topic Re: Heat Mapping Damage Density Plot in Inventor Forum

Heat Mapping Damage Density Plot

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 12:37:21 GMT

I would like to be able to generate a heat mapping type plot of historical damage frequency trends on an airframe model.

To expand upon that: currently there is a Microsoft Database file which contains numerous coordinate data points which represent damage which has been found during inspection of a fleet of aircraft. Currently we use a VBA macro within AutoCAD Mechanical which pulls this coordinate data and plots it as 3D spheres over the airframe model.

Instead of generating these object within the program I would like to have the data represented as a colored plot. For example if there is a high number of cracks found in the tail section and forward landing gear of an aircraft those (2) areas would be shaded red and then areas which do not see common damage would have a cooler or blue tint to them. Is there a capability within AutoCAD mechanical or other AutoDesk product which would be able to automate this process to some extent? We are talking around 1,000 data points so manually selecting each one is not really feasible.

Re: Heat Mapping Damage Density Plot

johnsonshiue — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 16:16:33 GMT

Hi! I am sorry I am not sure if I understand the request. Is this about FEA? Or, you already have the data but you want to present it in a colored heat map on the body?

Inventor is able to perform static modal FEA and linear FEA analysis. You can also use NASTRAN In-CAD (separate Add-In available only in Product Design and Manufacturing Collection) to do non-linear FEA analysis. The result is presented in a colored heat map.

Many thanks!

Re: Heat Mapping Damage Density Plot

Anonymous — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 17:37:52 GMT

This isn't precisely an FEA question, but if that is an avenue to get the results I am looking for I would be interested in exploring it.

To further explain, I have a collection of coordinate points in a Microsoft Access database. These coordinate points have no magnitude associate with them at all. They represent defects on the airframe which have been found during inspection of a large fleet of aircraft.

Desired Result is to generate a colored heat mapping type plot of the airframe model which displays quickly to the user which regions of the aircraft typically see the most frequent damage. We are talking 1,000+ coordinate points, so I worry a little that generating a plot with the FEA tools could bog down computing power unnecessarily.

Any thoughts? Perhaps some type of density display or analysis? If FEA is the only way, is there a way to automate the designation of 1,000+ stress points in an efficient way which would accomplish the same objective?