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:
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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:
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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
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Company:JSOL Corporation Products:Digimat Industries:Automotive | JSOL Corp. - Engine Backfire in an Air Intake Manifold 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. " Challenge:
Solution:
Results Validation: "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, JapanBenefits:
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Company:Ticona GmbH Products:Digimat Industries:Automotive | Ticona - Force Response of a Sun Roof Bearing 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. Challenge:
Solution:
Results Validation: "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
Benefits:
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Company:Sovitec Products:Digimat Industries:Consumer Products | Sovitec - Material Design for Particle Reinforced Polyamide 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. Challenge:
Solution:
Results Validation: "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
Benefits:
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Company:RHODIA Products:Digimat Industries:Consumer Products | Rhodia - Impact on a beam 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. Challenge:
Solution:
Results Validation: "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
Benefits:
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