Occupant Safety Experts, Cranfield Impact Centre, Select HyperWorks Enterprise Simulation Suite to Improve Vehicle and Pedestrian Safety Performance

Leading authority on Formula 1 crash testing, biomechanics analysis and automotive, aerospace and rail crashworthiness selects Altair CAE platform to improve occupant safety

TROY, Mich., April 15 /PRNewswire/ — Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of technology and services that empowers client innovation and decision-making, announced today, that safety specialists, Cranfield Impact Centre (CIC), one of the leading providers of solutions and engineering services for Formula 1 and other vehicle crashworthiness, occupant safety, and biomechanics analysis has selected Altair HyperWorks enterprise simulation software suite to enhance their design and analysis capabilities. CIC’s adoption of HyperWorks’ finite element solver solution and design study technology, RADIOSS and HyperStudyDSS, in conjunction with its finite element modeling software, HyperMesh, will enable widespread improvements to existing design processes, allowing CIC to deliver robust solutions to their clients, faster. In addition, CIC will make use of the HUMOS2 biomedical human model, one of a wide range of virtual dummies for occupant and pedestrian safety available from Altair.

“From former work experiences I already knew the HyperWorks suite very well and I know that it will help us to fulfill the everyday simulation tasks we face as efficiently as possible,” said Prof. Kambiz Kayvantash, Director of CIC and Professor at Cranfield University. “As a leading authority in occupant safety and biomechanics analysis, it is important to us that the tools we use are intuitive while remaining powerful enough to meet the highly complex challenges involved with crash protection, pedestrian impact and accident investigation. We selected the HyperWorks suite as it offers an unrivalled selection of integrated CAE tools that our engineers will use every day to develop innovative solutions.”

“HyperWorks offers us extremely good value for our investment, in fact I consider it the ‘Microsoft Office’ of engineering with an expansive set of tools under one license,” he adds. “The combination of RADIOSS for analysis and HyperStudyDSS for design of experiments and optimization allows us to quickly explore design variations and deliver the best solution to our clients for both material utilization and crash performance. This added capability combined with our own expertise truly sets us apart in the vehicle safety market.”

“We are very pleased that CIC have selected our solution for occupant safety and biomechanics applications and I know that they will benefit from the product suite,” said Maurice Linscott, Regional Director, Altair Engineering, UK. “In today’s environment, vehicles need not only be safe and as environmentally friendly as possible; but, the safety of the occupant and pedestrians is paramount. To reach these goals, engineers need to investigate the relationship between safety and fuel efficiency more thoroughly. RADIOSS, as the industry leading crash and occupant safety solver solution, is therefore the best choice for CIC to deal with these challenges. Its repeatability, scalability, and accuracy make it the analysis tool of choice for many of the world’s leading OEMs and suppliers.”

Professor Kambiz Kayvantash will present a technical paper on the use of HyperWorks in biomechanical applications at the 6th Altair CAE Technology Conference on 14th May 2009 at the Heritage Motor Centre in Gaydon, Warwickshire, UK. Details of the paper ‘HUMOS – A FE Human model for advanced safety and comfort assessments’ can be found at www.altairhyperworks.co.uk/technology.

About HyperWorks

Built on a foundation of design optimization, performance data management and process automation, HyperWorks is an enterprise simulation solution for rapid design exploration and decision-making. As the most comprehensive, open-architecture CAE solution in the industry, HyperWorks includes best-in-class modeling, analysis, visualization and data management solutions for linear and non-linear, structural optimization, fluid-structure interaction, and multi-body dynamics applications. For more information please visit www.altairhyperworks.com.

About Cranfield Impact Centre (CIC)

CIC is a leader in the field of safety structures, vehicle crashworthiness, and occupant safety analysis and design. CIC is a division of Cranfield Innovative Manufacturing Ltd which is wholly owned by Cranfield University. CIC offers research and consultancy in key areas including vehicle and vehicle occupant simulation, analysis, design, development and testing of safety structures including F1 cars, design for crashworthiness and crash protection and pedestrian impact modelling (biomechanics). www.cicl.co.uk

About Altair

Altair Engineering, Inc. empowers client innovation and decision-making through technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information. Privately held with more than 1,300 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America, South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 20-year-plus track record for enterprise analytics, product development, and advanced computing, Altair consistently delivers a competitive advantage to customers in a broad range of industries. To learn more, please visit www.altair.com.

SOURCE Altair Engineering, Inc.