Altair has acquired OmniQuest as it looks to enhances its position among simulation optimisation technology with its flagship product Genesis.
Genesis is an advanced structural analysis and optimisation software that uses the finite element method to solve problems with many variables and constraints, with the Detroit-based company finding a home among Automotive OEMs and Suppliers with everything from crash simulations to minimising frame and body weight to meet CAFÉ standards.
OmniQuest’s products are used by several major customers, and in addition to the automotive sector the acquisition adds experience in Formula 1 where Genesis has a strong position and is used for composite design applications.
Altair explains that it is particularly utilised for applications that require ‘agile engineering processes and specialised tools’ to produce highly engineered vehicles with short turnaround times.
Genesis’s analysis capabilities include static, normal modes, direct and modal frequency analysis, random response, heat transfer, system buckling calculations, acoustics, and fatigue analysis. Its structural optimization types include sizing, shape, topology, topometry, topography and freeform optimisation.
Genesis also supports Equivalent Static Load Method (ESLM) for highly nonlinear structural behaviours, interfacing with popular third-party FEA solvers.
“OmniQuest was founded by the late Professor Gary Vanderplaats, a giant in the field of structural optimisation who developed many unique and powerful optimisation algorithms used in the commercial market today,” said Altair CEO James R. Scapa. “We are excited to make them available to all our customers going forward.
“The acquisition of this excellent technology and team will further enhance Altair’s optimisation leadership in the market driving lightweight and structurally efficient designs across the globe.”
No mention has been made regarding Genesis versions for Ansys software, such as Genesis for Ansys Mechanical and LS-Dyna.
OmniQuest founder, Professor Vanderplaats, was a founding father of practical structural and Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation (MDO). His contributions to vision, theory, and practical applications of MDO and structural optimisation are significant and his early contributions include the modified method of feasible directions algorithm, which became very popular in the structural optimization field by his own code CONMIN (constrained minimisation). This code is embedded in many programs and remains among the best in the world today.
