MSC Software Corporation

3D printing has a high potential with its production flexibility and geometry freedom. Yet, it is difficult to be competitive with traditional manufacturing technologies. More economic designs can be created by optimisation but until now this has been a complex process. MSC Apex Generative Design is here to change that.

When designing automobiles, the automotive seal has an important function to play. It seals the interior of the vehicle from the environment. Therefore, it not only needs to be functional, but there needs to some cohesion with the body design of the vehicle. Poor door seal system design can cause water leakage, wind noise, hard opening or closing of doors, and other issues that impair customer satisfaction. Moreover, improper design of the seal can make it difficult to install on the body panel. Therefore, the design rationality and manufacturing process are important for the functionality and performance of the sealing system.

However, the door sealing system comes with several design and manufacturing variables. It is difficult to precisely confirm the individual quantitative effect on the functionalities of these variables at early design stages. Therefore, computer-based simulation of the door sealing system is more practical since it is cost and time-efficient and also helps isolate critical factors.

Digital simulation of rubber sealing is both a complex and scalable problem. This is due to the unique properties of rubber, which is highly nonlinear and nearly incompressible. Besides, sealing simulation also needs to capture contact (self-contact) and geometric non-linearity.

The existing solver was proving to be ineffective since there were several challenges and convergence difficulties.

Vehicle part closures (such as those of doors, bonnet, trunk lid, and tailgate) are overhang sub-assemblies within the vehicle. The main function of these closures is to secure primary access to the vehicle. In addition, they are often required to accomplish diverse requirements over their complete lifetime.

The door closing is a result of complex interactions between different components of the door design, such as the latch, weather seal, etc. Parameters such as energy loss due to an air-binding effect, the inclination of the hinge axis, check-strap, etc. affect the door closure.

The seal has a major effect on the door closing function. For instance, the initial seal must deform as it engages the body panel to avoid defects such as wrinkles and deformation. Given the complexities, it becomes difficult to model the complete system accurately and simulate the door-closing event. With the existing approach, the time required to perform simulation was higher. Also, accuracy is compromised due to approximations.

The design rationality and manufacturing process play an important role in determining the functionality and performance of the door closing system. At early design stages, it is often difficult to precisely confirm the individual quantitative effect of these variables on the functionality. Therefore, computer-based simulation of the door system is more practical since it can isolate critical factors, in addition to being cost effective and time efficient.

The enormous efforts needed to send technical equipment into space require a particularly high degree of lightweight construction. Generative design allows these complex optimisation processes to be significantly simplified and automated. The potential offered by this approach is demonstrated by a case study from German satellite specialist Tesat-Spacecom.

In automotive design, the seat plays an important an important role in ensuring passenger comfort, especially in the case of long-distance drives. Most OEMs today focus on static comfort of seats, while paying limited attention towards dynamic comfort. This project by the students of VIT helped shed some more light on importance of dynamic comfort.

Using simulation tools from Adams, the students designed a model to scrutinize the performance of a semi-active seat suspension system using a PID controller and a newly designed magneto-rheological fluid damper. The software helped the students to test their model seamlessly and cost effectively on real time basis, using virtual prototyping and virtual testing, before physical prototyping and testing.

For short fiber reinforced composites, SABIC uses Digimat to define nonlinear strain rate dependent material model for accurate prediction of part performance under impact loads

SABIC uses Digimat for high-fidelity anisotropic simulation, considering manufacturing effects and non-linear material behavior

MSC Software helps Thai Steel Cable apply Multibody Dynamics & Finite Element simulations to design the structure of a Robotic Arm with Polyamide

From load simulation via generative design to manufacturing and verification – optimisation of a wheel carrier for FormulaStudent with MSC Software

Using MSC Nastran and Actran – engineers at Avio were able to accurately predict the effect of noise vibrations on the structural integrity of its launchers.

Lacking a productive tool for taking advantage of hex mesh in product development missions, engineers reviewed and benchmarked MSC Apex versus their legacy workflow and tools, and found quite a few benefits from using the new workflow.

Regulators are continually increasing the performance standards required of automobile manufacturers. An example is FMVSS 105 and 121 which define the performance of braking systems and are intended to ensure safe braking performance under normal and emergency conditions for heavy trucks and trailers. A typical change in these regulations is to reduce the distance required to stop the truck under emergency conditions. This can be achieved by designing bigger, heavier, more expensive brakes. Ragnar Ledesma, Principal Engineer for Meritor, took a different approach by addressing the algorithms used to control anti-lock braking systems used in nearly all mediumand heavy-duty trucks.

The simulation showed the proposed control system brings the vehicle to a complete stop in less than 4 seconds in a stopping distance of 177 feet (54 meters), demonstrating a way to meet the requirements of a tougher regulation without major changes to braking hardware. The results show a nearly constant deceleration response at the driver seat as opposed to the cyclical response with conventional ABS braking. The explanation for the improved performance is explained by the simulation results. The wheel angular velocities and tire slip ratios do not fluctuate from their desired values; hence the new ABS control system can sustain maximum braking forces almost over the entire braking cycle.

• Leveraged Adams-Controls Integration to provide virtual testing of the new braking algorithms used in the ABS system
• Achieved a reduction in truck stopping distance by over 30% using current disc braking systems
• Evaluated the truck braking performance without many expensive prototypes iterations
• On-demand access to the Adams Controls module via the MSC One token licensing system

The aerospace industry is one of the most demanding industries in terms of quality and reliability. There is an enormous potential for the use of additive manufacturing as this technology gives the opportunity to create function-oriented part designs for a highly purpose-oriented geometry.

In a research project of the Direct Manufacturing Research Center in combination with an industrial partner, such a function-oriented component optimisation was developed using MSC Apex Generative Design. A fixture has been identified and selected for redesign which is installed less than 100 times per year. The previous design consists of a two-part assembly in which the individual components are milled from a solid aluminum block and then connected to each other by several rivets. This produces a correspondingly high amount of waste in the production process.

Tyvak considered and evaluated MSC Apex because of its “smart” nature, ease of use, and seamless compatibility with MSC Nastran. When utilizing MSC Apex for pre-/post-processing an FE model, engineers conveniently achieved firstrun- success in simulations.

The world’s tallest artificial structure is the 829.8-metre-tall (2,722 ft) Burj Khalifa in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and like most such buildings it exists in densely populated urban areas. This has an impact in terms of wind patterns produced around the building and its environmental impact locally. However, such tall buildings also pose an opportunity for planners and designers to potentially rethink designs to take into account sustainability concerns with respect to generating renewable energy in an urban cityscape. Researchers led by the Korea Institute of Energy Research and CEDIC Ltd have done some fascinating fundamental research using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools from Cradle CFD on the plausibility of Building-Integrated Wind Turbines (BIWT) in such massive skyscrapers to produce electricity locally and therefore lower carbon footprints. Renewable energy is a very visible symbol of sustainable and eco-friendly energy generation and if it can be integrated into buildings and used at source and is feasible at the design stage, it would be a major sustainability innovation for the future.