ESItalk #44

The Virtual Product Engineering Magazine issue 44 | spring 2014

special report

Advanced Manufacturing in China

Acquisition of CyDesign Labs. Inc., a lead Innovator in Systems Modeling

JEC Group brings the worldwide composites industry to Atlanta in a new mega event.

Discover the full global composites value chain from materials producers to end-users.

See every final application sector, from design to mass production.

Expand your business horizons, meet new partners, learn about the latest in composites innovations.

Techtextil North America and Texprocess Americas join the JEC Group to bring this 3-in-1 international event to American composites stakeholders.

Georgia World Congress Center: May 13 •14 • 15 • 2014 www.JECcomposites.com/badgesJAM

JEC Europe- Paris • JEC Americas-Atlanta • JEC Americas- Boston • JEC Asia - Singapore

contents

04 special report

• Advanced Manufacturing in China

• 4 questions to Grace Cui, COO of ESI China

10 customer successes

• Ford significantly accelerates Vehicle Development Processes using IC.IDO

• Aernnova eliminates manufacturing defects in composite components of the new Airbus XWB aircraft

• ESI takes part in a European biomedical project led by the University of Sheffield to help diagnose dementia

• Herrenknecht uses IC.IDO to make engineering decisions

• German manufacturer EUROS manages the production of 80 meter long composite rotor blades using simulation

• Renault achieves complex part design collaboratively, using Vdot™

• Pharmaceutical machinery leader Bausch + Stroebel uses Virtual Reality to gain efficiency in engineering processes

17 product news

• ESI releases the latest version of Virtual Performance Solution

• New enhancements for Visual-Environment, the multidomain simulation platform

• ESI releases the latest version of VA One: the complete vibro-acoustic simulation solution

• The new release of casting simulation software ProCAST reduces turnaround time by half

• Customer Portal “myESI” enriched to support more CAE domains

20 corporate news

• Acquisition of CyDesign Labs. Inc., a lead innovator in Systems Modeling

• Creation of the Chair “Centrale Nantes - ESI”

• Acquisition of the Vietnamese company CAMMECH

22 events

• OpenFOAM User Conference 2014

• Save the date!

23 financial

• Nomination of a second COO: Dr Christopher St.John

• ESI Group wins the “Grand Prix ASMEP-ETI / Bpifrance 2014” award

• 2013 annual results esi talk is issued bi-annually by ESI Group Executive Editor: Amy de Rouvray Editor-in-Chief: Celine Gallerne - celine.gallerne@esi-group.com ESI Group Marketing Parc d’Affaires SILIC 99, rue des Solets - BP 80112 94513 Rungis Cedex - FRANCE Tel: +33 (0) 1 41 73 58 00 - Fax: +33 (0) 1 46 87 72 02 www.esi-group.com - info@esi-group.com Design: Agence TETRAKTYS ISSN 12105-1739 Print: Groupe Dupli-Print 2 Rue Descartes ZI Sezac - 95330 Domont Dépôt légal: Mai 2014 All PAM- and SYS- product names as well as other products belonging to ESI’s portfolio, including OpenFOAM® are tradenames or trademarks of ESI Group, unless specifically mentioned. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

All text and images included in the articles are the copyright of the companies presenting their applications and simulation tasks.

Photo credits: AP&T, Alcan, Zheng Yang Mould Manufactory, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, Ford, Aernnova, Herrenknecht, Euros, Bausch + Stroebel.

editorial Being a design and manufacturing engineer in the automotive or aerospace industries today is a more challenging job than in the past! Changing regulations and the need to produce and deliver more environmentally friendly products, calls for changHarald Porzner, ing sheet gauge, mateDirector of Product rial and/or geometry. It is Management for Virtual now possible to meet the Manufacturing, ESI Group. rapidly growing challenges by using Virtual Prototying.

Virtual Prototyping is a principal instrument in managing these challenges. For any given metal forming process, it is possible today to conceive everything in a virtual engineering equivalent – from detailing customer requests to virtually inspecting the final product, as well as setting-up the production facilities.

This includes material cost estimation, die design and feasibility, part design validation, and tooling design and forming processes.

But we do not stop here! In the case of the hot forming process, engineers can validate the cooling capabilities of a die, merging the results of a thermomechanical sheet metal forming simulation into a conjugate heat transfer model. This delivers engineering insight into pressure drops, coolant velocity, coolant temperature, heat transfer in the cooling channels, and die face temperatures. Finally, the function of the complete hot forming line including the physics of the part manufacturing process can be inspected in a virtual environment using 3D immersive Virtual Reality – all this way before any costly prototypes and manufacturing lines are built.

In our special report, we have chosen to demonstrate how our Chinese customers have achieved great successes through the use of ESI’s advanced manufacturing simulation tools. From the latest Centrifugal Casting processes to Aluminum & Magnesium Die Casting and Super-Plastic Forming & Diffusion Bonding. Here we have selected a few technologies that we have seen emerge and become embedded across industry sectors.

G.OM.14.63 A

issue 44 | spring 2014

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special report

Advanced Manufacturing

in China

Or how Virtual Product Engineering helps Chinese manufacturers achieve high-end products in less time than ever, turning the Middle Kingdom into one of the most serious contenders for fostering industrial innovation.

Forming of high performance materials and use of new assembly techniques in the Aeronautic & Defense sector

successfully overcame the challenge of forming the titanium parts into the many intricate shapes the design required and achieved a substantial weight reduction.

Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, an entity in the Chinese national AVIC group, has managed to reduce the weight of parts in its new fighter jet structure. They achieved this by using state-of-the-art Superplastic Forming processes and Diffusion Bonding assembly techniques.

Some challenging geometrical requirements were also met through the use of Superplastic Forming (SPF) and previously experienced thinning and local striction issues were eliminated by using PAM-STAMP.

The advanced simulation capabilities of ESI’s sheet metal forming solution PAM-STAMP enabled Shenyang to leverage advanced manufacturing techniques to form parts made of high-performance TA15 titanium alloy. Thanks to simulation, they

“With both Superplastic Forming and Diffusion Bonding simulation using PAM-STAMP, SAC cut by half its average tooling development time and made the complicated structure parts of the fighter lighter.”

Yuan Li, General Manager, Shenyang Aircraft Corporation.

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To sustain the weight reduction achieved during the forming stage, Shenyang looked for an alternative to traditional assembly fasteners (such as riveting, screwing and adhesive joints) and ultimately turned to Diffusion Bonding (DB), a process that could also be modeled and controlled thanks to PAM-STAMP.

Implementing manufacturing simulation rapidly and efficiently, to tackle costly manufacturing defects Taiwan based Zheng Yang Mould Manufactory has been producing dies for the High Pressure Die Castings of Aluminum & Magnesium alloys, supplying to the automotive, machinery & electronic industries since 1993. In order to achieve greater product complexity by means other than costly trial & error methods, they turned to simulation, selecting QuikCAST, ESI’s fast and efficient simulation solution for casting process evaluation.

By working with ESI’s local partner Elite Crown, Zheng Yang ensured they could gain not only a correct usage of the software

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special report

tool, but, more importantly, the right methodology. That way, they rapidly led Zheng Yang’s die designers, who had no significant experience in CAE software, to successfully adopt simulation within the frame of their traditional die design cycle and to save on development costs and time.

The Zheng Yang factory is now able to use advanced manufacturing simulation methods that enable them to anticipate and then correct filling and solidification defects, typically linked to air entrapment, surface defects and shrinkage porosity. They have now mastered the art of casting simulation coupled with thermal effects, so they can correctly account for the evolution of die temperatures and the effect on the viscosity of the molten metal. Thanks to QuikCAST, Zheng Yang now easily manages process and design modifications for the filling system, including runner profile and positioning, gate balancing, and placement of overflows.

All in all, Zheng Yang is a great example of how casting simulation software empowers small size companies to meet their customers’ needs for faster and better quality dies.

Example of simulation use at Zheng Yang; casting an aluminum casing of a circular saw. From up, two different filling approaches; filling vertically; filling horizontally.

issue 44 | spring 2014

The final parts produced.

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special report

“If time and cost weren’t constraints, we could solve many issues without simulation. Thanks to ESI’s QuikCAST casting simulation software, we can test and improve our designs, while building our internal expertise relative to various scenarios unseen before.”

Tu. Chin-Huang, General Manager, Zheng Yang Mould Manufactory, Taiwan.

Centrifugal casting of large parts made of titanium alloys, for the Aerospace sector Recently, an ESI team based in Switzerland has taken part in the sino-european research project focusing on the Casting of Large Titanium Structures (COLTS). Funded by the European Commission within its Seventh Framework Programme, the project combined technical knowledge already available in Europe with the considerable industrial experience of centrifugal and gravity casting of components up to 1.5m in length that exists in China.

The COLTS project also included development of a comprehensive database of the mechanical properties of Ti6Al4V, which is the most common titanium alloy used in aerospace applications.

Through the project, ESI built and applied modeling capabilities to accurately predict and control the essential aspects of each technical process involved. In order to achieve this, ESI extended the capabilities of ProCAST; improving its fluid-flow solver to handle complex turbulent flow patterns and include the effect of the direction of the centrifugal force on porosity formation.

ESI’s casting simulation software needed to enable the early prediction of potential problems such as filling-related defects (inclusions, misruns, blowholes…), porosity formed during solidification, and deformation during subsequent cooling.

This had to be done in such a way that the effect of process parameters (including filling time, filling temperature, mold preheating temperature, and mold rotation speed) could be readily assessed.

The COLTS project has contributed to the rapid development of cost-efficient manufacturing techniques for titanium parts used in the aeronautic sector and thus reinforced the competitiveness of both Europe and China in that sector, while strengthening strategic international cooperation between the two regions.

“The extended functionalities of ProCAST, gained through the COLTS project, will be invaluable at industrial level to set up costefficient centrifugal casting processes for titanium parts. Manufacturers using the software will gain a considerable amount of time and money, contributing to the production of better quality parts for aeronautical applications, both in Europe and in China.”

Dr Rui Yang, Director from the Institute of Metal Research in China, who participated in the COLTS project.

The deformation (right) observed in the cross beams of the cubic shaped frame are in good agreement with the predicted results (left).

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4 questions to Grace Cui, COO of ESI China

Grace Cui, COO of ESI China.

What trends do you observe in China’s manufacturing industry today?

In what areas of manufacturing is China becoming one of the world leaders?

“Improving quality and protecting the environment, through lower energy consumption and CO2 emissions, are the main priorities for the Chinese government and local manufacturers today. These priorities drive their specific interest in green manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing technologies.

“The scale and production capacity of the Chinese manufacturing industry have helped China become the largest manufacturing country in the world, ahead of the U.S. since 2010. Leader in terms of volume, China has also developed numerous new materials and technologies. But from my point of view, we still have a long way to go in order to catch up in terms of technical leadership.

In the past few years, Chinese Research and Development, as well as manufacturing capabilities, have grown and enabled us to face global competition in terms of innovation. For example, the performance of high-speed trains has greatly improved during the past years – achieving greater speed, comfort, and reliability, along with lower noise and production cost.

Our automotive industry, restructured and streamlined, is now equipped to address global markets: through numerous mergers and acquisitions, our automotive industry has been reduced from hundreds of manufacturers to a handful of world-class OEMs. New materials and new technologies are constantly being developed. China’s ability for innovation has been enhanced.

Design and manufacturing are being integrated... Many of these recent advances are directly linked to simulation: using CAE to support development of advanced manufacturing and to open new perspectives that will bring economic welfare and increased social value. Our team at ESI China is proud to contribute to the country’s socio-economic progress.”

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I think China is in a good position to deliver world-class innovations for casting processes (especially for precision casting and large parts), for mold design and manufacturing (especially for precision molding in the automotive sector), composite material processes, and 3D printing. From an industry perspective, China excels in developing innovative processes for rail and heavy machinery.”

ESI and AVIC-BIAM established a Joint Venture last year – what mutual benefits are you expecting from this initiative?

“BIAM, a core scientific Research Center of AVIC (the Aviation Industry Corporation of China), is China’s only institute for research in advanced materials and manufacturing technologies for aeronautical applications. Within the frame of the Joint Venture, BIAM’s expertise in the manufacturing, testing and

esi talk

Mr. ZhanBin Xu, Vice President of AVIC, visiting ESI China and experiencing IC.IDO, ESI’s Virtual Reality solution.

characterization of advanced materials and components complements ESI’s strengths in Virtual Manufacturing and Virtual Testing. Together we support the effective deployment of Virtual Prototyping.

Our Joint Venture AVIC-ESI (BEIJING) TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD was legally registered in November 2013 and started operations on February 1, 2014. This Joint Venture is a great opportunity for all related parties. The greatest value we can bring is to our customers, with whom we can work more closely on-site, collaborate on important co-creation projects, and bring measurable benefits while delivering social value.”

What is the relationship of ESI China with local Chinese Universities?

“Developing a strong bond with local universities is essential to ESI China – together we plant the seeds of tomorrow’s Chinese industry. ESI promotes educational advances in the field of engineering in China, and supports local research centers, as they play a positive and important role in improving scientific research.

issue 44 | spring 2014

Four years ago, ESI China launched a “higher education cooperation program”, which has now been joined by over 30 Chinese Universities. These include Tongji University, the most famous in the automotive industry, which provides highly specialized engineering training programs. Tongji is involved in research on future technologies and materials and collaborates with automotive OEMs towards the development of new car models. In 2012, we were honored to open the ESI-Tongji Virtual Technology Research Institute, promoting the development of Virtual Reality for industrial applications in China.

In Tsinghua University, we have also founded a training center for casting and welding manufacturing processes. We have set up an “Advanced Manufacturing Simulation Alliance Program”, focusing on green manufacturing and intelligent manufacturing.

These programs are a reflection of our company’s social responsibility, but also provide direct benefit by educating potential users and assisting them to keep up to speed with technological advances.”

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customer success

automotive

Ford significantly accelerates Vehicle Development Processes using IC.IDO ESI’s Virtual Reality solution helps Ford save costs, reduce development time and accelerate processes

department validates perception and appearance.

High-end projection systems combined with intuitive interaction facilitates the assessment of the perceived product quality. The user visualizes the vehicle from his or her viewpoint.

IC.IDO also allows the Ford team to verify ergonomic aspects. Visibility High-end visualization of a Ford Focus with IC.IDO assessments using reflection analyses The automotive industry worldwide continually from the user’s viewpoint together faces great challenges in product and process with reachability and operability studies development. Due to the increasing number utilizing a seating buck are part of regular of models and variants, the market demands engineering studies and milestone reviews. shorter and shorter development cycles. As The “Virtual Seating Buck”, as Ford has named a result, the use of virtual engineering and it, allows them to assess multiple aspects, from virtual technologies is becoming increasingly visibility to veiling glare, roominess, stowage, necessary in product development to support craftsmanship, design and ergonomics. styling, engineering and production.

Virtual Reality is used very early in the vehicle To be able to face these challenges, Ford engineering process – as early as thirty-seven decided to invest in technological innovation months before the start of production – and and to integrate ESI’s Virtual Reality solution thus has a real impact on reducing cost, gaining IC.IDO in its Product Development Processes. time and improving the final vehicle quality.

Today, Ford has five IC.IDO Virtual Reality installations in Europe and in the United States.

In Cologne, Germany, Ford’s team uses the system to manage product development and engineering.

Ford’s Cologne-Merkenich Development Center uses Virtual Reality for aesthetic visualization and in a four-sided cave, the Driving Environment

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T he Ford development process for vehicles is getting faster and faster.

ESI’s Virtual Reality solution IC.IDO is an efficient tool to reduce the amount of prototypes and mock ups. We can build several virtual vehicles in much less time and at lower cost than the usual expensive and dated prototypes and fixtures.

IC.IDO enables us to verify different design alternatives. It also allows us to conduct attribute assessments in earlier stages of the program and escalate and visualize any issues, be they simple or very complex!

Michael Wolf, Virtual Reality Supervisor at Ford.

ABOUT FORD MOTOR C O M PA N Y Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, MI., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 172,000 employees and about 65 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln.

The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.

Stereoscopic multiple walls immersive visualization system used in the ergonomic assessment of a car cockpit

f or more information: www.ford.com

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customer success

aeronautics

Aernnova eliminates manufacturing defects in composite components of the new Airbus XWB aircraft Using ESI’s Composites Simulation Suite, Aernnova optimizes the Resin Transfer Molding process to achieve the required parts quality Aernnova is a Spanish aerostructures company which takes on the integral design and manufacture of large aircraft sections for customers worldwide. In the past they have successfully produced composite aircraft components by manual draping of preimpregnated fibers (prepregs) and curing in an autoclave. Unfortunately when their engineers tried for the first time to apply a Resin Transfer Molding (RTM) process to two Airbus A350 XWB parts – the bearing rib and the leading edge of the horizontal stabilizer – their experience proved to be not directly transferable. Performance expectations of such critical parts are high, and manufacturing defects such as wrinkles, excessive shearing in the preform or porosity levels had to be managed within strict tolerance levels.

Using ESI’s Composites Simulation Suite to solve defects Drawing on their extensive experience in composites manufacturing, Aernnova engineers generated the RTM mold design INITIAL INJECTION CONFIGURATION

Vents

Injection gates

TIME: 5180 s

and defined the injection strategy (injection pressure, location of vents, and injection gates and channels). They immediately spotted wrinkles in the preforms originating from the manual draping process. They were able to remove these by applying manual pressure on the preform.

Additional issues were encountered during the injection process. In spite of several costly and time consuming trials to determine the optimum injection strategy, the team still observed dry spots that would affect the mechanical performance of these structural parts.

Predicting the shearing of the preform Simulations using PAM-RTM also demonstrated the importance of the shearing of the preform on the accuracy of prediction of resin flow during injection.

Aernnova’s engineers simulated the preforming stage using ESI’s composites forming application, PAM-FORM, to predict the fiber angle in the preform and used these results in the PAMRTM setup. The permeability of OPTIMIZED INJECTION a preform could CONFIGURATION be defined as a function of the shear angle in PAM-RTM, co n s e q u e n t ly improving the prediction of resin flow pattern and filling time.

TIME: 1130 s

With ESI’s PAM-RTM, we now have a tool and a methodology to predict and correct all possible defects occurring during the injection process; starting at the beginning of the design of the mold, before any physical trial.

Federico Martin de la Escalera, Head of Research and Technology Dept., Aernnova Engineering Solutions Iberica.

Aernnova made a video recording of the injection process and confirmed the accuracy of the PAM-RTM filling simulation when taking into account the draping effect. These impressive correlations led Aernnova to gain high confidence in simulation results.

Consequently, and at little cost, they modified the leading edge mold and achieved a much higher part quality.

A B O U T A E R N N O VA Aernnova is a global aerostructures company assuming the integral management of large aircraft sections. In parallel, Aernnova provides engineering services, composite and metallic parts, repair, and product support services.

It has a wide proven experience as integral designer and manufacturer of equipped aerostructures such as AIRBUS A350, A380, and Embraer. f or more information: www.aernnova.com

Filling time prediction with PAM-RTM.

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customer success

biomedical

ESI takes part in a European biomedical project led by the University of Sheffield to help diagnose dementia Providing multi-scale modeling of cerebral fluid transport with ACE+ Simulation Suite

Virtual Prototyping improves our daily lives by application in multiple industry sectors – from automotive to nuclear, aeronautics or electronics. ESI solutions can also be applied to biomedicine, and more specifically to support the early diagnosis of dementia, thus improving the patient’s quality of life.

Today roughly 36 million individuals in Europe are suffering from dementia. It is expected that this number will increase to 115 million by 2050, due to the ageing population. The consequent annual cost is estimated at €55B in Europe and €450B worldwide (1% of the World Gross Domestic Product). In 2012, the World Health Organization declared dementia a global health priority, highlighting the urgent need for improvements in treatment.

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From the European Initiative on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias in 2011 to the G8 Dementia Summit in 2013 , and choice of 2014 as the Year of the Brain by the European Brain Council (EBC) , nations a ro u n d t h e wo r ld show a new impulse to spur improvements in brain health. The EBC’s Manifesto highlights that the complexity of the brain requires an interdisciplinary a p p ro a c h . I n t h i s context, the European Commission initiated the VPH-DARE@IT project (Virtual Physiological Human: DementiA Research Enabled by IT ), co-funded by a number of industrial stakeholders.

A four year and €18 million project, VPHDARE@IT will use computational methods to discover new biomarkers of dementia.

The project will deliver the first image-based patient-specific predictive models for early differential diagnosis of dementias and their evolution. Project partners, including ESI, aim to create the first personalized, multi-factorial model of brain structure and function including biophysical and metabolic knowledge. This project will be the first to combine a wide range of physiological data from medical imaging – such as blood flow, brain tissue properties and

Today roughly 36 million individuals in Europe are suffering from dementia. It is expected that this number will increase to 115 million by 2050, due to the ageing population. cellular activity – with psychological measures such as memory and cognitive function. It will also bring in demographic, genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors, making it much more sensitive than existing diagnostic tools.

As part of this project, ESI will extend its computational fluid dynamics solution ACE+ Suite to model complex poroelastic phenomena in combination with multiple brain fluids. Using ACE+, scientists will be able to better understand the advanced fluid structure interactions taking place in different brain tissues. Researchers will also be able to see the implications of factors such as pulsating blood flow, or the increase of cerebral liquid.

Models will then be personalized depending on factors such as age or tissue rigidity.

f or more information: www.vph-dare.eu

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customer success

machinery

Herrenknecht uses IC.IDO to make engineering decisions Leveraging ESI’s collaborative Virtual Reality solution to speed up product development processes while reducing costs World market leader for tunnel boring machines, Herrenknecht has adopted ESI’s IC.IDO Virtual Reality solution as a basis for collaborative decision-making. The main objective of Herrenknecht is to enable the many stakeholders in a development project to visualize their product from the earliest stages of its development; life-size and in real-time, so that machine designs can be validated faster.

By adopting IC.IDO, Herrenknecht joins leadingedge manufacturers from the automotive, aeronautic and other industry sectors. John Deere, Jaguar Land Rover, BMW, Ford, Boeing, Jungheinrich, Rheinmetall, Optima Packaging and Trumpf are among the companies who now see a striking advantage in implementing Virtual Reality to spur innovation.

Herrenknecht uses Virtual Reality to perform ergonomics studies and complete security assessments, visibility and reachability studies, real-time simulations of wires and hoses, and assembly/disassembly analyses.

Using IC.IDO’s ergonomic and intuitive software environment, sales, marketing and technical staff from Herrenknecht can share models with their clients’ decision makers and influencers – communicating naturally with executives, engineers and operators; assuring a common understanding of current and future products and avoiding the misunderstandings and misinterpretations often encountered when relying on drawings and scale models.

Thanks to IC.IDO, the distributed players in a project are able to use a shared 3D model as a platform for real-time reviews, enabling constant communication and faster iterations from the earliest stages in the product development process.

Massive amounts of 3D data from different sources (including Herrenknecht, their clients and subcontractors) can be loaded rapidly into one environment, facilitating regular updates and assuring that teams are always current with the latest design progressions. By making the right decisions at the right time, Herrenknecht reduces lead times and product development costs.

Leveraging ESI’s leading Virtual Reality technology significantly helps us optimize our development processes. IC.IDO enables us to modify processes and developments collaboratively with our customers, with the common objective to improve on performance, enhance quality and decrease development time.

Gebhard Lehmann, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Management, Herrenknecht AG.

ABOUT HERRENKNECHT Herrenknecht AG delivers tunnel boring machines for all ground conditions and in all diameters – ranging from 0.10 to 19 meters. The Herrenknecht product range includes tailormade machines for transport tunnels, supply and disposal tunnels and additional equipment and service packages. Herrenknecht also manufactures drilling rigs for vertical and inclined shafts as well as deep drilling rigs. With 77 subsidiaries and associated companies working in related fields in Germany and abroad, Herrenknecht employs around 5,000 members of staff worldwide. f or more information: www.herrenknecht.com

Herrenknecht engineers performing a design review using IC.IDO.

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customer success

wind

energy

German manufacturer EUROS manages the production of 80 meter long composite rotor blades using simulation EUROS gains a better understanding of the resin infusion process and the influence of different process parameters on product quality Founded in Berlin in 1996, EUROS is expert in the field of manufacturing wind turbine rotor blades for customers around the world.

From its German development office, EUROS carries out all tasks connected with rotor blade design - starting with the concept and design phase, through model and mold building, prototyping, certification, up to serial production using hand lamination and vacuum infusion technology. EUROS customers select blades from the existing range of products or ask to modify available blades according to their requirements.

As current industry trends require increasingly longer and larger blades, one of EUROS’ customers asked for an 80 meter long wind turbine rotor blade. EUROS set to develop an optimum manufacturing process that would achieve high quality and high strength for a blade of this dimension. They customarily use a specific manufacturing process called Vacuum Assisted Resin Infusion (VARI) and note that the downside of this process is that it often requires many costly and time-consuming trials to achieve the desired quality.

Analysis of several injection strategies with PAM-RTM on the root of the rotor blade (filling %).

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To avoid this pitfall, EUROS decided to use ESI’s PAM-RTM simulation suite, enabling them to minimize risk while ensuring product quality, reducing manufacturing time and assuring process repeatability.

Validating process parameters on small samples with PAM-RTM To achieve this, they followed a step-by-step approach. First, they determined key input data for the simulation by measuring in-plane and through-the-thickness permeability of all the glass fabrics used in the root – an area of the blade which plays a key structural role. Then, they validated measured permeability values and calibrated process parameters (such as pressure and viscosity) on small infusion models and compared with experimental results.

EUROS was able to achieve good similarity between predicted and experimental resin flow patterns and filling times.

Full scale tests with PAM-RTM EUROS then built a representative test mold (4.3 meters outer diameter) and used it together with PAM-RTM to validate their infusion strategy. The first simulation of a one shot infusion on a stack of 130 plies conformed to reality.

During a whole year, EUROS conducted additional tests on critical segments from the first 20 meters of the blade using the same methodology described above. These pre-trials on representative samples of the root of the rotor blade allowed EUROS to validate their numerical models by comparing simulation and experimental results. PAMRTM simulation also contributed to building a better understanding of the parameters influencing the process, and allowed the virtual

An 81.6 meter long offshore wind turbine rotor blade. testing of multiple process variations in order to retain only the optimal ones.

Thanks to PAM-RTM, EUROS was able to evaluate upfront several process alternatives with varying parameters in order to get the best results in terms of product quality, filling time, and process repeatability.

Early in the second quarter of 2013, EUROS built the first blade, 81.6 meters long and weighing 32.8 tons. They reached all of their pre-defined goals for product quality, infusion time, resin consumption and repeatability of the process.

ABOUT EUROS EUROS offers rotor blades, licenses and technology transfers. The customized MultiMega-Watt wind turbine rotor blades are developed in Germany, manufactured in Poland and Germany, and delivered within and outside Europe. f or more information: www.euros.de

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customer success

automotive

Renault achieves complex part design collaboratively, using Vdot™ The orchestration of multidisciplinary simulation processes in a homogeneous environment enabled an efficient collaboration between design teams Along with ESI and several third-party software suppliers, French car manufacturer Renault took part in the Complex Systems Design Lab (CSDL) project, an €18 Million R&D project led by competitiveness cluster Pole Systematic.

The objective of the project, partly funded by the French government, was to address issues linked to concurrent engineering and multidomain optimization. Through this project, Renault was looking for solutions that could be applied early in vehicle development programs for maximum impact on cost efficiency.

Renault supplied a case to the CSDL team: the design optimization of a gas engine, with the aim to maximize its lifetime. This example was well suited to evaluating the capacity of current systems to perform optimization campaigns for rather complex 3D parts.

Renault was particularly interested in the collaborative aspects of the workflow platform and the interoperability of CAD & CAE engineering applications. Two workflows were modeled and executed in Vdot™, ESI’s lean process management solution: ·A n optimization process aimed at minimizing the thermal gradient between the intake and exhaust valve bodies, thus reducing the risk of fatigue induced fracture; · A multidisciplinary simulation process to validate the resulting optimum design through a comprehensive analysis of the engine, including its manufacturing aspects.

All software was installed centrally on an HPC cluster and in Software As A Service (SAAS) mode, so team members could work remotely on laptops. The optimization workflow developed in Vdot™ invoked third-party optimization tools as well as CFD thermal and mechanical simulation workflows.

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As a result, the definition of the new virtual tests, related simulations and the creation of response models ran in batch mode, and Renault teams could analyze optimization results and interactively make decisions at the end of each iteration cycle.

The second workflow demonstrated the capacity of Vdot™ to orchestrate a complex multi-physics design process, allowing independent tasks to run in parallel (casting and CFD thermal simulations) while downstream tasks (mechanical simulations) were set-up to start computing as soon as results were available. Vdot™ also ensured that engineers were notified when a job was completed, and ensured they were working with the right data in the right applications. The teams could track progress using management dashboards.

his case showed that we T could successfully optimize iteration loops based on multidisciplinary criteria to produce better engine design, with the help of Vdot™ (ESI’s lean process management solution), Alternova (Renault’s optimizer), and centralized computing services. Rolling out this methodology will enable us to reduce both time and design costs, while improving the performance of our engines.

Internet

Remote cluster + Visualization Portal Solvers and simulation workflows

Thermal +CFD

Thermo Mechanical

Casting

Orchestration Workflow Vdot (ESI Group)

Geometry Service

Fiper + CATIA

Optimization Tools Optimization Engine Decision Visualization

Christian Fourcade, Research Engineer, Renault Architecture of the CSDL demonstrator

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customer success

machinery

Pharmaceutical machinery leader Bausch + Stroebel uses Virtual Reality to gain efficiency in engineering processes IC.IDO allows them to predict usability issues early in the development process the previous CAD and wooden mock-ups they used to work from.

By choosing the portable Virtual Reality system IC.Road, Bausch + Stroebel is also able to use this technology to demonstrate their products at trade shows. The system can be set-up in 45 minutes and provides an interactive environment to showcase existing and upcoming machines to potential clients.

German company Bausch + Stroebel, world leader in pharmaceutical packaging machinery, has recently implemented Virtual Reality solution as part of its engineering processes.

This deployment illustrates the ability of Virtual Reality to help industrial clients accelerate product development processes. It also demonstrates that Virtual Reality, now widely used by large companies in the automotive and aerospace sectors, can also be successfully implemented within smaller businesses in diverse industries, including the pharmaceutical domain.

A midsize business, Bausch + Stroebel serves some of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies. They aim to deliver packaging machines that provide the highest possible standard of precision, while offering the best production rates, and complying with exceptionally demanding industry regulations.

They have customized their offer to match often complex customer demand and today, they individually design each machine produced for specific operations, including decontamination, cleaning, sterilizing, filling, closing, inspection, and many more.

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Looking for solutions to gain efficiency in their engineering processes, Bausch + Stroebel have sought to find an alternative to the wooden full-size prototypes formerly required to assess assembly aspects and reachability for their machines. Today, they have invested in Virtual Reality to enable their engineers to immerse themselves in a 3D environment in which they can interact in real-time with a life-size CAD model.

Using IC.IDO, ESI’s Virtual Reality solution, engineers can simulate assembly & disassembly sequences of their machines, check the reachability of control elements, operate design reviews and predict possible ergonomic issues. Bausch + Stroebel have also identified the potential of Virtual Reality to share current and future models with their clients in an interactive way. This minimizes the risk of misunderstanding at an early stage and assures that developments can be comprehended by everyone - not only the technical staff.

According to a recent survey by Bausch + Stroebel, 98% of their clients consider that Virtual Reality is an improvement compared to

Our IC.IDO Virtual Reality solution allows us to work with our customers to experience and to discuss the projected plants at an early stage. Customer-specific requirements can be tested and determined early, which results in shorter completion times.

Dr. Hagen Gehringer, CEO of Bausch + Stroebel.

ABOUT BAUSCH & STROEBEL Bausch+StrĂśbel designs, builds and sells packaging and production systems for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and related industries. From modest beginnings more than 45 years ago - with only 4 people Bausch+Stroebel has developed into an international enterprise. It is now one of the leading manufacturers in pharmaceutical packaging. f or more information: www.bausch-stroebel.com

esi talk

product news

ESI releases the latest version of Virtual Performance Solution brings industrial clients a decisive competitive advantage, especially when facing the numerous challenges introduced by lightweight engineering; including the need for numerous design iterations, for trade-offs between performance domains, and for managing safety margins.

Using a common core model for their simulations, engineering teams from various departments and from different geographical sites can now collaborate efficiently towards the creation of virtual prototypes that can be used to predict the behavior of parts or products in all domains of performance.

Aside from delivering faster results for crash simulation, the new version also offers new approaches for modeling product assembly, for assessing Noise, Vibration & Harshness (NVH), and for predicting airbag opening behavior more accurately. Virtual Performance Solution

Depending on the industry, domains of application may include structural stiffness and strength, crash, occupant safety, NVH & interior acoustics, comfort, durability, and high velocity impact.

Thanks to a new execution scheme that supports Multi-Model Coupling, the new version of Virtual Performance Solution is simpler to set-up, offers easier task submission, and delivers significantly faster calculations. Distributed Memory Processing (DMP) has been complemented by an alternating job execution per model, reducing processing time by 20 to 30%.

This latest version also offers a new approach for modeling adhesive bonding by introducing special 3D connection elements.

The Finite Pointset Method (FPM) module now includes turbulence models for gas flow, enabling increased precision in the simulation of even the most complex airbag systems; notably curtain airbags.

The latest version of Virtual Performance Solution also comes with improvements for NVH assessment. A new method to evaluate Random Response enables vehicle engineers to achieve a more consistent vehicle by providing more precise prediction of how different road loads and other conditions influence the performance of parts or products. Furthermore, a new scheme for non-linear transient implicit calculations is added to improve the accuracy of durability and strength predictions.

Virtual Performance Solution enables an accurate and efficient durability assessment process, by applying actual loading conditions while considering manufacturing history.

This leads to more reliable results for development and lower warranty costs. f or more information: www.esi-group.com/VPS

issue 44 | spring 2014

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product news

New enhancements for Visual-Environment, the multi-domain simulation platform ESI’s multi-domain simulation platform, Visual Environment, hosts most of ESI’s Virtual Prototyping solutions, and is open to third party technologies. The platform enables industrial users to automate all their Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) processes from ComputerAided Design (CAD), through pre- and postprocessing, modeling, simulation, visualization and reporting in any CAE domain; all in a unified environment.

and introduces new CAE domains including CFD with OpenFOAM® and Composites.

Visual-Environment’s wide range of functionalities across different solvers, implemented for pre- and post-processing applications, turn this software solution into an efficient and valuable tool within the development process of restraint systems and its components at TAKATA. Axel Heym, Manager Numerical Simulation Global Engineering, TAKATA AG, Germany

The latest release of Visual-Environment comes with enhanced performance, complete support for Casting and Electromagnetic applications,

ESI releases the latest version of VA One: the complete vibro-acoustic simulation solution VA One’s new functionality, connecting BEM to FE cavities, allows us to simulate the vibroacoustic performances of complex HVAC ducts. This unique feature is essential to ensure the right allocation and dimensioning of air ducts of on board HVAC systems, from which radiation could not be effectively modeled without using hybrid methods.

Joan Sapena, Acoustics R&D manager at Alstom Transport France.

Elements (FEM), Boundary Elements (BEM), and Statistical Energy Analysis (SEA) in a single model.

“VA One was launched in 2005, with the ambition to provide VA simulation engineers with an all-in-one software solution that could couple statistical and deterministic modeling methods in a hybrid way, to allow the simulation of noise and vibration across the full frequency range. Today, ESI teams have achieved the goal set in 2005. The latest version of VA One covers the full spectrum of frequencies with great flexibility, delivering precise vibro-acoustic simulation results. This

unique capability is reinforced by an improved workflow integration, to enable faster turnaround times,” says Sebastien Chaigne, recently appointed Vibro-Acoustic Solution Director at ESI Group.

VA One provides the perfect environment to support all types of VA simulation needs – from checking early design concepts through the detailed component design phase, to troubleshooting in the virtual qualification test phase. It can also be used for product cost and weight optimization by simulating various sound package scenarios, while preserving product specifications.

VA One is used by manufacturers across the globe to predict and resolve potential noise and vibration problems up front in their development process, so they can deliver more competitive products and comply with tougher noise regulations. VA One is the only software solution on the market that enables the simulation of noise and vibration across the full frequency range by seamlessly combining key vibro-acoustic modeling methods: Finite

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On board noise and underwater acoustic analysis

esi talk

product news

The new release of casting simulation software ProCAST reduces turnaround time by half ESI releases ProCAST 2014.0, the latest version of the leading software for casting process simulation, along with its dedicated user environment Visual-Environment 9.6. Both are designed to enable foundries to improve casting yield and quality thanks to more efficient processes and solvers.

The solution offers an extensive suite of modules and tools enabling foundries to meet the most challenging industrial requirements.

ProCAST is well adapted to predict distortions and residual stresses after casting and addresses specific processes including core blowing, centrifugal, lost foam, semi-solid and continuous casting.

The new fluid flow solver introduced in release 2013.0 has been further improved with a focus on accuracy, robustness & speed. This solver benefits from the accuracy of the Finite Element Method (FEM), the efficiency of the

Finite Volume Method (FVM), and the speed of the Multi-Grid linear solver used by many prominent CFD software packages.

9.6 enables foundries to design their very own workflows; encapsulating practices and adjusted to particular needs.

Continuous Casting modelling has been enhanced to support multi-radius CC machines used for Steel manufacturing. Casting simulation results are now possible to export into forging software, to establish the castingforging process chain. A new thermodynamic database for Co based alloys is introduced, and all databases are enriched with the addition of new multi-component systems / alloying elements. Performance of tetra meshing is greatly improved as well, multi-processing is introduced; improving turnaround time by 40% with single processor & more than 60% with multi-processors.

In addition to the significant improvements in turnaround time, offering faster and more intuitive handling capabilities, Visual-Cast

ProCAST’s new and improved user environment features tailor-made workflows to achieve more efficient processes

Customer Portal « myESI » enriched to support more CAE domains A year ago, ESI launched its web-based customer portal, “myESI”, to enable two-way communications between ESI users and ESI support teams and to provide instant access to a wide range of documentation downloads, training information, and tips & tricks. This useful content provides added value for members of the ESI community and enables them to gain efficiency in their software usage.

New content is being added progressively to the website – myESI now offers support for simulation in many CAE domains, including Casting, Composites Manufacturing, Crash, Impact & Safety, Electromagnetics, Sheet Metal Forming, Virtual Reality and Welding & Assembly. There are also useful tips & tricks to make the most of ESI’s Virtual Integration Platform.

Check out myesi.esi-group.com and register to our portal to make the most of our solutions!

issue 44 | spring 2014

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corporate

Acquisition of CyDesign Labs. Inc., a lead innovator in Systems Modeling

In October 2013, ESI acquired CyDesign Labs, a US company based in the Silicon Valley that owns a disruptive proprietary technology for advanced product design. Aligned with ESI’s proven strategy that fosters the gradual elimination of physical prototypes, this acquisition brings a major technology leap to accelerate industrial product and process development.

Founded in 2011 as a start-up company, CyDesign, was awarded a significant contract in early 2012 by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to support the Fast, Adaptable, Next-Generation Ground Vehicle (FANG) Challenge. In 2013, CyDesign successfully delivered a cloud-based systems modeling platform for use by FANG Challenge registrants.

CyDesign Labs core capabilities enable an organization to address a series of design challenges of increasing complexity, while leveraging fab-less design, foundry-style manufacturing, and crowd-sourced innovation models to control in real time manufactured products from their very first digital models. This provides designers using simple 0D-1D models with the possibility of validating collaboratively, online, the compliance of a product - as a system or as one of its components right from the beginning of design - with respect to environmental, safety, comfort, and other multiple performance requirements and technical standards. When the solution from CyDesign Labs is combined with ESI solutions it is possible for designers to connect ‘live’ with the 3D models of CAE engineers.

ESI Group’s past focus on validation positions the company higher in the product value chain and is expected to stimulate the interest of players who are either seeking to or are currently migrating towards End-to-End Virtual Prototyping.

“This acquisition is poised to allow ESI Group to expand its user base to all players involved in creating industrial products – adding a seamless collaborative environment between specifiers, inception designers, and validation engineers.

CyDesign Labs’ collaboration with DARPA has proven the relevance of combining 0D-1D simple design tools with traditional advanced 3D simulation. This operation represents a unique opportunity for ESI to leapfrog and actively contribute to the grand challenge of the 4th industrial revolution,” says Alain de Rouvray, ESI Group’s Chairman and CEO.

for more information: www.cydesign.com

CyDesign solutions provide simulation data to derive the best design choices before CAD.

This evolution will allow ESI Group to provide its customers with a more comprehensive offering that covers the entire value chain of a product: from inception to verification, validation and certification. This extension of

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esi talk

corporate

Creation of the Chair “Centrale Nantes – ESI” On January 21, 2014, in Nantes, Ecole Centrale Nantes and ESI launched a 6-year joint research program for which an Endowed Chair was created. Both organizations will conduct advanced research on the topics of Model Reduction, Advanced Welding Simulation, and Thermoplastic Welding.

For Model Reduction Strategies, both

The research scope has been designed to solve current and future problems linked to advanced multi-material design and optimization strategies. Pr. Francisco Chinesta, Professor of Computational Mechanics at Centrale Nantes (France) and titular of the EADS Foundation Chair for the past four years, has been appointed “Centrale Nantes – ESI Chair”.

glance, e.g. in the form of tables that can be

organizations will work towards the development of virtual charts for non-linear models involving multiple parameters, by using the Proper Generalized Decomposition (PGD method). These virtual charts represent complex mathematical relationships at a easily visualized. They will be integrated in ESI software to deliver real time simulation results, optimization, and reverse analysis, with the aim to predict even faster how design and manufacturing changes (geometries, materials, processes) will affect a finished product’s performance.

For Advanced Welding Simulation, research will investigate Friction Stir Welding (FSW) processes, which enable the joining of dissimilar materials (such as steel and aluminum) in solid state. Another research objective will be to improve modeling techniques for additive manufacturing, as part of the welding process.

A research team will investigate out-ofautoclave systems based on thermoplastic materials, by focusing on the advanced simulation of automatic tape placement.

Acquisition of the Vietnamese company CAMMECH In February 2014, ESI acquired the Vietnamese company Cam Mechanical Solutions Co., Ltd, (CAMMECH). This facilitates the creation in Asia of a ‘near-shore’ services division that will be dedicated to the execution of high valueadded projects.

Based in Hô-Chi-Minh city, CAMMECH employs a team of 10 highly qualified engineers who will serve as a foundation for further expansion in Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE). The acquisition brings to ESI an enhanced understanding of the Vietnamese market and, in that context, the expertise of a local and highly competent partner fully operational and with a skilled management team. Notably ESI has acquired a platform that facilitates the recruitment of experienced engineers, ready to operate immediately.

issue 44 | spring 2014

Lech Tomasz KISIELEWICZ, Executive VicePresident for ESI Services Operations, comments:

we will meet the growth in demand for our services both on local and continental markets, and more specifically in Japan and South Korea.

“The acquisition of the CAMMECH company allows the extension of our multi-shore coverage in Asia and the opening of a new center of competency close to our customers on this continent. Through this new foothold

We are also pleased to welcome a new highly experienced team on which we can count to support the Group’s development in Asia and around services dedicated to high value-added projects.”

CAMMECH’s CAE training center in Ho Chi Minh City.

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events

Save the date!

OpenFOAM User Conference 2014 October 7-9, 2014 - Berlin, Germany Meet the developers behind the code, network with the OpenFOAM User Community

May 21-22, 2014

ESI Global Forum 2014

ESI’s biennal international user conference, featuring over 50 international speakers

Paris, France

May 21-22, 2014

Vibro-Acoustics Workshops

Topics: Power Train Exhaust and Intake, and Cabin Noise

Paris, France

May 21-23, 2014

Automotive Engineering Exposition 2014

Japan’s biggest automotive trade show

Yokohama, Japan

May 21-23, 2014

METAL 2014

23rd International Conference on Metallurgy and Materials

Brno, Czech Republic

May 23, 2014

Simulation of composite materials in aerospace and helicopter industries

Seventh International Helicopter Industry Exhibition HeliRussia 2014

Moscow, Russian Federation

May 28-31, 2014

International Conference ZAVARIVANJE - WELDING 2014

Organized by the Croatian Welding Society in association with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture in Zagreb

Šibenik , Croatia

Jun 3-6, 2014

ITM

Innovative technologies for machinery – international trade show

Pozna, Poland

Jun 4, 2014

ESI Seminar - Marine Noise Prediction

Learn how to predict cabin noise by using the SEA approach and more while brunching with ESI teams

Hamburg, Germany

Jun 4-5, 2014

NAFEMS France 2014 Congress

Theme: fostering performance with simulation technologies

Paris, France

Jun 5, 2014

Seminar - Cabin Noise

Learn how to predict cabin noise by using the SEA approach and more while brunching with ESI staff

Essen, Germany

Jun 10-11, 2014

NAFEMS UK Conference 2014

Theme : Accelerating the Future of CAE

The Oxford Belfry, United Kingdom

Jun 11-13, 2014

METEF 2014

10th edition of the international expo dedicated to advanced technologies for aluminum and metals

Verona, Italy

Jun 15-17, 2014

EICF International Conference

28th International Congress - “Excellence in the art of Investment Casting”

Lugano, Switzerland

Jun 22-26, 2014

ECCM16

16th European Conference on Composites Materials

Seville, Spain

for more information: www.esi-group.com/events

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esi talk

financial

Nomination of a second COO: Dr Christopher St.John Dr. Alain de Rouvray, Chairman and CEO of ESI Group, proposed to the Board of Directors on December 4th, 2013, the appointment of Dr. Christopher St.John as Chief Operating Officer of ESI Group. The Board accepted the nomination.

Dr. Alain de Rouvray can now rely on two COO’s: Dr. Vincent Chaillou for the activities of the Edition and Strategic Marketing and Dr. Christopher St.John for the activities of Distribution and Support.

Dr. Christopher St.John joined the Group in July 2008 as Director for Asia Pacific. Since February 2010 he has been responsible for Distribution operations in all geographic areas.

His career includes more than 30 years with companies publishing and distributing CAE solutions and in engineering consultancy. He holds a PhD in Civil Engineering from Imperial College, London, UK.

ESI Group wins the “Grand Prix ASMEP-ETI / Bpifrance 2014” award On March 11, 2014, in Paris, ESI was granted the Grand Prix ASMEP-ETI in the “Innovation and Industrial Strategy” category. The award recognizes and rewards family businesses and medium-sized companies that, within the framework of a coherent and sustainable strategy, have shown the ability to stand out by putting in place the conditions for sustainable growth through innovation.

2013 annual results 2013 annual sales totalled €109.3 million, up 6.6% at constant currency and stable in actual terms. The currency effect, essentially a result of the negative evolution of the euro/yen parity, had an impact of -€7.0 million (-6.4%) on 2013 sales.

Activity in BRIC countries grew further, in line with the Group’s strategy of accompanying industrialists in emerging regions demonstrating economic potential. These countries accounted for 15.4% of total sales over the period, compared with 13.1% in 2012 and giving buoyant growth of +17.9%.

Amplification of strategic partnerships and significant increase in the adoption of end-to-end virtual prototyping The signing in May 2013 of a strategic cooperation agreement with the Renault group marked for that company an intensification of the deployment of end-to-end virtual prototyping and illustrated the imperative of manufacturing industries to possess disruptive technology. Consequent to that agreement we signed in January 2014 three-year contracts covering the services to be undertaken for Renault, its subsidiaries, and Nissan Motor.

Similarly, the Volkswagen group has also reiterated its confidence in ESI Group by signing and extending for the eighth consecutive time its 3-year contract; this time with a broader scope.

Like the automotive segment, the aeronautical and defence sectors, which are also subject to substantial competitive pressure and increasingly stringent environmental constraints, are highlighting the value added by ESI Group’s methodological and technological approach. EADS has launched further co-creation projects in the fields of vibro-acoustics, composites and assembly. Also in the aeronautical sector, ESI Group has recorded substantial growth of business with AVIC in China; a reflection of AVIC’s commitment to adopt ESI solutions even before the AVIC-ESI Joint Venture became effective on February 1, 2014. In the energy sector, AREVA signed a two-year engineering contract in line with its strategic plan aimed at strengthening its technological competitiveness, improving its economic performance and consolidating its nuclear security and safety policy.

The buoyant development of these strategic partnerships presages a more global deployment of virtual prototyping in all industries in the medium term.

Substantial improvement in operating profitability at constant currency

Alain de Rouvray surrounded by a few ESI colleagues, receiving the ASMEP-ETI prize from Yvon Gattaz and former Minister Claudie Haigneré, March 11, 2014 in Paris.

issue 44 | spring 2014

In actual terms, EBITDA was up +8.5% to 9.6 million euros, giving a margin of 8.7% in 2013 compared with 8.1% in 2012. When reported at constant currency, the increase was even greater: +44.7% for an equivalent of 12.7 million euros, or a margin of 11.0%. These margins confirm the improvement in profitability that was visible over the second half of the year.

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