applications


Simulation of a vehicle chassis


soſtware will optimise the design for the lowest possible weight. Tis is a tool that is particularly useful in the design phase as it can reduce the weight of some components radically. EDAG, an independent German-based


engineering service provider working for the global automotive industry, has been using simulation since the early 1990s, when the company first established an internal computer aided engineering (CAE) group. Since that time the company has been using Altair soſtware. Jörg Hülsmann, CAE and Vehicle Safety


Manager EDAG, explained that while they use many of the simulation tools provided by Altair, Optistruct topology optimisation is of particular importance because it allows EDAG to optimise products to reduce the weight: ‘Ultimately, this saves costs for our customers.’ However, Hülsmann was keen to point


out that EDAG does not only use Optistruct in the serial phase, but also for conceptual design: ‘If we have to develop a new concept


for a vehicle, then oſten we will start with Optistruct to define the main load paths inside of the structure, and also to define the dimension of the load path. Later on we give our input to the design department and they start to create the first parts, while we will go into more detailed simulation.’ Optimisation soſtware has become


increasingly important to large-scale simulation projects because it can be used to


YOU GET THE


GREATEST FLEXIBILITY WHEN YOU APPLY TOPOLOGY OPTIMISATION VERY EARLY IN THE DESIGN CYCLE


optimise the weight of a component based on material loads. Tis allows engineers to use the exact amount of material required to meet their design objectives. ‘Tis allows you to save money and control the cost of the total vehicle at the end of the project,’ concluded Hülsmann. EDAG used Altair’s Optistruct topology


optimisation soſtware to develop a lightweight structure of a truck cabin and chassis that was manufactured using additive manufacturing (AM). Te combination of additive manufacturing


Optimisation in vehicle design www.scientific-computing.com l


and topology optimisation is a powerful tool for product design, because it frees engineers from many of the design constraints that they would typically face when using more traditional manufacturing methods. Te researchers at EDAG decided to employ the combination of additive


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manufacturing and topology optimisation to help them understand how the solution would differ from their previous designs. Tey decided to begin designing the body in white (BIW) of the truck cabin using a combination of additive manufacturing and topology optimisation to explore the lightest possible design that could meet their requirements. Hülsmann explained that the goal of the


project was to understand if they could define and optimise the structure for the overall concept – the total cabin – using additive manufacturing: ‘Would the design be totally different, would it be a normal structure of a cabin?’ EDAG found that, while the structure was


similar to the previous designs, they could reduce a significant amount of weight from the cabin structure: ‘It works in a traditional way, that is to say that the previous concept is not completely wrong, but with this combination of optimisation and additive manufacturing can really save money in the development and weight of the cabin,’ stated Hülsmann. ‘However, at the moment, if you look at additive manufacturing it is expensive. Tat means that at the moment it is not really a solution for the industry in such a way that you would make the entire body in white (BIW) from additive manufacturing.’ As additive manufacturing can be


prohibitively expensive for large-scale production, the team opted to take a step back and combine the optimised structure with some 3D printed parts that were supplemented by more traditional castings that were also optimised in Optristruct. ‘At the end it is really the cost,’ said


Hülsmann. ‘If you buy a vehicle – a personal car for instance – it is nice for you that the ➤


FEBRUARY/MARCH 2017 25


Altair


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