INNOVATION-September-October-2020

Convergent develops software that performs physics-based simulations that predict how aerostructures will perform in the real world. For example, COMPRO is designed for process analysis of geometrically complex structures,

and can calculate process induced deformations (spring-in) and develop recommendations for geometric tool compensation. I mages : C onvergent

to be right…for a composite product, it’s not just the product itself, but also the oven in which the product is cooked. We do all that in computer simulation. We simulate all this stuff, we create a virtual world to see how composites react [in the real world],” he said. Convergent supplies the simulation software (as standalone software and plug-ins for Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA and CATIA), that gives meaning to massive amounts of data that the digital twin can theoretically produce. “[In a digital twin,] you are managing an infinitely complicated problem by determining how to mitigate the infinitely complex data,” he said.

[components] perform, and that can give you information that may be predictive. You’re looking for correlations that appear to happen consistently when a part is defective.” Elvidge said that digital twinning captures data and uses it as a teaching tool that relies on science rather than only intuition and experience. “Step one is learning,” he said. “Step two is to adapt to that process, and step three is predicting. It’s taking a traditional process and laying data on the framework to give you the necessary information and to start pushing that knowledge upstream.” To Elvidge, the Supercluster partnership focused on The Learning Factory Digital Twin could help Avcorp and other partners normalize digital manufacturing and help BC companies compete on a world stage. SIMULATING PHYSICS IN DIGITAL TWINS Gathering and storing large amounts of data is essential to digital twinning. But analyzing the data and using it to produce a physics-based account of an asset gives digital twinning its meaning. That’s why this Supercluster partnership includes Convergent Manufacturing Technologies Inc., a Vancouver-based UBC spin-off with strong ties to the UBC-led Composites Research Network. Convergent develops sophisticated software used to simulate the physics of complex aerostructures. Dr. Anoush Poursartip, P.Eng., is Convergent’s Chief Strategy Officer and Director of Research and Development. “Imagine a tomato,” he said. “When you pick it up, it deforms. A good physics simulation of that tomato has to capture its softness. Likewise, in a good video game, you can see hair [realistically] moving in the wind. We can simulate how a t-shirt wrinkles,” he said. “These physics-based models have

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