VISUALIZATION

Participants from marine, aero, rail and industrial companies will brainstorm methods for FEA/SEA model creation. Members of the European MARI (Marine, Aero, Rail and Industrial) Consortium announced last month their intention to brainstorm better guidelines and methods for modeling simulation. The group officially launched with a meeting held in Paris in September 2006 and will continue to meet until June 2008. Sponsored by ESI Group and based on the companies' use of its VA One vibro-acoustic simulation software, members include Alstom, BAE Systems, Bombardier Transportation, QinetiQ, Volvo Group and VTT. The goals of the MARI Consortium are to define modeling guidelines and investigate aspects related to the automation of the model building process for creating coupled FEA/SEA (finite-element analysis/statistical energy analysis) models within the VA One environment. These objectives are set in the context of a technology transfer between ESI Group and the participants. "The MARI Consortium is a great opportunity for each member to share experience in using VA One to model complex industrial structures for structure-borne noise prediction. The expertise gained from such activity and the interaction between members will help define commonly accepted modeling guidelines and provide ESI Group with valuable information to improve VA One's model-building capabilities and automation. The MARI Consortium is another example of ESI Group's commitment to provide vibro-acoustic industrial solutions across the full frequency range," said Denis Blanchet, ESI Group VA product manager. The inaugural meeting enabled each of the members to share details of target applications and objectives. Several intermediate sessions will follow so that participants can share knowledge and experience gained from executing the modeling tasks and report the progress made toward the objectives. ESI Group supervises and supports the project, which was created to develop effective modeling guidelines and define productivity enhancements that will facilitate cost- and time-effective FEA/SEA model creation for mid-frequency applications.