Structural Engineering 

Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®) structural engineering specialists design, analyze, fabricate and test structural systems and components. SwRI’s experienced engineering and technical staff apply state-of-the-art structural technologies to a broad spectrum of industries that include aerospace, marine, offshore, petrochemical, building, highway and transportation. The applications in these industries are linked by the common requirement that the structures must be highly reliable, since failures often have severe economic or human loss consequences.

Capabilities

• Structural design and redesign to improve performance and life
• Structural analysis
• Test planning, buildup and instrumentation
• Test execution and data interpretation
• Field testing and service environment evaluation
• System fabrication and assembly
• Welding

Finite model stress analysis of a fighter-trainer aircraft wing

Experience

• Structural analysis of aircraft, marine, offshore and other systems
• Test planning, test build-up, instrumentation, test execution, and data collection and analysis of complex structures under static, fatigue and other harsh loading environments
• Testing of high-strength steel, aluminum, acrylic and composite hulls and housing tested for the U.S. Navy and numerous commercial submersible/diving system companies
• Structural enhancements and life extension of aircraft, marine and other mechanical systems

Buoyancy module for testing in the SwRI 50-inch-diameter, 6,000-psi hydrostatic chamber

Pressure hull for the U.S. Navy's new submarine rescue vehicle

Facilities

• State-of-the-art structural analysis computational tools such as NASTRAN®, ANSYS®, StressCheck®, NASGRO®, and AFGROW
• Underwater Engineering Laboratory with hydrostatic test chambers to simulate temperatures and ocean depths greater than 10,000 feet
• Laboratories capable of conducting static and fatigue tests of large structures and components
• 7,000-sq-ft facility for fabricating and welding pressure vessels, submersibles, frames and other structures

Fatigue test of a business-class aircraft wing	70-ft x 100-ft temperature and humidity controlled test bay with a completely unencumbered test floor

This flyer was published in September 2007. For more information about Structural Engineering, contact Dr. Hal Burnside, Director, Phone (210) 522-2332, Fax (210) 522-3042, Mechanical and Materials Engineering Division, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510.

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