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.
NuMAD v3.0 FAQs
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.
A: Any license involving the basic ANSYS Mechanical APDL capabilities, commercial or academic.
A: We recommend ANSYS R12, or later.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
NuMAD License and Disclaimer
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.
All rights reserved.
License and Disclaimer
BSD 3-Clause License
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
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