Welcome to physvis.co.uk
PhysVis A joint project featuring technology transferred from the serious computer games industry aims to develop a low-cost, high-performance physics-based software product for the visualisation and simulation of complex manufacturing systems in a range of industries.
|
Called PhysVis and featuring technology transferred from the serious computer games industry, a joint-project to develop a low-cost, high-performance physics-based software product for the visualisation and simulation of complex systems in a range of industries, has been announced today by the project leader AMTRI, one of the United Kingdom's leading production engineering specialists. Awarded a grant of £400,000 from the Department of Trade and Industry (Dti), the nineteen-month project started in October 2006 and qualified for funding under the Dti’s Fast Track Technology Programme. Partners in the project headed by AMTRI are Advanced Composites Group, a world leading British manufacturer of high performance composite materials for many industries, including the aerospace sector; and Innoval Technology, an independent materials and process technology consultancy based in Banbury, UK. |
Proof of concept flag demo accelerated using the Ageia physX
|
The PhysVis initiative promises to unlock the door to more innovation and new business for manufacturers in rapidly developing sectors such as the aerospace industry. The proposed visualisation and simulation system will offer at far lower cost the high levels of performance and capability only likely to be found in the application modules of far more expensive CAD suites from major vendors.
The project headed by AMTRI believes this will bring a new and valuable resource, particularly to small to medium-size enterprise (SME) manufacturers.
Phil Sholl, managing director of AMTRI, explained: "The high performance and low cost of PhysVis will represent a profound opportunity for a range of specialist companies in fast-growing, high-technology sectors like the production of carbon fibre-based composite components." "These specialist manufacturers will be able to design ’right-first-time’ production systems and assess investment and operational risks before they commit to procurement and implementation. This can only be done now with the resources available to larger companies". "PhysVis will enable more innovation and new business to be achieved in areas that would otherwise be too risky, technically and financially, for SMEs to consider. It will allow them to compete more effectively in a global market," he said.
PhysVis will address the challenges posed by the handling and visualisation of large data sets associated with complex systems. It will provide a low cost, highly graphic virtual environment with innovative software and hardware solutions based around proven technology. AMTRI will develop the new product based on extensive work with the so-called ’serious computer games’ technology developed by US company AGEIA and its new PhysyX Accelerator, and a low cost but sophisticated PC-based digital factory simulation system from Finnish company Visual Components.
The important role of Advanced Composites Group in the project is that of end user, or the first customer for PhysVis. ACG will provide the application domain, that of aerospace composite manufacture.
Innoval’s role is to categorise the material (carbon fibre) using their unique fabric modelling approach. The simulations start with an individual fibre and model the fabric weave in all its detail to create an accurate mechanical representation of the woven carbon fibre material. The output of the simulations is a constitutive material model that represents a ’unit patch’ of the material.
AMTRI will then map the unit patch to AGEIA’s PhysX Accelerator and simulate both the material and the robotic manufacturing system to achieve accurate process and product interactions so that the best manufacturing techniques may be determined.
"In addition, AMTRI are mapping into the system characteristics of spraying resin and paint particles to show that the same PhysX-based technology can be used to visualise different complex manufacturing processes. To date there is no commercial system that can do this in a way that faithfully follows the rules of physics," said Bob Lloyd, the company’s simulation manager and head of the PhysVis development team.