Altair > Case Studies > Efficient Composite Pressure Vessel Design: A Case Study on CIKONI

Efficient Composite Pressure Vessel Design: A Case Study on CIKONI

Technology Category

Analytics & Modeling - Digital Twin / Simulation
Sensors - Haptic Sensors

Applicable Industries

Automotive
Life Sciences

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development
Quality Assurance

Use Cases

Manufacturing Process Simulation
Virtual Prototyping & Product Testing

Services

Hardware Design & Engineering Services
Testing & Certification

About The Customer

CIKONI is an innovation-focused engineering company based in Stuttgart, Germany. The company utilizes a unique methodology to develop groundbreaking technologies with composite materials and additive manufacturing. Their goal is to identify new technologies and potential affordances for businesses to advance the design for their current products, software solutions, and manufacturing machines. CIKONI enables clients to deploy these emerging technologies and create next-generation products while being supported from concept to finished products.

The Challenge

CIKONI, an innovation-focused engineering company based in Stuttgart, Germany, was faced with the challenge of creating an integrated digital design workflow for Type IV composite pressure vessels (CPVs). The company aimed to develop a comprehensive digital design process and workflow for CPVs, particularly the state-of-the-art Type IV polymer-lined, carbon fiber overwrapped vessels used in vehicles, and reduce the need for extensive, expensive physical testing. The challenges identified with the design of composite pressure vessels were three-fold: complex material behavior, many constituents, and the need for fast results. For accurate simulation, filament winding paths, material anisotropy and nonlinear damage progression needed full consideration. Additionally, expensive testing for each material and process modification was required. Lastly, simple modeling and efficient computation were needed to reduce simulation cost.

The Solution

CIKONI partnered with the Altair Composites Team and identified the benefits of Altair Multiscale Designer™ to increase simulation efficiency by its virtual material characterization to create accurate and reliable material models for structural simulation. The CPV workflow started with defining possible geometries to fit the on-vehicle design space. A commercial third-party filament winding simulation package provided the basis for the finite element model. Altair Multiscale Designer – a material modeling open framework – was used effectively to replace the usual Material Card and significantly reduce the coupon testing. The vessel modeling approach aimed to accurately predict failure during the winding optimization, using implicit simulation, with reasonable modeling and computation effort. Virtual testing was used to verify the structural model, efficiently re-evaluate different steps in the process, to attain an optimized design.

Operational Impact

The implementation of Altair Multiscale Designer™ in CIKONI's workflow led to increased simulation efficiency by delivering accurate material models quickly. A better estimation was attained of burst pressures and insight into damage mechanisms for different laminate layups at micro-mechanical levels. When combined with filament winding manufacturing simulation, the virtual design process ensured validation of simulation models for structural optimization of actual layups, along with life predictions. This resulted in a comprehensive digital design process and workflow for CPVs, particularly the state-of-the-art Type IV polymer-lined, carbon fiber overwrapped vessels used in vehicles, reducing the need for extensive, expensive physical testing.

Quantitative Benefit