Computers in engineering

---

More 1 2

IBM and Dassault launch another CATIA

Only four months after the launch of Version 5 Release 5, CATIA Version 5 Release 6 incorporates improvements to existing products and introduces 17 new products, bringing the solution's total product offerings to 78. The new solution provides integration of multiple engineering disciplines through its expanded process coverage. The new release is said to improve every step of the product development cycle while simplifying knowledge sharing between manufacturers and subcontractors working together in real time.

A Boeing 737 is modeled in CATIA.

Improvements to the solution enable users to make associative modifications to drawings (e.g., creating additional 2-D geometry that will remain associative to 2-D geometry generated from the original 3-D model). This capability will help facilitate direct modification of 2-D drawings generated from the 3-D models and minimize the dress-up activity required to deliver a fully defined drawing, regardless of whether modifications are made to 2- or 3-D geometry.

Another enhancement is the capability of managing multiple instances of a subassembly in which each instance may have a different configuration. Flexible assemblies eliminate the need for multiple copies of a subassembly, ensuring consistency in the bill of materials (BOM) and eliminating the potential for errors associated with synchronizing multiple versions of the same subassembly.

Engineers are able to define assembly features across multiple parts in an assembly in a single operation. Assembly features remain within the individual components even when manipulated independently. This supports the concurrent definition of multiple parts of an assembly, including the associative management of features that exist across those parts.

The new release offers additional mold base libraries and new types of features for such items as gates. These capabilities generate significant productivity improvements for initial tool definition via access to catalogs of standard tooling components and the automated positioning and building of those tools.

Enhancements to the surface-healing capabilities of Generative Shape Design 2 support the integration of geometry derived from non-CATIA systems in a uniquely associative manner with the ability to enforce tangency. Many other changes included in Version 5 Release 6 (V5R6) support complex surface definition processes, including variational (adaptive) sweep, improvements in associativity, and many user interface enhancements for ease of use and productivity.

The kinematics capability of the digital mockup tools in V5R6 allows the definition of mechanisms on subassemblies within an overall assembly context, facilitating the management of multiple kinematics setups within a complete product definition. In addition, the software enables users to alter kinematics through law-based drivers.

Using V5R6's Tolerance Analysis of Deformable Assembly product, designers can predict the variability in the assembled components by taking into account strains induced by the manufacturing process.

V5R6 features enhanced "knowledgeware" capabilities, improving flexibility, robustness and knowledge management. Improvements to the catalog infrastructure allow management of rule bases in Knowledge Engineering 2 and generative scripts in Generative Knowledge 2.

The Tolerance Analysis of Deformable Assembly product assesses the impact of the assembly process on flexible components. Designers can predict the variability in the assembled components by taking into account the strains induced by manufacturing processes, such as clamping, fixturing, and the application of welding and bonding robots.

Automated assembly conditions for structural simulation analysis tools are enhanced to provide rapid definition and assessment of complex and time-consuming setups associated with determining the effects of advanced mechanical assembly conditions, such as pretension in bolted joints, interference/clearance fits between assembled components, and hydrodynamic bearing loads. These associative and generative tools enable users to assess the effects of changes on the design geometry without redefining the problem.

The solution offers enhanced machining capabilities, enabling users to capture and reuse predefined machining cycles and to capture machining process information independently. The knowledge of how this information can be applied is based on a set of geometric or technological inputs specified when the process is reused.

V5R6 features Multi-axis Surface Machining 2 for machining-process definition. The inherent associativity and integration in Version 5 enables rapid evaluation and validation of changes and design variations. Built-in tool path verification allows real-time assessment of the outcomes of defined machining operations directly on the part to help streamline concurrent engineering and allow rapid iteration between design and manufacturing validation.

- Frank Bokulich

More 1 2