applications
‘One way to look at it is to take an interface that people are familiar with, and add icons that provide simulation capabilities – that is one way of doing things. ‘Another way is to guide users through the
set-up of the model. What we have done in some of our products is provide a step-by- step interface with a narrow range of options, you don’t give everything to the user, you give them what they need and then you guide them.’ In addition to engineering better products,
Optimisation in vehicle design ➤
cost will always be the same. However, if you look at the development of vehicles, manufacturers always introduce new features. Someone has to pay for this and one way of doing that is to save money in other areas of the car, such as the construction of the BIW.’
The future of simulation Te popularity and effectiveness of topology optimisation when combined with additive manufacturing is now driving new development in topology optimisation soſtware. Altair’s Warren Diaz, business development manager for OptiStruct, explained that the company is working on improvements such as how to introduce some of the manufacturing constraints introduced by additive manufacturing into Optistruct soſtware. Diaz explained that additive manufacturing
uses ‘small beams that form large network cells’. It is important to ensure that these beams meet a certain length/diameter ratio so they can be printed: ‘Tat is something that we have already began to include in Optistruct,’ said Diaz. Diaz also commented on the power of
optimisation soſtware when used early in the design phase, as it can help reduce product development time and reduce errors and time-consuming re-designs: ‘You get the greatest flexibility when you apply topology optimisation very early in the design cycle. You have a clean slate and that provides a greater degree of freedom, more flexibility to come up with these unique types of structures. ‘Now the challenge is how you take this
technology and apply it where the designs are being generated. In other words, how do we apply this technology very early, which is typically at the design phase?’
26 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD Altair has now adapted some of the
capabilities found in Optistruct and added them to the design focused toolset SolidTinking Inspire. ‘It is basically running the Optistruct topology optimisation in the background, but we have removed some of the complexity that would be applied by an experienced FEA engineer so that it can be applied during the design phase,’ said Diaz. ‘Tis allows you to apply this topology technology very early because you are giving it to the hands of the designer.’
IF YOU LOOK AT THE
WAY THAT THE INDUSTRY IS GOING – NOT JUST CARS BUT TRUCKS AND HEAVY EQUIPMENT – WE ARE ALL GOING TOWARDS ADVANCED DRIVER ASSISTED SYSTEMS, IN SOME CASES AUTONOMY
Dassault Systèmes is also trying to drive
more simulation into the design phase of engineering projects. Fabien Letailleur, senior market intelligence specialist at Dassault Systèmes, highlighted the company’s efforts to provide more simulation capabilities within its design tools: ‘If you look at one of our sister brands SolidWorks, they took the SolidWorks interface, something that people are really familiar with, and they added features right there in the interface.’ While some simulation knowledge is still
required to interpret the results, Letailleur sees this as an important step as it allows more users to access the power of simulation:
industrial and commercial vehicle providers are increasingly looking to integrated systems and autonomous vehicles which require a more integrated approach to systems engineering. ‘As we move forward to autonomous
vehicles and electric vehicles, then I think the old ways of approaching design are not going to work,’ stated Patel, of EnginSoſt. ‘Engineers are going to have to model the system first, especially for things like hybrid vehicles. Tey have an electrical element, a battery pack, a small engine – it all needs to be packaged in a different way.’ One way of designing these integrated
systems for complex projects is to use MapleSim, a systems engineering tool provided by EnginSoſt. Patel stated that these tools will be crucial
to future design projects, so EnginSoſt has been investing heavily to develop the technology. However, in addition to having the tools, it
is also important that these projects employ an integrated approach, including design and engineering teams, to provide the best results. ‘You need an integrated approach and you cannot have an integrated approach with isolated tools and departments – this is till going on today in most industries,’ concluded Patel. Dassault’s Lalande also commented on the
increasing importance of soſtware that can help to design autonomous vehicles: ‘If you look at the way that the industry is going – not just cars but trucks and heavy equipment – we are all going towards advanced driver assisted systems, in some cases autonomy.’ Dassault is already working on a number
of projects in this area at different levels of autonomy and assisted systems, but Delanoye pointed out that in some areas these technologies are already commercially available. ‘From a pure automotive standpoint
everyone wants to be able to simulate that autonomous vehicle, whether it is an excavator or a fleet of trucks in caravan mode down the freeway,’ concluded Lalande. l
@scwmagazine l
www.scientific-computing.com
Altair
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