Numerical Manufacturing And Design Tool (NuMAD)

Sandia Energy > Numerical Manufacturing And Design Tool (NuMAD)

NuMAD (Numerical Manufacturing And Design) 3.0 is an open-source software tool which simplifies the process of creating a three-dimensional model of a wind turbine blade. The tool manages all blade information, including aerodynamic and material properties, as well as material placement. The blade information can be modified manually or automatically with a structural-optimizer within NuMAD. NuMAD was created to interface with the following tools:

  • The ANSYS® commercial finite element package
  • The NWTC codes PreComp, BModes, and FAST
  • PLOT3D file format for CFD mesh building

When used in conjunction with these tools, NuMAD provides computation of blade cross section properties, various structural analyses, and estimation of blade aeroelastic instability. Note that the graphical user interface (GUI) from prior versions is still available but new GUI developments from the core NuMAD team have ceased.

To access NuMAD on GitHub, visit: https://github.com/sandialabs/NuMAD

To view NuMAD documentation, go to: numad.readthedocs.io/

For questions or support create a new issue on GitHub.

Q: Do I need ANSYS to use NuMAD©?

A: No. Without ANSYS you can use NuMAD© to create FAST blade input files, using publicly available NREL NWTC tools – PreComp and BModes. However, a core functionality of NuMAD© is to generate the APDL commands that build a finite element shell model in ANSYS. Without ANSYS, you will be unable to take advantage of this capability.

Q: What ANSYS licenses does NuMAD© utilize?

A: Any license involving the basic ANSYS Mechanical APDL capabilities, commercial or academic.

Q: What ANSYS release does NuMAD© utilize?

A: We recommend ANSYS R12, or later.

Q: Can I use NuMAD© to compute blade properties to be used in aeroelastic simulation, such as that used by NREL’s FAST or FAST-to-ADAMS with AeroDyn?

A: Yes. NuMAD© has the ability to use BPE (ANSYS required) or PreComp to compute sectional properties along the blade. This information is used by FAST to create ADAMS models for aeroelastic simulation. See the User’s Guide for more information.

Q: Can I use NuMAD© to generate FE models using tools other than ANSYS?

A: No. Currently NuMAD© provides output only for ANSYS; however, NuMAD© developers are open to assisting users who want to write a non-ANSYS output module. Please contact them for more information.

Q: What operating systems does NuMAD© currently work with?

A: Compiled NuMAD© works either on Windows 32 or 64-bit systems. Raw MATLAB files will work with either Windows or Linus OS. Mac is currently not supported. NuMAD© developers would be interested in assisting Mac users who want to create and test that compatibility. Please contact them for more information.

Q: How do I cite NuMAD© in my publication?

A: The following citation works in most cases: Camarena, Ernesto, Anderson, Evan, Ruehl, Kelley, Clarke, Ryan James, Paquette, Joshua, & Ennis, Brandon Lee. (2022). NuMAD v3.0 (3.0). Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5851606Q.

Q: My NuMAD© model is not working. What can I do?

A: Start with the basics. Refer to “Trubleshooting” in the User’s Guide. Open NuMAD© and run the examples https://github.com/sandialabs/NuMAD/tree/main/examples. Understand that external NuMAD© support by Sandia is limited, so please be patient.

Q: How often is NuMAD© updated?

A: NuMAD© is constantly evolving at Sandia because we use it directly in our research activities. Please check the development branch on the GitHub site for the latest updates.

Copyright (c) 2013-2021, National Technology & Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC (NTESS). Under the terms of Contract DE-NA0003525, the U.S. Government retains certain rights in this software.

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