SBIR-STTR Award

Modern Model-Based Enterprise / Engineering (MBE) systems rely on freeform surfaces built as complex combinations of geometric primitives to define engineered objects. Unfortunately, the intersection of freeform surfaces in MBE applications results in highly approximated solutions, degrading models that cost billions annually by US industry to fix. Current technology limits the abilities of users in the digital thread who inherit these gap-ridden models: additive manufacturing/3D printing, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), etc. Entire branches of industry have been set up to deal with the expensive problem of repairing, translating, and meshing models. Commonly referred to as ?the trim problem?, it is considered to be the core issue hindering MBE progress. The startup nVariate has developed technology that solves this problem, making the MBE model gap-free. The methodology uses a three-stage process to provide a welldefined mathematical mapping between conventional trimmed and gap-free models. The procedure can be integrated into existing MBE frameworks utilizing existing data structures throughout the digital thread. nVariate?s approach solves the problem natively, discretely, and seeks to make it available in native MBE software as a plug-in. SBIR Phase I funding is sought to answer core questions of commercial technology translation.

Today’s Computer-Aided Design (CAD) applications utilize restrictive mathematical assumptions to approximate the compound geometric intersections necessary to represent real-world products. As a result, critical information is not represented within the Model-Based Definition (MBD) for downstream users in the digital thread, forcing engineers to manually repair CAD models and convert them into degraded formats, such as polygonal meshes for Finite Element Analysis (FEA). For Isogeometric Analysis (IGA), the problem is worse as the input required is a watertight spline representation, Although there are current solvers in both academia and industry to run IGA models, there is no automated means to produce the watertight spline representation input form CAD models, a gap in the Model-based Enterprise (MBE). nVariate’s Watertight CAD technology solves this problem by creating geometrically gap-free representations from trimmed surfaces, natively within the CAD application., This requires minimal change to the user’s high-level software interface while the technology fixes the flaws within the CAD model. The resulting model is IGA-ready for existing industrial and academic implementations, as well as for use in forthcoming IGA ISO standards. This is critical in bridging gap in the MBE, integrating IGA into the digital thread.