MSC Software Corporation

Commercial applications for drones are dramatically increasing and engineers are racing to maximize payload capacity. We simulated details of the airflow pattern around a common type of commercial drone in flight to determine the pressure distribution exerted on the aircraft, lift force generated, and the cargo capacity of the drone.

The defining characteristic of a zoom lens is that its focal length can be varied. The focal length determines the angle of view — how much of the scene will be captured — and the magnification —how large individual elements will be. The shorter the focal length, the wider the angle of view and the lower the magnification. The advantage of zoom lenses over lenses with a fixed focal length is that you don’t have to change lenses to achieve a tighter or a wider composition. Most zoom lenses, particularly those designed for consumer and professional photographers, lose focus when the focal length is changed. But high-end zoom lenses, especially those designed for producing films or television, can be zoomed in and out without losing focus. This type of lens is called a parfocal lens. The first parfocal lens capable of zooming in an out while maintaining precise focus to a degree acceptable for demanding cinema production was designed and built by Pierre Angénieux in 1956, a feat for which he received an Academy award for technical excellence. Parfocal zoom lenses are very difficult to design and build. Zoom lenses generally consist of three different groups; two of them are moving together (to change focal length) and the last one independently (to focus) and one stationary group of lenses with each group comprising two of more lens elements.

With the new method proven, Ayad simulated all of the company’s zoom lenses and found the worst-case position for each lens. Now inspectors are able to inspect the tilt simply by moving the lens to this position and making the measurements. The net result is that the time needed to inspect each lens has been reduced.

• Inspection time has been reduced
• Less experienced operators can perform the inspection
• Adams simulation accurately predict worst case position

• Wind Resistance on a Sea Carrier Transporting Wood Chips
• Tank Test Simulation of Blunt Ship (Towing Condition)
• Tank Test Simulation of Blunt Ship (Self-Propulsion Condition)
• Estimation of Marine Propeller Performance in Open Water
• Predicting Marine Propeller Cavitation
• Using SC/Tetra to Estimate Ship Hull Pressure Fluctuation
• Evaluation of Small Cruising Vessel Posture using a Free Surface Analysis
• Predicting the Proportion of Discharged Air from an Aeration Tank
• Evaluation of Marine Diesel Engine Coolness
• Assessing the Capability of Water Lens Turbine for Tidal Power Generation

Evaluate the influence of aerodynamic noise and rotating stall by comparing the internal flows between different geometries of scirocco fans using SC/Tetra

The internal flow of the impeller end captured by SC/Tetra

SC/Tetra for more efficient fan product development

It takes a 450 horsepower truck with an 80,000 lb. load roughly 90 seconds to accelerate to 50 mph but the brakes must be able to stop the truck in less than 5 seconds. Air brakes are used almost exclusively in heavy-duty trucks and trailers because they offer the following advantages. First, the air they run on is free. It only needs to be compressed, cleaned, stored and distributed. The air brake circuit can be easily expanded so trailers can be coupled and uncoupled from it. Besides providing the energy required to stop the vehicle, compressed air also signals when and with how much force the brakes should be applied in any situation. Finally, air brakes can be designed with sufficient fail-safe devices to bring the vehicle safely to a stop, even in the event of an air leak. Reinforced rubber hoses deliver air from fittings on the frame to brake chambers on the axles. In a typical tandem rear suspension there are typically 8 brake hoses plus additional hoses for the power differential lock and other features for a total of 11. The hoses must be routed through a tight space and accommodate the full range of steering gear and suspension travel. The hoses are required to avoid contact with components with sharp edges that might wear the hoses, maintain a specified minimum bend radius to avoid constricting flow within the hose, and avoid axial forces high enough to pull out the hose out of the fitting.

“Simulation makes it possible to try many different positions, orientations, and clipping options early in the design phase prior to the availability of a prototype,” said Stefano Cassara, Manager Vehicle Dynamics Simulation for Navistar. “New design iterations can be evaluated in a small fraction of the time required for physical testing. The new approach makes it possible to design new hose configurations in only about two weeks. Since the design process will be carried out early and outside the critical path we should be able to bring new vehicles to market six weeks faster than in the past. Another advantage of the new approach is that we can model loading scenarios, such as braking, that cannot be duplicated on the test rig.”

• Simulation of hose routing helps reduce time to market by six weeks
• Adams predictions perfectly matched test results in each steering position
• Simulation provides a much better understanding of how to route the braking hoses to avoid contact with components with sharp edges that might wear the hoses in response to suspension and steering movement
• New Adams FE Part provided a fast and accurate way to predict the large deformation of brake hoses in Adams environment

SC/Tetra contributes to more efficient development process

Understanding flow characteristics of a valve using SC/Tetra

The Hachinohe Industrial Institute is one of the affiliated laboratories of the Aomori Prefectural Industrial Technology Research Center (hereafter the Research Center). A Prefecture is an administrative district. Japan consists of 47 prefectures. The Research Center uses HeatDesigner to help solve thermal problems for electronics. The range of applications includes scanners for food contaminants, devices for measuring the quantity of sugar and moisture in agricultural products, and inspection devices for assessing moisture and heat in coal and biomass.

Visual Basic (VB) Interface automates the evaluation of alternative vehicle height configurations

Hitachi Mito Engineering provides engineering support for the development of elevators and various industrial products. To minimize tasks and improve process efficiency during the early phases of development, they conduct simulations for thermal design processes using analysis tools developed by Software Cradle. Hitachi Mito Engineering has been a very successful company. This narrated interview will provide insight about how they achieve steady growth while incorporating the latest technology and consistently building on their accumulated experiences.

TEN TECH LLC is an ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) registered mechanical engineering consulting company headquartered in Los Angeles, CA with operations in Billerica, MA, providing Mechanical Design, Analysis and Test services with emphasis on Aerospace & Defense, Hi-Tech Electronics and Renewable Energy applications. TEN TECH’s Mechanical Design Division specializes in Consumer-grade and Ruggedized Electro-Mechanical Packaging, Electromagnetic Interference Hardening and Plastic Parts Design. Its Mechanical Analysis Division provides expertise in Structural Dynamics, CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics), Thermal Analysis, Vibro-acoustics and Aeroelasticity while the Physical Testing Division offers Shock & Vibration, Thermal, Acoustics, Salt/Fog, Humidity and Airflow testing services. TEN TECH has been one of Software Cradle’s power users since 2011.

Effect of design change on aerodynamic characteristics of a car

The vast majority of robots are controlled through the use of encoders that measure joint rotation. But even when encoders with very high levels of accuracy are used, the ability of robots to move to an absolute XYZ position and ABC orientation is limited by deflection, thermal expansion and manufacturing variation. Some applications, such as placement of a disk drive read head, require very higher levels of positioning accuracy that can only be achieved with a very expensive, special purpose robot. This challenge is being addressed with visual servoing technology that uses a vision system to acquire an image that determines the relative positions of the robot end-effector and the target.

“The concept of the hidden robot model is a powerful tool able to analyze the intrinsic properties of some controllers developed by the visual servoing community,” Sébastien Briot concluded. “Adams simulations have played an important role in validating our theoretical work on hidden robot models. The integration of Adams with Simulink through Adams/Controls eliminated the need for us to write complex equations for predicting the dynamics of parallel robots and also provided graphical results that gave us a better understanding of robot behavior.”

• Adams simulation accurately predicted position and orientation of the robot.
• Simulation played an important role in validating the theoretical work
• Complex equations are no longer needed to predict the dynamics of parallel robots