Hill Engineering Blog

ASIP conference 2020

by Adrian DeWald

Hill Engineering recently participated in the virtual 2020 United States Air Force Structural Integrity Program Conference (ASIP). The ASIP Conference is specifically designed to bring together the world leaders in the area of aircraft structural integrity and to disseminate information on state-of-the-art technologies for aircraft structures in both the military and civilian fleets. Hill Engineering’s presentation included a summary of recent work related to developing a digital quality assurance record for typical aircraft maintenance processes like hold hole expansion. The abstract text is presented below along with a copy of the presentation slides.

New publication – Precision of Hole-Drilling Residual Stress Depth Profile Measurements and an Updated Uncertainty Estimator

by Adrian DeWald

Hill Engineering recently published new research detailing our efforts to quantify uncertainty for hole drilling residual stress measurements. This new approach provides a more accurate estimate of the measurement uncertainty associated with hole drilling. The paper is titled Precision of Hole-Drilling Residual Stress Depth Profile Measurements and an Updated Uncertainty Estimator and appears in Experimental Mechanics. The abstract text is available here along with a link to the publication.

Rapid Forge Design vlog demonstration

by Robert Pires

In our latest vlog, Camille sits down with John Watton to discuss our new Rapid Forge Design^TM software, as well as give a demonstration of its powerful capabilities. Watch the vlog above and be sure to take a look at the case study for more information.

HE Hobby Spotlight: Caleb

by Robert Pires

Caleb has taken up cycling during the pandemic.

What do IT bands and bandwagons have in common?

Not much, unless you’re HE team member Caleb. For him, these were both catalysts in kickstarting his newfound hobbies of 2020.

Case Study: Aluminum forging cold-work stress relief

by John Watton

As we discuss in a related case study, aluminum alloy heat treatment is a three-step process designed to achieve the desired properties. The process involves: 1) solution heat treatment (SHT) at an elevated temperature below the melting point, 2) quenching in a tank of fluid (e.g., 140-180°F water), and 3) age hardening. While providing good properties, the heat treatment has the negative side effect of creating bulk residual stress and distortion. One approach to mitigate this problem is the application of a post-heat treatment mechanical stress relief process.

HE Hobby Spotlight: Camille

by Robert Pires

Beautifully baked sourdough loaves a la Camille.

The year 2020 has made some interesting changes to the way we live our lives. For a lot of folks, this has been spending more time at home than ever before. If you didn’t have anything but your thoughts to keep you company during the unrelenting hours, you might yourself going mad. Luckily, some of our Hill Engineering team members have found fun hobbies during the quarantine, for those rare moments when their minds are not occupied by residual stress.

BAMpF Rebranding

by Josh Hodges

Hill Engineering completed a rebranding process for our industry leading fatigue analysis software. The process produced a new name, BAMpF^TM (Broad Application for Multi-point Fatigue), and a new logo.

New Vlog: Machining Process Simulation

by Camille Fowler

Our latest vlog discussing our machining simulation capabilities is up on our YouTube channel today and it is chock-full of information for those interested addressing distortion issues caused by machining.

Case Study: Rapid Forge Design

by John Watton

Hill Engineering’s Rapid Forge Design^TMsoftware is an automated tool for fast and reliable design of 2-piece, closed-die impression forgings. Rapid Forge Design^TM reads the final part geometry and automatically designs a forging according to accepted industry guidelines and user inputs. Rapid Forge Design^TM is intended for use by forging suppliers and forging consumers/OEMs.

HE Pet Spotlight: Sir Loin

by Robert Pires

Unless you’re a sponge living under the sea, you probably don’t have an aquatic snail as your primary pet. That’s not the case in my household, however, where our only non-human friend is Sir Loin, the freshwater ramshorn snail.