Fifth International Conference on Engineering Failure Analysis, 1-4 July 2012, Hilton Hotel, The Hague, The Netherlands

To register, go to http://www.icefaconference.com

Embossing of polymeric films destined for usage in the personal care marketplace is an industrial process that produces a very fine pattern, barely discernible to the naked eye, yet has a significant influence on some market-driven properties; more bulk, a soft and smooth touch, reduced crinkling noise and lower gloss. However this comes at a cost to the mechanical properties such as stiffness and ultimate strength capability. Since the feature size of the embossing pattern is so small, it is difficult to obtain all the information from an experiment alone, making the Finite Element Method an ideal analytical tool to help gain additional insight into the effects of some of the design and process parameters.

When computer generated imagery (CGI) first started to appear on movie and video

ABAQUS is used to simulate interactions of an absorbent personal care product (a diaper), with its user and their environment. This problem, being almost completely driven by complex contact between highly deformable and moving bodies, is a challenging proposition. Advanced contact algorithms, non-linear material models and multi-body dynamic analysis capabilities in ABAQUS are used to successfully study the structural interactions of a diaper, a baby and their environment. Aspects of product fit and comfort are often difficult to quantify either by direct measurement or from user feedback. However, by utilizing features of ABAQUS, it is possible to predict physical interactions that occur between the diaper and baby.

Origami is the art of paper folding. Our entire range of packages is formed from a flat web of packaging material using the origami technique. Virtual and reverse engineering are fundamental for the development of our technology. Complex simulations like extremely nonlinear dynamic events as well as design optimization are part of our daily activity. This paper describes how Simulia’s software with the help of automated tools has been successfully used to simulate the fundamental phases of our forming process driving in some cases its design.

A finite element (FE) model of the human foot and ankle was developed from 3D

People are less likely to wear hearing protection that is uncomfortable. The overall comfort of the hearing protection is therefore a primary design feature. Methods for evaluating comfort typically include production and use testing of physical prototypes which are expensive and time consuming which reduces the number of design options to test. This work demonstrates the use of computer modeling to predict wearer discomfort by modeling the interaction between ear protection devices and the human ear.

The emergence of simulation data management software packages provides an opportunity to both streamline simulation processes and further leverage the impact of simulation results. The nimble mechanism for process automation offered by SIMULIA SLM (Simulation Lifecycle Management) product reduces simulation turnaround by establishing connections between and managing simulation stages while allowing interactive components, such as Abaqus/CAE, to provide rich functionality. A strategy of combining a server based management system with local interactive components allows new and existing simulation processes to be quickly encapsulated into a streamlined tool. The management system (SLM) tracks data pedigree and provides sophisticated search/retrieval tools for simulation related data.

The work presented in this paper details the development of a finite element (FE) model
of a soccer ball, allowing for a greater understanding of the performance of soccer balls under