MSC Software Corporation

Overview:
The gun turret drive on a combat vehicle presents a very complex design challenge. When the vehicle travels over rough terrain, the gun turret drive compensates for the vehicle’s motion and keeps the gun pointed precisely at its target with 99.5% accuracy. In the past, General Dynamics Land Systems (GDLS) engineers used separate simulations to evaluate different aspects of the gun turret drive design, such as the rigid body structures, flexible bodies and control system. But engineers were not able to evaluate the performance of the gun turret drive as a complete system until they built and tested prototypes.
In the last few years, GDLS engineers have begun using a multidisciplinary-based co- simulation process to model the operation of the gun turret drive system while taking into account all of the key physics involved in its operation. The centerpiece of this simulation effort is the use of Adams dynamics software to model the rigid bodies, nonlinear joints and contacts in the gun turret drive.Create the multidiscipline model for the gun turret drive. Early prediction of the jamming condition in the gun turret drive. In this highly complex weapons system, the ability to account for nonlinearities is critical to accurate simulation. The key advantage of Adams is that it accounts for the nonlinearities in this system through its ability to model nonlinear on/off contacts, large displacements associated with part deformations and nonlinear materials.

• Quick verification of results
• Shorter product development cycle
• Cost saving

Overview:
The ITW Delfast group designs and produces engineered plastic and metal fasteners for the automotive industry. The plastic fasteners typically are secured by a clip snapping into contact with a serrated shaft. These fasteners present a difficult design challenge because of the complexity involved in multiple contacting bodies undergoing large deformations with sliding contact.

• Bringing non-linear finite element analysis to the designers
• Automation of CAE processes including model setup, analysis and report generation

Ostergren and MSC worked together to develop a template that provides a high level of automation while enabling users to interact with the analysis in order to ensure that it accurately represents the current design. The template fully automates the process of defining and naming parts and properties, generating symmetry constraints, defining contact bodies, load set generation, analysis setup, job submission and report generation.

• Automated simulations and report generation make engineers more efficient
• Substantial reductions in analysis time
• Improved design performance
• Reduced prototyping and manufacturing costs

Overview:
Polestar engineers spend months over the winter offseason struggling to squeeze a few extra tenths of a second per lap out of their cars. One of their most valuable tools is MSC Software’s Adams/Car which they use to evaluate different vehicle designs in critical areas of the track such as the corners.

Before we used Adams/Car we found that only 40% to 50% of what we tried at the test track turned out to be effective. Since we began using Adams/Car, 80% to 90% of the ideas that we try on the track succeed.”

Per Blomberg, Manager Chassis Development, Polestar RacingIn the past Polestar used hand calculations and spreadsheets to perform some very rough estimates of vehicle performance to attempt to select the best designs for testing. “These tools provide some value in sharing knowledge but contribute little towards predicting the performance of a prospective design,” Blomberg said. “We have long used simulation at the component level to, for example, evaluate stress and deformation in suspension components, but we were not aware of the possibility of predicting the performance of the complete vehicle until the MSC representative introduced us to Adams/Car.Engineers create a model of the vehicle in Adams/Car to match a configuration that they are interested in evaluating. One of the key aspects of the vehicle is the pickup points in the suspension, the points where the suspension link arms attach to the chassis. The front end of Polestar’s current vehicle has a Macpherson strut with a damper that attaches to the body under the hood and a lower link arm that attaches to the hub. The rear end uses a multilink suspension. The locations of the pickup points are limited by the rules of the racing series. Polestar sometimes simulates vehicles outside these limits in order to get a better understanding of the sensitivity of the vehicle performance with respect to certain design parameters. Other parameters whose impact is evaluated during simulation include the spring thickness, anti-roll bar thickness, camber angles, tire properties and weight distribution in the vehicle

• Quickly Build & Test Virtual Prototypes
• Analyze Events
• Evaluate Small-Scale Improvement

Overview:
Litens Automotive Group’s patented TorqFiltr crankshaft vibration control technology uses an arc spring isolator mechanism to decouple the accessory drive system inertia from the engine torsional vibrations.To determine the magnitude, location and direction of the action-reaction forces and stress and deformation/deflection on each component and to investigate the contact mechanism in order to achieve an optimal design.Marc accurately predicts how the design behaves, how components move and react against each other and what happens under dynamic loading conditions.

• Cost and Time Savings
• Design Optimization
• Greater Understanding of Design Behaviors

Overview:
Race-Tec Sealing Limited is a leading supplier of high performance seals and precision elastomeric products such as constant velocity (CV) joint boots and gaskets. CV boots used in racing, military and off-road vehicles undergo large amounts of deformation as the vehicle is steered and the suspension moves up and down. Boots must be designed to withstand the deformation without damage while keeping the size of the boot as small as possible to present a reduced area for flying object strikes. Virtually any geometry can be made out of rubber but the cost of building a prototype of and testing a proposed boot design is high.To design a CV boot that will be able to withstand articulation angles without excessive stress, deformation or contact.Marc for nonlinear finite element analysis to quickly evaluate alternative designs and iterate to an optimal solution.

• Consistent and Reliable Problem Solving
• Accurate and Robust Nonlinear Analyses
• Considerable Cost and Time Optimization

Overview:
This case study shows the process of virtual prototyping applied in the development of the VINCI project. After experimentally characterizing the phenomenon of the shot, a complete multibody model of the gun was built using MSC Software’s Adams ™ to determine a satisfactory configuration of the weapon. This configuration was then used to develop the first physical prototype, on which kinematic and dynamic parameters were measured in order to calibrate its behavior with respect to the Adams multibody model. To develop a conceptually new weapon designed as a modular system and an integrated system of recoil reduction.

• Adams assisted in determining a configuration of the weapon and to calibrate its behavior.
• Marc was used to ensure the mechanical strength of the weapon.

• Optimize the Parameters
• Test Reliability and Durability
• Contributed to the development of a conceptually new design based on a modular system
• Reduced the number of physical prototypes and experimental tests
• Time and Cost Reduction of Project Development

Overview:

In the design of any new high explosive ammunition, the most complex and often problematic component is the fuzing system. The fuze must incorporate a Safe and Arm device to ensure that the projectile may only enter the armed state following exposure to firing forces and after reaching a safe distance from the muzzle of the weapon. Engineers at System Design Evaluation Ltd. (SDE) in Hertfordshire, UK have constructed rigid and flexible body MSC Adams models to study the motion and strength of the design of fuze mechanisms to identify potential design issues and assist with analysis of trials results.

“Conducting live firing ammunition trials is an expensive business,” said Eva Friis, Project Manager for the APEX ammunition development programme at Nammo Raufoss, Norway. “Analysis of recovered fuzes to determine the cause of failure is little short of forensic science and it is difficult to know how the forces imposed during recovery of the projectile affect the results. The Adams simulations have provided an insight into the operation of the fuze and enabled the team to highlight and address weaknesses with the design before manufacture and physical testing.”

The Nammo 25mm APEX projectile is a next generation armour-piercing, high-explosive ammunition designed for use with the US F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft. The projectile leaves the muzzle of the 4-barrelled GAU-12 weapon system with a velocity of around 1,000m/s and experiences a peak setback acceleration of almost 80,000g. Under these conditions, coupled with severe space restrictions, it is almost impossible to instrument the fuze in order to gain an understanding of the operation and interaction of components inside. Therefore, while physical testing can be used to confirm functionality of the fuze, it often offers only limited information for post analysis in the event of a failure to function.

Adams modeling has proven invaluable in providing information to assist with the diagnosis of evidence gained from recovery tests. In one case, examination of the internal components of the fuze after recovery tests showed markings which indicated a malfunction had occurred. A detailed flexible body Adams model of the design was developed, and analysis confirmed the nature of the problem and sequence of events within the fuze mechanism; huge centrifugal forces due to projectile spin resulting in deformation of internal components sufficient to result in the unlocking of two retaining gears.

Computer modeling of ammunition fuzes has not been without challenges. Safe and Arm devices are often mechanical and operate using clockwork escapement mechanisms, similar to those found in wrist watches. Such mechanisms rely heavily on 3D contact, leading to extended run times. Further, fuze arming times are largely dependent on the definition of frictional algorithms within the models. SDE has worked closely with fuze manufacturers to overcome this and validate models against static spin tests thereby providing a firm basis from which to investigate further design permutations.

The Adams results have not only successfully predicted the failure of components on numerous occasions within various fuze designs, but have also facilitated in the redesign of components to achieve suitable strength. Importantly, by quantification of stresses within components, Adams has assisted in proving compliance with required safety factors, information which is not possible to glean from live firing trials results. •Cost Reduction
•Invaluable Diagnostic Evidence
•Design Optimization

Overview:
Government regulation and unexpected fluctuations in raw material price levels create new challenges for many companies. DIGIMAT offers the perfect combination of material modeling platform to optimize the performance of our reinforced thermoplastic components and DIGIMAT has demonstrated its ability to provide robust and accurate prediction of materials behavior.

• Predict structural response of a glass fiber filled PBT polymer bracket
• Accurately design and optimize electrical components existing geometry

• Reverse engineering of an elasto-plastic DIGIMAT material model
• Computation of the nonlinear stiffness based on fiber orientation prediction performed with Moldflow
• Comparison with experimental stiffness for two different composite materials developed by DuPont:
  • 20% glass fiber reinforced PBT polymer, (material 1) 
  • 50% glass fiber reinforced PBT polymer, (material 2)
• Material damage behavior is not modeled

"…From REACH legislation to unexpected fluctuations in raw material price levels, our products are more than ever challenged, in this context DIGIMAT offers the perfect combination of material modeling platform to optimize the performance of our reinforced thermoplastic components and DIGIMAT has demonstrated its ability to provide robust and accurate prediction of our materials behavior." M. Oubahmane Innovation & Technology Specialist Schneider Electric

• Stiffness at break computed with standard elastoplastic materials leads to 85% error for part in material 1 and to 120% error for part in material 2.
• Stiffness at break computed with elastoplastic DIGIMAT materials leads to 5% error for part in material 1 and to 2.5% error for part in material 2.
• Process design can be trustfully optimized with DIGIMAT to improve part performances at better cost.

Overview:
“Fiber reinforced plastic becomes major material for intake manifold because of lightweight and heat resisting properties. Detecting the correct high stress concentration area is important to predict fatigue properties of manifold. DIGIMAT helps us to predict correct stress distribution by taking into account the fiber orientation coming from injection molding. "

• To comply to the environmental needs of automotive industry and deliver greener technology by weight saving
• To support the process of design of under-­-the hood plastic parts reinforced with glass fibers

• Calibration of an elasto-plastic DIGIMAT material
• Simulation of the load case with Digimat-CAE/LS-DYNA interface based on fiber orientations coming from injection molding
• Comparison of maximum principle stresses of the composite material with an isotropic calculation

"Fiber reinforced plastic becomes major material for intake manifold because of lightweight and heat resisting properties. Detecting the correct high stress concentration area is important to predict fatigue properties of manifold. DIGIMAT helps us to predict correct stress distribution by taking into account the fiber orientation coming from injection molding. " Noriyo Ichinose, Sales engineer, JSOL Corporation, Japan

• For the high pressure peak (t1 = 8 ms) and the low pressure region (t1 = 12 ms) significant differences in the stress distribution are observed compared to the simulation using isotropic material
• The fiber reinforced part shows lower stresses than the isotropic case pointing out an over-designed part
• Potentially further weight can be saved on the part by introducing DIGIMAT in the design cycle

Overview:
Digimat was used to model the plastic injection of a sun roof bearing part, taking into account fiber orientations predicted by injection molding. There existed very good correlation with experimental failure data. Digimat was able to predict critical failure location in the part.

• To correctly model fiber reinforced plastic parts
• To have quantitative and predictive results from FEA
• To use a unique material description valid for all kind of different load cases

• Calibration of an elastoplastic micromechanical DIGIMAT model based on dumbbells from a plate cut 0° and 90° with respect to highly oriented fibers
• Setup of two different load cases (global & local) with different isotropic approaches and via DIGIMAT multi-scale modeling

"Ticona’s intent is to provide solutions to our customers. Speed and quality of CAE predictions are key factors when we work on new components. Customers expect working solutions based on detailed structural response predictions and optimized mold design. From the results of our practical tests, the use of DIGIMAT to link Moldflow with Ansys structural analysis proved to be a very good way to fulfill these customer needs." Ulrich Mohr­-Matuscheck, Leader Design CAE, Ticona GmbH

• With the scaling approach two different factors have to be applied to match the experimental force displacement curve of the global and local load case
• Only the micromechanical DIGIMAT model describes correctly both load cases based on one unique material model taking into account fiber orientations predicted by injection molding simulation
• In good correlation with experimental failure DIGIMAT per-­-phase results point out the critical location in the part

Overview:

This study allowed Sovitec to obtain the arguments necessary in order to be more effective in the prospection of new markets, but also to consolidate its image of serious in the presentation of technical results in the plastic industry. Clearly a Plus.

• Replace existing glass fiber reinforcement technology by solutions based on glass beads
• Provide equal or improved material performance with the new solution
• Reduce cost of material production

• Calibration of micromechanical material models for PA6/GF30 and PA6/GB30 based on experimental results
• Virtual compounding of new material mixture in Digimat-MF
• In-depth micro investigation of promising candidates by Digimat-FE
• PA6/GF15/GB15 provides same composite stiffness in fiber direction and transverse to fiber direction
• 15% of glass beads lead to an isotropisation of thermal properties
• 15% of glass beads lead to an improvement of failure strength

"This study allowed Sovitec to obtain the arguments necessary in order to be more effective in the prospection of new markets, but also to consolidate its image of serious in the presentation of technical results in the plastic industry. Clearly a Plus." Frederic Juprelle, Business Unit Manager, Sovitec

• 20% price per produced part
• 29% cycle time per part
• 4% part reject rate
• Machine durability

Overview:
Being predictive in crash simulation is the dream of CAE engineers. The use of short fiber reinforced materials was putting this target out of range, because such materials have a variable anisotropy all over the part, associated to complex matrix behavior. No material model implemented in a code is able to capture this complexity level. Digimat to LS DYNA does. Associated with the Rhodia material database MMI confident Design™, Digimat CAE/LS DYNA is providing the best predictability level available on the market today.

• To support their customers in the design of polyamide parts
• To take into account the influence of fiber orientation for reinforced polyamide material
• To provide the best material data possible to support simulation technologies

• Calibration of a strain rate dependent elasto-viscoplastic DIGIMAT material model sensitive to fiber orientation
• Coupling to fiber orientation from Moldflow injection molding analysis by using the Digimat-CAE/LS-DYNA interface

"Being predictive in crash simulation is the dream of CAE engineers. The use of short fiber reinforced materials was putting this target out of range, because such materials have a variable anisotropy all over the part, associated to complex matrix behavior. No material model implemented in a code is able to capture this complexity level. Digimat to LS-­-DYNA does. Associated with the Rhodia material database MMI confident Design™ , Digimat-­-CAE/LS-­-DYNA is providing the best predictivity level available on the market today. Rhodia is proud to offer this reliability to its customers." O. Moulinjeune, Simulation Expert at Rhodia Engineering Plastics

• The Digimat-CAE/LS-DYNA analysis correlates very well with the experimental results
• The peaks’ maximum force as well as their occurrence in time is matched well
• It is crucial to take the fiber orientation into account when simulating fiber reinforced plastic parts

Overview:
The application of Digimat MF and Digimat FE gave insight into the influence of microstructure on the overall mechanical and brittle damage behavior of highly porous sound absorbing ceramics. Digimat gave the engineers at bime key in-sight into the elastic properties of these porous sound absorbing ceramics, that was necessary to reduce production cost and increase the material's strength.

 

• In-depth investigation aiming at material design
• Prediction of elastic properties of porous sound absorbing ceramics
• Prediction of pure brittle damage with respect to microstructure

• Reverse engineering of the unknown material properties based on experimental results
• Virtual compounding of different porous ceramics in Digimat-MF
• In-depth micro investigation of porous ceramics by Digimat-FE
• Numerical investigation of pure brittle damage at both micro and macro scales on the porous ceramics

"The application of Digimat-­-MF and Digimat-­- FE paved the way for me to give an insight into the influence of microstructure on the overall mechanical and brittle damage behavior of highly porous sound absorbing ceramics. I was able to contribute to the improvement of material strength by new material design while keeping the good sound absorption." Reza Malekmohammadi Research Assistant, bime

• Reduced cost of material production and characterization
• Increased material strength with improved material design
• Boosted cooperation between ceramic developer and acoustic user

Overview:
Digimat offered the engineers at the European Space Research and Technology Center the tools they needed to bridge the gap between the Micro world and the Macro world. Using Multi scale modeling of advanced woven composite material Digimat can support a virtual design of an ultra light satellite antenna.

• Satellite antennas have to be designed in a sturdy and reliable manner
• There is no easy way to repair a satellite once it breaks down
• The extreme sensitivity of the structure towards thermal loads has to be investigated under environmental conditions

• Multi-scale modeling of advanced woven composite material on 3 scales
• Carbon/epoxy composite: homogenization of yarn properties
• Triaxial woven fabrics (TWF): detailed analysis of a representative cell
• Satellite antenna: simulation of the full structure based on an equivalent multi-layer shell model representative for TWF

“DIGIMAT is able to bridge the micro to the Macro world. A great example of high-­-quality european know-­-how” Dr Julian Santiago Prowald, TEC-­-MSS Structures Section ESA/ ESTEC

• Mean-field homogenization gives high quality prediction of yarn properties (stiffness & CTE)
• Yarn properties used to compute accurate results for stiffness & CTE for TWF
• Good prediction of displacement behaviour of the satellite antenna due to thermal loading

Overview:
Digimat provides L&L Products with state of the art simulation methods which aid engineers in product development. The key advantage provided by Digimat coupled to Radioss and other CAE software is a drastic predictability improvement for glass filled polyamide materials. With an improved predictability, optimal and robust lightweight design is possible in the future.

• To move towards greener technology by replacing classical metal design by composite structures
• To use the outstanding performance of composite materials whilst tackling all additional difficulties arising from the injection molding process
• High quality prediction of impact on a short fiber reinforced stiffener beam

• Strain rate dependent micromechanical material model for AKULON K224 HG7 supplied by DSM
• Mapping of MOLDFLOW fiber orientations onto the structural mesh
• Solution of a nonlinear multi-scale analysis with DIGIMAT coupled to RADIOSS

"The key advantage provided by DIGIMAT coupled to Radioss and other CAE software is a drastic predictivity improvement for glass filled polyamide materials. With an improved predictivity, optimal and robust lightweight design is possible in the future." F. Braymand, Simulation Manager at L&L Products

• Excellent correlation on the force-­-displacement curve with experiment
• Excellent correlation on the failure location compared to experiment
• Drastic improvement of predictivity enables robust and lightweight design focusing on cost efficiency based on advanced DIGIMAT CAE technology