Multiphysics

The core of Multiphysics' software offering is the MpCCI software, which has been commercially available for over 20 years. It is used as a vendor-neutral interface for combining commercial and academic simulation tools.  

• The MpCCI CouplingEnvironment enables the co-simulation of tools in computer-aided engineering (CAE) in order to analyse fluid-structure interactions or heat and radiation coupling, for example, as well as for the thermal management of electric motors. It offers an application-oriented coupling definition and a configuration supported by artificial intelligence (AI) for efficient and robust fluid-structure interaction (FSI) calculation.
• The MpCCI FSIMapper tool allows for different export formats of software for computational fluid dynamics simulations and for input decks of Abaqus, Ansys and Nastran a data transfer between the non-compatible computational grids. Physical variables such as film temperature, wall heat transfer coefficient, wall heat flux, standard and complex complex pressure and force densities can be transferred.
• The MpCCI Mapper is a special solution for integrated virtual production chains. It enables the geometric correspondence of two models to be checked; the (automatic) mesh alignment helps to align the positions of two models with each other. Robust mapping algorithms enable the transfer of different physical quantities for all common shell elements and types.

Fraunhofer SCAI coordinates the activities of the new data standard VMAP
A lack of software standards in virtual engineering workflows and incompatible interfaces for the transfer of virtual data not only cause additional costs and time-consuming manual adjustments, but also lead to inflexible IT solutions, loss of information and considerable delays in the entire design process. In December 2022, the VMAP Standards Community (VMAP SC) was founded as a registered association with 16 initial members.

The Multiphysics business area has initiated many of the following industrial and third party funded R&D projects. All of these R&D activities are driven by concrete demands from customers and industry communities. Within these projects, existing MpCCI solutions are applied to challenging engineering applications, new methods and tools are developed, and standardization activities are supported:

GEAR-UP
The integration of recycled materials continues to pose challenges for the manufacturing industry, as the quality of the products depends on the interaction between the materials used and the manufacturing processes. Variations in trace elements and chemical properties affect additive manufacturing processes such as 3D printing. The GEAR-UP project aims to develop digital tools to facilitate the use of recycled materials in metal and plastics processing. Simulation-based approaches and AI methods will be used to establish resource-efficient manufacturing processes. The digital product passport developed in the project ensures the traceability of materials.
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SmartEM
The SmartEM project develops a standardized system that allows to combine different computational engineering models from different sources and to merge them into a complete system. This flexible reference architecture, inspired by open data space concepts such as Gaia-X, promotes collaboration between different actors and enables the reuse of engineering models. This makes development processes more efficient and replaces manual, time-consuming procedures for creating digital twins. The AI-based generation of "surrogate models" - simplified versions of complex models from heterogeneous data sources - facilitates model integration and thus improves interoperability. In this way, SmartEM accelerates digital transformation and innovation in engineering.
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BASE
The BASE project aims to develop the digital battery passport, which every larger battery will be required to have in the future. The passport will contain continuously collected data on the "State of Health" as well as information on the supply chain, the manufacturing process and material data. It will apply the "mass balance" method, which offers a detailed accounting of the materials used in battery production, with special emphasis on the use of sustainable components. The data from the battery passport is stored in a decentralized and tamper-proof manner so that all parties involved have access to it. This enables the optimization of battery lifespan and enhances recycling.
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ALABAMA
The ALABAMA project is developing adaptive laser techniques for improved additive manufacturing. The goal is to decrease material porosity and adjust microstructures. The innovation includes the development of models for process optimization. Process parameters are optimized using multi-beam control and laser shaping. Advanced monitoring uses multispectral imaging for quality control. Material tests ensure compliance with requirements. The technology is being tested in aerospace, maritime, and automotive industries. These sectors face challenges regarding material quality. The project promises significant productivity increases and cost reductions. It also promotes the autonomy of the European industry.
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RESTORE
Remanufacturing boosts circular economies and job creation. RESTORE enhances this with sustainable processes and materials. It merges advanced technologies for better remanufacturing applications. The RESTORE platform will digitize and streamline the remanufacturing process. Fraunhofer SCAI standardizes data for remanufacturing efficiency.
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PIONEER
PIONEER aims to develop and implement an interoperable material modeling and manufacturing ecosystem that enables multidirectional data flow along the material value chain by linking product design and distributed modeling data with information from material characterization, manufacturing processes, and product quality criteria. PIONEER combines a design-by-simulation approach with manufacturing and quality data to optimize product development strategies in high-mix/low-volume production systems.
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DigitalTwin-4-Multiphysics-Lab
The joint DigitalTwin-4-Multiphysics-Lab laboratory (Fraunhofer SCAI, University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg, Dr. Reinold Hagen Foundation) aims to create a new Digital Twin concept for SMEs.
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VMAP analytics
The vision of ITEA project VMAP analytics is to enable the realization of smart Digital Twins for materials and manufacturing design tasks.
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Fraunhofer HABICHT
The Fraunhofer project HABICHT aims to develop a highly efficient electric motor for compressors in hydrogen fuel cells.
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BonoKeram
BMWi-funded project BonoKeram aims to increase the flexibility, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of small gas turbines by providing components made from monolithic advanced ceramics.
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NanoINHAL
The BMBF-funded project NanoINHAL aims to develop an innovative testing system for investigating the toxic effects of airborne nanomaterials.
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Fraunhofer DigitalTPC
The Fraunhofer project DigitalTPC aims at the holistic consideration of all sub-process steps, partly taking place at different locations, from the semi-finished product to the component production.
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UmLac
The AiF-funded project UmLac deals with material models and characteristic value determination for the industrial application of forming and crash simulation.
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VMAP
The goal of the ITEA project VMAP was to create the first open vendor-neutral standard for computer-aided engineering data storage, thereby enhancing the interoperability of software tools and reducing costs and effort for companies.
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VMAP User Forum 2025
2025, February 18 to 20, Schloss Birlinghoven (Germany) – Is the simulation data organized for further analysis?
This 2nd VMAP User Meeting includes contributions from both virtual process chains (such as design, simulation and optimization) and physical workflows (such as material and parts testing and monitoring, system testing).
The event will take place over three days:
Day 1: Updates on VMAP specifications and ongoing integrations in software tools
Day 2: Focus on semantic concepts and ontologies
Day 3: Integration platforms and semantic analysis
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NAFEMS VMAP Webinar – How to use and implement VMAP in your own code
2024, December 17, Online (via NAFEMS) – VMAP is a vendor-neutral standard for CAx data storage to improve interoperability in virtual and physical engineering workflows. The VMAP standard can be used to transfer data between simulation codes and to store data from physical experiments or machine monitoring, thus closing the gap by creating the world's first CAx workflow interface standard. In this webinar, Fraunhofer SCAI will provide an initial overview of the standard's technical capabilities and how it can be connected to your own software solutions.
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Project GEAR-UP has been started
2024, October 20 to 21, Trondheim (Norway) – The integration of recycled materials continues to pose challenges for the manufacturing industry, as the quality of the products depends on the interaction between the materials used and the manufacturing processes. Variations in trace elements and chemical properties affect additive manufacturing processes such as 3D printing. The GEAR-UP project aims to develop digital tools to facilitate the use of recycled materials in metal and plastics processing. At the kick-off meeting in Trondheim, 12 international project partners met at SINTEF Manufacturing AS and Aker Solutions Hydropower AS to discuss technical details and the further elaboration of use cases.
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VMAP 1.2 Release
2024, August 29, Sankt Augustin (Germany) – With the new version v1.2 of the VMAP standard, data from real measurements and production monitoring can now also be stored in a structured way and made available for further simulation tasks.
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Project BASE has been started
2024, July 30 to 31, Berlin (Germany) – The BASE project aims to develop the digital battery passport, which every larger battery will be required to have in the future. The passport will contain continuously collected data on the "State of Health" as well as information on the supply chain, the manufacturing process and material data. At the kick-off meeting in Berlin, 19 international project partners met for an initial exchange of ideas and planning.
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VMAP at NAFEMS DACH
2024, June 10 to 12, Bamberg (Germany) – The VMAP Standards Community e.V. – under the coordination of Fraunhofer SCAI – organized a VMAP workshop at the NAFEMS DACH 2024 to present the standard and the latest developments in it.
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Joint student research projects with the RWTH MMI
2024, June, Aachen (Germany) – The work of the MMI focuses on the conception and development of new and application-independent methods of eRobotics and their application in the fields of industry, environment, and space. Within the scope of joint student research projects, the coupling MKS-FEM in the MpCCI framework, the testing of application independence (automotive and others) and the transfer of the coupling concept to simulations for digital twins are to be investigated.
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FSI method presentation at the FEniCS conference
2024, June 12 to 14, Oslo (Norway) – Sebastian Keni Joseph from Fraunhofer SCAI presented the latest results on control theory-based adaptive time-stepping control for partitioned fluid-structure interactions.
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VMAP Workshop at NAFEMS DACH 2024
2024, June 10 to 12, Bamberg (Germany) – The VMAP Standards Community – represented by Fraunhofer SCAI – will hold a workshop on sensor data in VMAP at the NAFEMS DACH 2024 conference. The technical extension of the standard as well as its application for data evaluation from blow moulding processes and the calibration of ultrasonic systems will be presented and discussed.
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ITEA project SmartEM has been started
2024, April, Eindhoven (Netherlands) – SmartEM aims to overcome the limitations of current engineering models by developing a reference architecture for engineering model spaces. The architecture will enable the reuse, exchange and integration of engineering computational models. SmartEM will use AI-powered methods to create surrogate models from heterogeneous data sources and enable their recombination within a given technical domain. Partners in this project are Philips Electronics NL, Canon Production Printing, Thermo-Fisher, Siemens Software, KU leuven, TU Eindhoven, Reden, SemLab, TNO, ACD, Alpata, Inovasyon Mühendislik and Fraunhofer SCAI.
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ITEA project VMAP analytics had its final review
2024, April, Stockholm (Sweden) – The final review of the VMAP Analytics project took place on 9 April 2024 in an online/hybrid format. It was hosted by the project leader, Swerim AB from Sweden. Ovako, Gränges, Prevas, Morgårdshammar, Gemit from Sweden and Fraunhofer SCAI from Germany also participated. JF. Lavignon and E. Roddenbach from the ITEA office, S. Liljeblad, an ITAC representative, external reviewers from Software AG (GER) and Bittium (FIN) and the project mentor R. Ionescu from NXP (ROM) were also involved in the review.
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EU-project ALABAMA has been started
2024, February, Trondheim (Norway) – The EU project ALABAMA (Adaptive Laser Beam Control for Additive Manufacturing) had its kick-off event at the coordinator SINTEF Manufacturing. The partners Aerobase Innovations AB, Fraunhofer IWS, Fraunhofer SCAI, Eurecat – Centro Tecnológico, Luleå tekniska universitet, IRIS srl, flowphys as, Stellantis/CRF, Nordic Additive Manufacturing AS, GKN Aerospace Sweden AB, and Technovative Solutions LTD (TVS) presented their plans and contributions.
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First VMAP User Meeting
2024, February, Schloss Birlinghoven (Germany) – The VMAP Standards Community (VMAP SC) held its first user forum at Schloss Birlinghoven. Over 20 contributions from software partners, from ongoing R&D projects and the VMAP working groups provided a detailed insight into the ongoing VMAP standardization activities.
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EU-project RESTORE has been started
2024, January, Lisbon (Portugal) – The EU project RESTORE (sustainable remanufacturing solution with an increased degree of automation and recycling content in the laser and plasma-based process) had its kick-off meeting at partner EWF in Lisbon. Application partners from the automotive, shipping, railway and aviation sectors presented their requirements - initial concepts from the software partners were discussed.
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NAFEMS Multiphysics and Multibody Dynamics Conference 2023
2023, November – Fraunhofer SCAI will showcase the latest developments in our MpCCI tools. The MpCCI suite offers a large spectrum of software to support simulation runs and post-processing of results. VMAP, the vendor-neutral industrial standard for the seamless transfer of CAE data among software, will also be presented at the conference along with its current associated projects.
Multiphysics Conference
Multibody Dynamics Conference

LS-Dyna-Konferenz
2023, October – At this year's LS-Dyna conference (October 18-19, 2023, Baden-Baden), our distribution partner scapos AG will present current CAE developments from Fraunhofer SCAI. The MpCCI suite now offers co-simulation to support LS-Dyna and data mapping for complex CAE workflows.
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Multiphysics solutions for the automotive industry
2023, September – The publication "Multiphysics solutions for the automotive industry" provides specific information on applying MpCCI software products for simulation engineers in the automotive and supplier sectors. In various technical use cases for the modeling of complete vehicles or individual assemblies of specific components, the application possibilities of MpCCI are presented, and the implementation in virtual design processes and digital twins is described.
e-Paper

The VMAP standard for vendor-neutral CAE data storage
Workshop on Technical Extensions and Interoperability
Organizer: VMAP Standards Community
2023, May – NAFEMS World Congress
The lack of software standards in virtual engineering workflows and incompatible interfaces for the transfer of simulation data not only causes additional costs and complex manual adaptation but also leads to inflexible IT solutions, loss of information, and significant delays in the overall design process. Therefore, the standardization of data interfaces in CAE is vital for all industry segments where simulation processes are central to the product and process design.
The VMAP CAE Data Standard was initially developed by a consortium of 29 partners from industry, software domain, and academia to enable the storage of simulation results in an open and vendor-neutral format.
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Simulation tools in the virtual manufacturing process
2023, February – Virtual product and process development is used in many areas: vehicle safety, vibration, chassis design, and in many manufacturing processes. The simulation models must always be compared with available data from real measurements and tests. Only through careful coordination between virtual design and real-world testing, and by taking into account the interdependencies between each design discipline, can the validity of simulation results be continuously improved.
Digital Engineering "Simulationswerkzeuge: Die große Expertenumfrage"

VMAP, digital twins and multiphysics solutions
The VMAP standard for vendor-neutral CAE data storage workshop on technical extensions and industrial use cases (Fraunhofer SCAI)
2022, October – NAFEMS DACH Konferenz
Talk: Datenraum-basierter semantischer Digitaler Zwilling: Demonstration der Interoperabilität von Simulation, Messungen und Analytik für Produktionsprozesse (M. Meyer, A. Delforouzi, P. Gulati, K. Wolf (Fraunhofer SCAI)
Talk: Magnetohydrodynamics Modeling of Submerged Arc Furnace (P. Bayrasy (Fraunhofer SCAI); Y. Tesfahunegn, G. Saevarsdottir (Univ. Reykjavik); T. Magnusson (Stakksberg ehf); M. Tangstad (Univ. Trondheim)
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Medical technology against nanoparticles – Multi-organ chip detects dangerous nanoparticles
2022, October – What happens when we inhale nanoparticles emitted by a laser printer? Can this damage the respiratory tract or perhaps even other organs? Fraunhofer researchers are developing the "NanoCube" exposure device to answer such questions. Its integrated multi-organ chip from the TU Berlin laboratory and its spin-off TissUse detect the interaction of nanoparticles with lung cells, as well as their uptake into the bloodstream and possible effects on the liver.
Fraunhofer FORSCHUNG KOMPAKT

Improved implementation of material behavior change due to bake hardening in the simulation of the process chain
2022, June – The steadily increasing demands on the crash safety of automobiles with simultaneous weight reduction also mean higher requirements for crash simulation. In addition to manufacturability, the focus in component dimensioning is increasingly on crash properties. To improve the predictive accuracy of crash simulation, the individual process steps must be coupled in the simulations. To increase the quality of the predictions, thermal treatments such as curing the paint, which usually takes place at 170 °C for around 20 minutes, should also be considered. In many steels, the so-called bake-hardening effect occurs. This leads to an increase in the yield stress. This publication will investigate different transformation approaches for the hardening curves to increase the prediction accuracy in the process chain. An example demonstrates their easy applicability in the process chain simulation.
HTM – journal of heat treatment and materials
Publication

Digital twin in the manufacturing sector
2022, May – Digital twins are becoming an increasingly important technical paradigm for successful and efficient product and process design. Design and simulation engineers, process experts, and IT departments are more interdependent than ever but struggle with mismatched or missing data standards, interfaces, and software architectures. Holistic value chain optimization requires maximum reusability and digital interoperability, even across company boundaries. Our MpCCI Twin Toolbox supports engineers in creating and assembling their digital twin solutions. The toolbox provides functionality to integrate information assets from heterogeneous sources into a common environment. Analysis, optimization, automatic calibration, or verification and validation can be applied, and data can be managed through its semantic (ontology-based) metadata. The MpCCI Toolbox aims to achieve better interoperability and more intelligent workflows in engineering and multi-physical applications. Generic-based solutions and a growing number of engineering and analysis modules serve as templates and can be adapted to the needs of a project.
Hannover Messe

Fraunhofer’s PREPARE project “Habicht” hosts first review meeting
2022, May – "... This project is an excellent example of pioneering high-tech product development in conjunction with simultaneous materials and measurement development and simulation technology." - Jürgen Ulm, HS Heilbronn
Project page "Habicht"

VMAP – Data standard for a more integrated system engineering
2022, April – ITEA aims to continuously improve the quality and impact of the projects undertaken under our Eureka cluster. One way to achieve this objective is to understand the requirements faced by the end-users that could potentially benefit from the software innovation generated by ITEA projects. This knowledge of the customers’ important and challenging issues allows to design projects with concrete objectives and, most of the time, fast exploitation potentials.
ITEA Smart Systems Engineering Workshop

Digital Twin and Multiphysics Solutions – Multiple Presentations at NAFEMS World Congress 2021
2021, October – VMAP Standard and the VMAP Standards Community / VMAP Enabling Interoperability in Integrated CAE Simulation Workflows/ Bridging the Gap between Product and Simulation Data Management / A Digital Twin for Lightweight Thermoplastic Composite Part Production / Smart Automatic Configurator for Fast and Robust Fluid Structure Interaction Co-Simulations / Using Computational Fluid Dynamics for the Design of In-Vitro Testing Methods for Inhalable Micro- and Nanoparticles
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VMAP – Presentation at 13th European LS-DYNA Conference 2021
2021, October – VMAP enabling interoperability in integrated CAE simulation workflows
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MpCCI Solutions – Presentation at 2021 JMAG&PSIM User Conference
2021, October – Multiphysics Simulations for Electrical Components Design with MpCCI
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VMAP received the ITEA Award of Excellence for Standardisation
2021, September – “[…] VMAP has outstanding outcomes that will fasten the digitalisation process of all industries […] - Zeynep Sarılar, ITEA Chairwoman
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Fraunhofer DigitalTPC – Presentation at DGZfP-Jahrestagung 2021
2021, May – Inlinetauglichkeit von zerstörungsfreien Prüfmethoden für den digitalen Zwilling von thermoplastischen Carbonfaser-Tapes
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MpCCI CouplingEnvironment 4.6.1 released
2021, March – Solved synchronization issue with parallel codes / Updates for various code interfaces...
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MpCCI FSIMapper 4.6.1 released
2021, March – Updates for FLUENT CFF format / OpenMP based MpCCI Visualizer / ...
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Fraunhofer Project HABICHT started
2021, February – The project aims to design and develop a high speed motor for a fuel cell compressor to enable innovation in the utility vehicle and aviation domain.
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Project ITEA VMAP analytics has started
2021, January – The vision of VMAP analytics is to enable the realization of smart Digital Twins for materials and manufacturing design tasks.
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Whitepaper: Ontologies for Digital Twins in Smart Manufacturing
2020, November – We propose a first integral ontology centered around multiphysics simulations and digital twins in manufacturing.
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