Project VMAP: Standardization of software interfaces enables integrated optimization of products and processes

Press Release /

Projektmitglieder VMap
© Fraunhofer SCAI

Work on the VMAP project (A New Interface Standard for Integrated Virtual Material Modeling in Manufacturing Industry) got under way with a kick-off event at Schloss Birlinghoven on October, 24th and 25th, 2017. The aim of the research and development work is to define and establish software standards in virtual engineering workflows for the manufacturing industry. Currently, incompatible interfaces for the transfer of virtual material information require extensive manual adjustments. This causes loss of information and delays in the entire design process.

One VMAP milestone is thus to develop uniform and universal interface approaches for process flows in virtual engineering. "We want to enhance simulation tools that have been incompatible with each other in terms of material parameters. In this way, it will be much easier to exchange relevant physical material sizes," explains project coordinator Klaus Wolf (Head of the Business Area Multiphysics at Fraunhofer SCAI). The project therefore aims for an open standardization of material interfaces.

Many protagonists in virtual product design will profit from the progress made in the project. New market opportunities open up for software vendors and IT service providers through simplified software integration. Industrial design departments can improve the integration and combination capabilities of simulation tools through standardization. In the long term, there will be more opportunities for the manufacturing industry to use new composite materials for complex products.

VMAP has a budget of 16.2 million euros over a period of three years. The project will end in August 2020. The consortium consists of partners from Belgium, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland. The German part of the joint project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) with 3.5 million euros via the ITEA 3 cluster of the European research initiative EUREKA.

Further information: http://s.fhg.de/vmap

 

Contact Person:

Dipl.-Inform. Klaus Wolf, Head of Business Area Multiphysics
Fraunhofer SCAI, Schloss Birlinghoven
53754 Sankt Augustin, Germany

phone: 02241 14-2557