GEO DICT

The Digital Material Laboratory

Generate
Materials
Predict
Properties
 GEO DICT
The Digital Material Laboratory
The Digital Material Laboratory

GeoDict is an innovative, integrated, and easy-to-use digital

material laboratory software package for multi-scale 3D image
processing, material modeling, visualization, and analysis.
Morphological and physical properties are analyzed on large 3D
data sets from micro-CT, nano-CT, and FIB/SEM images of existing
materials or from modeled new materials. The accuracy of GeoDict’s
analysis has been consistently validated by laboratory experiments.
GeoDict runs in-house, on standard workstations. The simulations
take hours instead of months of traditional lab work. Simulations
on very large data sets are accelerated through parallelization and
workflows are automated using GeoDict’s practical scripting language.
The GeoDict software package consists of modules tailored to
the R&D needs of specific industry sectors. We help selecting,
combining, and using the modules fitting your industrial application.
Use GeoDict to gain insights into existing materials, or model, design,
and optimize novel materials. Improve efficiency, boost productivity,
and reduce costs with GeoDict and, ultimately, increase profitability.
Flow through partially saturated
fibrous media

GeoDict is the digital software solution for...

Automotive Acoustics Sound proofing and acoustic treatment

Generated random foam
Composites Lightweight composites
Energy Fuel cell materials, battery materials
Construction Fiber reinforcement, insulation,
acoustics, mechanics
Filtration & Separation Membranes, filter media and elements
Hygiene Wipes, personal care, diapers
Insulation Thermal, electrical
Metal weaving Woven meshes and screens
Oil & Gas - Upstream DRP, sand control, proppants
Paper Forming fabrics, dewatering felts
Textile High-Tech woven and nonwoven
Water Remediation

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 Model, design, and optimize materials

FiberGeo Fibrous porous media and composite material models

GrainGeo Sintered and piled material models
PaperGeo Paper models from cellulose and other fiber types
WeaveGeo Metal wire meshes, plastic meshes, woven textile models
PackGeo Random dense sphere packings
PleatGeo Pleats of filter media, including support meshes
GridGeo Periodic patterns of spheres, cylinders, holes
FoamGeo Closed-cell and open-cell foams and sponges

Discover and understand materials Von Mises stress in µCT-scanned

composite material
DiffuDict Tortuosity factor and effective diffusivity
ConductoDict Effective thermal and electrical conductivity
FlowDict Pressure drop, viscous resistivity, permeability for fluids
ElastoDict Mechanical properties, large deformations, analytic bounds
FilterDict Simulation, calculation, visualization of filtration processes
SatuDict Saturation-dependent property analysis in porous media
PoroDict Analysis and visualization of pore space characteristics
MatDict Material analysis in porous media and composites
AcoustoDict Media-dependent input parameters for acoustic models
AddiDict Analysis of particle transport in porous media
FiberGuess Fiber orientation analysis for material modeling

Pre-process and post-process material models

ImportGeo Import and segmentation of various image data formats

and 3D modeling of materials
ExportGeo Export of models to Abaqus, Fluent, Parasolid, etc.
ProcessGeo 3D material model processing
LayerGeo 3D structure combination
EditGeo 3D structure editing
GadGeo Analytic model editing Particle deposition in filter element

GeoDict Workflow

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Analyze Material Properties on 3D Material Models from
3D Image Data

GeoDict is the digital material laboratory software package for 3D

image data import and segmentation, material modeling,
visualization and material properties analysis.
1.Import 3D data (µCT & FIB-SEM)
GeoDict is used whenever gaining insigths into the material’s
geometric structure and morphological and physical properties is
required.

GeoDict consists of units called modules. We help selecting a set

of modules to be combined and used sequentially to fit the R&D
needs of your specific industry sector.

The ImportGeo module is designed to read and segment any 3D

image data and create detailed 3D-material models. ImportGeo
handles FIB-SEM, µCT and nanoCT, MRI, and other image data
types. Different “colors” in the segmented images represent
different constituent materials.

2. Gas Diffusion Layer model
Very large 3D-material model data can then be analyzed for the
morphological and physical properties of interest using the
material property characterization modules of GeoDict. Manual
meshing is not required because GeoDict operates directly on the
image, allowing fast and memory-efficient simulations.

Additional post-processing is possible with MATLAB® (GeoLab)

and Excel® (GeoDexcel). All operations in GeoDict can be
performed automatically and repeatedly through macros for
parameter studies and optimization loops.
µCT-Scan

GeoDict’s property characterization modules

PoroDict DiffuDict ConductoDict

Segmentation

FlowDict ElastoDict FilterDict-Media

SatuDict AcoustoDict FilterDict-Element

AddiDict FiberGuess MatDict

3. CT-scan segmentation

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 ImportGeo sub-modules and import formats

ImportGeo-Base GeoDict formats .gdt, .gad, .leS, .g32

data formats .vgi, .raw, .vol, .rek, .vox

ImportGeo-Vol
.bmp, .gif, .jpg, .mng, .pbm,
image formats
.png, .ppm, .tif, .xbm, .xpm

ImportGeo-CAD CAD formats .stl 4. 3D-model of Berea sandstone

Material analysis workflow using ImportGeo

A typical workflow to analyze a material sample involves obtaining,

importing, and segmenting 3D-image data, creating a 3D-material
model, and analyzing the digital material as follows:

Obtain µCT-scan, FIB/SEM, or MIR 3D-image data of the sample

(in-house or through a µCT-scan provider), as in Fig. 3
5. Flow velocity filed visualization

Import, segment, and reconstruct the data into a 3D-material

model using ImportGeo (Fig. 4)

Analyze the digital material for the material property of interest

using the appropriate GeoDict module, such as FlowDict in Fig. 5
and Fig. 6, and ElastoDict in Fig. 7

Optimize the processes and/or the material

6. Von Mises strain visualization

3D-material models reconstructed with ImportGeo for case studies

7. 2D visualizstion and plot of pressure

across the material

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Modeling and Characterization of Fuel Cell Media
Proton exchange membrane (PEM)
Fuel Cell
GDL model (cabon fiber and binder)
Catalyst layer model
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The membrane electrode assembly (MEA) of a proton exchange
membrane (PEM) fuel cell consists of various porous layers: gas
diffusion layer (GDL), micro-porous layer (MPL), catalyst layer
(CL), and membrane. Improving the performance of the cell is
possible by optimizing each of the layers to its requirements.
Optimization includes improving the micro-structural design of
these layers, since material connectivity and pore morphology
have a major impact on the transport properties, and
numerically determining the essential two-phase flow properties.
The 3D microstructure models can be used to determine the
permeability of the layer, the diffusion of gases through the
three layers, their compression due to clamping pressure, the
electrical and thermal conductivity, the protonic and ionic
conduction of the catalyst layer, the capillary pressure curve,
and relative permeability of the GDL and the pore size
distribution.
The GeoDict software models porous layers, and characterizes
these functions, for their use in PEM fuel cells.
GeoDict modules for simulation of fuel cell media
FiberGeo Non-woven carbon paper GDL models
WeaveGeo Models of carbon paper meshes
GrainGeo MPL and CL models
ImportGeo Import and segmentation of various image data
formats and 3D modeling of fuel cell layers
FlowDict Calculation of permeability, flow resistivity, and
pressure drop
DiffuDict Calculation of effective gas diffusivity (all Knudsen
numbers) and tortuosity factor
SatuDict Computation of saturation-dependent property
analysis in fuel cell media
ElastoDict Determination of deformation due to clamping
pressure
 Approach

Two-phase flow through a porous layer is described by two

constitutive functions: the capillary pressure-saturation
relationship and the relative permeability. These functions
can be determined numerically based on a 3D microstructure
model of the porous layer.

The usual approach requires long computational times for the

simulation of multiphase flow making it unattractive in
material design and optimization.
Water distribution inside the GDL

GeoDict overcomes this setback by combining:

1. Pore Morphology Method

The pore morphology method determines a steady-state air-

water distribution for constant capillary pressure, and it is
based on:

 Young-Laplace equation (Washburn)

 Morphological operations, to determine the radius using

the morphological opening of spheres

Gas flow in the small pores

2. Permeability computations
For a given capillary pressure, the air-water distribution
determined with the pore morphology method is assumed to
be immobile.

Permeability is determined by solving Stokes’ equation in the

space occupied by one phase only. The solution of this
equation allows to determine the permeability for a give
water saturation.

Concentration field from diffusion simulations

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Filter Media and Filter Element Design through Filtration
Simulation

Filters are essential in industry and in everyday life to preserve

machine functionality and for protection against toxic and
allergenic substances. The demands on filter efficiency,
selectivity, capacity, and filter lifetime increase constantly, and
highly specialized solutions are needed for every filtration
application.

The traditional way of designing and testing filter prototypes is

costly and time-consuming. This is due to the complex interplay
of material properties of the filter media, arrangement of fibers in
the medium, physical and chemical properties of the fluid being
filtered, and characteristics of the particles in the fluid.

A time- and cost-effective alternative to the trial-and-error

method is the simulation of filtration processes.

GeoDict for the simulation of filtration processes

Filtration in oil filter

GeoDict is a modular software package developed for the

simulation of filtration processes. The set of GeoDict modules
for filtration simulation includes generators of 3D models of filter
media, along with material property predictors to characterize
fluid flow, particle movement, and particle deposition in the filter
media, as well as filter clogging and cake filtration.

The GeoDict modules for filtration simulation help gaining insights

on the behavior of existing filters and, beyond that, developing
new filter media designs (FilterDict-Media) and filtration set-ups
(FilterDict-Element) quickly and cost-effectively.

GeoDict is applicable in the development of Diesel Particulate

Filters, automotive air-, oil-, and fuel-filters, in steel production, in
blood filtration, in sludge filtration, in oil production, in the design
of household and personal care products...

GeoDict is the only scientific software in the market providing this

Mean velocity through loaded
filter media
functionality on standard hardware. Simulations on very large
data sets are sped up and workflows are automated through
parallelization and GeoDict’s practical scripting language.
Additional post-processing of filtration simulation results is
possible with MATLAB® (GeoLab) and Excel® (GeoDexcel)

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 GeoDict modules for filtration simulations

FiberGeo Fibrous porous media and composite material models

GrainGeo Sintered and piled material models
PaperGeo Paper models from cellulose and other fiber types
WeaveGeo Metal wire meshes, plastic meshes, woven textile models

PackGeo Random dense sphere packings

PleatGeo Pleats of filter media, including support meshes

GridGeo Periodic patterns of spheres, cylinders, holes

FoamGeo Closed-cell and open-cell foams and sponges

Tortuosity factor and effective diffusivity Visualization of soot filtration in a
DiffuDict ceramic filter model
FlowDict Pressure drop, viscous resistivity, permeability for fluids

FilterDict Simulation, calculation, visualization of filtration processes

in filter media and filter elements
SatuDict Saturation-dependent property analysis in porous media
MatDict Material analysis in porous media

GeoDict modules for pre- and post-processing

ImportGeo Import and segmentation of various image data formats

and 3D modeling of materials
ExportGeo Model export to Abaqus, Fluent, Parasolid, etc.
ProcessGeo 3D-material model processing
LayerGeo 3D-material model combination Model of a double-layer concatenated
filter pleat with outer netting support
GeoLab Interface to analysis of simulation results in MATLAB® for computations

GeoDexcel Analysis and plotting of simulation results in Excel®

Visualization of pressure frop,

streamlines and deposited particles in
Multi-scale simulation of filtration processes with GeoDict
a single pleat

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Stiffness and Deformation Simulation of Composite and
Porous Materials
Scanning and Segmenting
Von Mises Strain in a compressed
cabon fiber epoxy laminate
Geometric Analysis (weight,
diameter, orientation)
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GeoDict is a scientific software package for 3D modeling and
computing properties of composite materials and porous
media.
Whenever the geometric material design and optimization of
the constituent materials is an issue, GeoDict is decisive in
reducing costly sample production and mechanical testing, and
time-to-market.
Mechanics simulation with GeoDict and ElastoDict
Starting with the materials’ FIB-SEM and (µ)CT images, or
average properties (e.g. solid volume fraction, fiber diameter
and length distribution and fiber orientation) GeoDict creates
detailed 3D material models. Different constituent materials
are identified by different indices.
The characterization modules of GeoDict analyze 3D models
for geometric and physical properties. Examples are volume
fractions, fiber orientations, stress under loading conditions,
temperature distribution. The models can also be exported to
other CAE tools.
In GeoDict, for each material property, a dedicated solver
technology gets used. Mechanical properties for a wide range
of materials (nonwoven and felts, woven and weaves, sintered
metal and ceramics, open- and closed-cell foams, many
granular materials) are handled by the ElastoDict module
of GeoDict, which in turn calls FeelMath.
FeelMath solver integrated in ElastoDict
FeelMath is a structural mechanics solver developed by Dr.
Matthias Kabel at the Fraunhofer ITWM (Institute for Industrial
Mathematics) in Kaiserslautern.
FeelMath has been integrated in ElastoDict to solve elasticity,
plasticity and large deformations using a highly innovative
approach, based on the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). By
working directly on 3D images, it avoids the tedious mesh
generation step inherent to classical Finite Element-based
approaches.
ElastoDict and FeelMath are particularly well suited in setups
where no CAD information is available a-priory. In such cases
often FIB-SEM or (µ)CT provide the geometric knowledge
about a material. The use of the image geometry is the reason
of FeelMath’s outstanding performance on both sequential and
parallel computers.
 ElastoDict-FeelMath for composites and porous media

ElastoDict handles the pre- and post-processing for FeelMath by

associating constituents of the composite material or porous media
model with material properties. Then, the computations of effective
elastic properties are specified and handed off to the FeelMath solver:

 based on analytic formulas (FeelMath-AF),

 based on detailed 3D images or on stress-strain relations for non-

linear constituents (FeelMath-VOX), or

 based on the geometrically large deformations (FeelMath-LD).

FeelMath’s computations results are visualized and analyzed in

ElastoDict, e.g. to estimate an isotropic, transverse isotropic, or
orthotropic stiffness tensor, including the direction of the principal axes.
Deformed structures can be visually inspected and serve as 3D images
input for further computations with other GeoDict modules. For
example, to compute:

 compression-dependent permeability / diffusivity of porous media

with FlowDict, DiffuDict, and SatuDict, Compression of a mineral wool model

 compression-dependent effective conductivity of composite

materials with ConductoDict

 media-dependent input parameters for acoustic models with

AcoustoDict

GeoDict modules for pre- and post-processing

FiberGeo Models for fiber-reinforced composites and porous media

FoamGeo Models for open-cell and closed-cell foams
ImportGeo Import and segmentation of various image data formats
and 3D modeling of composite materials
ExportGeo Model export to Abaqus, Fluent, Parasolid, etc.
ProcessGeo 3D-material model processing
LayerGeo 3D-material model combination
Macros Scripting parameter and optimization studies of
deformation
GeoDexcel Analysis and plotting of mechanics simulation results
GeoLab Interface to analysis of simulation results in MATLAB®

Von Mises strain in a compressed

GFRP and Damage

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GEO DICT

트리니티 엔지니어링(주)
서울특별시 양천구 목동동로293 904호(현대41타워) 트리니티엔지니어링(주)
Tel : 02)2168-2977 Fax : 02)2168-2980 E-mail : info@trinity-eng.co.kr
TRINITY
Engineering www.trinity-eng.co.kr www.geodict.com

트리니티엔지니어링은 Math2Market®의 한국 공식 대리점입니다.