Using IMAT and matlab for coriolis flowmeter design

Ten years ago, Micro Motion developed Coriolis flowmeter (CMF) analysis tools utilizing MSC.Nastran and custom FORTRAN code. These tools were extensively validated against experimental data and produce accurate results. Meanwhile, flowmeter design requirements became more stringent, requiring much more analysis. These requirements stretched the capabilities of the existing tools. This triggered the development of faster and more flexible analysis tools that do not sacrifice accuracy. Micro Motion selected Matlab as the new platform for performing flowmeter design studies. The new techniques incorporate Structural Dynamic Modification (SDM) techniques to solve models in the modal domain. Data is combined from several sources, including I-DEAS and MSC.Nastran. IMAT (I-DEAS Matlab Toolbox), a toolbox developed by ATA Engineering and partially funded by MTS Systems Corporation and Sandia National Laboratories, provides a link between Matlab and I-DEAS. It also provides objects and associated methods that allow for convenient storage and manipulation of experimental test and finite element (FE) data. These commercial tools, combined with custom-developed Matlab scripts, provide easy-to-use, flexible, and fast analysis techniques for Coriolis flowmeters.