One of our core offerings at #Orthotropic is stress analysis - in particular the analysis of load-bearing composite structures. But we're certainly not the only company offering analysis services, so what makes us different?
With many years' composites engineering under our belt, we believe it's all-round practical experience and capability that sets us apart: Our 20 years' personal experience includes a diverse range of projects, ranging from tidal energy blades to light aircraft and even the gondola of a record-breaking hot-air balloon! Composites engineering is a highly practical subject though, so we're very fortunate that our experience stretches beyond design and analysis activities to include a significant amount of hands-on manufacture, inspection and testing.
When we established Orthotropic in 2018, we recognised the many benefits of maintaining a practical outlook and took the positive decision that our engineering office should always be supported by a well-equipped workshop facility - today this houses the equipment needed to manufacture and test small composite testpieces and components. This has enabled us to conduct our own materials R&D work and assist customers directly with practical tasks such as materials screening and selection. In 2021, we even completed a special design & build project for award-winning energy storage company #RheEnergise. Most importantly however, the workshop keeps us grounded in the practicalities of composites engineering and ensures that our inputs to design and analysis projects will always be manufacturing-literate.
For our customers, this means that our involvement in an analysis project is likely to bring wider benefits than might normally be expected: We're usually asked to begin with a short up-front design review that enables us to highlight and head off any obvious issues before we dive into the full, detailed analysis. As well as addressing structural challenges and ensuring that our effort is efficiently targetted, the review can also result in design simplifications and cost savings; a real win-win situation!
Of course, however good the design concept, it's likely that a full analysis will highlight some further structural issues that must be addressed in order to assure reliability - Here again, our experience of manufacture means we can assist with practically-minded suggestions to ensure that the number of design / analysis iterations is kept to a minimum: The result is a reliable, practical and cost-effective solution, converged on quickly with a minimum of fuss and rework.
We'd love to help with your composites project, so please call Orthotropic to discuss your analysis requirement!