Numerical Manufacturing And Design Tool (NuMAD)

NuMAD (Numerical Manufacturing And Design Tool) is a user-friendly, X-windows based (GUI) pre-processor and post-processor for the ANSYS^® commercial finite element engine. It is designed to enable users to quickly and easily create a three-dimensional model of a turbine blade.

Given the complex geometry of most wind turbine blades, structural modeling using the finite element method is generally performed using a unique model for each particular blade analysis. Development time (often considerable) spent creating a model for one blade may not aid in the development of a model for a different blade. NuMAD has been developed in an effort to reduce model development time and increase the usability of advanced finite element analysis capabilities.

The current version of NuMAD, released March 2010, may be obtained by returning the completed NuMAD Request form (as per instructions on the form). This new version of NuMAD includes fixes for avoidance of cylindrical shear webs and ANSYS license recognition issues, as well as new BPE libraries files.

Please note that you need to have a valid ANSYS^® license in order to run the NuMAD code. An ANSYS^® license is not supplied with NuMAD.