MSC Software Corporation

 

Overview:
When leadership at TI Automotive—a global supplier of fuel storage and delivery systems for cars and trucks— evaluated the company’s product development process, it discovered repeated design and test cycles. MSC gave the engineers at TI Automotive the essential tools they need to save time and money, by reducing prototyping.The problem that TI faced was that simulation was disconnected from the design process. Compounding the situation was that in going from CAD geometry to simulation models, many data translations or fixes were necessary. TI really only had one simulation expert in the company, which kept analysis from being scaled across the enterprise.Using design simulation to support its product development process would enabled TI to account for complexities of manufacturing upfront, and, additionally, would move simulation from the desktop of one expert engineer to that of many engineers.Since TI implemented an engineering simulation solution from MSC Software, the supplier of enterprise simulation solutions. The benefits have been significant.

• TI Automotive now is able to run virtual tests without having to rely on the one in-house expert, which eliminates the previous bottleneck.
• TI reduced physical prototyping, and analysis time went from two weeks to four days per design. With less than a half hour of user effort, engineers are able to create a new design, run all of the simulations, and receive results.
• The new simulation capabilities have driven notable enterprise savings.
• The use of simulation has aslo brought gains to the top line, by demonstrating significant engineering expertise and competitiveness to end customers early in the sales cycle.

 

Overview:
In early 2007 the computer assisted engineering process chain at BMW was reviewed in order to identify possible bottlenecks in the future caused by the increasing size of simulation models. Under the name “Model of The Day After Tomorrow” the group of functional design body and fitting developed the largest known FEM model for a system-benchmark.Identify the theoretical limits and bottlenecks of today's computing rsoruces

 

Overview:
SOGETI Group (member of the Cap Gemini Group), a leader in IT services and R&D outsourcing, offers professional services that focus on three key complementary business areas: IT Application Management, IT Infrastructure Services and High Tech Consulting. Sogety enables their clients to leverage global technological innovations, and achieve above average results from their IT programs. The company employs more than 18,000 people in over 200 lcoations in Europe, the US and India. Around one third of the High Tech Consulting division's 3,000 employees are dedicated to engineering research and development.As its simulation business grew, Sogeti realized that effective management of simulation content is critical to its ability to profitably and reliably offer services to its customers. In addition, increased globalization is driving compliance in R&D efforts in the aerospace sector. Sogeti selected SimManager, MSC Software’s simulation content and process management solution that eliminates time wasted in searching for data and streamlines the process of distributing standard methods, processes, material properties, and other content.

• Creation of a simulation knowledge base that facilitates collaboration and streamlines content distribution
• Managed simulation processes that improve consistency and reliability
• Automation of methods and processes to dramatically reduce repetitive, manually intensive work
• Open support of existing simulation investments including third-party CAE tools, HPC hardware, and methods

 

Overview:
With the help of MSC Software Professional Services and products such as ADAMS/Durability and FE-Fatigue, John Deere Welland Works completed the design and testing of their new rotary cutter system within two weeks instead of several months. Thanks to the implementation of durability analysis, John Deere could reduce the number of the required physical prototypes and was able to try out several design concepts. As a result, the total development time on one cutter was reduced from four years to two, and John Deere is on track to produce another cutter in one year.One of the most time-consuming aspects of the cutter systems’ development in the past was the lengthy process of building physical prototypes, testing them for durability, then redesigning several parts and starting all over again. Utilizing ADAMS/Durability enabled complete integration of key virtual prototyping techniques such as finite element analysis, multibody simulation, and fatigue life prediction. The implementation of durability analysis at John Deere Welland Works was one of the key factors in reducing development time for their rotary cutter systems.Development on a 20-foot cutter was reduced from about four years to two, and most recently, to one year. Compressing the time cycle also meant that the company was able to evaluate many more design concepts than previously possible, which leads to more innovative approaches.

 

Overview:
The design/build engineering company Hollandsche Beton-en Waterbouw bv (HBW) investigated and validated the concept of a new, very large, inflatable dam with the help of MSC.Software Professional Services and products such as MSC.Marc. Using MSC.Marc nonlinear simulation software, HBW could understand the dam’s performance and the inflation/deflation procedure, as well as ensure that stresses were within the specified margin of safety. Thanks to the implementation of VPD tools, HBW realized design improvements in the inflatable dam’s flexible structure and completed the design. When a heavy storm hit the Netherlands in 2002, HBW’s dam automatically deployed within one hour -as predicted by MSC.Software tools.

Because an inflatable dam of this size had never been built before, the concept had to be validated before it could be built. MSC Software Professional Services was engaged to investigate the concept, as well as to make design improvement recommendations, using MSC Marc nonlinear simulation software. The simulation performed by MSC Software Professional Services gave the customor as well as the government of the Netherlands an accurate prediction of the behavior of the rubber dam.

 

Overview:
The German classification society Germanischer Lloyd is using MSC Patran as the foundation for their industry-specific solution GL/ShipModel. Through customization based on the MSC Patran pre-processor, GL/ShipModel enables pattern-based semi-automatic modeling of ship structures while taking into account specific shipbuilding modeling needs. Tailored to the shipbuilding engineering process flow, the program's functionality is saving time-up to 30%-and cost, and increasing quality. VPD tools from MSC Software are helping Germanischer Lloyd meet safety requirements, and tight schedules while maintaining acceptable profit margins.Scenarios such as hurricanes and other extreme weather situations are codified in technical regulations and considered in the design and construction of a vessel.MSC Patran from MSC Software was used as a foundation for the targeted solution, providing both a high basic functionality and, with its open architecture, the best conditions for GL’s plans. The result is a system that offers scheme/pattern-based semi-automatic modeling of ship structures while taking into account specific shipbuilding modeling needs.

 

Overview:
Newman/Haas Racing uses the ADAMS/ Motorsport toolkit and ADAMS/Insight for vehicle system modeling and design of experiments (DOE) to optimize the setup trade-offs required to deliver a more competitive car. The methods provided by MSC.Software have produced a more intuitive understanding of the model and significant gains in runtime, and helped Newman/Haas Racing discover opportunities to further improve efficiency and output. Using test chassis set-up options in a virtual environment, Newman/Haas Racing can take best advantage of limited on-track practice and testing time.With a winged, ground-effect racecar producing a large amount of downforce, a constraint for a given spring rate and static ride height must be set high enough to avoid excessive contact with the ground at high speed. Conversely, for a given spring rate, the static ride height must be set as low as possible to produce maximum downforce. Therefore, the design space results in a band matrix factor that defines the area of normal operation and combinations not physically possible and not meaningful.Correlation between physical test data and analysis results ensures models represent the real world.ADAMS/Insight for vehicle and system modeling has proven to be an effective tool for efficiently producing a complex yet quantifiable understanding of model behavior. These methods have produced significant gains in runtime and understanding.

 

Overview:
Since 1932, the LEGO Group has been making a reputation for delivering quality products and experiences that stimulate creativity in children around the world. Today, LEGO makes software, watches, and clothing, as well as operates LEGOLAND them parks, but its core products are still the plastic bricks that made it famous. More than 1.4 million LEGO parts are produced every hour making up the 100 million LEGO sets produced annually. With this many parts, every part and every change, even small changes in material usage, have a tremendous impact on costs.Need to maximize safety, while minimizing time-to-market and costs.

• Reduced overall cycle time, from concept to finished part
• Reduced dependency on physical prototyping
• Eliminating costly changes to tooling
• Substantially reducing manufacturing costs

 

Overview:
The New Zealand company Matrix Applied Computing has successfully used Patran Laminate Modeler to generate flat patterns for strips of material quickly and effectively from a CAD model of a racing yacht. For racing yachts where stiffness and mass are of paramount importance, the draping simulation provides accurate material directions and hence more reliable stiffness optimization. The use of MSC Laminate Modeler is now an integral part of the company's design offerings. High-performance yachts are often made from expensive carbon-fiber reinforced pre-preg materials. These are typically supplied in rolls and are laid on male or female molds to form the skins of the boat hull. Because hulls are typically of compound curvature, the strips will overlap when laid over the hull unless they are trimmed. This trimming is typically done using preliminary paper patterns which are themselves draped over the hull and cut to size. This process is difficult and expensive, and introduces errors. A New Zealand company, Matrix Applied Computing, has successfully used MSC Patran Laminate Modeler to generate these patterns quickly and effectively from a CAD model. The specifications called for accuracies on the order of +/-1mm. With advice from experts at MSC Software, Matrix developed flat patterns for strips of material to be draped on a 16m hull section using MSC Patran Laminate Modeler. The draping simulation provided accurate material directions and hence more reliable stiffness optimization.

 

Overview:
Guardian Automotive uses Marc and MSC Software Professional Services in the development of glass products such as windows for the automotive industry. Simulation with MSC Software products enabled Guardian to try different temperature situations without interrupting the actual production process and to predict the behavior of the various materials both in different production stages and in their final use mounted in cars. The validated Marc simulations showed Guardian what the layout of the window should look like, and enabled them to demonstrate to their customers whether a certain heating system was suitable. As a result, Guardian benefited from increased efficiency and significant time savings. The manufacture of car windows is a complex production process, since several variable factors are involved. Manufacturer Guardian Automotive is developing simulation techniques to obtain an accurate prediction of how these factors will interact. These simulations are made with the aid of MSC Software. At a later stage MSC Marc was also used to simulate the glass bending process.

 

Overview:
The Italian manufacturer Invernizzi Presse employed Marc and Patran to improve existing presses and to develop new custom-made presses. They also used MSC Software tools to illustrate the functional performance of the presses to their customers. The combination of Marc and Patran was used for various contact analysis, mechanical safety structure analysis, and load calculations. Invernizzi engineers could try more design variants in less time and gained more accurate results than by using traditional mathematical calculation methods. As a result, Invernizzi realized significant time savings, and, while optimizing material usage, saved production costs.

• Before using MSC Marc, the development department of Invernizzi Presse used mathematical methods to do the calculations for the presses. These methods were time-consuming and less precise because only a certain number of design variations could be tested.
• The production of a physical prototype would be impossible due to cost and time restraints.

Invernizzi Presse now uses the combination of MSC.Marc and MSC.Patran in a variety of applications, including:

• Contact analysis between pivot, bearing, and connecting rods to evaluate the flex/bending stresses in the pivot, the contact pressure on the bearing, and the resulting rod stiffness.
• • Contact analysis between the presses’ pivot, bearing and rod, along with the backlash of the pivot, in order to understand the thermo-mechanical behaviour of the bearing. Invernizzi engineers found that the heat generated by the friction between the parts increased the temperature of the mechanical components, breaking the oil film and seizing the mechanism. With this knowledge, the design was modified to improve performance.
• • Mechanical safety structure analysis. The MSC.Marc model allows engineers to study the mechanical behaviour of the safety system used on all types of presses. The analysis uses flexible contact elements and an external force representing the oil pressure.
• Epicycloidal analysis (study of a multi-stage gear transmission system). This simulation allows Invernizzi engineers to evaluate the stresses in complex gear systems in order to optimise the gear dimensions, avoid gear failure during duty cycles, and extend the life of the mechanism.
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• Load calculation during the bending process in order to understand the correct force needed to obtain the correct bending of the material.

Using the results of these simulations, Invernizzi can demonstrate the functional performance of a press without having to build a physical prototype, illustrating to its customers that the press will fulfill the requested tasks.

 

Overview:
Draper Laboratory used MSC EASY5 to provide the graphical user interface (GUI) and infrastructure for a collaborative Virtual Product Development environment in the development of missile guidance systems. The open architecture of MSC EASY5 improved the collaboration by providing a direct link to other popular simulation tools, such as MATLAB/Simulink. Using MSC EASY5, Draper Labs reduced the high costs of testing very complex electromechanical systems by cutting simulation time from weeks to hours.Physically testing a missile guidance system is time-consuming and expensive. Add to this the need for collaboration between prime contractors and subcontractors, and the process becomes very complex and even more time-consuming. The simulation uses very detailed processor models, accepting binary code like an embedded processor and replicating its behavior. The rest of the system can be modeled around the processor. When a simulation is run, the software developer can actually look at how many clock cycles it takes to execute the code.

 

Overview:
In order to reduce the cost of testing their airbag restraint systems, ASL is using Virtual Product Development tools such as MSC Dytran. MSC Dytran offers the advantage of coupled Euler-Lagrange analysis, allowing combined structural and gaseous fluid simulation. Contact analysis is very important in simulating an airbag deployment, and MSC Dytran provides a number of options for defining contacts. For ASL, MSC Dytran has proven to be a robust tool that can be applied to the design optimization of vehicle occupant restraint systems for both crash and out-of-position scenarios, which are relevant to the restraint system designs of the future.The cost of testing airbag restraint systems is growing, because government and industry regulatory groups are phasing in testing requirements for a wide group of drivers and occupants including large males, small females, and children. Some of these tests involve out-of-position (OOP) testing without safety belts. MSC Dytran provides coupled Euler-Lagrange analysis, allowing combined structural and gaseous fluid simulation. The Lagrangian method is used for structural components that may undergo large deformations and for which the dimensions, deformed geometry, and residual stress state are of major importance.

• The benefit of the Lagrangian solver is that the displacements, deformations, and stresses in structures can be monitored with a high degree of precision.
• The benefit of the Eulerian method is that complex material flow can be modeled with no limit to the amount of deformation.

 

Overview:
Autoliv, the world's largest manufacturer of automotive safety equipment, has developed side-curtain airbag systems by using MSC Dytran to similate the dynamic events that occur during inflation, such as gas flow and enclosure impact stiffness. MSC Dytran provides Autoliv with an effective tool to study OOP (out-of-position) scenarios, enabling engineers to identify and quantify the impact of numerous design variables. The software provides real value in terms of reducing the time and overall development effort required, compared to conventional prototype build and test methods.Simulating airbag deployment is a complex and labor-intensive process, including meshing of the material and folds, analysis of fluid flow, and dynamic stresses on the enclosure. Using MSC Dytran, the engineers at Autoliv were able to pinpoint the key contributing variables and isolate them for optimization.The software provides real value in terms of reducing the time and overall development effort compared to conventional prototype builds and testing.