have dramatically reduced the number of physical prototypes required for product development and cuts costs. Companies like General Motors have eliminated proto-
types for iterative development testing, said Keith Meintjes, practice manager, Simulation and Analysis, CIMdata Inc. (Ann Arbor, MI). “The development iterations are the evil prototypes you want to rid of,” he stated. “They’re the ones that are expensive, and there are all kinds of issues because they’re hand-built.”
Virtual automotive crash-test dummies are another major application where FEA software has been speeding testing. Performance gains with higher-fi delity simulations and faster hardware also now allow developers to do more virtual testing much earlier in the process, and to rely on less physical proto- types than in the past. “The traditional application of fi nite elements and simulation
in general has been to validate completed designs, or proposed designs, and that’s usually towards the end of the cycle, when
An air-operated diaphragm pump from All-Flow Co. used in offshore oil applications is modeled in NEi Software Nastran FEA software.
the CAD is done and then people are essentially validating the designs,” Meintjes said. “And that’s extremely important, but for many companies that has become very routine. They do the simulations and they’ve greatly reduced physical testing.”
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