Nonlinear vibrations are a frequent occurrence in engineering structures and can originate from friction, contact, material laws and large displacements. Nonlinear phenomena are most often ignored or avoided in industry, because practitioners lack both a methodology and a software for properly addressing them.
The objective of this ERC PoC was to further develop and commercialize a solution for the analysis of nonlinear vibrations through the NOLISYS company. Specifically, we aimed to bring the Nonlinear Identification to Design (NI2D) software to the market. NI2D is the first software that can accurately quantify the impact of nonlinear vibrations on engineering structures. NI2D's unique feature is that it can embrace both measured time series and finite element models, allowing to progress from experimental data to design.
Thanks to this ERC PoC, a much more mature and more robust version of the NI2D was developed. Among the main benefits, one can cite the automatic detection of nonlinear phenomena directly from vibration signals measured experimentally and an easier use by an unexperienced user. Concerning business development, different actions were undertaken which led to the establishment of a 5-year business plan for the NOLISYS company. New customers, which include key players in the aerospace industry (i.e. Ariane Group, Airbus, Pratt Whitney Canada and Safran), bought either a license of the NI2D software or our consultancy services. On-site trainings were (or will be) also offered. Academic licenses were also bought by universities in France, Germany, UK, Denmark and Belgium. Thanks to these success stories, we can assert that the NI2D software helps shorten test campaigns and improve the fidelity of the finite element models, which, in turn, decreases time-to-market.
