 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Composite Materials Analysis & Simulation |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Headquarters | Laramie, Wyoming |
Key people | Jerad Stack, CEO |
Firehole Composites (formerly Firehole Technologies, Inc.) was a supplier of computer-aided engineering (CAE) software and consulting services specializing in analysis of composite materials. Founded in 2000, the company's mission is to provide enabling technologies to further the widespread use of composite materials. Their products include Helius:MCT (a multiscale simulation tool for composite progressive failure analysis), Helius:CompositePro (a classical laminate theory and simple structural analysis tool), Helius:MatSim (an online micromechanics lamina simulator), and Prospector:Composites (an online composite material properties database hosted by IDES Inc.).
Firehole’s principal product, Helius:MCT, is a simulation tool built to improve the accuracy of composite structure analysis and is available as an advanced capability add-on to commercial finite element analysis (FEA) packages (such as Abaqus and ANSYS). It is based on Multicontinuum Technology (MCT), an analysis methodology developed specifically for composites which, rather than treating the composite as a homogeneous material, extracts the separate stress and strain fields for the constituents (fiber and matrix) of a composite material.[1][2] In doing so, distinct failure criteria and material nonlinearity can be applied separately. This permits Helius:MCT to identify failure of individual material constituents and degrade a composite material accordingly, providing a robust progressive failure simulation that captures failure initiation all the way up to and beyond ultimate structural failure.
Firehole was acquired by Autodesk in 2013 for an undisclosed sum.[3]
- ^ Mayes, J. Steven; Hansen, Andrew C. (2004-01-01), Hinton, M. J.; Kaddour, A. S.; Soden, P. D. (eds.), "Chapter 3.15 - Composite laminate failure analysis using multicontinuum theory", Failure Criteria in Fibre-Reinforced-Polymer Composites, Oxford: Elsevier, pp. 490–517, doi:10.1016/b978-008044475-8/50019-6, ISBN 978-0-08-044475-8, retrieved 2023-05-18
- ^ Nelson, Emmett; Hansen, Andrew; Welsh, Jeffry; Mayes, J. (2008-04-07). Recent Advances in Failure Predictions of Composite Laminates Utilizing Multicontinuum Technology. American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. doi:10.2514/6.2008-2319. ISBN 978-1-60086-993-8.
- ^ "Autodesk buys Firehole Composites". Design Engineering. 2013-03-19. Retrieved 2023-05-18.