Bow limb design & analysis software (archery).

[Thorvald]

Hi.

I am searching for software, where the following is possible:

- Input a bow design - perhaps in 3D, perhaps more simple. Can be the whole bow or mainly the "spring" part of the bow: The limb(s).
- Must be able to handle recurve style limbs.
- If it can handle different laminations in the limb it is a plus.
- I'd prefer that it can show the limbprofile with thickness etc. - i.e. a "correct" model of the limb.
- It should be able to analyze the limb profile as the bow is drawn to full draw. How much energy is stored. Draw-force curve of the design. Draw weight at full draw.
- It should also be able to calculate and analyze stresses in the limb - perhaps with FEM calculations.
- If the program is working - or can work - with a 3D model plus FEM, then stresses could be shown graphically in the 3D model, with colors. So it is easy to visualize where things go wrong - or why the design is unstable.
- If one inputs a limb design and wants to modify it, it would be great if it is easy to modify it graphically by dragging in points, or by changing coordinates. For example if one starts with a straigth limb and then curl it to recurve form, for example.
- If the software can handle more complex designs, for example with more than one string and with non-continous limb design (http://s744.photobucket.com/albums/xx81/Thorvald73/Archery/Phoenix/?albumview=slideshow&direction=reverse") or even compound bows - then it would be great as well.

Come with suggestions, folks. :-) I tried to google it, but did not have success.

 

[nova514]

I know this does not answer your question, but eventually it will. I am working on software to do exactly that. Hopefully I will have a preliminary working V1 release ready by February 2011. The analysis will be crude, and the graphics and interface very rudimentary at best. Although it will allow for laminations, as well as materials with directional properties. By September 2012, it will have support for FEM. Eventually it will allow for greater functionality, a nice user interface, and even optimization. I'm working on it in between semesters, so I make no guarantees about the deadlines. I will post the link on this thread when it is released.

 

[Thorvald]

Hello.

This actually sounds quite interesting. I have recently been thinking about to develop a software tool in Excel, based on formulas and calculations (no macros). But as you might know as well, it can be difficult to get the time and the motivation to do such a work.

I wish you all the best with your project and I look forward to see the result of your work. It should be interesting.

At www.5150bows.com, under the subforum "Traditional Bows", there is a thread "parallel limb recurve", that should be quite interesting for you to read. You might need to become member of the forum, to read in it.

 

[nova514]

Well, it looks like somebody beat me to the punch... but like a decade. There is an Excel "program" called SuperTiller. I think the current version is 6.6. It's pretty good in my opinion. The user interface is nice and it generates a lot of really useful information. My one criticism about it is that the programming style makes it difficult to navigate, but it was written partially as an exercise in learning VBA, so I don't mean it to bash the author in any way. So do a Google search for SuperTiller. It's a great program, and there are quite a few tutorials on how to use it.

 

[Thorvald]

I know Supertiller. But the problem is that the program has never run perfectly for me. I don't know if it is because my Microsoft Office is too old or if the program is just too unstable.

 

[jehan60188]

Fea?

 

[Thorvald]

FEA? What you mean? :-)

 

[jehan60188]

FEA? What you mean? :-)

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=fea

 

[Thorvald]

That does not give me an answer? Finite element method programs? If yes, then what program?

 

[nova514]

"FEA" (Finite Element Analysis) won't just solve all of yours problems. Since you're dealing with such large deformations, you can't use a traditional Euler-Bernoulli beam approach, so if you use the FEM (Finite Element Method) on an EB member, you won't get a very good answer. You have to know what you have to account for, how to account for it, and how to find a meaningful solution. I'm working on that as a summer project. We'll see if I get anywhere...