Structural analysis
through qualification.
Loads, FEM, composites, test support, and margin closure for aerospace payloads and defense systems.
Definition
through verification.
Structural requirements and ICD constraints carried into load paths, FEM assumptions, test planning, and review.
Dynamic response and load definition.
Loads and dynamics support from modal characterization and response prediction through load-cycle participation, interface-load definition, and test environment development.
Engagement Areas
Modal analysis, random vibration, sine, shock (SRS, transient), reduction models, LTM/ATM, interface loads, and response limits.
Alignment-sensitive structures.
Analysis is driven by alignment stability, interface stiffness, load introduction, and deflection control under mechanical and thermal environments.
Engagement Areas
Optical benches, payload structures, kinematic interfaces, compliant mechanisms (flexures), interface-sensitive hardware, and stability-driven layouts.
Composite sizing and bonded joint analysis.
Structure sized for stiffness and mass, with strength and stability margins closed against system-level environments.
Engagement Areas
Layup design and optimization. Solid laminate and sandwich construction. Bonded and bolted joints, composite and composite-metallic.
Contact, preload, and interface behavior.
Interface behavior, preload state, friction, and controlled compliance carried into load transfer and margin closure.
Engagement Areas
Joint preload, contact/friction, gapping, bearing, clamp-up, interface stiffness, and interface load transfer.
Joint loads through deployment events.
Deployment analysis focused on sequencing, joint loads, nonlinear stiffness, and configuration changes through the governing event.
Engagement Areas
Deployable structures, hinges, latches, deployment sequencing, large rotations, joint loads, and load-path transitions.
Predictive modeling for test planning.
Pre-test FEM predictions support fixture definition, instrumentation placement, and test-load decisions; post-test correlation updates the model against hardware response.
Engagement Areas
Environmental test planning, fixture design, instrumentation, execution support, and model updates.
Model fidelity matched to the decision.
Scope, mesh, and idealization follow from the decision the analysis has to support. Assumptions are documented, and every model is built to be inherited — by the load cycle, the test program, or another analyst.
Engagement Areas
Structural concept and load-path definition, system FEM, preliminary sizing FEM, interface-loads models, breakout FEM, mass and stiffness representation, test-analysis models (TAM), correlation, and handoff.
Recovery when the margin will not close.
Targeted support for problems that surface late: negative margins, failed correlation, manufacturing escapes where the design is sound but the as-built condition must be dispositioned by analysis, and requirements that change, or surface as missed, after the design is closed. The work verifies the load path, separates modeling artifacts from physical behavior, and carries the analysis to closure.
Engagement Areas
Negative-margin recovery, load-path verification, MRB and nonconformance analysis, test-analysis discrepancy resolution, late or missed requirements, and independent FEM review.
Structural Analysis & FEM
Finite element models built around load paths, boundary conditions, mass representation, and documented margins.
Fatigue Analysis
Life assessment under launch, test, and operational environments with documented margins.
Composite Structures
Layup design and optimization, solid laminate and sandwich construction, and bonded and bolted joints, composite and composite-metallic.
Environmental Test Support
Vibration, shock, and static test campaigns supported from planning through execution.
Test-Analysis Correlation
Analytical models validated and updated against measured test response.
Structural Requirements & Load Cases
Program requirements and interface constraints decomposed into load cases, analysis assumptions, and verification methods.
Review / Recovery / Margin Closure
Targeted support for negative margins, incomplete analytical basis, failed correlation, or late-stage review gaps.
Tools &
Methods
| Category | Detail |
|---|---|
| FEM Solver | NX Nastran, MSC Nastran |
| Pre/Post Processing | Femap, MATLAB, Python |
| Modal Test | ATA Engineering toolset (IMAT) |
| Standards | Program-specific aerospace and defense structural standards |