Seoul National University Advances UAM Rotor Blade Design with AnalySwift’s VABS Software
BY Composights
Published: 28 Jul 2025
AnalySwift, LLC, a leading provider of
high-fidelity modeling software for composite structures, announced that Seoul
National University (SNU) is actively using its VABS simulation software
as part of AnalySwift s Academic Partner Program (APP). The software is
being used by researchers at SNU s Active Aeroelasticity and Rotorcraft
Laboratory (AARL) and the SNU-UAM Center to optimize rotor blade
designs for Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and rotorcraft applications.
Through the APP, AnalySwift provides no-cost licenses of its VABS
and SwiftComp software to universities for academic research. VABS is a
general-purpose cross-sectional analysis tool used to predict structural beam
properties and recover detailed 3D stresses and strains in slender composite
structures, such as rotor blades,
UAV components, and high-aspect ratio wings.
SNU-UAM Center brings together 12 laboratories from seven universities
to develop core technologies for UAM, said Professor SangJoon Shin of the Department of Aerospace Engineering
at SNU. VABS has enabled us to design rotor blade cross sections that
avoid ground resonance within operational frequency ranges, which is crucial
for UAM vehicle safety.
SNU researchers use VABS to calculate stiffness matrices for rotor
blades, feeding those results into CAMRAD II, a rotorcraft performance
analysis tool, to evaluate vibratory responses under real flight conditions.
This integrated workflow helps the team design blades that meet vibration and
performance criteria early in the development cycle.
VABS delivers high-fidelity simulation results with the efficiency of
simplified engineering models, said Dr. Wenbin Yu, CTO of AnalySwift.
It reduces analysis time from hours to seconds while maintaining the accuracy
of full 3D finite element analysis.
Allan Wood, CEO of AnalySwift, added,
We are pleased to support Seoul National University s UAM research through our
Academic Partner Program. VABS is proving to be a valuable asset in solving
complex structural challenges in next-generation aerospace systems.
Source: analyswift.com
