Case Study: CIKONI achieves faster, more accurate Type IV composite pressure-vessel design with Altair's Multiscale Designer

CIKONI - Customer Case Study

CIKONI, an innovation-focused engineering firm in Stuttgart, needed an integrated digital design workflow to develop lightweight, safe Type IV composite pressure vessels for hydrogen storage while cutting the time and cost of extensive physical testing. To address complex anisotropic composite behavior, filament-winding process effects, and many material/process permutations, CIKONI partnered with Altair and used Altair Multiscale Designer together with Altair OptiStruct and Altair ESAComp (integrated with a third‑party Cadfil filament‑winding simulation) to enable virtual prototyping.

Altair implemented a multiscale material modeling approach that replaced much of the traditional coupon-testing matrix, combined fast 2D shell “what‑if” studies and high-fidelity 3D layerwise FEA, and linked winding process simulation to structural analysis. The Altair solution increased simulation efficiency, reduced prototypes and physical testing, delivered better estimates of burst pressures and life predictions, and gave CIKONI clearer insight into damage mechanisms—providing confidence that manufactured vessels will meet certification tests.

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