Company:NASA/JPL-Caltech Products:Adams Industries:Aerospace | Only One Chance to Get it Right - NASA/JPL-Caltech Overview: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) engineers simulated this final sky crane landing sequence of the Curiosity Mars Rover using MSC Software’s Adams multibody dynamics software. The simulation identified problems with the initial concept design and guided engineers as they resolved these issues and made the design more robust. The simulation was also used to validate the landing sequence and determine loads on subassemblies and components. The controls software code that guides the mission through the sky crane landing sequence was integrated into the Adams environment to validate and tune its performance. The accuracy of these simulations was proven by the success of the mission. 
Challenge: Validate the landing sequence and determine
loads on subassemblies and components on
the Curiosity Rover during its historic landing
sequence on Mars.Solution: The engineers at JPL were not able to test most of the critical mission
events on Earth so they had to rely upon MSC Software simulation
technology to design most of the hardware and control sequences for
this mission.Benefits:
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Company:General Dynamics Land Systems Products:Adams Industries:Defense | General Dynamics Land Systems 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. Challenge: Create the multidiscipline model for the gun
turret drive. Early prediction of the jamming
condition in the gun turret drive. Solution: 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. Benefits:
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Company:BL Advanced Ground Support Systems Products:Adams Industries:Defense | BL Advanced Ground Support Systems Overview: BL Advanced Ground Support Systems specializes in developing vehicles used by air and ground forces. In the past, when the company relied on outside consultants for simulation support, it found that considerable time was wasted in communications and waiting for simulation results. Building the internal capability to do multibody dynamics and multidiscipline simulations with MSC Software’s Adams and SimXpert has been key to developing the capacity to design vehicles to its own specifications that can later be configured to meet a range of specific customer requirements. Challenge: Develop a robotic vehicle platform that will
handle a wide range of military missions
without requiring a human driver.Solution: Support provided by MSC Software
was crucial
to BL’s success. With the help of SimXpert, the engeneers at BL were able to sped
less time translating and fixing CAD data,
and more time devoted to developing new vehicle concepts
and bringing them to the market faster.
Benefits:
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Company:ITW Delfast group Products:Adams Industries:Automotive | ITW Delfast group 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. Challenge:
Solution:
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.Benefits:
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Company:Polestar Racing/Volvo Products:Adams Industries:Automotive | Polestar Racing/Volvo - Racing to Win 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 Racing Challenge: In 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.Solution: 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 vehicleBenefits:
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Company:Litens Automotive Group Products:Marc Industries:Automotive | Litens Automotive Group - Optimizing Engine Performance 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. Challenge: 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.Solution: Marc accurately predicts how the design behaves, how components move and react against each other and what happens under dynamic loading conditions.Benefits:
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Company:Race-Tec Sealing Limited Products:Marc Industries:Automotive | Race-Tec Sealing Limited - High Performance Seals 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. Challenge: To design a CV boot that will be able to
withstand articulation angles without
excessive stress, deformation or contact.Solution: Marc for nonlinear finite element analysis
to quickly evaluate alternative designs and
iterate to an optimal solution.Benefits:
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Company:Benelli Armi S.p.A. Products:Adams Industries:Aerospace | Benelli Armi S.p.A. - Developing New Customizable Armaments 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. Challenge: To develop a conceptually new weapon designed as a modular system and an integrated system of recoil reduction.Solution:
Benefits:
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Company:Sigmadyne Products:MSC Nastran Industries:Aerospace | Sigmadyne - Temperature Effects on Optical Systems Overview: When optical systems become exposed to a non-ideal environment, their optical performance degrades. For example, a lens system which was designed to produce high quality images may produce poor quality images when subjected to the thermal effects of a laser beam. Some of the energy in the beam is absorbed by each lens, causing temperature gradients throughout each lens that deform the lens surfaces. A second effect of the temperature gradients is a change in the indices of refraction, optical material properties that are dependent on temperature. A third and less important effect is that the temperature gradients induce stresses that also change the indices of refraction. These combined effects cause image quality to decline. Challenge: To predict the effects of the environment on optical systems in order to optimize design and minimize its effectsBenefits:
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Company:Aeros Products:MSC Nastran Industries:Aerospace | Aeros - Developing A Revolutionary Vehicle Buoyancy Air Vehicle Overview: The Aeroscraft is a unique variable buoyancy air vehicle developed by Worldwide Aeros Corp. that combines elements of lighter-than-air crafts such as airships with conventional heavier-than-air aircrafts. The unique design of the Aeroscraft requires high weight efficiency (low ratio of weight over hull surface area) and provides advantages compared to conventional airships but also creates significant challenges in the design and optimization of the structure. Challenge: Building a variable buoyancy air vehicleSolution: MSC Nastran and Patran were used to build an FE model which generated detailed structural
performance information for the preliminary
design including displacements, strains
and stresses. This information not only
characterized the performance of the
preliminary design but also provided insights
into how the performance could be improved. Benefits:
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Company:Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) Products:MSC Nastran Industries:Aerospace | Aeronautical Development Agency - Certified To Fly Overview: Fighter aircraft typically carry a number of different under-wing external stores such as fuel tanks, bombs and missiles. The geometrical and inertial parameters of these stores have an influence on the flight envelope and the flutter characteristics of the aircraft. An imported aircraft is certified by the OEM for the carriage of certain stores within a specified envelope. However, if the country which has acquired the aircraft decides to integrate a new store, then it has to either approach the OEM to help in the certification process or devise a mechanism to carry out the exercise itself. The former approach has a twofold disadvantage: violation of secrecy and also the prohibitive cost. Hence, it is imperative that an independent approach, along with the local certification authorities, be evolved to achieve the required objective. Challenge: Determine unsteady air loads due to the structural vibration modes at various altitudes and speedsResults Validation: “The excellent correlation between FE based flutter analysis and flutter analysis based on GVT data validated the use of this method on the second aircraft, the one with a new store requiring flutter clearance.”Benefits:
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Company:System Design Evaluation Ltd. Products:Adams Industries:Aerospace | System Design Evaluation Ltd. - High Performing Mechanisms 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.” Challenge: 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.Solution: 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. Results Validation: 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.
Benefits: •Cost Reduction •Invaluable Diagnostic Evidence •Design Optimization |  DOWNLOAD |
Company:Aerovironment Products:MSC Nastran Industries:Aerospace | Aerovironment - Optimizing Aircraft Performance Overview: The Global Observer is an unmanned aircraft with the wingspan of a Boeing 767 but less than 10% of the weight designed to provide communications and sensing for flights lasting up to one week at up to 65,000 feet. With a maximum wing loading of only 3.5 pounds per square feet, the wingtip deflects greater than 22 feet at its design limit load. Challenge: Wing load testing to demonstrate that the wing can withstand the stress experienced as a result of normal operation in turbulent air as well as requisite aircraft maneuvers.Benefits:
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Company:American BOA Products:MSC Nastran Industries:Automotive | American BOA - Reduces Time to Develop Exhaust Expansion Joints From 5 Weeks to 2-3 Weeks Overview: American BOA specializes in the engineering and production of thinwall flexible metal components and systems for automotive and industrial applications. The company frequently creates new designs to meet the requirements of automobile original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The damping characteristics and stiffness of the flexible joints are configured to optimize the noise vibration and harshness (NVH) characteristics of the vehicle. In the past, American BOA used engineering formulas to develop a rough design and then built and tested the physical prototypes in 6DOF (Degrees Of Freedom) for characteristics and durability to finetune the designs, which took about five weeks. Challenge: Reducing time to develop exhaust expansion joints Results Validation:
Benefits:
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Company:Schneider Electric Dupont Products:Digimat Industries:Electronics | Dupont - Stiffness of a Bracket in Reinforced PBT 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. Challenge:
Solution:
Results Validation: "…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
Benefits:
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