materials analysis & simulation founded 2000 headquarters laramie wyoming key people jerad stack ceo website www.firehole.com firehole composites formerly firehole technologies inc. is a supplier of computer aided engineering cae software and consulting services specializing in analysis of composite materials . founded in 2000 the company s mission is to provide enabling technologies to further the widespread use of composite materials . their products include helius mct a multiscale simulation tool for composite progressive failure analysis helius compositepro a classical laminate theory and simple structural analysis tool helius matsim an online micromechanics lamina simulator and prospector composites an online composite material properties database hosted by ides inc. . firehole s principal product helius mct is a simulation tool built to improve the accuracy of composite structure analysis and is available as an advanced capability add on to commercial finite element analysis fea packages such as abaqus and ansys . it is based on multicontinuum technology mct an analysis methodology developed specifically for composites which rather than treating the composite as a homogeneous material extracts the separate stress and strain fields for the constituents fiber and matrix of a composite material . in doing so distinct failure criteria and material nonlinearity can be applied separately . this permits helius mct to identify failure of individual material constituents and degrade a composite material accordingly providing a robust progressive failure simulation that captures failure initiation all the way up to and beyond ultimate structural failure . contents 1 company background 1.1 associations 1.2 firehole name 2 references 3 external links company background edit firehole composites began in the academic research of composite material analysis during the mid 1990s . the core technology was part of an academic research project underway in the mechanical engineering department of the university of wyoming . in 2000 a number of graduate students and faculty at uw saw the commercial potential of the technology and founded firehole composites . firehole composites continues a collaborative relationship with the university of wyoming and sponsors ongoing research into composite analysis technology . during its first years of existence the company focused on the research and development of composite technologies utilizing the us small business innovation research sbir and small business technology transfer sttr programs . recent technology demonstration efforts have included participation in the world wide failure exercise and a large structures failure analysis and test program with the us afrl space vehicle s directorate . in january 2009 firehole launched their first commercial product helius mct . the name helius a general branding for firehole products refers to the greek god of sun and vision and represents the idea of added vision or insight into composite material analysis . associations edit asme american society of mechanical engineers nafems national agency for finite element methods and standards aiaa american institute of aeronautics and astronautics firehole name edit firehole composites name sake is the firehole river a wyoming river that originates in yellowstone national park . the firehole is unique because it flows through several geyser basins which empty hot water into it often causing steam to rise . it was named by early trappers because the steam makes it appear as if it is on fire . the firehole is also known for exceptional fly fishing . references edit this article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations . please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations . april 2009 learn how and when to remove this template message j.s. mayes and a.c. hansen composite laminate failure analysis using multicontinuum theory composites science and technology vol . 64 mar. 2004 pp. 379 394 . e. nelson a. hansen j. welsh and j. mayes recent advances in failure predictions of composite laminates using multicontinuum technology presented at the 49th aiaa sdm conference schaumburg illinois 2008 . external links edit firehole composites small business innovation research firehole river retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title firehole composites & oldid 741419142 categories software companies based in wyomingcompanies based in wyomingprivately held companies based in wyominghidden categories articles lacking in text citations from april 2009all articles lacking in text citations navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout 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