THERMAL-STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND ANALYSIS
Thermal-structural design and analysis efforts take a practical approach based on a strong foundation of theoretical sciences. It starts with the definition of the geometry, material properties, boundary conditions, and loads. Once these four main aspects are known, a theoretical model can be developed and auditioned to compute transient temperatures, deformations, stresses, and strains within the materials of interest. Proper assessment of the overall design can then be made based on concerns such as materials melting, possible thermal-chemical reactions, excessive deformations, and stress- or strain-based allowables. Simply building and testing components made with advanced materials without a comprehensive understanding of the physics of the problem typically results in failed parts, a significant loss of time and money, and perhaps a poor representation of very viable material solutions.
Material Fabrication
Although PDI provides engineering consulting services, we work with various suppliers of advanced materials solutions that specialize in a variety of fabrication techniques including Vacuum Plasma Spray (VPS), Air Plasma Spray (APS), Cold Spray, Electro-Chemical Deposition, Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS), perform manufacturing, Melt Infiltration (MI), and Chemical Vapor Infiltration (CVI).