Case Study: University of Wisconsin-Madison achieves streamlined high-fidelity composite rotor blade analysis with Altair HyperWorks

Composite Rotor Blade Analysis using Altair HyperWorks

The University of Wisconsin-Madison tasked senior student Christopher Van Damme with analyzing a composite helicopter rotor blade for a coaxial rotorcraft design project. Because composite behavior is difficult to capture with analytical models, he needed robust CAE tools to perform static, modal, frequency-response and dynamic studies, and relied on Altair’s HyperWorks suite—primarily HyperMesh and OptiStruct—to address the challenge.

Using Altair HyperWorks, Van Damme imported the CAD geometry into HyperMesh for fast, high-fidelity meshing and built full 3D finite-element models, then used OptiStruct to solve the critical static load case and run modal analyses to ensure natural frequencies would not coincide with rotor forcing frequencies. Altair’s tools streamlined geometry preparation and analysis, produced an accurate composite model capable of handling static, modal and frequency-response studies, and helped mitigate resonance-driven failure risk by confirming safe natural-frequency margins.

University of Wisconsin-Madison