’s ASIP presentations incorporated StressCheck (or StressCheck-Powered Sim Apps, such as Hill Engineering’s BAMpF) to enhance their DaDT simulations. Notably:

• F15 Fatigue FEMs and the ASIP Process – Mr Philip Munoz – The Boeing Co, Nathan Goeckner – The Boeing Co & Mr Renzo Higa – AFLCMC/WAQ
• B1 TaperLok Fastener Hole ERS Partial to Full Credit – Mr Robert Pilarczyk – Hill Engineering LLC & Mr Jared Yunk – The Boeing Co
• Load Spectra Development and Damage Tolerance Sensitivities: An Application of Airworthiness Circular 23-13A – Mr Michael Worley – SWRI & Mr Jacob Warner – USAF
• Fatigue predictions at cold expanded holes – Mr Jacob Warner – USAF

We are grateful to be included in the “toolboxes” of these ASIP engineers, and look forward to supporting their future fracture mechanics, DaDT and 3D crack front modeling challenges.

ASIP 2021 Training Materials Available…

On Monday, November 29th, Brent had the pleasure of providing a training course to a group of attentive ASIP engineers on the development of StressCheck-based Sim Apps for customized DaDT automation workflows. Thanks to those who attended the training course and participated by asking questions/requesting demos!

If you are interested in this topic, you can download Brent’s training presentation (in PowerPoint show or PDF format) and watch the five (5) video demos via the below link:

We are looking forward to receiving your feedback on the training course presentation.

Note: if you are not a current ESRD customer and would like to evaluate the StressCheck-based Sim App examples presented during the course, please contact us for a trial evaluation of StressCheck and CAE Handbook. In the “Comment or Message” box, please write “I would like to explore the ASIP 2021 StressCheck-based Sim Apps.”

Upcoming Webinar…

We are pleased to announce a Q1 2022 webinar focused on new and improved fracture mechanics features for StressCheck v11. Below is the webinar abstract:

StressCheck v11 and newer implements a mixed element boundary layer mesher to apply pentahedral and hexahedral elements to the crack front to minimize element distortion and maintain a high-quality solution in the vicinity of the crack. This leads to a higher degree of accuracy in SIF calculations, and overall solver efficiency, when compared to the previous all-tetrahedral boundary layer meshing implementation.

If you are interested in pre-registering for this webinar, please complete the below form and we will ensure you are informed of the date/time/topics:

ESRD, Inc. will be exhibiting and providing a training course in person at the ASIP Conference 2021 in Austin, TX from November 29-December 2, 2021.  We hope you will drop by our training course and booth to check out the latest!

ESRD’s Training Course

The training course titled “Standardization and Automation of DaDT Solutions via FEA-Based Sim Apps” will be held Monday, November 29th / 1:00 PM – 5:00 PM by Mr. Brent Lancaster.  The course description is as follows:

The standardization, automation, and democratization of new technologies such as Simulation Applications (Sim Apps) offers many benefits to industry at the engineering, product, and business levels. These benefits include encapsulating complexity, improving productivity, containing cost, and ensuring reliability for the expert simulation analyst and the engineer-in-training alike.

ESRD’s StressCheck Professional (GUI & API) and novel CAE Handbook software tools support the development & deployment of custom Sim Apps and/or digital engineering handbooks for the standardization and automation of durability & damage tolerance (DaDT) solutions. As a result, engineering organizations are empowered to develop a wide range of FEA-based options, from a simple parametric handbook for the computation of SIF’s for a range of crack aspect ratios, to a fully-scripted “homegrown” application for the analysis of 3D structures with multiple crack orientations & locations.

In this 4-hour training course, we will focus on the following topics:

• The construction of a custom digital DaDT handbook solution via StressCheck Professional, including the parametrization of model input data and the storage of application-specific results extractions (i.e. SIF’s).
• An overview of CAE Handbook, including pre-existing digital DaDT handbook solutions and how custom digital DaDT handbook solution may be utilized in a friendly, fail-safe environment.
• Performing “what if?” logic-driven studies of digital DaDT handbook solution via a StressCheck API-powered Sim App, in which user-defined input data is passed from Excel VBA or Python to StressCheck Professional to perform scripted “on-the-fly” model adjustments and DaDT computations.

ASIP attendees who choose to participate in this ESRD training will walk away with the following knowledge:

• How to implement and rollout Sim Apps to your engineering team members.
  • Selecting a good candidate simulation workflow when developing an engineering Sim App.
  • Defining the modeling, analysis and output requirements for your team’s Sim Apps.
• Existing software tools and platforms that are available to develop and implement engineering Sim Apps.
  • The benefits and cost savings of utilizing Sim Apps within your engineering teams.
  • The process of planning out the development and QA testing of your Sim Apps.

The training course content will be based on concepts from the following resources, available on ESRD’s Resource Library and online documentation:

• ASIP 2019 Training – Automated 3D Crack Beta Curve Development via Smart Sim Apps
• StressCheck Tutorial: Crack Front Automeshing/Auto Integration Radius Features
• StressCheck Demo: Sim App Development via Excel VBA and StressCheck API
• StressCheck Automation Fundamentals

ESRD’s Exhibit Booth

ESRD can be found at Booth 5 and will have several staff members available to chat, provide demonstrations, troubleshoot issues (StressCheck Clinic), and answer questions about our training course, our software products and our DaDT solutions.

The StressCheck Clinic

StressCheck users may drop by our booth on a first-come, first-served basis to discuss any StressCheck-related questions, issues or feature requests with us. This includes troubleshooting customer models, demonstrating StressCheck features, and providing best practices/tips on how best to optimize StressCheck’s use.

Want to ensure ESRD’s booth staff is well-equipped to answer your StressCheck Clinic request? Click the below button, include “StressCheck Clinic Request” in the message subject, provide a brief message, and we will be prepared to discuss your request at our booth. Note: Customer membership level is required.

As a courtesy to other conference participants, we request that StressCheck Clinic visits be capped at 30 minutes.

Participating ESRD Staff

Contact information for ESRD staff participating in ASIP Conference 2021 is as follows:

• Mr. Gordon Lehman, PE – gordon.lehman@esrd.com
• Mr. Brent Lancaster – brent.lancaster@esrd.com