MSCAlpha Winter05 V4 r24 - MSC Software · 2009. 7. 27. · Software in this product line allows...

M S C . S o f t w a r e

αlphaThe Journal of Virtual Product Development

Volume 4 | Winter 2005

FEV Powers EngineDevelopment with VPDSimulation Helps Company Grow, Diversify

Digital Product Simulationin a PLM WorldStrategies in an Evolving Marketplace

VX Racing Finds the Winning EdgeTeam Creates Innovative Suspensionwith Simulation

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Pischinger, FEV Motorentechnik GmbH

The Right Software Solution at the Right Time: [ 14 ]An Interview with FEV’s Stefan Pischinger

[ On the Front Line ]

αlphaCover photo of Prof. Dr. Ing. StefanPischinger by Evelyn Gebhardt

Editor Carrie G. Bachman

World Editors Claudia CasparHiroko FujitaEvelyn Gebhardt

Design Hae-Jo Shin

Reader comments and suggestions are always welcome.

Contact the Alpha editorial staff at:

Corporate

MSC.Software Corporation2 MacArthur PlaceSanta Ana, California 92707

Telephone +1 714 540 8900

Europe, Middle East, Africa

MSC.Software GmbHAm Moosfeld 1381829 Munich, Germany

Telephone +49 89 431 98 70

Asia-Pacific

MSC.Software Japan LTD Shinjuku First West 8F23-7 Nishi Shinjuku1-Chome, Shinjuku-KuTokyo, Japan 160-0023

Telephone +81 3 6911 1200

The MSC.Software corporate logo,SimOffice, MSC, and SimulatingReality, and the names of theMSC.Software products and servicesreferenced herein are trademarks orregistered trademarks of theMSC.Software Corporation in theUnited States and/or other countries.NASTRAN is a registered trademark ofNASA. All other trademarks belong totheir respective owners. © 2005MSC.Software Corporation. All rightsreserved.

ZZ*2005JAN*Z*ALPHA*Z*LT-MAG

Our Investment — Your Success

MSC.Software Teams with Brembo for Customized [ 2 ]Brake Systems Simulation Toolkit

Industry Embraces VPD through MSC.MasterKey [ 2 ]

Australian Tooling Project Develops [ 2 ]Energy-Efficient Manufacturing Process

VX Racing Finds the Winning Edge [ 4 ]Dr. Charles Clarke

Simulation Gives Guardian Automotive [ 8 ]a Clear AdvantageTeun Putter

NASA Puts MSC.Nastran 2004 [ 18 ]Rotor Dynamics Capabilities to the TestBob Thomas

Ricardo Validates Concept of Pneumatic Variable [ 20 ]Valve Timing ActuatorBob Thomas

Digital Product Simulation in a PLM World [ 11 ]Monica Schnitger

2004 VPD Conferences Overview [ 22 ]

“FEV has thecompleteportfolio todo the fulldevelopmentprocess...”

P14

[ Case Studies ]

[ In Other Words ]

[ Special Events ]

SimDesigner Fatigue for CATIA V5 [ 24 ]

[ Technical Matters ]

[ From the Beginning ]

[ Company & Industry News ]

The Journal of Virtual Product Development

P18P4 P8 P20

integrated virtual prototypes within a single, unified framework. TheSimOffice product line includes all of our stand-alone products,including the industry’s most well-respected tools for performingvirtual testing of deformation, stress, fatigue, motion, hydraulics,controls, crash, thermal, vibration, acoustics, and other engineeringdisciplines. By utilizing high-performance software codes and a robustinfrastructure with the capacity to handle the largest engineeringproblems, manufacturers can reduce the time and costs associated withproduct development and reduce the number of costly physicalprototypes required to ensure product performance.

SimDesigner is our CAD-embedded VPD environment that deliversinteroperable VPD technology to the desktop of design engineers.Software in this product line allows designers, design engineers, andanalysts to better collaborate and perform product performanceevaluations earlier in the design cycle. In addition, SimDesigner reliesupon a familiar CAD interface, making it easy to learn and use.

MSC.SimManager is a Web-based VPD environment that allowscompanies to automate their processes and collaborate across theirenterprise and within their supplier base by combining their productdata management investments with simulation data management.MSC.SimManager is customizable and extensible, enabling consistentmanagement of an enterprise to better leverage its most valuableresources, engineering knowledge, and product performance data.

To tie all of these technologies together, MSC.Software has anexperienced, global team of professional service engineers withexpertise in every simulation and engineering discipline. Theseengineers are focused on process automation and implementationservices, including customization of our software tools to a customer’sspecific processes, and on training and support. In 2004 alone, we willhave taught more than 1,000 training classes, furthering the educationof more than 6,000 individual customers.

The world has never been more challenging for manufacturers andproduct development organizations. MSC.Software is 100% focusedon making investments to make our technology and team the bestthey can be to help our customers meet these challenges head-on. Welook forward to being your trusted advisor and helping you make theright investments to ensure your success in the future. Here’s to ourjoint successes in 2005.

[ 1 ]

[[ From the Beginning ]]


In the last issue of Alpha, I discussed some of the factors our customersconsider when making investments in their product developmentprocesses. These include:

• Performance: Any technology used must be fast, responsive, androbust.

• Capacity: Engineers must be able to design and test extremely largemodels, often measured in millions of degrees of freedom. Softwareand hardware resources must efficiently process computationallyintense models.

• Scalability: Vendors need to provide products that are useable andvaluable to engineers at every stage of the design process and at everylevel of sophistication, from student interns, to design engineers, toPh.D. analysts.

• Interoperability: Engineers must be able to evaluate design decisionsfor multiple disciplines (stress, thermal, vibration (NVH), fatigue,etc.) simultaneously in order to get a truly realistic understanding ofproduct performance. The best way to achieve this is to create acommon environment within which all engineering disciplines canbe simulated utilizing a common data model, eliminating the needfor transferring and synchronizing data within and betweenprograms, and reducing the potential for errors being created duringthe handoff between applications.

• Collaborative: The tools used within a product development processmust not only be able to solve problems, but the data and resultscreated must be able to be efficiently communicated across multiplegroups working on different aspects of the same design.

• Ease of learning and use: While products must be scalable in terms oflevels of sophistication, all products must be easy for customers tolearn and use.

• Customizable and extensible: Each organization has a unique productdevelopment process. Technology products must work within currentprocesses and be able to expand as processes mature and improve.

• Leverage existing knowledge and investments: No manufacturingorganization can completely overhaul all of its technologies andprocesses. For a new solution to be valuable, it must leverage existingknowledge and investments, maximize current resources, and be anatural extension of the current engineering processes and tools usedby engineers every day.

As I made a world tour of our 2004 VPD conferences, I can assureyou that these issues were top of mind to our customers. So how isMSC.Software addressing these requirements? By spending more than$40 million a year on research and development of the industry’s bestproduct portfolio comprised of four key components: SimOffice,SimDesigner, MSC.SimManager, and Professional Services.

SimOffice is a Virtual Product Development (VPD) environmentbased on scalable, interoperable products that help engineers in everyindustry solve complex product development challenges by testing

Frank PernaChairman and CEO, MSC.Software

Our Investment —Your Success

α

[ 2 ]

[[ Company News ]]

MSC.Software

Brembo, a global brake systems provider, andMSC.Software are teaming up to develop acustomized simulation toolkit based onMSC.Marc to simulate stress and fatiguecharacteristics of automotive brake pads.

Brake systems development requiressimultaneous consideration of different designcharacteristics such as weight, performance,and durability. The new toolkit will be a fully

customized version of MSC.Marc which willallow engineers to easily build complete brakemodels, including pads, simulate them underdifferent working conditions, and improve thepads’ durability.

“Our engineers rely on MSC.Softwareproducts such as MSC.Nastran, MSC.Marc, and MSC.Patran every day, from the concept phase throughout the entire design process,” said GiovanniGotti at Brembo. “The reliability of theseproducts, combined with the technicalexpertise provided by MSC.Software Italy,convinced us to move forward and jointlydevelop a software interface.”

The toolkit is being developed byMSC.Software technical staff at the Brembo

Technical Centre in Curno, Italy. The newtechnology will immediately be applied to allnew Brembo brake system designs and madeavailable to MSC.Software customersworldwide in 2005.

“Application-specific simulation solutions area very important part of the VPD market,especially in the automotive industry whereeach assembly and subsystem has a uniquedevelopment process requiring a combinationof multiple product development disciplines,”said Frank Perna, chairman and chiefexecutive officer of MSC.Software. “We lookforward to completing this project withBrembo and bringing a valuable new brakepad tool to market.”

MSC.Software Teamswith Brembo

for Customized Brake Systems

Simulation Toolkit

Avio, one of the largest Italian aerospacecompanies and a world leader in mechanicaltransmissions, has invested in MSC.Software’sMSC.MasterKey License System for thedesign and development of modules andcomponents for military aircraft, commercialaircraft, and helicopter propulsion systems.Under MSC.MasterKey, Avio will expandtheir use of MSC.Software’s SimOfficeproducts by integrating new tools into theirproduct development process, includingMSC.Patran, MSC.Nastran, MSC.PatranThermal, MSC.Marc DMP, MSC.RobustDesign, MSC.Enterprise MVision,MSC.ADAMS, MSC.GS Mesher, andMSC.SimManager.

“MSC.MasterKey was the answer to oursoftware expansion problems,” said EmilioFerrari, responsible for advanced technologyimplementation at Avio. “We have been usingMSC.Software tools for a long time, but neverhad the chance to implement a more flexiblesolution. Now we are able to easily access newVPD technologies and can be morecompetitive through a wider and more matureuse of VPD solutions. MSC.MasterKeyleverages our development processes, and weexpect to realize cost and time savings in linewith our product competitiveness needs.”

The challenges of a distributedengineering program, withmultiple contractors and in-house personnel located invarious facilities, includetranslating simulation modelsand results and sharing themwith the entire team. Wyle Laboratories, asubcontractor to Boeing Corporation on theAirborne Laser Program (ABL), found thesolution with MSC.MasterKey.

“We did an extensive study to determine ourpresent and future analysis requirements andconcluded that MSC.MasterKey would bestfit these requirements,” said Ricardo Reyes,Wyle program manager. “The diverse andevolving engineering environment we operatein requires us to provide capabilities that arecompatible with our various customers andtheir unique engineering requirements.MSC.MasterKey allows us the flexibility topurchase additional capabilities at a later dateas our requirements evolve, without makingany current capabilities obsolete.”

ABL is a joint program with the MissileDefense Agency, the U.S. Air Force, andBoeing, Lockheed Martin, and NorthropGrumman. The goal of the ABL program isto design the first directed-energy combataircraft, which relies on a megawatt-class laserweapon system to detect, track, and destroyhostile ballistic missiles.

Seeber Röchling Automotive Italy, asubsidiary of Röchling Automotive KG and

one of the world’s leading manufacturers ofautomotive systems and components, hasrelied on MSC.Marc for more than four yearsfor the nonlinear simulation of Degas bottles.The company recently invested inMSC.MasterKey to implement the integratedfunctionality of MSC.Marc and MSC.Nastranfor dynamic structural analysis of otherproducts including intake systems, fillerhousings, charge ducts for intercoolers, fans, and shrouds.

“When we first realized that we neededsoftware to simulate nonlinear materialbehavior, we performed a benchmark andMSC.Marc came out best for our needs,” saidIng. Ferdinand Di Pauli, manager of thesimulation department at Seeber in Leifers,Italy. “We now want to include the simulationof structural dynamics and decided onMSC.Nastran because it is the state-of-the-artsoftware for this kind of simulation. WhenMSC.Software proposed the MSC.MasterKeyLicense System, we saw that this was a flexiblesystem that would include the products wewanted and cover all of our simulation needswithin structural analysis. In addition, we willdeepen our knowledge within VPD.”

Industry EmbracesVPD through

MSC.MasterKey

α

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“MSC.MasterKey was the answer to our software expansion problems.Now we can be more competitivethrough a wider and more matureuse of VPD solutions.”

Moldflow software provided importantinformation regarding the flow of moltenpolymer during the injection process andsubsequent shrinkage effects. MSC.Nastranand MSC.Fatigue were successful inpredicting the core flexing behavior, andfacilitated tuning of injection pressure toachieve a satisfactory balance between tool lifeand part quality. Design modifications arebeing made to the tooling to overcomeongoing production problems, thus extendingtool life.

“If every toolmaker in New South Walesremoved just two re-works from each newtool build, savings of 20 million kWh ofelectricity, 320 tons of CO2, and more than$3.3 million in tool-building costs could besaved each year,” said Mr. Bob Lundie-Jenkins, CEO of Austool Ltd. “Not onlywould the tool-making industry be making apositive contribution to the environment,they would also have the opportunity toimprove their own profitability.”

[[ Company News ]]

Implementing simulation technologies toreduce the time, cost, and energy involved in the design and manufacture of plasticproducts was the focus of a recentlycompleted project between MSC.Software,Moldflow Corporation, Austool Limited,and the Department of Environment andConservation, New South Wales, Australia.Using a combination of technologies fromMoldflow, a leading global provider ofsoftware solutions for the plastics injectionmolding industry, and MSC.Software,Austool was able to demonstrate savings of more than AUD $75,000 in tooldevelopment, 250 hours in labor, a 75%decrease in development time, and areduction of more than 16,000 kilowatts of electricity.

“This initiative is a great environmental stepforward for the New South Wales tool-making industry, and is yet another exampleof government partnering with industry tofind creative ways to protect the environmentand boost company profits,” said LisaCorbyn, director general of the Departmentof Environment and Conservation.

The project, which began in early 2004,compared the environmental and economicbenefits of simulation-aided tooling designover traditional design methods. Thetraditional approach for tool manufacturing is a trial-and-error method that wastesconsiderable resources and time before the tool is perfected. MSC.Patran was used asthe platform to facilitate the generation ofsimulation models for both tooling and parts,and to access Moldflow software. MSC.Nastranand MSC.Fatigue were used to investigate thefunctional performance, stress, and durabilityof the tools and parts.

The integrated use of these software products successfully predicted the onset ofcore flexing as a major production problemdue to the presence of a single injection pointin the original design. The tool design wasmodified to overcome the flexure by theaddition of two more injection points. Thesimulation process was repeated to investigatethe effectiveness of the change.

Volume 4 | Winter 2005 [ 3 ]

Australian ToolingProject DevelopsEnergy-Efficient

Manufacturing Process

With 30 years of experience in using

computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools,

German automaker BMW found itself

drowning in data – valuable information

from previous design simulations – that

it had no efficient way to use. Reams of

paper in numerous folders held

simulation data, and even when the

relevant data could be found, the lack of

a systematic and reliable data history,

such as which design version the data

was from, hampered its effective use.

BMW needed a comprehensive

simulation data management system,

but couldn’t find a solution in off-the-

shelf software. They turned to

MSC.Software, and together the

companies developed CAE-Bench,

a flexible, scalable, and evolving

system that features a sophisticated

operating environment and powerful

IT infrastructure.

To get the full story behind CAE-Bench

and its impact on BMW’s design

process, visit www.mscsoftware.com/

press/assets/CADCAM_pdf_CAEbench_

BMW.pdf to read an article from the

June 2004 issue of CAD CAM, a German

design and engineering magazine.

Drowning in Data:

BMW Sorts It Out

With CAE-Bench

α

[ 4 ] MSC.Software

VX Racing recently celebrated winning theBritish Touring Car Championship (BTCC)team, manufacturers’ and drivers’ titles for thefourth consecutive year, setting a new BTCCrecord and making the Vauxhall Astra Coupethe most successful car ever in series history.

Vauxhall is the U.K. brand for GM Opel,and BTCC racing is similar to other TouringCar racing around the world with slightlydifferent detailed rules. The closest race seriesin the U.S. is probably the SSCA SpeedWorld Challenge Championship (althoughthe driving styles are a little more polite).

As if any demonstration of the competi-tiveness of the VX Racing Astras was needed,the final race of the 2004 BTCC calendarconfirmed the obvious talents of the top threedrivers, and a Vauxhall sandwich from lightsto flag confirmed the competitiveness of theSeat (pronounced ‘See-aht’), the Spanishmember of Volkswagen’s Audi Brand Group.

It is not widely known, but the rearsuspension of both the Vauxhalls and theSeats is uncannily similar. It’s also probably astretch to suggest that the ultimatecompetitiveness of both cars is down toinnovative rear suspension design, butcoincidence is a wonderful thing in racing.

Vauxhall’s rear suspension predates the Seatby a couple of years. The configuration arose

from trying to make a twist beam road cararrangement work for a race car. The primaryobjectives were to reduce weight, introducesome flexibility so that it might behave morelike an independent rear suspension setup,and also to provide control over camber andtoe change.

The first design challenge came from the factthat regulations stipulate that the rearsuspension must be of the same material asthe original and that there should be no otherlinks or joints introduced. So additionalWatts links, Panhard rods, and trailing armsare banned and the overall philosophy mustbe similar to the original.

You might be thinking, after a quickcomparison of road and racing rearsuspension beams, that one is completelydifferent from the other – but not accordingto the regulations.

The beam separating the cast iron trailinglinks on a road car is a pressed steel ‘U’section (made by stamping/deforming atube). The racing version has a square sectiontube converted to a ‘C’ section by cutting alongitudinal slot along its forward edge.

The trailing links on the race car are made upof triangulated frames, which secure theupright carriers to the beam. At their centralpoint, the triangulated frames are terminatedby flexures which attach them to the Csection beam. According to the FIA (Formula1 Administration), these flexures form part ofa rigid trailing link structure which is

attached to the main C section beam, whereasin truth their flexibility allows the trailinglinks significant independence.

“The beam is essentially a big anti-roll bar,”says John Morton, chief designer at TripleEight Race Engineering, the designers andconstructors of the VX Racing Astras. “Thewhole structure has to be potentially veryweak in torsion to provide independence, butvery strong in bending because of the lateralinput from the wheels. The bending strengthis achieved by the triangulated framework andthe square section tube. Torsional rigidity isreduced by the longitudinal slot.”

The torsional rigidity can be varied bytightening or loosening the preciselymachined, tightly toleranced countersunkintersecting cones, which are welded acrossthe slot at regular intervals along its length.As you tighten the cones together youincrease the torsional stiffness of the beam.“We tighten the cones in pairs – tighter onthe outside and weaker toward the centre,”says Morton. “There is no rocket science here – the engineers make adjustments based on experience.”

The regulations also stipulate that you have to retain the same function as the originalsuspension. The road car has a single linksystem, so the modified suspension has toconform to this configuration. “We can’t addany joints at all,” says Morton. “The flexuresare not joints; they are just slightly less stiffthan the tubes they terminate.

Dr. Charles Clarke is a CAD/CAM consultantand writer based in the United Kingdom.

[[ Case Study ]] Triple Eight

VX Racing Findsthe Winning Edge

[ 5 ]Volume 4 | Winter 2005

“This rear beam seems like a fairlysophisticated construction until you’veworked with it for a few years,” continuesMorton. “Now we know its faults, itslimitations, and the parts that need to be improved.”

The whole suspension was originally analysedas beams, since Triple Eight had fairly limitedFEA resources at the time. As with most FEAsimulations, the structural model was fairlyapproximate but there was good correlationwhen the beam was rig-tested. “There are lotsof approximations,” says Morton. “Forexample, the joint housing is not infinitelystiff, but it is stiffer in comparison to thebeams; and the upright essentially jigs all theconnection points together, so these points intotal are relatively stiff.”

The flexures are heat-treated to increase theelastic portion of their behaviour. “These area nice feature but as a flexure they are muchtoo long,” says Morton. “They can’t be anyshorter because they are not like the flexuresyou get on a wishbone – they twist as well asbend. They are also triangulated together sowe are expecting them to do rather a lot. Itried to make them smaller in the second yearbut they just wouldn’t work at all – with ashort span the twisting stresses are too high.Originally we modelled the flexures as beamsbut now with our new FEA software we canmodel them as solids.

“This rear suspension is good but we wouldlike even more control,” continues Morton.

“With the FEA simulation you have controlover camber change and toe stiffness. Youactually analyse this a lot more than youwould a MacPherson strut or any sort ofmulti-link suspension because it’s designedusing FEA – whereas a front suspensiondesigner often assumes that all the links areinfinitely stiff and he is not that concernedabout compliance.

“The flexures are longer than I would haveliked but they don’t buckle,” says Morton.“They only buckle under serious abuse, like aside impact, in which case there is enoughyield left in them. They’ve never once failedcompletely, and they generally hold togetherand allow us to finish the race. This is asignificant advantage over most othersuspension systems.”

The current back suspension was the startingpoint for the suspension system on the newcar for next year. There is a new VauxhallAstra road car, which is being used as the basevehicle for the VX Racing entry in the 2005BTCC series. The new car, a hatch-back,requires a complete design overhaul at TripleEight. Subtle changes to the road carconstruction can open up great opportunitiesfor creativity within the regulations for therace car.

The new beam is completely new. “It washomologated last year and it really came outof the feasibility work we did with the

Vectra,” says Morton. “We’ve moved on quiteconsiderably in terms of the sophistication of the structure and our ability to model and analyse it. It’s now possible for us tosimulate this kind of structure for the firsttime because we’re using MSC.Softwaresimulation tools.”

With the old beam, the roll centre is roughlyabout the centre of the flexures. As the carenters a corner, this changes in a counter-intuitive fashion and is difficult to analysewithout a full-car MSC.ADAMS model,which is currently in preparation. “As welearn more about the dynamics of this kind ofstructure, some of the detailed feedback wegot from the drivers is beginning to makesense,” says Morton. “Much of this feedbackis accommodated in the new beam.

“In retrospect it’s difficult to say where westarted,” he continues. “At the outset the onlythings defined were the wheel positions andthe pickup points on the body. Initially youstart with the road car beam and a structuralconfiguration emerges from the structural and dynamic characteristics you’re trying to achieve.

“The glaringly obvious things at the outsetwere that the road car beam had very littlelateral stiffness so you had no toe or cambercontrol,” says Morton. “And then you had nocontrol over the independence as it is a rigidbeam. So the basic approach was to stiffen up

I n order to meet VX Racing’s requirements within

British Touring Car Championship rules, Triple Eight

design engineers were forced to find an innovative

solution for a rear suspension system. By extending their

use of FEA and simulation, they’ve developed a unique

new suspension and further strengthened

the competitiveness

of the four-time

championship team.

g Edge

[ 6 ]

[[ Case Study ]] Triple Eight

MSC.Software

the road car configuration and improve theindependence. The resulting configurationcomes from weeks of trial and error anditeration around varying the stiffness and theindependence to achieve an optimumconfiguration. I’m convinced that if we hadn’tdesigned the rear suspension using FEA as theprimary design tool rather than CAD, itwould have been very poor and the carwouldn’t have been as fast.”

There has been a change in BTCCregulations for 2005 that allows teams tochange the orientation of the pickup points.“We can now use a vertical bolt whereas theroad car uses a horizontal one,” says Morton.“We’ve replaced the rubber bushing, whichhad a horizontal axis, with a kinematic jointwhich has a vertical one. The new beam isquite different in its form and its function.”

The beam design also really stretches theanalysis software. “There is no way we couldhave analysed this beam and matched its

relative stiffnesses without very accuratesimulation of solid models,” says Morton.“This is where MSC.Software tools areinvaluable. Laterally we’ve increased thestiffness by some 200% and the availableindependence is much improved.

“There are still some areas of developmentwhich are difficult to do until we see ourperformance under race conditions in theabusive environment of touring cars,”explains Morton. “The old beam had somedefinite failure modes which allowed us tocontinue racing after failure. There are nosuch failure modes with the new beam, andthis is one aspect that is taking a lot of ourattention at the moment. By looking at theorientation of the upright and where theloads from the upright need to go, we cansave quite a lot more weight and provide a lotmore flexibility in packaging. We’ve alreadydeveloped this extensively for the race car,but we need to verify exactly what is

happening, which is currently what we’re doing.”

Some of the work for 2005 arises fromincreased cooperation with Opel, who mightbe able to provide Triple Eight with a fullFEA analysis of the body shell. “We then doFEA on the full cage and just pick a numberof points and find out the way they behaveunder unit loads in every degree of freedom,”says Morton. “We then export this data as afile of a few points which we then correlate tothe shell behaviour. We don’t have to do a fullanalysis on the shell and we can distill all theshell information down to the movement of afew hard points. We will only have to do onefull run of the cage and we take thatinformation in a nice compact format to doall our iterations. The benefit here is that evenwith a complex model, the incrementalruntimes for the analyses are of the order ofseven or eight minutes on modest designoffice hardware.”

In the past, Triple Eight did some structuraltests on the body shell and a full chassis twist.Based on the stiffness information yielded bythese tests, they built up an approximate bodyshell model as a series of beams with the samestructural performance as the body shell theytested. This provides a very economic analysis,which has good correlation to the actual bodyshell. “These tests don’t provide detailedinformation on the body but it’s very clearwhere the structural load paths are, and itidentifies which ones we can take advantageof,” says Morton. “We start off with the samedimensions and material thicknesses which wemodify to suit our test information.”

The problem with rigorous analysis of boththe cage and the body shell is that, because ofthe effort required for a single run, mostteams can only afford to go through thisprocess once to confirm a pass or fail. “Usingour technique, we can afford to do severaliterations to optimise the structure and getthe weight down as low as possible before wehave to commit to a shell,” says Morton. “Weget the very lightest shell and cage – we then


build it on the rig and if it isn’t good enoughwe know where we can strengthen and/orstiffen it to suit our requirements.”

Triple Eight has done a lot of work mixingsolid elements with beam elements in theanalysis of things such as the rear suspension.Because of the sophistication of MSC.Patran,the interfaces between the different elementtypes are handled semi-automatically.

It is possible to create a super element fromthe FEA model of the rear beam that can beintroduced as a nice light stiffness model intoADAMS/Flex. This produces acomprehensive dynamic model of the wholecar, which will allow the accurate evaluationof the behaviour of a flexible rear suspension.“We are nearly there – we’ve got the FEAmodel of the rear beam and we’ve almost gotall the tyre data we need,” says Morton.“When this dynamic analysis is up andrunning, we can use it as a design toolbecause the runtimes should be of the sameorder as the FE analyses.”

Morton notes that they are also usingMSC.Patran in cage design. “We are usingthe same principles that we developed on therear beam using mixtures of solid and beamelements,” he says. “We’re not reallyinterested in stress for the majority of thecage so we can use a nice light macro modelof beams with the areas of interest modelledas solid elements.” A typical full cage analysistakes about five minutes.

Triple Eight Race Engineering managed tobreak BTCC records whilst they werebuilding up their analytical capability. Nowthat they have much more sophisticatedsimulation software and fast and reliablecomputer hardware, it would seem that thebest is yet to come.

www.tripleeight.co.uk

From touring cars resembling

production vehicles to open-

wheel formula cars employing

advanced composite materials,

extensive aerodynamics, and

engines producing more than

900 horsepower, motorsports

vehicles span a wide variety of

configurations. But all

motorsports teams share one

common requirement – the need

to better understand their vehicles in order to gain a competitive advantage.

As racing organizations institute new regulations aimed at driving down costs,

racecar engineering teams must find increasingly efficient means for optimizing

their vehicles, both in the design as well as the development phase.

More now than ever before, Virtual Product Development technology is a

requirement for success.

A race engineer’s ‘dream’ is the ability to test components and subsystems

quickly and accurately before they are available for a physical test.

That dream is already reality for teams such as Newman/Haas Racing (NHR),

the Lincolnshire, Illinois-based team owned by actor/racecar driver Paul

Newman and racing entrepreneur Carl A. Haas. The most successful team

competing in the Champ Car World Series, Newman/Haas captured its fifth

championship in 2004, with drivers Sebastien Bourdais and Bruno Junqueira

taking a one-two finish in Mexico City to end the year first and second in the

series championship.

NHR has been using MSC.ADAMS tools for more than 15 years to model

and test every element of its cars, from suspension and engine to tires

and aerodynamics.

“Traditionally in racing, it’s been a trial-and-error, educated-guess basis in

making changes to the car,” says Marcel Staniak, NHR vehicle dynamics

engineer. “As the competition grows more intense, we rely more and more on

simulation to complement our experience. MSC.ADAMS definitely gives us a

competitive edge.”

By running simulations, Newman/Haas engineers can test a large number of

variables in order to pinpoint the important ones, and find ways to innovate.

“Making changes on a virtual racecar takes a fraction of the time compared to

making the same changes on the real car,” notes General Manager Brian Lisles.

“Without simulation, we’d have to physically build components in order to

evaluate them. MSC.ADAMS allows us to try out radical new ideas, design new

geometries and components, and evaluate performance without a costly build

process. We’ve found it to be a comprehensive and extremely accurate tool.”

Another critical benefit is the ability to simulate racecar performance for a

specific racetrack. “MSC.ADAMS can accurately simulate performance on a

specific track with conditions we select,” say NHR race engineers Guillaume

“Rocky” Rocquelin and Craig Hampson. “We can change the suspension, front

and rear wing settings, or virtually any element of the entire car, send it through a

series of maneuvers, and see exactly how the car will perform. There are a near

infinite number of permutations – aerodynamic, suspension types and

adjustments, shock settings and springs – all of which can be tried without

expending resources on the track.”

The January 2005 issue of Auto Technology features an in-depth article on

simulation in motorsports engineering written by Diego Minen, MSC.Software

director of special project development. Log on to www.all4engineers.com to

request a copy of the magazine.

For more information:

www.newman-haas.com

www.champcarworldseries.com

http://www.mscsoftware.com/services/motorsports.cfm

α

Photo courtesy of Newman/Haas Racing

When you sit in your car and look out thewindow, it’s difficult to imagine the compli-cated process required to produce thesewindows, not just in the manufacturing stagebut in the design and drawing-board stage as well. Guardian Industries knows theprocess well.

Based in Auburn Hills, Michigan, GuardianIndustries is one of the largest globalproducers of flat glass and the products made

from this glass, employing more than 19,000employees in 21 countries. With threedivisions, Guardian supplies the architecturaland building materials market, and is also theworld’s largest producer of mirrors. Thecompany’s automotive division, GuardianAutomotive Sciences, is one of the world’s top100 automotive suppliers and a leader in glassmanufacturing, fabrication and trimproducts. It’s the only company in the worldthat manufactures both glass and trimproducts, giving automotive OEM customersperfectly matched components and thecapability for fully integrated systems.

The automotive division’s two Europeanproduction plants, in Spain and Luxembourg,deliver products directly to major carmanufacturers as well as to car repairbusinesses. The factory in Bascharage,Luxembourg, employs 500 people working in shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week.The complex production process, which usesglass furnaces, requires a continuouslyoperating environment.

Charles Courlander, senior developmentengineer at Guardian Automotive’sLuxembourg facility, is tasked withoptimising production processes so Guardian

[ 8 ] MSC.Software

Teun Putter is a freelance journalist based inThe Netherlands.

[[ Case Study ]] Guardian Industries

Simulation Gives Guardian Automotive

A Clear Advantage

can meet the needs of car manufacturers aswell as increase the company’s internalefficiencies. Courlander can regularly befound at the proverbial drawing-board, whereall data relating to the production process isstored in Guardian’s CAD environment,CATIA from Dassault Systemes.

Figuring the FactorsThere are two methods for producing carwindows. The first uses one piece of glass; thesecond uses laminated glass, which is madeup of two sheets of glass brought togetherwith a synthetic layer. Accessories such aselectrical wires or coatings can be fitted

between the glass layers. In either method,Guardian engineers have to take into accountfactors such as sound insulation, burglaryprevention, and potential image distortion forthe driver due to the curvature of the glass.Safety is another critical factor – in case of anaccident, the window should shatter intosmall fragments to minimize the danger ofinjury to occupants.

To predict the behaviour of the variousmaterials as accurately as possible throughoutproduction and actual use, GuardianAutomotive engineers use simulationtechnology from MSC.Software. “There are


r Advantage

two main situations in whichsimulations are applied,”Courlander explains. “In thefirst, we simulate the way inwhich a windscreen or rearwindow heats up, when usedto de-ice on frosty mornings.This is so that we can predictthe temperature distributionover the entire window,enabling us to localize hotspots that may possibly beweak spots. We have nowmastered this simulationmethod, and apply itregularly with good results.

“We are now developing the second use ofsimulation to obtain the right shape for thewindow,” he continues. “Each car has its owncharacteristics, and each window musttherefore be tailor-made. We heat thewindows to obtain the right shape. Varioustemperature situations are simulated to seehow the bending process will develop. Thematerial composition also has to be takeninto account in the simulation, as this has amajor influence on the bending process. Thisis often a highly elaborate process. Thefurnaces have different heating elements thatensure that the glass is heated in differentplaces. We therefore want to know whathappens to the glass when we ‘play’ with thetemperature in the furnace. In simulations wecan try this without interrupting the actualproduction process.”

Meeting Customer RequirementsIn automotive glass design, engineers have toconsider the components and functionsincorporated by the OEM client in the carwindow, such as rubber attachment strips,rain detectors, rear-view mirrors, and aerialand heating elements.

“The manufacturer presents us with thedesired layout for the window,” Courlanderexplains. “The heating system used and the

position of the mirrors, aerial and raindetector are also specified by the manufact-urer. All these factors are taken into accountin the simulations that have to be carried outeach time. We present the results to themanufacturer and this enables us todemonstrate whether a certain heating system is suitable or unsuitable. Withsimulation, we can investigate and evaluatethe wishes and demands of our customerswith the greatest accuracy.

“In light of the fact that we have manydifferent customers, all with their ownindividual requirements, these simulationssave us a great deal of time,” says Courlander.“The validated simulations show us a prioriexactly what the layout of the car windowshould look like and how the machinesshould be set up for actual production.”

Guardian Automotive’s simulation work iscarried out with MSC.Marc. Courlander hasworked with software tools fromMSC.Software since 1983 and withMSC.Marc since 1998. MSC.Marc is ageneral-purpose finite element programmewith a user-friendly interface, making it easyto integrate into the company’s existingtechnological infrastructure. GuardianAutomotive decided to use MSC.Marcbecause the product is suitable for analysingthe layout of the heating elements in rearwindows. “MSC.Marc is ideal for this; it was exactly what we were looking for,”Courlander says. “We were able to substitutesimulations for the development runs, which was very cost-effective.” MSC.Marchas also been used to simulate the glassbending process.

Although Guardian had no difficulty with themodelling aspects, additional expertise wasrequired to imitate the situation in the

furnace. Guardian Automotive contractedwith MSC.Software’s Professional Servicesconsultants, and Courlander was veryimpressed with the speed with whichproblems were understood and solved.

Pushing Simulation FurtherCourlander sees the need to expand the use ofsimulation within Guardian’s automotive glassproduction process. “We still have manyquestions,” he says. “We are constantlyoccupied with process optimisation. Atpresent we often seek answers by means oftrial-and-error, but this costs a great deal oftime and money.”

External pressures are another reason toincrease the application of simulationmethods. Many car manufacturers are urgingthe use of simulation and virtual models sothat these can be incorporated in a system-level digital car model. This digital model cansubsequently be used in further simulations.

“Guardian aims to achieve high quality andwants to fully understand its productionprocesses,” Courlander says. Simulation isnow an indispensable component of thedesign and development process, and thecompany is devoting time to perfecting itsmethods. Currently, the output of the CADsystem has to be imported into the simulationenvironment, which is inefficient andinflexible. Courlander will soon integrateGuardian’s simulation tools with the CATIAenvironment, using MSC.Software’s Gatewayfor MSC.Natran product.

Integrating simulation tools with the CADsystem will offer additional advantages.Because simulations will be increasingly easyto execute, CAD designers will be able towork with the system as well, saving time andincreasing efficiency. “With less time spent onsetting up the simulation environment,”Courlander says, “we can devote more time toour profession. We want to concern ourselveswith the glass itself. Glass is our core business.Simulation is just a facilitator – but a veryimportant one.”

www.guardian.com

www.mscsoftware.com Solutions

Software SimOffice MSC.Marc

Join the MSC.Marc VPD Community Forum

at http://forums.mscsoftware.com

α

[ 10 ]

[[ Case Study ]] Guardian Industries

MSC.Software

The evolution of the21st century global

economy is forcingcompanies to dramatically

change the way they do business –and nowhere is this more obvious

than in the manufacturing industry at large.Companies have to come up with new waysto compete in a world where a product islikely to be cheaper elsewhere; whereconsumers are fickle to the point ofabandoning a cell phone because it doesn’tmatch their style; and where the pressure to achieve operational efficiency is relentless.In order to meet these challenges, leadingmanufacturers are taking action now to prepare.

Monica Schnitger is senior vice president,Market Analysis, with Daratech, Inc., aleading provider of IT market research andtechnology assessment based inCambridge, Mass.

This article is excerpted from her keynotepresentation at the 2004 Americas VPDConference.

Digital Product Simulation

in a PLM World:

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[[ In Other Words ]]


Adapting to the World EconomyExperts say that by 2025, China is expectedto be the largest economy in the world interms of purchasing power parity, while Indiaand Russia could overtake Japan. To preparefor these changes, manufacturers must askthemselves a few significant questions: Howwill these emerging economies change ourbusiness? How will we redesign our productsto meet the needs of these new consumers?Where will our manufacturing facilities be?What new regulations will we have to meet?The answers to these questions will leadcompanies to explore new avenues forinnovation and streamline their operations tobe ready for the new economic world order.

But emerging markets are not the only forcesimpacting the world’s manufacturers.Customer expectations have never beenhigher. As technology evolves at a blazingpace, consumers expect these advances to beincluded in the products they buy. They wantmore for their money – more power, morespeed, more functionality, more safety, moregadgets – and they demand higher quality.Additionally, the Internet has spawned a new

generation of consumers – well-informed,and therefore more critical. A wide range ofwebsites allows consumers to compare pricesand brands, and access competing Internetsellers – eliminating any concept of buyerloyalty. Finally, mass customization will soonchange the way many products are sold.Ultimately, customers will be able to buy acar or other item to meet their exactspecifications. Manufacturers need to developnew methodologies to deal with theramifications of this in their product designand manufacturing processes.

Planning for ChangeSo how will companies respond to thesechallenges? High-performing companies haveseveral basic elements in their company DNAthat predispose them to success. The mostimportant is that they don’t just react tocircumstances – they plan for change.

Planning for change involves examining acompany’s operations – everything from theproducts it currently sells to what’s in theR&D pipeline to the way in which it sells tocustomers and supports them after the sale.Companies must examine all possible

Strategies & Tools in anEvolving Marketplace

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MSC.Software

the technologies and processes that enabletoday’s manufacturers to meet their businessimperatives and more effectively create,manage, share, and store data. But the real

benefit is that they enable faster innovation,which in turn increases a company’scompetitive position.

The companies using these tools now are not

scenarios and evaluate their entire portfolio of products, manufacturing facilities, saleschannels, and the like, and then change what doesn’t support the widest possible set of scenarios.

These companies also value their employees.Every executive Daratech has spoken withmentions the need to nurture the people intheir organizations. Part of the successfulcompany’s DNA is a corporate environmentthat values individual contribution, guided bya set of corporate policies that express thecompany’s values.

To do all these things – scenario planning,evaluating trade-offs, getting people to perform at the top of their game –organizations need to have free flow ofinformation to the right person, at the right time, in the appropriate form in orderto facilitate a decision. We believe companiescan accomplish this by investing in an IT infrastructure that supports these business processes.

Advancing Lifecycle TechnologyThe proliferation of technology choicesconfronting a typical manufacturing industryCIO can make it difficult to determine whata company should invest in first. Is it moreimportant to implement an enterpriseresource planning system to control costs or acustomer relationship management system? A document/data management or a supplychain management system? Different areas ofthe business have different needs, but indesign, engineering, and manufacturing, mostof the focus right now is on the set oftechnologies called product lifecyclemanagement (PLM).

Product lifecycle management incorporates

surprising – the Lockheed Martins, Fords,and Procter & Gambles of the world. Butrecent advances in PLM technology make itfar more accessible to smaller manufacturersas well. In fact, one of the biggest growthareas in PLM right now – at least in terms of interest if not yet in dollars – is the mid-size manufacturer.

Driven by this increased adoption, Daratechforecasts that PLM will have grown to an$8.7 billion market in 2004. While CADtools still make up the majority of PLMspending, digital product simulation CAEtools will make up just more than one-quarterof the total market in 2004. This continues awell-established trend – CAE has beengrowing faster than the PLM market since1990, reflecting how critical and integratedinto the overall product development processthese tools have become.

Redefining CAE within PLMToday’s visionary companies are re-examiningtheir entire design process within the contextof PLM with an eye to streamlining as muchas possible. They are defining which tests canbe done more cost-effectively using CAEtools without sacrificing corporate confidencein the results. Of the elements that cannot bemoved completely to math-based analysis,what can be moved onto the lab test bench?Then and only then will these companiesbuild and instrument full-scale prototypes tobe run on the test track.

These organizations also look at the flow ofinformation in the design process. Who haswhat information when? What decisions canbe made at what point? Companies canrealize significant savings in time and expenseby starting analysis as early as design elements

200420001995

0%

50%

100%

CAD

PDM

CAE

Segment growth rateShare of the

PLM market

2004200019951990 2014

18%22%

28%

38%

CAE

CAD

The PLM Marketplace

CAE’s Phenomenal Growth CAE Outperforms CAD, PDM

Daratech predicts that investment in CAE software andservices will top $2.1 billion in 2004, a substantial year-over-year increase of 12%. Considering that spending onproduct lifecycle management is forecast to top $8.6billion in 2004 and grow 8% each year through 2008, apicture of CAE’s rising prominence begins to emerge.Over the next five years, Daratech predicts digitalsimulation will be the growth engine of PLM, rising 12%annually over that time.

BOM: Bill of MaterialsDMU: Digital Mock-UpMPM: Manufacturing Process

ManagementCAM: Computer-Aided

Manufacturing

PDM: Product DataManagement

CAE: Computer-AidedEngineering

CAD: Computer-Aided Design

Segmentgrowth rate

Share of thePLM market

[ 13 ]



can be even partially defined, usingreasonable placeholders for what isn’t known.This, of course, involves data management: ifone starts an analysis with 30% of the designfinalized and 70% placeholders, the team willneed a way to manage the transition fromplaceholder to more finalized information,and all intermediate steps. This may tie intothe management of CAD and other data aswell – critical components of mostcompanies’ PLM strategy.

Maximizing Analytical ResourcesAn organization seeking to optimize itsdesign process by moving more and moreanalysis into early stages will inevitably runinto the issue of who should be doing thisanalysis. Is this best done by generalistdesigners? By specialist analysts? In the CAEworld, every problem, no matter howcomplex, is generally forwarded to the mosthighly trained analysts. This leads to expertsdeluged with requests, with no way toprioritize what is truly important to theorganization as a whole. The expert is at riskfor burnout and may be spending too muchtime on low-value tasks – neither of whichmaximizes the utility of this resource.

One possible alternative approach is to createa category of generalists who, under thesupervision of the experts, perform routineday-to-day work. As the generalists gain inskill, the supervision level drops. This strategyhas a number of possible benefits: movingtasks to generalists frees up experts to focuson the truly difficult problems and lets newanalysts or designer/analysts gain experience.Experts will grow into new areas and explorenew technologies, which serves to increase jobsatisfaction and helps avoid burnout.

The whole concept of a ‘generalist analyst’ ismade possible by CAE tools built intomainstream CAD solutions, such asMSC.Software’s SimDesigner for CATIA V5,and by user interface changes that allowexperts to design wizards to set parametersand predefine analytical cases – in essence, tolimit the problems a designer/analyst cancheck and to bound the design alternativesgiven the analytical results.

Building the IT Supplier RelationshipA critical element in PLM implementationand success is a solid relationship with ITpartners. Manufacturers should not be afraidto challenge their IT partners to work withthem more closely and articulate the value ofthe tools they are offering. This valueproposition should be described in terms thatare meaningful to the company, theindividuals making the purchasing decision,and those using the tools on a daily basis.

Manufacturers need to make IT investmentsin manageable projects that can be under-taken in such a way as to provide near-immediate payoff. Daratech calls this the 3-6-9 approach: three months(maximum) to implement, six months tobreak-even, and nine months until the toolreturns a positive value to the organization.This demonstration of success paves the wayfor the next project, which paves the way forthe one after – and so on, to build a trackrecord of successful IT implementations.

However, the ultimate cost and benefit of anIT implementation are not immediate. ITprojects should be evaluated on initial cost aswell as the costs and benefits involved in thischoice over a number of years – both from atotal cost-of-ownership perspective and a

value-generated perspective. No matter whatspecific tools an organization is considering,it must work on a strategy that ultimatelyintegrates what they already have, whatthey’re now considering, and what they thinkthey might need in the next few years.

Looking ForwardHeightened global competition meansmanufacturers, more so than ever before,must be fast to market or else lose the lion’sshare of consumption. Stale ideas and designswill not sell. This calls for agile managementstrategies. Manufacturers, like consumers, aretaking advantage of the technology availableto them to improve their daily routine.

Many of the technological underpinnings ofPLM have finally made the transition fromearly adoption to the mainstream phase,when companies embrace these tools becausethe benefits are undeniable. But thetechnology investment itself isn’t the key; it’show companies implement thosetechnologies that makes the difference.

If possible, the design process should befront-loaded with CAE to gauge functionalperformance and evaluate design alternativesas early as possible. Better information earlierin the design process avoids discovering amake-or-break problem late in the designprocess. Hand-in-hand with front-loadingthe design process is determining who shouldbe doing the analysis: a designer, adesigner/analyst, or an analyst.

None of this is easy, but visionary companiesare raising the bar for everyone because thechanging global environment has themquestioning every aspect of their operations.This is leading them to reinvent many oftheir business, design, and manufacturingprocesses to take full advantage of the toolsand expertise available to them. Thesecompanies are agile, adaptive, and able toreact quickly to changing demands – crucialqualities for success in the 21st century’s newworld order.

www.daratech.com

α

2004200019951990 2014

18%22%

28%

38%

CAE

CAD

Share of the PLM market

CAE Accelerates

Share of thePLM market

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Stefan Pischinger, president and chief executiveofficer of FEV Motorentechnik GmbH (Aachen, Germany), leads a company internationally recognized for design anddevelopment of internal combustion engines, in addition tobeing a major supplier of advanced testing and instrumentationproducts and services to most of the worldÕs largest powertrainOEMs. The company was founded in 1978 by his father, Prof.Dr.-Ing. Franz Pischinger and today employs more than 1,300 highly skilled research and development specialists on three continents.

Engineering has always been in Dr. PischingerÕs blood. Hegraduated from Aachen University of Technology in 1985, with adegree in mechanical engineering. He earned his Ph.D. inmechanical engineering four years later from the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology, with a thesis on the ÒLean Burn SparkIgnition Engine.Ó He held various positions within the enginedepartment of Daimler-Benz AG (later Mercedes-Benz AG) from1989 to 1997, his last as the head of the Advanced EngineeringDiesel Engine department and project manager of V8 dieselengines. Dr. Pischinger then joined FEV, the family enterprise, asan executive vice president. In 1997, he was also nameddirector of the Institute for Combustion Engines at AachenUniversity of Technology, a post he still holds today.

FEV is MSC.SoftwareÕs development partner for theMSC.ADAMS module, ADAMS/Engine Powered by FEV.Recently, Dr. Pischinger spoke with Dr. Michael Hoffmann,MSC.SoftwareÕs vice president of corporate marketing, aboutthe challenges in engine development, the impact of VirtualProduct Development (VPD), and future directions in the engineand automotive market.

of the world that is important to the engineand automotive field. In addition, we haveseveral international engineering centers,particularly in the United States (AuburnHills, Michigan, north of Detroit), Korea,and we just started an engineering center inDalian, China.

Alpha: Please describe the kind of work FEV performs.

SP: FEV started with the engine, and this isstill our main area today. Certainly, the enginehas applications not only in automotive,which means passenger cars and trucks, butalso in the off-road industry. In addition,there are small engines, offshore, andlocomotive applications. For all these engines,FEV has the complete portfolio to conductthe full development process, starting with

[ 14 ]

[[ On the Front Line ]]

MSC.Software

Alpha: Let’s start with the history of FEV.When was the company founded and whatwas the motivation?

Dr. Stefan Pischinger: My father, who was aprofessor at Aachen University, founded FEVin 1978. I think his motivation to establishFEV was to transfer the innovations,fundamental research, and the advancedengineering work being done at the universityfrom the initial stages of development up toproduction. The customers we served fromthe university became increasingly interestedin transferring these developments intocommercial production.

Alpha: FEV started here in Aachen, but thecompany now has a global presence.

SP: Yes, FEV is active around the globe. Wehave offices in virtually every major country

design and CAE, then prototyping, testing,development, application, calibration, andelectronics development. Within the fields ofexhaust emissions certification and vehicledrivability, we do everything up to the finalhomologation. In some cases, we onlycomplete portions of the development processfor our customers, such as benchmarkingprojects, where we compare field productsand have scatter bands comparing manydifferent engine attributes. Today, wecollaborate with our development partners toextend our expertise to transmissions, andoffer integration services in the vehicleelectronics field. Another large part of ourbusiness involves the sale of the equipmentour customers need to develop these engines.

Alpha: Is this equipment you refer to moreon the test side?

The Right Software Solution

SP: We started primarily on the test side andare selling test equipment, includingconditioning systems, pressure indicationsystems, cylinder pressure processors, andcomplete test cell automation systems thatthey can use to optimize and automaticallydrive engines. That is one area of ourbusiness. A second important area is thedevelopment and sale of software. In the past,we developed FORTRAN-based, single-purpose programs to provide simulationsolutions for problems where no commercialsoftware was available.

Alpha: So initially you developed your ownsoftware, but nearly 10 years ago, you decidedit might be more beneficial to use acommercial code, at least in parts of yoursoftware activities. What was the reason forthis change?

SP: We discovered that the tools ourengineers developed were very well suited tosolve a particular problem, but the user-friendliness was not always perfectlydeveloped. In addition, we knew that creatingsolvers and finding numeric solutions werenot our main area of expertise. So we decidedto make the best use of our competence,which is knowing the engineering problemsand the tasks to be solved, finding the rightequations and knowing how an engineerwould like to address a problem, and thenfind a partner in the software industry whohad all the solvers available. To avoid havingtoo many different partners, we looked for acompany that could fully cover the large fieldof mechanical simulation. We foundMechanical Dynamics to be the right kind ofpartner to fit our needs. They already had

ADAMS/Car available and had proven thatthere was a good basis for setting upsomething similar on the engine side.

Alpha: What was the reaction in themarketplace? What did your customers think?

SP: Our customers actually encouraged us todo this. They wanted us to continue what wehad always done – develop solutions – butthey also wanted us to package a completesoftware solution with all the features theywere used to in other software tools, plus thebenefit of FEV’s knowledge and approach,and input from the engine engineering field.That’s why starting the consortium in whichwe developed the ADAMS/Engine Poweredby FEV software did not just simply drawreactions from our customers – they actuallydrove us! It was received very positively andhas led to a very successful relationship.

Alpha: Let’s talk about the developmentprocess and the challenges you face. I assumethere have been a lot of changes in enginedevelopment since 1978.

SP: Yes and no. Back in 1978, just after thefirst oil crisis, the challenges were fueleconomy and emissions, which are two majorchallenges that we still face. Today, engineemissions have been substantially reduced, ona percentage basis, compared to 25 years ago,and fuel consumption has also improved.However, we also face some new challengestoday. The level at which we are developingproducts today is much more advanced, andthe complexity of many different engineapplications has also increased. Each enginehas to fulfill not only the emission,drivability, and fuel economy targets in eachvehicle, but also NVH (noise, vibration andharshness), durability, and many others. Inaddition, if you compare current engines tothose from the late 1970s, electronics havebecome more important. The challenges andcomplexity connected with developments inthe car and electronics integration havegreatly increased, as has the pressure to reducedevelopment time and costs.

Alpha: Due to these challenges, has the wayyou develop an engine changed?

SP: Yes, definitely. For FEV, simulation toolshave always been very important. When youstart as a small company, investment is alwayscritical, so you look for possibilities otherthan physical prototypes and testing. Veryearly on, we started using simulation, whichhas really revolutionized the developmentprocess over the last 10 years. Automotivecompanies and other engine manufacturershave now discovered these advanced


e SolutionFEV Keeps Motors Running

at the Right Time

Phot

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Eve

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Gebh

ardt

[ 16 ]


MSC.Software

simulation tools. Increased emphasis has been placed on the early phases ofdevelopment, referred to as front-loading.Where there used to be about 80 percentdesign engineers and 20 percent CAE peoplein the development of a new product, wenow have just as many design engineers asCAE people. Today, the ratio is almost 50:50,which is a substantial change.

Alpha: With regard to engine attributes, suchas NVH, durability, and fuel efficiency, arethere differences in the predictability of theseattributes? Would you say that simulationtechnology is developing at the same pace inthese areas?

SP: First of all, no, they are not developedsimilarly. Historically there has always been adifferent degree of accuracy and predictabilityfor these applications. However, I think it isnot important how similarly they aredeveloped, because in each of these fields youcan use CAE. The important thing – and thisis where I think our customers appreciateFEV’s competence – is having the experienceand knowledge to assess the degree ofaccuracy for the prediction. In many cases,you do not need the exact answer to thesecond digit, to one percent accuracy – it’smuch more important to be able to predicttrends. We can also calibrate models based onour experience with many enginedevelopment projects.

In the past it was a mistake to say that wewould not use a particular tool until we hadthe final proof that it was 99.99 percentaccurate, compared to an experiment.Instead, we should take the relative predictionand potentially calibrate it by experience, bymeasurements in connection with earlier data,

or evensometimespurposely usevery simplemodels toinfluence the earlydesign process in the sense ofsimultaneous engineering. This is the biggestchallenge we face within the next five years.

Alpha: When you talk about calibration,how do you do it? Do you have a database oftest and simulation results so that you knowthat, if you use this kind of method,historically it has been 30 percent off, so youwill need a particular correction?

SP: Yes, we do have a database, but we aretrying to make this much more sophisticatedso that we can calibrate similar engines andnot have this rule of adjustment factors.However, you can often use simpler models.In the early development phase for instance,if you perform a cylinder head optimizationand know from experience this specific headwill be more affected by high-cycle fatigue, asimplified FEA model may be sufficient. Inthis way, you can get the answer very quickly.It’s not only having a database of correctionfactors, it’s the knowledge of what tool touse, at what time. For example, thecranktrain module in ADAMS/EnginePowered by FEV can be used for different degrees of detailing. You can startwith a very simple and fast model to do apre-optimization. You might need some moreexperience to interpret the results, but itprovides you with some feedback and laterallows you to go into the details.

Alpha: On the subject of experience, youngengineers sometimes lack the courage to use

simple models. They are always asking for themost complicated tool. Is this a problem?

SP: That is a big danger. The strength ofsimulation is using the right degree of detailin the model at the right time. My experienceis that engineers always want to do a perfectjob. If you leave them alone, they mightnever get it finished, because they alwaysknow where to find more optimizationpotential. But even in virtual productdevelopment there is a very strict timeschedule. The project has to be finished at a certain date, so engineers will have tolearn to use simulation, simplified models,and rely on experience.

This is also where the strength of ourpartnership with MSC.Software comes in. I think FEV plays a very important rolebecause we represent the user and at the sametime we specify and implement the code forthis engine simulation package. We have theexperience to know what level of detail isnecessary and at what time in the process it is needed. Most importantly, we cantransfer this experience to our customers. We do not just hand over the software; withus, they get the benefit of our methodologyand experience.

[ 17 ]



Alpha: Looking ahead, what challenges doyou see for Virtual Product Developmenttools and technologies? In what areas orapplications is VPD not being used to its full advantage?

SP: We are in the process of big changes, butI think we are on the right path. It isimportant to offer one integrated tool –customers do not want separate tools for eachproblem they have to solve. What they reallyneed are integrated tools that cover the designin all its different aspects, and in variousdegrees of detail. If you provide such apackage, combined with the methodology,you can make the best use of the rightsoftware solution at the right time in thedevelopment process.

Alpha: Where do you see powertraintechnology in general heading? Would youagree that powertrain is still the area wherewe see most of the innovation happening?

SP: If you talk with chassis colleagues, theywould point out the innovation on their side.I think it is happening in all areas, butpowertrain is an important field and since itis our specialty, I have to agree. Thechallenges are similar, yet different; however,the solutions offered are very different. Forinstance, the fuel economy challenge inEurope has been answered with the dieselengine. In Germany, more than 40 percent ofthe vehicles are diesel-powered and, in somecountries, a 70 percent market share has beenreached. Right now it would be difficult toimagine what could stop the popularity ofdiesel engines in Europe. Gasoline engines aremoving toward more variable valvetrains withdirect injection. There are many competingsolutions that we have to analyze in terms ofcost-effectiveness, development effort, andemissions, which is a challenge for dieselengines in Europe.

In the United States, the diesel is justcoming into discussion, particularly foruse in the high market share heavy-dutyand sport utility vehicle segments. It willbe a challenge to reach the low emissionstandards, but eventually the diesel enginewill achieve its position in the passenger carmarket in the U.S.

Then there are the hybrid engines, and many of these technologies can be combined.What we have to do now is sort out the best of them regarding cost-effectiveness, customer acceptance, and fulfillment of emission regulations.

For FEV, diversification is important –because it is the only way we can ensure our

future and be active in as many areas aspossible. For instance, we recently developed a12-cylinder locomotive engine for GeneralElectric for the American market. Thisdemonstrates our diversification; our expertiseis not only on the passenger car and truckside, but also in off-road applications.

Let me note that, in most other cases, we do not speak about our customers’development projects – these are generallyvery secret. Confidentiality is one of ourcompany’s key philosophies.

Alpha: How do you manage thisdiversification? I can understand how GeneralMotors can investigate all these differentpossibilities in powertrain, but how do youmanage this with a company like FEV, to findthe investment worthwhile to be a leader inall these fields?

SP: We are doing two things. First, we have acertain percentage of our turnover, about 5-10percent, which we invest in internal projectsto develop innovative ideas or evaluatesoftware technologies. We also do this in allour customer projects. We prefer to completea development project for a customer usingnew technology and with this we get broaderexperience. We also have a benchmarkingprogram to evaluate production engines andvehicles – not only the full performancewithin the vehicle, but also the engine broken down to examine all of the details. We study the friction and the dynamicbehavior of every detail, so we have a gooddatabase. We have many engineers at FEVwho have great ideas, which we use to stepinto these different technologies and providefurther advancement.

Prof. Drs. Stefan (left) and FranzPischinger stand at the helm ofone of FEV’s recent projects, a 12-cylinder locomotive engine forGeneral Electric.

Alpha: When your father started thecompany nearly 30 years ago, FEV initiallydid special projects for the industry. Today,you are doing many more complete engineprojects. Do you see this trend continuing, orhave we reached saturation and the OEMsmay begin taking back some larger projects?

SP: FEV has seen continuous growth, andright now we do not see an end to technologyoutsourcing. We are expecting and aremaking plans for further growth. This is theresult of the new challenges we face, newtechnologies, and the many differentapplications the OEMs are using. They areputting their engines in a wider variety ofvehicles than they did years ago, which allhave to be calibrated and integrated. I can seea great deal of future growth in regional areas,as well as in new technologies such as thehybrid or in the growing number ofindividual applications and integrations. Onthe software side, I see opportunity forexpansion in the partnership between FEVand MSC.Software. We have to be attractiveto our customers, not just because of ourcapabilities, but also because we employ newmethodologies and technologies and aretherefore broadening the application. FEV isalso rapidly expanding on the test andinstrumentation side, where we also havesignificant business growth. Overall, I seemany opportunities for the future.

www.fev.com


Software SimOffice MSC.ADAMS

ADAMS/Engine Powered by FEV

Join the ADAMS/Engine Powered by FEV

VPD Community Forum at

http://forums.mscsoftware.com

α

Testing rotor dynamics is a critical functionfor ensuring safety and reducing cost andtime-to-market for both manufacturers ofaerospace engines, turbines, and airframes aswell as NASA (National Aeronautics andSpace Administration), which collaborateswith these companies. Until recently, softwarecodes for rotor dynamics simulation – anecessity because of the tremendously highcost of physical tests – have been largely‘home-grown,’ slowing the transfer ofsimulation data and models betweencustomers and vendors. However, the newRotor Dynamics capability in MSC.Nastran2004 enables analysis of engine performanceand transient blade-off events and provides a standard code for faster transfer of data and models.

“Because a comprehensive rotor dynamicscode with the ability to analyze large modelshasn’t existed, a lot of time has been spentdeveloping patches for MSC.Nastran andhome-grown code,” says Dr. CharlesLawrence, structural engineer, Structures andAcoustics Division, Glenn Research Center atLewis Field, NASA. “With every new releaseof MSC.Nastran, each company has toupdate its patches. Because each company’sdata is in a different format, it has to bemanipulated, causing delays in getting thecomponent information and models toairframe manufacturers waiting to integratethem into an airframe model. WithMSC.Nastran now providing a commonrotor dynamics code, everybody can use thesame models and sharing data will be muchfaster and easier. The new code should helptake some of thepressure off ofthe peopleresponsible forperforming theanalysis andexchangingmodels.”

MSC.NastranRotor Dynamicssupports modal analysis of critical speeds,whirl, forced response (unbalance and cabinnoise), damping and static analysis (externalloads and maneuver loads), transient analysisof blade-off events, and structural responsedue to windmilling. Dr. Lawrence says,“We’ve done extensive textbook-type testcases with the Rotor Dynamics code to verifythe theory. Here at Glenn Research Center,

going to be structurally safe.”

Many of NASA’s microgravity experimentsinvolve the study of fluid physics. One ofthese experiments, “Coalescence Inhibition ofBubbly Suspensions,” involved determiningthe structural loads on the experimentsupport rack. The purpose of the experimentwas to study how bubbles disperse in a fluidunder different flow conditions. While in

[ 18 ] MSC.Software

we have a large program for microgravityexperiments. One of the places we’re going tofind this new code very useful is in simu-lating the structural response of theseexperiments when they are flying either onthe Shuttle or flying in the KC-135 goingthrough microgravity maneuvers. We cancalculate the maneuver loads usingMSC.Nastran to make sure the experiment is

[[ Case Study ]] NASA Rotor Dynamics

NASA Puts MSC.Nastran2004 Rotor DynamicsCapabilities to the Test

Bob Thomas is a technical writer andprincipal with Thomas & Thomas Marketingin Studio City, Calif.

[[ Case Study ]] NASA Rotor Dynamics

flight on the KC-135 aircraft, the fluid was tobe spun in a rotating chamber to generateshear forces in the fluid. Dr. Lawrence notes,“I had to do hand calculations to determinethe loads resulting from the experimentundergoing maneuver loads from the aircraftas it traveled through its parabolic trajectorieswhile the experiment itself was rotating.MSC.Nastran’s Rotor Dynamics could haveeasily calculated these loads and will be usedin the future for these kinds of applications.”

Another area in which NASA collaborateswith aircraft engine companies is developingimproved simulation tools for enginecontainment and blade-out simulations (ablade-out test is required for U.S. FederalAviation Administration certification). Oneaspect of the analysis is to make sure parts ofthe fan blade don’t penetrate the engine case.Another is to ensure that the large unbalanceforces resulting from the blade-out do notresult in damaging forces being transmittedthrough the engine and to the aircraft. Thistype of analysis requires very large andcomplicated models, and practically the only code that can accommodate them isMSC.Nastran. Because this is a pass/fail test, if the test is failed, the hardware has tobe built again and the test repeated – a very expensive and time-consumingrepetition when the first test itself costsmillions of dollars.

“A blade-out analysis determines whathappens when a blade is released in theengine,” explains Dr. Lawrence. “There aren’tany codes out there that can do this type ofcomplete engine-aircraft simulation with therequired fidelity. MSC.Nastran is now able todo that and do a very good job of it. Thephysical test normally costs 10 million dollarsto run – you don’t want to have to repeat it.The new rotor dynamics code allows us to run the test in a virtual environment and ensure the physical test is passed the first time.”

In a Virtual Product Developmentenvironment, a blade-out test can be runevery 10-15 degrees around the circumferenceto make sure that no matter at what angle theblade is lost, the engine and airframe willremain safe and not overstress. Another issueis the complexity of a real blade-out event.Most codes allow just a single unbalancedmass to simulate the effect of a lost blade. Butin a real engine, the process is morecomplicated. Initially only a piece of a blademay be released. After a short period of time

additional pieces are lost andthen pieces start breaking offfrom adjacent blades. Whilethis is happening, the rotorspeed may also be changingsince the engine may beshutting down.

“MSC.Nastran has incorporated thesemodeling capabilities into the code, so youcan actually simulate a complicated blade loss pattern and non-constant rotor speeds,”says Dr. Lawrence.

“Another area we are working on is usingmagnetic bearings to replace conventionalbearings in aircraft engines and turbomachinery to help attenuate the loads thatoccur during a blade-out event,” he adds.“We’re building test rigs to validate theseideas, but ultimately we’ll want to test theseideas in an actual aircraft environment. Wethink MSC.Nastran will be useful in allowingus to perform these assessments.”

Magnetic bearings are ‘active,’ allowing theirstiffness and damping to be adjusted on thefly, which helps compensate for the loadingsthat result from blade-out events. Until now,engineers have for the most part worked withground-based test rigs and relatively simplerotor dynamic-magnetic bearing models. Dr.Lawrence says, “With MSC.Nastran RotorDynamics capabilities, magnetic bearings canbe incorporated into full-featured complexengine-aircraft simulation models. Using thesesimulations, the performance of magneticbearings can be assessed under realistic aircraftoperating conditions.”

With MSC.Nastran Rotor Dynamics,simulation in this critical area of aircraftdesign has taken a huge step forward.

“When you look at the requirements, thereare no other codes in the world that can dothis combination of analysis,” says Dr.Lawrence. “These models are incredibly large– millions of degrees of freedom. It wastotally impractical and impossible to do thesekinds of analysis on models this large. Somekind of model reduction method was needed.MSC.Nastran is the only code that can takethese large models, reduce them to a smallermodel, and still produce accurate results. This code is what the companies are usingand will use in the future to help designengine aircraft systems. We think this code isgoing to be a way for them to do the designsquicker and come up with better answers.This will lead to better and lighter structuraldesigns for aircraft.”

www.nasa.gov

www.mscsoftware.com Solutions Software SimOffice MSC.Nastran Rotor Dynamics

Join the MSC.Nastran VPD Community Forum at http://forums.mscsoftware.com

Long recognized as the industry standard

for finite element analysis, MSC.Nastran

continues to improve its value through new

capabilities and enhanced functionality.

The Commercial Vehicle Division at

DaimlerChrysler AG uses MSC.Nastran

2004 to perform NVH analysis. Dieter

Hackenbroich, head of acoustic simulation

at the division, said that “after using the

latest ACMS and DMP parallel methods

within MSC.Nastran 2004, we have

better performance, reduced resource

usage, and are able to accelerate our

engineering cycles.”

The CWELD function introduced in

MSC.Nastran 2001 allowed for automatic

connection of non-congruent meshes. In

MSC.Nastran 2004, improved ease-of-use

and accuracy of the CWELD function is

benefiting customers such as Volkswagen.

Jürgen Hillmann, of VW’s Passenger Car

Body Dynamics Group, said, “In the past,

the modeling of spot welds with total body

models was a time-intensive procedure.

Because of the new functionality of

MSC.Nastran 2004, Volkswagen has

achieved a time savings of up to 30%.”

At Elasis, part of the Fiat Group, optimizing

automotive acoustic comfort in manageable

simulation times became a reality with

MSC.Nastran 2004’s enhanced ACMS

parallel approach. Simulation time was

reduced from 108 hours to 12 hours CPU

time using four processors. “The simulation

of automotive interior noise can now be

performed overnight,” said Salvatore

DeRobbio, manager of Elasis’ Acoustic

Department. “This will allow us to extend

the range of the frequency to be examined

and introduce MSC.Nastran acoustic

optimization into our process.”

These customers, and many others, are

exercising the new and improved

capabilities of MSC.Nastran 2004 and

reaping the benefits of the major

development effort that went into it. The

release of MSC.Nastran 2005 in October

2004 provides even greater functionality,

robustness, and interoperability.

α

Customers Leverage Traditional

Strengths, Improved Features

in Each MSC.Nastran Release

Volume 4 | Winter 2005 [ 19 ]

[ 20 ]

[[ Case Study ]] Ricardo

MSC.Software

Engineers have long known that variablevalve timing (VVT) can significantly improveengine performance by detaching valvetiming from other engine events. Thisflexibility provides the potential for reducingemissions and fuel consumption, as well asimproving torque. A variety of VVTactuation systems are currently beinginvestigated, such as piezo motors,electrohydraulics systems and electromagneticsystems. Ricardo, a leading vehicle system and powertrain technology engineeringprovider, is investigating the performancecriteria for a pneumatically operated VVTusing MSC.EASY5. Pneumatics provides anattractive alternative to hydraulic valveactuation, partially because the working fluid viscosity is insensitive to changes in temperature.

To date, the only VVT systems successfullyimplemented in production cars aremechanically based, using multiple or phasedcams. Because they are still coupled to theengine crankshaft, mechanical valvetrains arerestricted in their ability to provide fullflexibility in manipulating the motion of thevalves. John Watson, senior project engineerat Ricardo, says, “VVT is going to evolve in asimilar fashion to fuel injection, which beganas a mechanical system and migrated toelectronics. We decided to look at apneumatically controlled system because it’s anovel approach. Using MSC.EASY5, we’reable to identify the critical issues and managecosts by eliminating any upfront investmentin hardware and tooling.”

The ongoing investigation of pneumaticactuation required sizing an actuator for a

specific engine application, in this case a four-cylinder spark-ignition engine. Thepneumatic valve actuator considered providesfeatures such as variable valve timing, variablevalve lift, variable event duration, valve profilemodulation, and controlled valve seating.This allows performance criteria to beevaluated, including valve actuation rates,seating velocity control, thermalmanagement, valve-valve interactions, andpower consumption.

“The real issues that we’re after here are notso much engine performance issues resultingfrom use of VVT, but rather the dynamicperformance of the pneumatic actuationsystem itself,” says Watson. “We used theMSC.EASY5 Gas Dynamics Library tosimulate the performance of our pneumaticvalve actuation system and tell us whether ornot the system as designed is capable ofproviding the functionality required.”

Actuator SizingBefore simulation can begin, an actuatorappropriate to the engine application must besized. The actuator sizing calculations arebased on force balance calculations. The loadsconsidered include inertial (lifting and returnstrokes) and in-cylinder gas pressure. Acompromise actuator sizing was chosen tosatisfy all requirements subject to constraints,such as a reasonable package size for theengine and manageable power consumption(parasitic loss).

“Using an existing on-board compressor as asource of high-pressure air would certainly bean enabler for this type of technology, thoughthe performance of the valve actuation systemwould then be subject to the pressure deliveryschedule of the compressor,” says Watson.“Alternately, a separate system-specificcompressor could be utilized.”

Bob Thomas is a technical writer andprincipal with Thomas & Thomas Marketingin Studio City, Calif.

Ricardo Validates Concept ofPneumatic Variable Valve Timing Actuator

[ 21 ]

[[ Case Study ]] Ricardo


The results of the individual force balanceswere used to construct composites of allactuator size requirements. From thesecomposites, a single actuator size was selected.Once the size was determined, mechanicalpower consumption was estimated and theactuator performance simulated inMSC.EASY5. The results of the simulationswere used to gauge suitability of the resultingvalve motion relative to reference cam and/orengine piston profiles and to assess flowrequirements and peak system pressures.

“Pneumatics provides an attractive alternativeto the more common hydraulic valveactuation, in part because of the insensitivityof the working fluid viscosity to changes intemperature,” says Watson. “Havingeffectively solved the viscosity problem, wewanted to identify other issues that might beintroduced because we are using gases insteadof hydraulic fluids to move the valves.”

One of the key technical issues to overcome is that of increased thermal loading.Gases become hotter or colder as they arecompressed and subsequently decompressed.By analyzing the actuator’s thermal response,it can be determined if any additionalthermal loadings introduced can be effectively managed.

Valve Lift DynamicsFor a pneumatic actuation system, the valvelift rate is a function of, among other things,source pressure – meaning valve lift isconstrained by the physics of the actuatormotion. This effect is more pronounced forthe valve-lifting stroke than the return strokebecause of the effects of in-cylinder load.

“The more pressure supplied to this device,the more force can be delivered andconsequently the more aggressively the valvecan be moved up and down,” explainsWatson. “If there is a degradation in systempressure, then less force is delivered and thevalve is not necessarily going to move the wayyou want.”

Another potential issue with pneumatics islack of stiffness of the working fluid. Gasesdon’t exhibit the same effective stiffness, orbulk modulus, as hydraulic fluids, whichcould potentially lead to controllability issues.Watson says, “There are going to besituations requiring precise control of valvetrajectory. Because gases don’t exhibit thesame stiffness, it’s difficult but not impossibleto control the motion of the valve.”

Seating Velocity ControlThe performance of several valve seatingcontrol mechanisms for the pneumatic valve

actuator was also simulated over a range ofengine operating conditions.

“Essentially, there are any number of thingswe can do to ease the valve onto its seat, suchas passive throttling of the flow into or out ofthe actuator chamber,” says Watson.“Alternately, because it’s an intelligent system,the flow of high-pressure gas into and out ofthe actuation chamber can be manipulated byclever control of the electronic control valves.By doing this in a particular way, selectivepressurization can be used to control themotion of the valve. We don’t want the valvehitting the piston,” he continues. “For a given source pressure we know we can achieve the valve lift we want when we want,but we also need to know the valve will gethome in a controlled manner before thepiston approaches.”

Valve-Valve InteractionsIn order to assess potential valve-valveinteractions for the entire system, an analysismodel consisting of multiple valves andactuators, compressor, aftercooler, filtration,and low- and high-pressure gas reservoirs wasconstructed. Simulations were againperformed across a range of engine andcompressor operating conditions andperformance noted.

“Assuming the actuator package is ofreasonable size and having investigated theactuator dynamics and passed all thosehurdles, we need to look at what happenswhen it is all put together,” Watson explains.

The four-cylinder gasoline engine consideredhas two valves per cylinder, a single intake,and single exhaust valve. With eight total

valves, some of the valve lift events willhappen concurrently. Watson says, “It’s notquite like fuel injection, where you have aninjection event for a given cylinder and a timedelay before the next injection event for aneighboring cylinder. Lift events can behappening concurrently.”

For example, the intake valve for one cylindermight be lifting at the same time as anexhaust valve for another cylinder. Whathappens if the entire model, with eight valves and pistons, filtration, and compressor,is run? Will there be interactions betweenvalves or other dynamics that might degradelift performance?

“One of many issues we discovered was thatwe should have picked a larger compressor,”says Watson. “Having said that, we didn’t seea lot of interaction between valve events,which tells us the system tends to besomewhat robust to variations in sourcepressure. If we had had to develop hardwareand tooling for experimentation, the time andcost would have been prohibitive. Whilepneumatics does not necessarily represent astrategic direction for Ricardo VVT, the costsavings facilitated by simulation have allowedus to investigate a novel approach to theongoing problem of developing a robust, fullyflexible variable valve actuation system.”

www.ricardo.com


Software SimOffice MSC.EASY5

Join the MSC.EASY5 VPD Community

Forum at http://forums.mscsoftware.com

α

2004 Conferences Provethe Value of VPD

[ 22 ] MSC.Software

As any engineer would agree, validation is a milestone of success. To have a design concept proven out makes the thought, the effort,and the time spent on creating it a worthwhile endeavor. It works the same way for companies, and MSC.Software’s worldwide 2004Virtual Product Development Conference series validates our missionand strategy, and sets the foundation for customer collaboration andstrong growth.

Throughout the more than 400 technical presentations and thespeeches delivered by keynote speakers from some of the world’s majormanufacturers – Boeing Corporation, DaimlerChrysler, Airbus France,Bombardier Transportation, and others – the underlying message wasthe same. Virtual Product Development – the coordinated applicationof people, processes, and technologies – is enabling them to succeedwhile facing the challenges of global competition. Critical designdecisions are being made earlier; physical prototype stages have beeneliminated; testing costs are significantly lower; and innovative designalternatives are now explored without additional time and cost.

More than 2,800 engineers, management personnel, designers, andanalysts attended the nine VPD conferences offered last year, gatheringin California, Germany, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, Russia,Malaysia, and Taiwan. Each conference provided participants a uniqueopportunity to network with peers, learn from management andtechnical tracks, and select from a wide range of end-user presentationsmost relevant to them. Special Interest Group sessions, Breakfast andLearn meetings, product training courses, and social events broughtattendees together to learn how VPD is being used in specificapplication areas and in various industries. Exhibit areas featuringmore than 100 MSC.Software technology partners gave attendees thechance to explore the latest VPD-related products and services throughdemonstrations and one-on-one discussions with knowledgeable staff.

The conferences also offered participants a forum in which to givereal-world feedback about MSC.Software products and services, talkwith our product managers and technical staff, and provide valuableinput into our product development plans and strategies.

“Once again, MSC.Software

has changed the game

and raised the bar for

engineering technology conferences.”

[[ Special Events ]] VPD Conferences Overview

Whether in China, Australia, Malaysia, South Korea, or elsewhere, conference attendees gained valuable information from keynote speeches and technical presentations illustrating thebenefits of VPD implementation and application.


The conferences are also a venue for MSC.Software to publiclyrecognize the customers and companies who are leading the way in theuse of our VPD strategies, tools, and technologies every day. Morethan 40 awards for leadership and innovation in the use of VPD, forlong-term use of MSC.Software products, and for outstandingconference presentations were conferred on attendees.

Comments from conference participants also validate the value ofthese gatherings. More than 90 percent of those attending TheAmericas conference rated the event very good to excellent, and 95percent said they would recommend future conferences to theircolleagues. “Excellent conference – good tech content, great value,”said one person; another said, “It was very helpful to see what toolsothers are using and how they are using them. I will definitely be backnext year.” A representative from IBM, one of the conferences’sponsors, said, “Once again, MSC.Software has changed the game andraised the bar for engineering technology conferences.”

Positive feedback makes the hard work of organizing and presentingthese conferences worthwhile. But the greatest reward forMSC.Software is learning first-hand how the engineers, designers,analysts, and managers who are on the front lines of productdevelopment and manufacturing are successfully putting VirtualProduct Development to work for their companies. They areexpanding its applications, pushing its capabilities, and in doing so,reaping its benefits – reduced time and cost, managed risk, andenhanced innovation. To all those who made the 2004 VPDConference series such a great success – our customers, partners, andour worldwide professional staff – thank you.

For further information about the 2004 VPD Conferences,

visit www.mscsoftware.com/events/vpd2004 and select your

region of interest, or send an e-mail to [email protected]

with your specific request.

“It was very helpful to see

what tools others are using

and how they are using them.”

rail machinery consumer biomedicalaero auto

Participants had many opportunities to socialize informally with colleagues and networkwith new acquaintances.

Customers gather on stage in Germany as they are honored for their work in furtheringthe use and application of Virtual Product Development.

Product demonstration areas, such as this one in Japan, offered attendees an in-depth,personalized tour of new software tools.

The technology exhibit areas at every conference were a blur of activity.

Frank Perna delivers the opening address at the Americas conference.

α

Using the simple and intuitive SFA interface,the design engineer can quickly assess fatiguelife in three simple steps: create a fatiguematerial; insert a fatigue case; and computeand review computed life. All of the default(“intelligent”) fatigue analysis parameters are set for a “first-run,” robust solution.Fatigue results are displayed in an easy-to-understand format with contoured areas ofthe model colored by confidence level on thespecified service life – red where design lifehas not been met, green to indicate wheredesign life has been achieved, and blueindicating over-design.

Image Visualization

Choose Image

SimDesigner Fatigue for CATIA V5

Adarsh Pun is the MSC.Software productmanager for SimDesigner Fatigue. AntoineReymond and Mark Bacchetti work inSoftware Delivery & Marketing (SD&M). DanStadler, also an SD&M team member,assisted in reviewing this article.

Fatigue Analysis for the Design Engineer

[ 24 ]

[[ Technical Matters ]]

MSC.Software

For more information on SimDesigner Fatigue, including a step-by-stepexample, and SimDesigner for CATIA V5, please visit:

SimDesigner Homepagehttp://simdesigner.mscsoftware.com

SimDesigner Fatiguehttp://www.mscsoftware.com/products/products_detail.cfm?PI=627

SimDesigner Fatigue (SFA) for CATIA V5 isa fully integrated, scalable, and easy-to-usefatigue analysis solution for design engineersand analysts who want the advantage ofenhanced collaboration in the CATIA V5environment. With SimDesigner Fatigue,design engineers can use fatigue predictionsto develop robust designs early in the productdevelopment stages, while analysts have allthe tools they need for advanced investigationand optimization.

CATIA Model Linear Static Analysis

Optimize

Fatigue Analysis

1st Analysis 2nd AnalysisIteration

In addition, the design engineer can takeadvantage of SimDesigner’s generativecapabilities, changing parts of the design andre-computing fatigue life as well as removingmaterial in over-designed areas and testing theeffects of different materials.

While the initial analysis identifies critical hotspots in the structure, an analyst may nowwant to perform a comprehensive durabilityexamination using the advanced loading and solver features of SFA. The integratedsolution (CATIA V5 and SFA) allows theanalyst to perform a durability assessmentwithout transferring any data to an externalsoftware package.

SimDesigner Fatigue provides analysts withpowerful features needed to performdurability assessments in a six-step process:create critical groups; create a fatigue material;insert a fatigue case; create or import load-time histories for multichannel loading; selectsolution parameters; and compute and reviewcomputed life. After completing this process,the analyst can use SimDesigner’s generative

capabilities to redesign areas that have beenidentified with potential failure modes.SimDesigner Fatigue offers a complete set ofpost-processing plots, including log life,damage, confidence, and angle spread.

In the final stages of product development,the design engineer and analyst need to worktogether to optimize the part or productassembly and perform some additional fatigueinvestigation of the design. SimDesignerFatigue’s embedded CATIA V5 user interfacecreates an ideal working environment for thisstage in the process when design engineers,analysts, and managers demand flexibility,collaboration, and productivity.

SimDesigner Fatigue’s integrated solutionoffers the flexibility needed by both designengineers and analysts during the designiteration process. Using SimDesigner forCATIA V5, the analyst has the option toquickly iterate the geometry. Likewise, thedesign engineer can capture the analyst’sdurability process in the final designiterations. The result is improvedcollaboration and enhanced productivity.

SimDesigner Fatigue process flow

Design iteration with SimDesigner Fatigue

Image Generation α

Precision DesignPrecision Engineering

High Speed Performance

© 2003 IBM Corporation.IBM logo,eServer logos,POWER4 and pSeries are trademarks or registered trademarks of International Business Machines Corporation in the United States,

other countries,or both.Other company,product,and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.

Empower simulation with powerful IBM eServer pSeries

and IntelliStation Power systems

ibm.com/servers/deepcomputing

Generating Perform ance with POW ER5™ Technology

241039 HPC Adapco DRA.qxd 24/02/04 17:41 Page 1

“We chose MSC.Software because of its superior global consulting team and their in-depth knowledge of the industry's best practices…They provided a plan, deliverables and schedule to meet our business and technical goals…”

Which MSC.Software customer said this? Find out at

VPDedge.mscsoftware.com and register for a free VPD assessment.

GET THE EDGE.

Call us today at 1.800.397.6413

You need innovative

products... youÕre tight on

time and resources. Virtual

Product Development

(VPD) from MSC.Software

delivers the edge.

Using the MSC.Software VPD

Maturity Model,SM our experienced profes-

sionals produce an in-depth

analysis of your development

processes, benchmarking them

against industry best practices.

Then, we work with your team to

create and implement an action

plan that meets your business and

product-development goals.

With VPD solutions from

MSC.Software, you’re able to

develop innovative products while manag-

ing the risks of time,

performance, and cost by:

• Capturing and re-using

knowledge

• Automating repeatable

processes

• Managing product and

simulation data

• Validating design performance

“We need an edge. Virtual ProductDevelopment delivers it.”

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