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Greetings Readers!
W
elcome to this packed edition of Engineering Reality and railways industry illustrating in this magazine how much it is the
magazine. A lot has happened at MSC and Hexagon gold standard in acoustics simulation. And Dr Schneider in
in the last 6 months. We have welcomed FTI into our Germany describe how they use Digimat for automotive interior
organization from Canada with their world-leading metal plastic panel simulation on page 69.
FormingSuite simulation and costing software that their
customers see huge ROI savings when they use it. We have also Dr Luca Castignani, our Chief Autonomous Strategist within
released our unique and innovative MSC CoSim product in the Hexagon Autonomous Mobility initiative offers his latest
February 2019, and Hexagon has accelerated its Smart Factory thinking on the sector that has had major shifts in focus over
and Smart Autonomous Mobility initiatives where I believe we are the last 12 months on page 83. My colleague, Brian
leading the world with our technologies and market footprints. Shepherd, Smart Factory CTO from Hexagon MI, offers an
MSC solutions have been front and central in both Smart update on our Smart Factory thrust inside Hexagon that is
initiatives that straddle autonomy, AI and engineering design, employing several of our MSC technologies. Indeed, we
simulation & testing. Indeed, I would add that only we at Hexagon recently announced the launch of our SFx productline for
can genuinely claim that we are making Factories Smarter and Smart Factories at Hannover Messe in Germany.
realising more Autonomous Vehicle road testing and simulation
miles than anyone else with our cross-divisional solutions. We It was well before my time, but everyone has heard of US
deliver smarter Digital Twins than any of our competitors because Astronaut Neil Armstrong who 50 years ago was the first man
of our virtual simulation & real world testing synergies. Our to step on the moon. Doug Neill and Keith Hanna remind us of
customers get unprecedented productivity and predictive quality MSC’s contribution to that famous engineering feat but they
benefits from our solutions. If you don’t believe me, then I hope to also tell us how our CAE solutions today are driving a new
see you in Las Vegas in June where MSC will be showcasing our golden age of space technology design as we enter a period of
smart solutions at our annual HxGN LIVE event. commercial space travel and what other planets offer us as a
species. Indeed, I see that some of my compatriots in Italy on
This edition of our magazine is full of exciting customer stories that page 30 are showing why Adams is still boldly going where no
show we are delivering real value in CAE co-simulation in particular. multibody dynamics code has gone before in terms of design
We are genuinely making multiphysics real in the everyday of a Mars rover vehicle by the DIANA project in Turin. And I love
engineering simulation world with companies and users like BMW the story from the Korean Institute of Science & Technology
in Germany (pages 10-17), NATO (page 18), Stirling Dynamics for where Adams has been used to do a 6 DOF co-simulation of a
aeroacoustics in the UK (page 39), power tool simulations by Carolina Sphinx Moth in nature, plus some fascinating
Husqvarna in Sweden (page 75), and coal mining in China (page University Medical Technology stories using Marc on page 45.
56). These stories illustrate several exciting cutting edge coupled
CAE solutions using our portfolio of products. In addition, this Finally, in case you have missed it, we have made MSC Apex
magazine has a very strong Additive Manufacturing flavor. Stories interoperable with MSC Nastran and we are finding customers
from Safran in France, Robert Bosch in India, and gas turbine are experiencing productivity enhancements of up to tenfold
blade printing in Russia show how 3D printing is moving ever more particularly in preprocessing. Do check it out and read our
into mainstream manufacturing. Check out my colleague Hendrik article about it by Zanlang Yin.
Schafstall’s Additive Manufacturing commentary on our unique
‘print first time right’ simulation and testing solutions that span the Ciao
complete Hexagon Manufacturing Intelligence division and are
faster, more accurate, and more robust than anything else in the
market. Actran is also well represented by stories in the aerospace
FEATURES
06
Brian Shepherd:
Hexagon Smart Factory Update:
‘Make It Smarter’
10
BMW:
10
Simulating Vehicle Extreme Load Cases
with Adams-Marc Co-Simulation
14
BMW Group:
Generation and Validation of Sensor Models for
Automated Driving Systems Using VIRES VTD
NATO:
18
Leveraging Adams and Luciad
to Assess Mobility Characteristics
22
Doug Neill and Keith Hanna:
Space CAE –
The First and Final Frontier …
27
Safran:
Simufact Additive: Collaborative Simultaneous
Engineering Tool for Additive Manufacturing
18 30
Team D.I.A.N.A:
Multibody Simulations
of a Martian Rover
34
Airbus Defence and Space:
Actran Helps to Predict the Vibro-acoustic
Response of Satellite Solar Arrays
39
Stirling Dynamics:
Aeroelastic Co-Simulation
Flight Loads Toolkit
45
Elizabeth Yeh
Bhoomi Gadhia:
Medical Innovation One Step Further through Copy Editor
MSC Nastran and MARC Simulation Mary Harrison
49
Contributing Editors
Zanlang Yin:
Doug Neill, Yijun Fan, Bhoomi Gadhia,
10x Productivity Gain with MSC Apex – Romain Baudson, Zanlang Yin, Luca
MSC Nastran Workflow Castignani and Hendrik Schafstall
53
Design
China Railway Design Corporation:
Dante Fiorini
Sound Attenuation Prediction of High Speed Elizabeth Yeh
Railway Sound Barrier with Actran
56
Optimizing the Drum Design of a
Coal Shearer with Adams-EDEM
Integrated Simulation Approach MSC Software Corporation
4675 MacArthur Court, Suite 900
Dr. Hendrik Schafstall: Newport Beach, CA 92660
59
Optimize the Product Part, Not Just the Geometry 714.540.8900
www.mscsoftware.com
- A Real World End2End Additive
Manufacturing Solution ©2019 Hexagon AB and/or its subsidiaries and affiliates.
MSC Software is part of Hexagon. The MSC Software
Samara: corporate logo, MSC, and the names of the MSC Software
64
products and services referenced herein are trademarks or
Development of an Additive Manufacturing registered trademarks of the MSC Software Corporation
and/or its subsidiaries and affiliates in the United States and/
Quality System for Gas Turbine or other countries. All other trademarks belong to their
respective owners. All rights reserved.
Engine Part Production
Although every effort is made to ensure the accuracy and
Dr. Schneider Automotive:
69
reliability of material published MSC Software does not
Accounting for Microstructure in Structural accept any responsibility for the veracity of claims made by
the contributors or the manufacturers. All material is strictly
Analysis of Interior Automotive Parts – copyright and all rights reserved. No part of this magazine
may be reproduced without prior permission of MSC
Workflow Optimization with Digimat-RP Software. E. & O. E.
Bosch India:
72
Robert Bosch India Use Simufact Additive
to Digitally Lightweight a Fixture Tool
and Save 70% in Mass
75
Husqvarna Group:
34
Leveraging MSC Nastran Embedded Fatigue
Significantly Increases Result Precision
79
Forming Technologies (FTI):
Streamlining Tool Costing and Process Planning
for Leading Automotive Supplier, Flex-N-Gate
83
Road Testing or Simulation? –
72
The Billion-Mile Question for
Autonomous Driving Development
I
n a previous article in this publication (Ref. 1), I outlined and agile ecosystem, less downtime, and a greater ability to
Hexagon’s Smart Factory strategy. For the first time in history predict and adjust to changes within the facility, as well as
it’s now possible for factories to harness the full potential of changes in the supply chain or in customer demand, thus
their manufacturing and simulation data. If we look backwards promising a more sustainable future for manufacturing.
to what was called ‘Industry 3.0’, factories in the 20th century
were focused on simple automation of tasks. The term ‘Smart Making Smart Factories Smarter
Factory’ is just another way of saying that companies who
want to move their manufacturing towards a fully connected Manufacturers today typically can’t afford the cost and
and intelligent ecosystem to leverage a constant stream of data disruption of replacing their existing infrastructure with
from simulations, connected operations, and production completely new facilities to create Smart Factories. Hence, the
systems to learn and to adapt to new and changing conditions. Smart Factory of tomorrow must be an evolution of the existing
By removing the common problems of data silos, data gaps manufacturing Factory ecosystem of today (see Figure 1). We
and data wastage, processes can be continuously optimized in believe that taking steps toward the Smart Factory now will
a Smart Factory. The result, we believe, will be a more efficient produce revolutionary results in the long term. In effect, we
• Design and process optimization problems involve A demonstration center on-site in Hongdao will provide our
combinations of physical phenomena including structural customers with a real-life view of how a flexible, data-driven, smart
analysis, fluids, thermal, multibody systems, acoustics, manufacturing environment increases productivity and enhances
controls, hydraulics and electromagnetics; the outcomes quality from design through to delivery. Call us to find out more.
are using topology optimization to lightweight parts and
create organic geometries that exhibit better performance Reference
characteristics, then simulating the 3D printing process to
identify and eliminate part deformations and residual 1. ‘Hexagon’s Smart Factory Opens its Doors’, Engineering Reality
stresses or dimensional variations. Magazine, Vol 8, Winter 2018, pp15-17.
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E
fficiently designing and testing mechanical systems for
automobiles is a challenge for some engineers due to
lack of a smooth integration between, for example,
system dynamics and finite element analysis (FEA) software
domains. An MSC Adams-Marc co-simulation product
toolchain enables engineers to perform multiphysics
simulations between Marc nonlinear FE technology and the
Adams Multibody Dynamics (MBD) code. By so doing,
multibody dynamics engineers can increase model accuracy
by including non-linear structural behavior; and Finite Element
Analysis (FEA) engineers can study components with realistic
boundary conditions. Coupling the technologies also produces
time savings for nonlinear FEA software users, since some of
the rigid moving parts can be solved in Adams, which
dramatically decreases the total solution time.
1. Position/Velocity/
Acceleration
2. Forces and Torques
FE Forces Position FE
FE
Define Interaction Points
COUPLED CAE SOLUTION The BMW Chassis underbody was modeled in the Marc
environment (Figure 4), with 11 deformable contact bodies,
I. Adams-Marc Co-simulation 200,000 DOFs and 33,000 nodes. The pole was also defined
in the Marc model as a rigid body, and 14 interaction points
To address the challenges above, MSC worked with the end were controlled by 14 nodes as the new boundary condition
users together to implement a mixed MBD + non-linear FEA for this Marc model.
model which brings the best from both worlds (Figure 2).
Non-linear FEA can’t be used to accurately describe the III. Physical Testing
non-linear behavior of flexible components, including plastic
deformation, non-linear materials, large deformation of the During physical testing, the same maneuver was applied as the
components, buckling, self-contact. MBD can be leveraged to CAE simulation event: the full vehicle is driven over a
accurately model the system/moving mechanisms, providing measurement bollard at 30 km/h, and the bollard height is
realistic boundary conditions for the non-linear components defined dependent on the height setup of the vehicle. The
with high efficiency. Hence, a mixed model will also simulate bollard (Figure 5) worked as the obstacle that scratches the
much faster than a complete model in non-linear FEA, and it chassis underbody (Figure 6), and at the same time, it
will still provide the required level of accuracy. measures the contact force between the obstacle and the
underbody. That force was later used to correlate with the
The points at which a model interacts with another model are simulation results.
called interactions. At each interaction point there must be:
RESULTS AND CORRELATION
• A MARKER and a GFORCE in the Adams model.
• A NODE in the Marc model. The interface NODE in the Overall, the Adams-Marc co-simulation showed an impressive
Marc model must have 6 degrees of freedom result compared with the physical testing measurement. From
the plot below (Figure 7), the red curve represents the physical
In all Adams-Marc interactions, Adams passes displacements measurement of the contact force in the Z direction. The light
to be imposed on a NODE in Marc. Marc passes force/torque blue curve came from the first run with the co-simulation
values to Adams to be used in a GFORCE. without any tuning of the models, and the relatively large
discrepancy between the simulation and testing on the peak
II. Model Preparation load is due to the fact that the wrong Y coordinate was
provided to the simulation engineers. And because of that, the
The full vehicle model used in this study came from a simulated event missed the contact point between a screw on
correlated BMW Adams Car vehicle dynamics model (Figure 3), the underbody and the obstacle which caused the peak load.
Figure 3. Adams Full Vehicle Model Figure 4. Marc Model for the Chassis Underbody
REFERENCES
Figure 7. Contact Force Comparison: Physical Testing vs
Co-Simulation Results
1. Special Interest Groups Adams Marc Co-Simulation Kopplung der
Mehrkörpersimulation(MKS) mit der nichtlinearen Finite-Elemente-
Methode(FEM), C. Kopp, H. Krings, R. Bosbach (MSC Software
GmbH) Berlin, Deutschland, November 2017
2. Co-Simulation of Multi-Body-Dynamics (MBD) with Nonlinear
Finite-Element-Analysis (FEA):
3. C. Kopp, H. Krings, T. El Dsoki (MSC Software) Deutschsprachige
NAFEMS Konferenz 2018 Berechnung und Simulation –
Anwendungen, Entwicklungen, Trends, Bamberg Germany, May 2018
4. “BMW Case Study: Adams Marc Co-Simulation”, C. Kopp, H.
Krings, Fan, Y., NAFEMS Engineering Analysis & Simulation in the
Automotive Industry: Creating the Next Generation Vehicle
Conference, Troy, Michigan USA, November 2018
D
ue to advancements in sensor technology and data
processing algorithms over recent years, great Sensor measurement models, on the other hand, are based on
progress has been made to enable automated driving a physical description of the measurement process, and they
systems to improve safety and comfort for the vehicle driver generate low-level measurement data based on the virtual
and occupants. Yet, due to the complexity of self-driving, one scene. Models of this type are commonly used for a variety of
of the main challenges remains in ensuring and validating the sensors in robotics research, while the measurement models
safe conduct of the automated driving systems for public use. for automotive sensors are only emerging.
Virtual worlds provide a suitable, safe and controlled In this article, we introduce a sensor measurement model for
environment to handle an important part of the required testing an automotive LiDAR sensor. The model is based on a ray
and validation efforts. A proper choice of scenarios as well as tracing approach for the simulation of the measurement
the generation of virtual sensor data that closely matches reality process. This enables the real-time generation of a LiDAR Point
are among the central requirements for the success of the virtual Cloud within the framework of an automotive driving simulator.
development approach. Virtual sensor data is generated by By directly comparing data from the real-world test drive to
means of sensor models that form a central component of the virtual data generated by the sensor model in a virtual
virtual environmental perception (Figure 1). This perception data environment, we are able to quantify the accuracy and validity
constitutes one of the main input streams for the decision of the sensor model using appropriate metrics.
making algorithms of an automated driving system. Hence, the
fidelity of the sensor model is a deciding factor for the viability SENSOR MEASUREMENT MODEL
and validity of virtual development and testing.
A. Real-time Ray Tracing in a Driving Simulator
Generally speaking, there are two types of sensor models:
We consider the scanning type of LiDAR sensor, which is
Sensor error models aim to reproduce the statistical typically used in the automotive industry. This type of sensor
characteristics of errors, i.e. deviations between the perceived determines distance by measuring the travel time of a laser pulse
reflected by a target surface. Its angular resolution is achieved by
means of scanning, i.e. by moving the transmitted laser beam as
well as the selective field of view of the optical detector array
successively over the sensor’s complete field of view. Most
commercially available systems at this time employ a
mechanically rotating mirror for the scanning task. The operating
principle of this type of sensor lends itself to a modeling
approach using ray tracing techniques. The virtual environment
for the proposed sensor model is provided by the Vires VTD
driving simulation software (Figure 2), which offers a ray tracing
framework based on the Nvidia OptiX ray tracing engine.
.mat
Matlab ROS
Figure 2. LiDAR Model Simulation in VIRES VTD Figure 3. Tool chain for sensor model validation
Figure 5. Sampling grids for ray tracer: (a) Cartesian (b) Spheric
Figure 6. Visualization of Point Cloud: (a) real Point Cloud, (b) synthetic Point Cloud from SC1, (c) synthetic Point Cloud from SC2
Figure 7. Visualization of occupancy grids: (a) real occupancy grid, (b) synthetic occupancy grid from SC1 (c) synthetic occupancy grid from SC2.
Model Validation Overall Barons Pearson For evaluation of the environment model output, the real world
State Level Error correlation correlation
scenario is re-simulated, and scan grids as well as occupancy
grids are computed using generic Point Clouds from the two
EDM PC 8729.2 0.733 0.824
sensor configurations. The scan grid results are shown in Figure
SC1
SG 1.0816 × 10 6
0.637 0.679
7. Visually comparing the scan grid representations of the two
OG 2.3668 × 106 0.602 0.677
sensor configurations with the real data, we can see a higher
alignment between the real scan grids and the scan grids from
EDM PC 8566.4 0.743 0.832
the SC2. To quantify this observation, three metrics are applied
SC2
SUMMARY AND FUTURE WORK paper show a higher correlation between real and synthetic data
using the sensor model with a spherical ray tracer sampling grid.
In this article, we propose a physically motivated sensor
measurement model based on a ray tracing approach for an
automotive LiDAR sensor. The model was employed to faithfully
recreate the full sensor processing chain in a virtual environment See the Latest Solutions
with the help of VIRES VTD. Furthermore, a full processing chain in Autonomous Driving:
in the virtual environment starting from low-level sensor data and www.mscsoftware.com/autonomous
ending with the first fusion stage of the whole automated driving
system was reproduced in a virtual environment. With the
presented setup, it is possible to evaluate real driving situations
and reconstruct them in the simulation from high-fidelity data for Reference
static and dynamic scenarios. As sample use cases, we showed
a static situation on a parking lot. We could quantify how closely 1. “Generation and Validation of Virtual Point Cloud Data for
the internal environment representation, i.e. the input to the Automated Driving Systems”, T. Hanke, A. Schaermann, M. Geiger,
K. Weiler, N. Hirsenkorn, A. Rauch, S-A. Schneider, and E. Biebl,
automated driving function, matches between real world scenario IEEE 20th International Conference on Intelligent Transportation
and the simulation using a raw data LiDAR sensor model and Systems (ITSC), October 2017, Yokohama, Japan
appropriate validation metrics. The results represented in this
• Drawbar
• Sand Climb
• Handling • Traverse
• Lane-change
Real-Time Model • Cornering
• Ride
• RMS roads
• Halfrounds
• Obstacles Uncertainty
Quatification
Virtual Test Drive
• Mapping
• Route Selection
(with Luciad)
T
he mobility of a ground vehicle can be the difference
between mission success and mission failure on the
battlefield. In today’s defense environment, there is a
need to create rapidly deployable, highly mobile vehicle
platforms that operate reliably across various terrain and road
types. Vehicle simulation capabilities for assessing performance
for different environmental conditions and operational scenarios
have increased significantly in recent years.
Vehicle Capabilities
Elevation
Figure 5 Mapping workflow, showing speed made good and route prediction
I
n the development of any technology, it is recognized that Introduction
the right catalyst can propel a nascent capability into a
necessary component of progress. And, 56 years ago, As we approach the 50th anniversary of the first NASA Apollo
finite element analysis (FEA) really took off (some might say 11 moon landing when Commander Neil Armstrong uttered
quite literally so!) with the invention of MSC’s Nastran FEA the words, “One small step for (a) man, one giant leap for
solver for the NASA American moon landing program mankind”, we thought it was worth looking backwards (a
(reference 1, 2). little nostalgically) and forwards (boldly, and with vision) to
Aerodynamics Design & Sizing Manufacturing Process Multibody Dynamics Structural Inegrity during
• Drag, lift, torque, shocks • CAD cleaning Simulation • Forces mission
• Aerothermal heating • Parts & Assembly based modelling • Additive Manufacturing • Loads • Loads
• Avionics & fluidics • Structural performance analysis • Joining, Foming Assembly
• System dynamics
Advanced Materials
• Mechanical and thermal properties of Satellite separation
metal & composite microstructures
• Material Life Cycle Management • Forces
• Virtual allowables • Loads
• Effect of defects
• Light weighting
Figure 1: Assortment of Multiphysics CAE applications of MSC Software tools in the Space Industry today
Space has today again become truly a frontier for technology advancement with
larger-than-life multi-billionaires like Elon Musk (SpaceX, Tesla) making ever more
extravagant claims and stunts - a Tesla car playing David Bowie tracks on an infinite
loop is flying into deep space as we write - and hosting regular press conferences with
amazing projections for what his company will do next in space. Richard Branson
(Virgin Galactic) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin, Amazon) - the world’s richest man - are
jumping on the space bandwagon and are in a race to successfully launch passenger-
carrying suborbital flights from earth by a commercial airline for the first time (references
7,8). The emergence of Musk’s privately owned and very profitable SpaceX
corporation, founded in 2003 to make money from space, has revolutionized the
commercial satellite industry, but ever more ambitious plans for geostationary
telescopes, lunar polar manned space stations, human colonies on Mars, and even
plans for lunar mining and smart factories are being explored. There are even six
geostationary satellites in orbit around the planet Mars today.
Figure 2: Chinese Robotic Lander was
simulated in MSC Adams and connected
Emerging nations like China, Israel and India are staking claims to space. The recent to EDEM for Lunar terrain modeling
landing of the Chang’e 6 Lunar Module and Rover on the dark side of the Moon in
December 2018 illustrates this (reference 9), the privately funded SpaceIL craft that set
off for a soft landing on the moon in February 2019 (reference 10), and India’s ambitious
Chandrayaan-2 Mission to put a man back on the moon by the end of 2021 (reference
11). Japan has a healthy space program and its Hayabusa-2 lander successfully
intercepted the Ryugu meteorite in February 2019 (reference 12). Even President Donald
Trump announced plans in 2018 for a US Space Force, to be the 6th branch of the
American military (reference 13).
Researchers in Harbin University in China (reference 14) last year successfully coupled
MSC’s Adams multi-body dynamics solver to EDEM from DEM Solutions in a co-
simulation chain to model a novel new spider-like robotic lander vehicle capable of
dealing with rough terrain on other planets (Figure 2). Research at the Politecnico di
Torino in Italy last year also analyzed multibody mechanisms for inflatable structures in
manned space applications using the Adams and MSC Nastran SOL400 co-
simulation solver (reference 15). Their numerical results showed what was possible for
the inflatable manned space module with rigid components and a flexible coating
made of Kevlar (Figure 3), and led to some recommendations related to its optimal Figure 4: Russian Lunar Landing & Ascent
Vehicle dynamics simulated in Adams
structural performance.
Many researchers in the last 10 years have used MSC Software to examine the
dynamics of lunar landers and ascent vehicles and a typical study can be seen in Figure
4 from the S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Public Corporation Energia (RSC Energia) in
Russia in 2018. They used Adams coupled with Python scripts to look at the dynamics
of landing and taking off from the lunar surface. A MSc Thesis involving a design study
at the University of Delft in the Netherlands to investigate the optimal structural design
for an inflatable lunar greenhouse module was carried out in 2014 (reference 17). The
student verified preliminary design calculations and compliance with requirements for
thermal and load-bearing structural properties of a Kevlar composite, using the FEA tool
MSC Nastran (Figure 5). And, finally, a Masters Thesis from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology in America in 2016 (reference 18) employed SimXpert and MSC Nastran
to investigate whether a CubeSat satellite design that uses a combination of propulsion
Figure 5: Dutch University proposal for an
and solar arrays stresses the dynamics of the solar panels and their hinges that hold
Inflatable Lunar Greenhouse simulated in
them in place (Figure 6). MSC Nastran
A
dditive manufacturing is a process that has been used Additive manufacturing of metal components is becoming
for some years in Safran’s production centers. Safran more and more widespread in all sectors of industry. A major
Additive Manufacturing - a technology platform advantage of this technology is the geometry design freedom
attached to Safran Tech, Safran’s dedicated research center - that allows the creation of optimized shapes according to the
is aiming to support the widespread use of the additive targeted function. It now starts to be used for the serial
manufacturing technology within the Group: first by production of high-tech parts, particularly in the aeronautics
recommending tools and standards while evaluating and and space industry. Another key benefit of using 3D printing
validating the solutions through use cases, then by technologies is the ability to reduce the weight, cost and
accompanying the companies of the Group in the deployment complexity of parts production without sacrificing the reliability
and use of these tools. and durability of materials.
Figure 2: Example of macro-cracks on LBM parts that appeared during the manufacturing process due to part distortion and Simufact Additive stress
predictions of the parts (Red is high, blue is low)
Conclusions
Safran Additive Manufacturing has taken full advantage of the added value of the Simufact Additive solution in order to secure the
integration of the additive manufacturing processes into its “product-process” development processes, both upstream during product
design and downstream for the production launch.
Safran Additive Manufacturing is now focusing on extending the use of the Simufact Additive solution to different types of parts and
different grades of material, in order to improve the design process for additive manufacturing as a whole. MSC Software supports Safran
Additive Manufacturing and the Group in achieving this objective through this solution that integrates into the global additive manufacturing
value chain, ensuring a quality and open digital continuity.
Since its inception in 2008, Team DIANA has created the Lunar
Rover Amalia for the Google Lunar XPrize and the Rover T0-R0
(Figure 1), the Martian rover prototype that took part in the
European Rover Challenge in Poland in September 2018. In
2019 the team started working on a new Martian rover which is
currently being produced and will be tested at the 2019 edition
of the European Rover Challenge.
In the preliminary design stages of the T0-R0 Rover, four independent electric motors. This system allows stabilization
uncertainties concerning the mobility system were resolved of the rover’s payload (electronics, computer and batteries)
thanks to Multi-body simulations in Adams. T0-R0 Rover is during navigation on rough soil, with rocks and obstacles.
based on a rocker boogie mobility system, with six wheels and
The first step in the simulation process was the construction of
the rover model in Adams/View with a simplified geometry, with
correct dimensions and inertial proprieties of the involved parts.
Then the entire model was verified, and roads with soft soil and
a model of a pneumatic wheel (Figure 3) were added thanks to
Figure 2 Testing of the T0-R0 rover on soft soil Figure 3 Virtual Testing of the Rover using Adams
Adam/Tire tool to evaluate the power required for the motors to The simulations performed in the virtual Adams environment
achieve a speed of 3 Km/Hr. allowed the team to explore limits of the structure and to
build a rover capable of walking on Martian-like terrain and
The parametric nature of Adams allows an understanding of the performing all the required operations with the construction
relationships between the design elements in the model and the of a single prototype and one short year of development.
performance requirements. For example, it was possible to change The rover, once built, performed as expected in the tasks of
the position of the hinges that connect the rocker to the chassis the competition and on Martian soil, confirming a good
with ease, saving a considerable amount of time. Furthermore, the capability of motion on the terrain thanks to the insight
use of design variables allowed us to capture the effect of variation obtained from simulations.
of certain parameters on the dynamic behavior of the vehicle.
The Team is now designing a new rover (Figure 5) with
Adams also allowed us to model the belt transmission system steering wheels to achieve better maneuverability while
(Figure 4) using the Adams/Machinery tool. The study of the performing tasks. Adams is being used to study the
deformations and the stresses to which the springs are subject geometries of the steering mechanism of the new mobility
to were carried out considering the vehicle in different operative system. The new Rover will be tested through the
conditions, for example in presence of an irregular path or participation at the 2019 edition of European Rover
when encountering obstacles. Challenge.
Figure 5 Testing of the new rover for the 2019 European Rover Challenge
A
t lift-off and during flight, spacecraft launchers during the design cycle of any launcher component is crucial to
experience several vibro-acoustic challenges. Those ensure the safety of spacecraft components.
vibro-acoustic challenges are the result of intense
sound pressure levels generated by more and more powerful Over the past 50 years, Airbus Defence and Space has been
rockets used to reach higher lift capacity and longer distance. supplying reliable systems that range from electronic
components to full telecommunication relay platforms, scientific
This intense acoustic load excites the launcher structure as satellites, and human-crewed spacecraft. Key common
well as the embedded payloads and equipment inside. components of this portfolio are solar panels. These
Therefore, designing and managing the vibro-acoustic behavior components are responsible for supplying electrical power to
These design constraints led engineers to design complex MSC Software Solutions
structures carrying the solar cells, typically made of a
sandwich structure covered by cells to fulfill specified Airbus Defence and Space engineers used MSC Nastran and
mission requirements. Actran to predict the vibro-acoustic response of solar panels at
lift-off using a hybrid approach. Mode shapes and related
These light-weighted, critical structures are subject to intense eigenfrequencies of the solar panels structure are computed
loading during lift-off and engineers need to validate the with MSC Nastran while Actran is used to both enrich the
structures to ensure that it can sustain these vibrations without structural model by modeling complex acoustic dissipations
residual defects that would prevent the solar arrays from being and propagation and model the acoustic load environment
deployed properly. acting on the solar array stack.
Figure 1. Telecommunication Satellite at IABG reverberation Figure 3. Solar Panels Vibration Spectrum, Impact of Panels
chamber, Copyright: Airbus Defence and Space 2017. Interlayer Viscosity Modeling
A
part of the Expleo Group of companies, Stirling compliance for generating gust and manoeuvre loads for aircraft
Dynamics is a fast-growing, advanced engineering design by the certification authorities. This puts smaller OEMs
company that delivers a range of complex systems into a disadvantageous position as the linear models are
and technical services to the aerospace and marine markets. generally considered to be overly conservative. The project
Trading since 1987, the company has accumulated a wealth of objective for Stirling Dynamics was to develop their own
knowledge on over 70 different aircraft types and delivered to in-house toolset. In parallel, as part of the same programme, tool
both civil and military programmes around the globe. development at MSC Software UK was aimed at developing a
Recognised as leading experts in the areas of aircraft loads, commercially available product. A more detailed description of
fluid dynamics and aeroelastics, Stirling Dynamics is approved the MSC development is covered in the following sections.
to the global aerospace quality standard AS9100 as well as
being a member of the ITAR Approved Community. MSC Software Co-Simulation CFD-FEA Coupling
Integrator (MSC.Adams)
Wing structural
model
User-defined subroutine
because these are connected to each other via compliant overall flight dynamics and stability characteristics.
structures such as muscle and exoskeleton, which allows all Therefore, for a sound understanding of the underlying
the components translate/rotate relative to each other. In this mechanics of the insect flight dynamics and stability, the
study, a multibody model of the Hawkmoth was created, and fluid-structure interaction (FSI) of the flexible wings, with the
each body component was modeled using morphological data surrounding air, must be taken into account when
from Ellington [3] and O’Hara et al [4]. As the wing of the developing a flight dynamics model of the insect. Typically,
Hawkmoth is a complex structure consisting of intricate the flight dynamics and stability analysis of the insect is
patterns of venation and skin, the actual measurement data of conducted based on a simple, linear rigid-body dynamics
30 Hawkmoth wings by O’Hara et al [4] was used to model model. With these simplified rigid body approaches, the
the vein’s outer/inner radius distribution and also elastic effect of the body component’s movement, the effect of the
modulus as shown in Figure 3, where mw is the wing mass, wing inertia or the effect of flexibility to the flight stability are
mtotal is the total mass of the Manduca sexta, R is the span, not easily analyzed.
is the main chord; S is the area, t is the thickness and r2, is
the radius of gyration. In the current implementation the two wings of the Hawkmoth
are modeled as flexible bodies with similar properties to the real
Hawkmoth, and the other body components are also modeled
Wing Structural Model independently. Based on this flexible multibody model, a
hovering flight is simulated and its 6-DOF flight states are
A critical element to accurately modeling dynamical compared with the result of rigid-winged model to see the
systems with multi-bodies is accounting for part flexibility. effect of the flexibility. A finite element analysis program
The Manduca Sexta has wings with flexibility due to the (ANSYS) (Figure 4) is used to model the flexible wing structure
intricate patterns of venation and skin on the wing. This of the Hawkmoth. Mode shapes and corresponding natural
flexibility makes the wing undergo deformation during the frequencies are depicted in Figure 2. These mode shapes are
flight. Also, the passive deformation of the wing impacts the used as input into the Adams MBD model to incorporate
surrounding aerodynamics, which in turn directly affects the flexibility to the Wings.
6 7 8 9 10
Figure 6. Fluid-structure interaction considered 6-DOF free flight simulation; flexible-winged Hawkmoth model is in its hovering condition;
a down-stroke wing motion is depicted (flapping frequency = 26.1Hz, time between each frame is 2ms)
Based on the abovementioned co-simulation environment, Hawkmoth models to maintain the hovering flight. This implies
6-DOF flight simulations were conducted. For a comparative the flexible wings can produce more lift than the rigid wing under
analysis, a rigid-winged Hawkmoth model was also established a similar wing kinematics. Qualitatively, it seems to be the effect
using the same morphological data to the flexible-winged of wing flexibility which alters the direction of the aerodynamic
model. The rigid- and flexible-winged Hawkmoth models are vectors to the direction of the opposite to its weight vector.
identical except for the wing flexibility. Therefore, it appears that a choice between a simplified rigid or a
detailed flexible representation of the wing can have a substantial
The wing kinematic inputs for the hovering condition of the insect impact on the Hawkmoth’s flight dynamics. In essence,
are shown in Figure 5. In the figure, the thick gray line indicates the simulation tools like Adams can help us understand and
measured wing kinematics. The other two lines indicate wing appreciate the world we live in.
kinematics inputs for the two Hawkmoth models to maintain
hovering: rigid-winged model, and flexible-winged model. The References
commanded inputs include φ(t), wing positional angle; α(t),
feathering angle; θ(t), deviation angle at the wing root joint. 1. Kim, Joong-Kwan & Han, Jae-Hung. (2013). An investigation of
6-DOF insect flight dynamics with a flexible multibody dynamics
approach. Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for
These commanded inputs develop spatially varying Optical Engineering. 8686. 868611. 10.1117/12.2009650.
deformation distributions on the flexible wing due to the FSI 2. https://www.butterfliesandmoths.org/species/Manduca-sexta
which is illustrated in Figure 6. 3. Ellington, C. P., “The aerodynamics of hovering insect flight: II.
Morphological parameters,” Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B-Biol. Sci.
305(1122), 17-40 (1984).
The comparative study between the models with the rigid and 4. O’Hara, R. P., and Palazotto, A. N., “The morphological
the flexible wing representations also show some interesting characterization of the forewing of the Manduca sexta species for
the application of biomimetic flapping wing micro air vehicles,”
distinctions. The first difference between two Hawkmoth models
Bioinspir. Biomim. 7(4), 046011(13pp) (2012).
is the flapping frequency: 26.1Hz for the flexible-winged model
and 29.5Hz for the rigid-winged model are needed for the
I
n this article, we are showcasing some interesting case
studies performed using MSC Nastran and MARC to see
how the finite element analysis is leveraged in the medical
industry and taken innovation one step further using simulation.
of any design, implementation, and maintenance process in
Hearing is one of the five sensations critical to the perception of vehicles, machine tools, spacecraft, buildings and even
the surrounding and communication. The overall function of the medical devices.
ear is to convert physical vibrations to nervous impulses. In
other words, the vibration from sound is transduced to electric Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid, which is commonly referred to as
signals in the ear, where they are processed by the central BAHA provides patients with a higher level of user satisfaction
auditory system in the brain. Structural analysis is a crucial part compared to other hearing aids.
Inner ear
Auditory
nerve Real model
Cochlea
CAD or CT scan
Middle ear
Discretized finite element model by pre-processor
Simulation in Solver
Calculation
Visulization by post-processor
Figure 2Schematic overview of BAHA implant in function Figure 4 Finite element process
With the help of computational mechanics such as the vibration pattern of bone-conducted sound using MSC
Finite-Element Method (FEM), the performance of BAHA can Nastran. FEA model enable us to investigate the factors that
be improved before actual costly physical models are built. affect the bone conduction pathway, find the correct position
to produce the vibration level for the hearing sensation, and
Lena Kim, PhD candidate at Chalmers University of further optimize the device in a patient-specific way.
Technology, built a 3D FEM model of Human Head to perform
a study which leverages MSC Nastran’s FEA results to Structural analysis- specifically modal analysis is the first step
correlate with the physical tests which in-turn helps the and plays an important role in the sound and vibration analysis.
cost-reduction of the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid. By performing modal analysis, one can find the system’s
natural frequency and mode shapes (shape of vibration)
In this study a valid 3D FE model of the human head is without external force and damping. The results of modal
developed, which is used to investigate and simulate the analysis characterize the basic dynamic behavior of the
Overload Keel
Urethane - Heel
Heel
Urethane - Toe
Figure 6 Carbon Fiber Prosthetic Foot - Components: Heel, Keel, Overload, Urethan (Toe and Heel)
and weight amongst many others. The demand for a prosthetic thick, has reduced heel bending due to more uniform heel
foot that is suitable for all terrain, with lightweight, exceptional contact, stiffer response due to earlier contact with Keel.
shock absorption and great energy return is very much needed.
Composites play a huge role for lightweighting. Dr. T. Kim Parnell After comparing different results of both heel types, it was
from Parnell Engineering and Consulting used MSC Marc to concluded that the Proposed 1/16” Long Heel is stiffer due to
perform Finite Element Analysis on the heel design, test different earlier secondary contact with Heel and earlier contact with
material properties and come up with an optimal design. Keel. 1/16” Long heel gets progressive stiffening and the stress
results for heel improved even for same displacement and thus
Model description was done using MSC Marc/Mentat, where higher applied load.
the contact bodies are defined such that Heel, Urethane are
flexible contact bodies and Overload, Keel are assumed rigid To conclude, simulation using MSC MARC/Mentat with physical
and materials are defined as composites with Tsai-Wu failure testing help to better understand the delamination failure mode.
criteria and the results of 2 Urethan Configurations are
compared in order to come up with the final design.
After performing analysis using Marc, it was concluded that, See More Co-Simulation Applications:
Short Urethan Heel, 1/8” thick causes increased heel bending www.mscsoftware.com/cosim
and it is more flexible whereas, Long Urethane Heel, 1/16”
I
n recent years, OEMs in the aerospace, automotive, and Lynx, the interoperability between MSC Apex and MSC
shipbuilding industries are being confronted with a variety of Nastran enables the new “MSC Apex – MSC Nastran – MSC
challenges. Stricter safety requirements, increasing operation Apex” workflow. Users can now combine the world-class user
cost, and higher user expectations, are driving OEMs to experience of MSC Apex with the power of MSC Nastran, the
innovate, especially in product development to gain continuous world’s most trusted multidisciplinary Finite Element Analysis
competitive advantages in the market. These strategic (FEA) solver, to facilitate their product development. Such
initiatives also bring new requirements for CAE tools. User interoperability enables existing MSC Nastran users to achieve
experience, smart workflows, simulation democratization- you an up to 10x productivity gain in several different aspects.
name it! No matter what buzzwords are out there, the core
need of CAE users is the same: productivity.
innovation represented Technical companies are used to only saving FE models for future
service, repair and modification uses, especially in the aerospace
in MSC Apex’s capability industry. Though FE models are compact and analysis-ready, it is
difficult to rebuild geometry models from sketch when performing
suite and ease of use changes to these legacy FE files. However, this is no longer a
was head and shoulders problem in the new MSC Apex – MSC Nastran – MSC Apex
workflow. Users can now import Nastran BDF files into MSC Apex
above any other stand- and regenerate geometry directly from the FE model. With the
help of embedded direct-modeling technology, geometry repair
alone CAD healer or and edit can be completed by only clicking & dragging. Then,
incremental mesh capacity can help users generate high-quality
integrated CAD-CAE
meshing software
I have used.”
etc. However, the unique mid-surface extraction tool in MSC “With MSC Apex’s easy
Apex can intelligently detect the paired surfaces and extract
the mid-surface automatically. If the extracted model has local
to use interface, tedious
defects, users can quickly fix them by dragging and clicking
geometric features.
and frustrating tasks
(most notably geometry
idealization and
What’s more, MSC Apex provides a higher-order of productivity
gain. Unlike traditional pre-processors, MSC Apex achieves
high-quality mesh by an incremental strategy. It automatically
generates the highest-quality mesh possible and needs minor
meshing) are made
essential refinements to deliver a qualified mesh. This “mesh on
the fly” capacity updates the mesh automatically when
simpler, better, and
geometry modification exists. For example, as shown in picture faster. MSC Apex saves
us a large amount of
4, mesh generates as the geometry mirror operation happens.
T
he development of high-speed railways has brought designing more performant sound barriers.
many travel benefits to society over the past years,
offering fast and convenient access to numerous Industry Challenge
downtowns cities. However, the related pass-by-noise has
affected the sound quality of environments neighboring The main task of the Noise and Vibration Reduction Laboratory
high-speed train lines. This has led to noise control and of China Railway Design Corporation (referred to as CRDC,
reduction becoming the primary problem faced by high-speed former Railway Third Survey and Design Institute Group Co.,
railway environmental governance. The noise emitted by Ltd.) is to perform research and development of noise and
high-speed railways is composed of wheel-rail noise, vehicle vibration reduction engineering technologies. Using test and
body aerodynamic noise, and collector system noise. The simulation approaches, the laboratory develops noise and
wheel-rail noise is most important, for which sound barriers vibration products, promotes engineering applications, and
are capable of effectively suppressing its propagation towards provides noise and vibration technology services.
the surroundings, thus reducing the overall noise radiation
level. It is therefore, a widely used method to mitigate noise Prior to using simulation, the typical design process of a
emissions. Over the past years, Chinese high-speed railway high-speed rail sound barrier was to involve semi-analytical
engineers have designed vertical sound barriers, which are formulas to predict the insertion loss of sound barriers. By
the result of long-term engineering experimentation and using this approach, the noise source and realistic
structural safety considerations. surrounding environment cannot be fully described. The
obtained results demonstrated large deviations when
In recent years, engineers have begun to rethink sound barrier compared to reality. A solution that is able to consider the
design to achieve higher noise reduction and save construction sound barrier absorption coefficient, complex geometrical
forms, and the realistic environment was needed to achieve
better noise barrier performance.
In the design process of a sound barrier, it is necessary to create About China Railway Design Corporation
a large-scale model around the high-speed train and perform a
wide-frequency range analysis. Actran can meet these China Railway Design Corporation. (referred to as CRDC, former
requirements with its modeling capabilities for near and far field Railway Third Survey and Design Institute Group Co., Ltd.), is the
acoustic propagation, distribution of multi-sound sources in near only survey and design enterprise under CHINA RAILWAY(CR). It
and far-field, and the capacity to model complex geometrical was established in 1953 and focuses on railway, urban rail transit,
configurations as well as material property effects. Dr. Hu added: highway, etc. It is a large-scale enterprise group engaged in project
“In addition to the infinite element technology, the ability to general contracting, survey, design, consulting, supervision and
consider the complex shape of the noise barrier andthe sound project management. It is of outstanding advantage for high-speed
absorbing materials modeling are the main reasons why we railway, heavy-duty railway, comprehensive transportation hub,
chose Actran. Actran meets our needs of the product urban rail transit, new rail transit, maglev transportation, etc.
development for forecasting noise reduction.”
Result
Use of Actran’s API to quickly generate line sound sources, and use
of the Loadcases command to avoid sound source interference
effects and achieve incoherent superposition of sound sources. Actran simulation results and test comparison
A
s the main working mechanism for coal cutting and coal
loading, the spiral drum directly affects the working
performance of the shearer. In recent years, a number of
research projects have been conducted on the design and working
performance of the shearer spiral drum. These results provided a
reference for the high operational efficiency of the coal shearers.
When the shearer is working, the loads on the front drum are larger than the rear drum,
so the front cross section is the main target of interest for this project. According to the
coal-breaking theory from the former Soviet Union, and based on the “load simulation
program” developed by the project team, the cut-off depth of the machine is 800 mm,
Figure 3. Virtual Prototype of the Coal
the drum rotation speed is 58 r/min, and the traction speed is 10 m/min. Shearer in MSC Adams
The research team used Pro/Engineer to establish a coal mining machine model and
imported it into MSC Adams, the world’s most trusted multibody dynamics software.
The finite element software was then used to generate the flexible bodies for the spiral
drum and the planet carrier, replacing the corresponding rigid parts in the Adams
model. After adding the constraints, contacts and the driving forces of the virtual
prototype, the Adams model of the shearer that contains both rigid parts and flexible
parts is shown in Figure 3.
As the next step, the initial loads from actual physical testing were properly imported Figure 4. Stress Distribution on the
Front Drum
into the Adams mode to make sure the boundary conditions for the simulation are
realistic. Some of the simulation results can be found from Figure 4 to Figure 6, to
capture the stress distribution on the front drum, the maximum stress curves and the
stress diagram of the drum tooth. The stress diagram and the stress curves of the
planet carrier are shown in Fig. 7 and 8.
It can be seen from Fig. 4-6 that the maximum stress value of the spiral drum is 779.946
MPa, and the calculated safety factor is 1.635. The maximum stress value node is
located on the No. 24 tooth of the 12th section line. As illustrated in Figures 7 and 8, the
maximum stress value of the carrier is 347.17 MPa, so the safety factor is 1.872, the Figure 5. Maximum Stress Curve of the
maximum stress point appears at the hole of the planet shaft. Spiral Drum
Predicting Coal-Carrying Performance of the After the optimized design, the updated modal neutral file for
Shearer with EDEM Software the spiral drum was generated and imported into MSC
Adams, in order to perform the FEA-MBD coupled simulation
According to the coal mining theory, the Hertz-M contact analysis. It can be seen from Figure 12 that the maximum
model is selected for the simulation. The material parameters stress of the optimized spiral drum is 735.841 MPa, which is
of the drum are set up in the EDEM software, as well as the 5.65% lower than that of the previous design. The maximum
contact parameters between the drum and the coal wall. stress value of the carrier is 332.117 MPa, 4.34% lower than
According to the mining conditions of the drum prototype and before. The change in the spiral drum design variables
the drum model, the coal particle plant is shown in Figure 9. reduced the cutting resistance, and thus reducing the loads
on the key components.
After importing the CAD model of the coal shearer in IGES
format into EDEM, the simulation model is shown in Figure 10. Summary
As illustrated in Figure 11, under normal operational condition, The results of this simulation-based design show that the
the number of coal particles that were successfully loaded was negative impact of the structural parameters on the reliability of
9,476, and the number of unfilled coal particles was 5,964. The the spiral drum is reduced, and the comprehensive
success rate for loading was 61.37%. From the physical testing performance of the spiral drum is improved. The optimized
results of the actual MG400/951-WD shearer, the coal loading spiral drum meets the design requirements. Since June 2015,
rate is over 60%. Based on the discrete element method, the this type of improved coal shearer has been manufactured and
coal mining performance simulation results provide clear data officially put into operation at the Ordos Coal Mine of YanZhou
support for the reliability design of shearer spiral drum. Coal Mine. The annual output of the single machine has
reached 1.2 million tons. The shearer is stable and reliable.
Improving the Robust Design for the
Spiral Drum Reference
The structural parameters of the spiral drum have an impact on 1. ZHAO Lijuan, FAN Jiayi, LI Minghao. Gradient reliability design of
its working performance. Therefore, in order to improve the shearer’s drum in complicated seam [J]. Journal of China Coal
Society.
performance of the drum, it is necessary to optimize the robust
design of the spiral drum.
Figure 9. Coal Particle Plant Model Figure 10. EDEM Model Which Figure 11. Loading Effect Figure 12. The Stress Distribution of
in EDEM Includes Both the Mining Machine Simulation in EDEM the Spiral Drum after Optimization
and the Coal Bulk Material
W
ith the continuing rapid adoption and development
of additive manufacturing techniques and
technologies in multiple industries led by
aerospace, defense, medical and automotive, many benefits
can be obtained in companies. This includes the huge potential
for lightweighting, small production runs with less material
waste, significant energy cost savings, and the possibility to
produce functional, high performance parts that simply can’t
be subtractively manufactured, cast or formed. One of the
challenges is a full automation and to minimize the physical
try-outs. This can only be achieved with a full digital
transformation and a fully connected workflow.
Figure 2: Concept of a folding bicycle with 3d printed Metal and Polymer parts
These technologies within Hexagon allows the development of a metal or polymer parts in a straightforward way so that they are
compelling solution for the challenges of the additive manufacturing ‘First Time Right’ printed. Let us unwrap that statement a bit by way
industry where unit costs can be high and errors can be costly. It is of first outlining a typical End2End Additive Manufacturing workflow
important to not just optimize the 3D CAD geometry during 3D (see Figure 1). And secondly, using an example for a new innovative
printing, but also, to optimize the end product part. There is a need lightweight folding bicycle concept (see Figure 2). We choose two
for real world solutions that are fast, accurate and robust than typical parts from the bike, to demonstrate the principles for the
alternative PLM and CAD-based methods. In effect, with this available solutions for metals and polymer. The first is a handlebar
combination of technologies I believe it is now possible to plan, upper fork as a 3D printed metallic part and the second one a bike
optimize, validate and replicate high quality additively manufactured saddle as a polymer part.
Figure 3: Process of Reverse Engineering the Arena Seat Saddle using a 3D Scanner
Figure 6: Comparison of simulated and optimized 3D printed metal Fork part in Simufact Additive
Figure 7: Comparison of the final ‘as-built’ 3D printed polymer seat Figure 9: Hexagon EdgeCAM’s knowledge of machine control in
part to the ‘as-designed’ part in Digimat Additive Additive DED machines
process chain needs to optimized, so that we will get the right whole process will become more transparent and the process
shape with the required part performance. The final part can be made more robust to ensure that all errors are
performance is the outcome of the used process and print eliminated before the designs are committed to in the printers.
parameter. The data can be taken for all materials from an open
and flexible material data management tool like MaterialCenter from In the shown folding bike scenario, we worked with a Hexagon
MSC Software (Figure 5). This solution was adjusted dedicated to partner organization, NIAR, at Wichita State University in America
AM, to be able to handle all experimental data, to calculate the to use their 3D printers to additively manufacture both the fork and
needed parameter out of it for the material models for the simulation the saddle (Figure 8). This part of the process is represented by
and finally, also to control all material properties during the the segment in Figure 1 at 1 o’clock where you go through the 3D
production process. The final material properties need to be printing process based on the optimized designs from the CAE
documented and stored for sensitive parts in AM. MaterialCenter is software predictions at Figure 1: 11 o’clock. We want to thank
the perfect solution to be used besides the production and for the NIAR for their collaboration in this project.
virtual manufacturing simulation as a digital twin.
30% of the costs are incurred directly through the post-
But let us go back to the manufacturing simulation (Figure 1: processing step for machining of the printed part. The used
11 o’clock). MSC Software offers best in class technologies orientation of the part during the process and therefore the
with Simufact for metals (Figure 6) and Digimat for polymers needed support structures etc. are directly influencing the effort
(Figure 7). The simulation will predict the distortion and for the machining stage. So there is a need also to take this
behavior of the parts (fork and saddle) during the whole manufacturing step into account to be able to optimize the
process chain and will detect critical areas or possible whole process chain with all the main influencing steps. It also
problems. This enables the user to optimize the whole process has an impact on the predefined design and can be used to
steps and minimize the risk for manufacturing problems. The minimize the total costs. That is why MSC is developing an
Figure 8: NIAR facilities for 3D printing and the machines used in the bike saddle and fork printing
S
elective laser melting (SLM) is a powder bed fusion should be based on an interaction model of the technological
additive manufacturing (AM) process which occurs at a factors affecting the quality of the final fabricated parts.
high metal melting temperature. High local temperature
gradients and brief cooling effects can cause residual stresses There are three main methods for predicting the temperature
and part deformation during 3d printing, the consequences of distribution and residual stress during the SLM process:
which can be additional surface treatment and reduced
productivity for the process. To understand how to control the 1. Simulation methods,
formation of AM residual stresses and part form deformation, a 2. Experimental work, and
reliable method to investigate influences between technological 3. Combined simulation and experimental approach
parameters and quality behaviours is required. There are basic
physical mechanisms of the selective laser melting process that Since it is difficult to predict part distortion in micro detail due
can lead to part distortion and cracking: high temperature to enormous computational resources being required, a SLM
gradients, high viscosity and surface tension of the molten process for a practical part can be divided into three scales;
powder zone, un-melted powder and oxidized particles. micro scale, meso scale and macro scale. With this type of
approach, the temperature history and residual stress fields
The following variables of the SLM process can be established during the SLM process can be predicted. Thermal information
as the most important: has to be transferred through micro scale laser scanning, meso
scale layer hatching, and macro scale additive part build-up.
1. Powder, composition, size distribution, shape, and
thickness of the melting layer; Description of our SLM Model
2. Laser, power, spot size, beam spatial distribution, scanning
velocity and protective gas atmosphere; and The laboratory of additive technology at Samara National
3. Strategy of additive manufacturing Research University developed a model of influences on the
SLM process parameters of quality by way of an Ishikawa
The main target of our research was to find and control the diagram. The quality of the final additive manufactured part can
optimum SLM process parameters to minimize printed part be decided by powder properties, process parameters, SLM
S L M equipment P owder
P article size Density
S ervice
Type Mixing Time of mixing
Vergin
C alibration
Used
Maintenance Melting Flowability
Monitoring
temperature
and control
S orting Flowability
S L M proc es s quality
P arameters P arameters
G eometry
Type Weight
P arts orientation Technology type
S upport
P arts preparation C oating
R oughness
Evaluation Deviation
SLM
Process Build strategy
Management
Output parameters
Selective laser
melting process
Set of process conditions Part quality
Limiting conditions
Experimental specimens
quality system which is based on managing and controlling of needed an engineering simulation model of the SLM process
input parameters taking into account the limiting conditions. The for better understanding of the link between input and output
main blocks of the proposed SLM quality system are shown in parameters under different limiting conditions. We achieved this
figure 2. In order to select the appropriate set of technological by employing the predictive simulation tool, Simufact Additive,
parameters, the system uses a making-decision algorithm, and from MSC Software.
selection of input parameters depends on the link between part
requirements (accuracy, geometry, surface) and building regimes Simulation techniques have been widely used to predict
for corresponding material and mechanical behaviors. The main residual stresses and part distortions in the SLM processes.
idea of this quality system is that decision and denoting of SLM But they are only suitable for analyzing the thermal-mechanical
parameters are based on experience, and our statistical model to predict residual stresses and distortions of a sintered
database is included in the making-decision algorithm. After specimen. For an original SLM part, it is difficult to predict part
each part is manufactured ‘successfully’, its database record’s distortion due to requiring millions of micro-scale laser scans
input parameters with certain limiting conditions are recorded as which will increase the computational hardware requirement
meaning that all quality requirements are satisfied. prohibitively. However, Simufact Additive allowed us to
compare numerical and experimental results and to develop a
The making-decision algorithm should include not only the multi scale approach to achieve acceptable accuracy of part
statistical database, but a method of quality prediction. The distortion and internal stress. As already mentioned, if we
prediction of accuracy and surface behaviors found in the divide a SLM process for a practical part into three scales such
physical process during SLM: temperature gradients and as micro scale, meso scale and macro scale; with this
distortions, internal stresses and deformations. For this approach, the temperature history and residual stress fields
approach we needed the ability to both monitor the SLM during the SLM process can be predicted. Thermal information
process and to manage this process. Such a system is the key can be transferred through micro scale laser scanning, meso
step to achieving digital manufacturing transformation scale layer hatching, and macro scale part build-up. The aim of
according to the well-known Industry 4.0 concept. our research was to develop a perspective quality system for
the SLM process based on a making-decision algorithm and
Figure 3 illustrates the developed additive manufacturing quality predicting the part quality by SLM process simulation in
system we devised for SLM. It should be noted that we consideration of the temperature distribution and internal stress
Printing preparation Results stress and deviation Distortion model correction Materials properties correlations
Figure 4. SLM distortion prediction by Simufact Additive for a Gas Turbine printed part
in the workpiece. For developing the SLM quality system, a the SLM process. For getting the required part quality influence
conceptual model was established. We chose to simulate the factors correct, factors must be considered such as limiting
entire metal SLM process of a gas turbine engine part including conditions (material properties, equipment specifications), and
Simufact Additive predictions: build, baseplate cutting and input parameters (building conditions and process parameters).
support removal process (see figure.4). Simufact Additive However, during the SLM process, the localized increased
allowed us to predict the distortion and residual stresses in the compression and tension caused by large temperature
turbine blade part and guided the quality system in how to gradients and fast cooling of the 3d printing process can lead
pre-compensate to ensure a quality part was printed the first to significant internal stresses in the workpiece and consequent
time right. Process control variables were selected in Simufact shape deformation. Simufact Additive was a major predictive
Additive to optimize this SLM process to reduce printing time simulation tool to avoid this and for the success of our
and material waste successfully. proposed SLM quality process.
We developed a model of all the influences of additively 1. “Development of SLM quality system for gas turbines engines parts
manufactured SLM process parameters for a gas turbine part production”, V V Kokareva, V G Smelov, A V Agapovichev, A V
Sotov, and V S Sufiiarov, ISPCIET’2018, IOP Conf. Series: Materials
based on quality and influencing parameters as described by Science and Engineering, 441 (2018) 012024
an Ishikawa diagram. The SLM quality system includes
technical-organizational methods of managing and controlling
I
n 1927 Dr. Franz Schneider founded a company that he especially when we are not given the exact material data from
eventually gave his name to that today has grown to turn over our suppliers. This is where Digimat comes into its own
about a half billion euros per year with a workforce of 4,000 especially with regard to manufacturing plastic parts.
people around the world. A tier 1 automotive supplier in
Germany, but we are branching out into other regions. Our By way of a case study we will show how our CAE modeling team
specialty is in automotive interior designs and related equipment simulated a FRP car interior part with a commercial FEA solver
where we aim to connect innovation, quality and aesthetics. We using standard plastic material inputs from international
focus on four main areas – automotive interior systems, climate databases, and then with Digimat’s structural analysis solver and
control systems, interior surfaces and internal automotive parts. integrated database of materials (see Figure 1). We identified two
Our engineering expertise covers tool manufacture, device separate load cases of 140N to be applied to the part that needed
manufacture, injection molding technology, painting technology examining in Digimat (Figure 2). We designated two scenarios that
and assembly technology. And, for us, polymers and plastics we called ‘THE PAST’ (FEA simulations with materials property we
are a very important part of our business. Quality products and had available from standard texts and databases), and ‘THE
engineering excellence is very much deep in our DNA. PRESENT’ (FEA simulations with materials property we had from
Digimat and its microstructure materials database).
One big challenge we face with polymers is the bridging of the
gap between manufacturing processes and structural analysis Figure 3 illustrates the material properties for the FRP part
simulations. We need to take into account production manufactured in durethan that we simulated first in a commercial
process-induced product properties as standard in automotive FEA code using International Plastics Database mechanical
computer-aided engineering (CAE) simulations. Finite Element properties which we have reduced by approx. 20% according to
Analysis (FEA) simulation accuracy has to be experimentally our previous FEA experiences. The resultant structural analysis
proven in our applications. We have therefore chosen Digimat, predictions can be seen in Figure 4 for the different element types
from MSC Software, for the simulation of fiber reinforced chosen and they range in peak displacements from 11 to 29 mm.
plastics (FRP). However, to get a very accurate FEA prediction When we altered the material properties of the durethan (Figure 5)
requires detailed material models of the polymers involved, to be a curve, which we have previously obtained from a tensile
Results
Figure 6: FRP Part Experimentally Measured Displacement Curves for the Two Load Cases being considered
Figure 5: The FRP Part with a revised material property data input
curve and the resultant Displacement Prediction using an explicit
FEA solver
19,6 mm
Material Data in experiment
21,6 mm
in experiment
Figure 7: The FRP Part with material data derived from Digimat’s
internal proprietary Database
* 10 times smaller the discrepancy
** 4 times smaller the discrepancy
We have shown for a Fibre Reinforced Plastic automotive interior part that efforts in bridging the gap between process and structural simulations
is a must to produce accurate displacement predictions under load cases. We took into account production process-induced product properties
and showed that they have to become a standard in computer-aided engineering simulation tools (like FEA) in the Automotive industry. By way of
an experimentally validated test, we have shown that analysis accuracy has been experimentally proven for Digimat RP in structural analysis of
fiber reinforced plastics. We believe that introducing material modeling technology into structural analyses (such as in Digimat) always generates
improvements with regard to plastic part quality even though exact material data for the simulations are not provided by suppliers.
R
obert Bosch Engineering and Business Solutions costs and time, the idea was put forward to produce the fixture
Private Limited is a 100% owned subsidiary of Robert tool by additive manufacturing in a single part with the goal of
Bosch GmbH, one of the world’s leading automotive removing as much weight as possible without compromising
Tier 1 suppliers of technology and services with 400,000 the part’s mechanical strength.
employees and $100Bn annual revenues. Bosch in India offers
end-to-end Engineering, IT and Business Solutions and Bosch engineers decided to employ the Simufact Additive
employs over 19,000 associates. It has the largest software product from MSC Software to model the additive manufacturing
development center outside of Bosch Germany and is a (AM) metal build process and subsequent post-processing steps
Technology Powerhouse with a global footprint and presence to help eliminate design errors before expensive AM was
in the US, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. committed to. Simufact Additive is very powerful at predicting the
magnitude and distribution of residual stresses in an additive
In making the rotor parts of motors, Bosch employs an IRIS manufacturing situation taking into account variables such as
fixture tool (figure 1). Each year typically 200 units of this IRIS process type, build rate, build sequence, amount of constraints,
tool needs to be produced for assembling various types of etc. Highly localized heating and cooling during the AM process
motors. Until recently, the IRIS tool used to be manufactured typically produces non-uniform thermal expansion and contraction
by a conventional casting process as two parts. To save tooling in the part, which results in a complicated distribution of residual
Distorted
geometry
Figure 2: Additively Manufactured IRIS Fixture Tool prediction that has not been topology optimized showing non-uniform melting temperatures of
1399°C, part distortions of up to 3.5 mm and final part effective stresses exceeding 1,260 MPa (Case 1)
Distorted
geometry
Initial geometry
Figure 3: Additively Manufactured IRIS Fixture Tool prediction that was been topology optimized showing constant melting temperatures of 1399°C,
part distortions of up to 1.07 mm and final part effective stresses less than 1,260 MPa (Case 2)
stresses in the AM part were kept below the yield strength limit of
1260 MPa. For the optimization of this AM build process, they
used the Simufact Additive pre-compensation method which
aimed at a part geometry within acceptable distortion tolerances.
In addition, Simufact Additive optimization methods for the build
process (e.g. support structure optimization) and post-processing
(e.g. cutting strategies, support removal strategies) were also used
to improve this manufacturing process.
Summary
D
urability analysis, including material fatigue life
prediction, is a very important part of Computer Aided
Engineering. It provides valuable information about the
product service life, which highly influences customer
experience and satisfaction. Husqvarna Group, global leading
producer of outdoor power products, count on MSC
Software’s Nastran Embedded Fatigue (NEF) as the heart of an
optimized, efficient process for fatigue analysis.
Fatigue Calculation
Memory Restrictions
Read-write operations to disk
Fatigue
Output
Traditional Fatigue Analysis Process we wanted to analyze a period of 1 second, but could only
manage one stroke. We had to reduce the number of output
Structural vibration analysis with MSC Nastran has a long steps to 40 and already reached 40 GB of results file size,
tradition at Husqvarna. It has been constantly improved, for giving the example of a crankcase analysis. Moreover, the
example by increasing the complexity of the models. But resolution was not high enough to ensure to hit the maximum
fatigue analysis initially posed some difficulties for the of the stress history.
engineers.
Analyzing longer periods of time is important to assure that a
Conventional strength and fatigue analysis consists of specific system mode of interest is excited by any multiple of
several steps: the engine revolution speed. This governs a more robust
analysis regarding modeling uncertainties. The workflow had
1. Finite Element model definition already been significantly accelerated by the close coupling of
2. Structural Vibration analysis the motion solver (Adams) and the Finite Element Analysis tool
3. Analysis output which may contain large results files (MSC Nastran). Using NEF, Husqvarna was able to enhance
4. MSC Nastran Results file import into a separate fatigue the process even further.
software, which is very time-consuming
5. Many read and write operations that can lead to At the beginning of the systematization of the NEF process at
memory problems Husqvarna, first there was no clearly defined workflow for
6. Postprocessing of fatigue life results durability analysis. This changed when MSC‘s Nastran
Embedded Fatigue became available. After a year of intensive
This is a tedious process which does not easily allow design evaluation, we decided to use NEF in productive operation for
optimizations. We were only able to optimize short time vibration analysis.
intervals, more precisely, just one engine revolution. The
limitation is caused by the extraction of the stress data, which Nastran Embedded Fatigue –
means large results files and therefore long run times. Innovation and Disruption
The MSC Nastran – Adams process yields the modal The difference between Nastran Embedded Fatigue (NEF)
deformations, stress time histories and stress peaks. Actually, and the traditional process is that NEF does not need to
FE Model Input export and import large binary results files, as the fatigue
analysis is done directly in MSC Nastran - a considerable gain
in efficiency. (Figure 3)
modelled a physical fatigue test and the stress range was simulation engineers than before can do the high-end durability
transformed via the Goodman relation for adjustments of the analysis, as they don’t need to understand the exact details of
S-N curve. The Goodman relation (Haigh diagram) is used to the process. The geometry of Husqvarna products can be
quantify the interaction of mean and alternating stresses on optimized in very efficient iteration cycles.
the fatigue life.
When cutting through hard materials like concrete, the professional
What was Achieved? power cutter experiences unsteady exterior forces. The influence of
this behavior on durability and potential fracture of the power cutter
The optimized Nastran Embedded Fatigue process creates can be evaluated in much more detail with the help of NEF. The
a considerably smaller amount of data. The large analysis is comprised of 250 strokes (2 s), 140 force pulses acting
intermediate results files, with their tedious re-import, are no on the structure, and 60 000 stress output steps.
longer needed.
“We can analyze the whole load cycle, not only the immediate
surrounding of load peaks,” Fälth says. The process has
proven to be robust to changes in the excitation. Data transfer
takes much less time, because there are only MB of data
instead of GB. NEF has useful functionality to automatically
generate S-N curves from a smaller amount of input data.
calculate geometries, flanges, and features of a part. But major enables the company’s costing team to reduce risk and draw
changes in the automotive industry made this approach die development time with a range of forming feasibility
increasingly unsustainable. assessment tools, condition simulations and blank and
nesting development optimization. ProcessPlanner allows
As the major automotive companies continued to expand their Flex-N-Gate to document process plans, define the number
global reach, the demand for greater product customization of operations, their sequence and accurately calculate press
and personalization increased. In turn, designs became more requirements and costs.
complex. At the same time, steel prices increased, and dies
got larger and more expensive, meaning mistakes were For Tony, there were three key differentiators that led to
ever-more costly. All this was compounded by faster lead times Flex-N-Gate choosing COSTOPTIMIZER Professional.
and customer demand for lower costs. “Compared to other solutions available, FTI’s products were
more cost-effective, user-friendly, and they didn’t require
For Tony Gray, Flex-N-Gate Manager Tool Process & expensive hardware upgrades. You don’t need high processing
Engineering, automation and simulation in costing became speeds or in-depth knowledge of engineering principles to start
“very much an adapt or die situation. To keep up with our using and getting the most out of the software.”
growth and expansion, we needed a solution that could define
consistent tool costing and processes throughout the These solutions are used on a daily basis throughout Flex-N-
company.” It was crucial for Flex- N-Gate that the solution Gate’s costing department, leading to major time savings. On
drove efficiency by decreasing variation in quoted price points average, quotes for parts are produced in less than half the
and enabling real-time information to be shared across the time taken using previous methods. “It now takes between five
company’s global factories. to 15 minutes to perform our calculations and process the
quote, so now we’re raising between 3,500 and 4,000 quotes
Saving Time and Money with per year between two operators,” says Tony.
Greater Proactivity
Previously, quoted price points between suppliers could vary
After exploring the market, the company opted for FTI’s drastically, falling anywhere between 50-200% of the estimated
FormingSuite software solution COSTOPTIMIZER Professional amount. The Target Cost function of COSTOPTIMIZER
(a combination of COSTOPTIMIZER Advanced and Professional allows Flex-N-Gate to assess estimates against
ProcessPlanner) in 2016. COSTOPTIMIZER Advanced quotes from suppliers, enabling the team to increase the
Driving Growth
Now let’s take a look at simulation or virtual testing. In my opinion, Thirdly, with simulation, engineers would be able to test the
there are a few key reasons why simulation is more applicable functions of the controller software in the early design stages.
than road testing or proving ground for autonomous system One would be able to test the different functions of the
development, especially in the initial phases of the project. software separately with model-in-the-loop simulations without
having to wait for the entire control system to be completed.
First, virtual testing is more scalable when it comes to cost. A Since you can replay the virtual scenarios as many times as
fully equipped autonomous vehicle can cost up to half a million you want, it’s much easier and cheaper to analyze, debug or
dollars, so a fleet of 200 vehicles would mean a 100 million iterate the core algorithms without having to consider the
dollars investment in the hardware itself (vehicles, sensors, data nuances of the actual production software.
Figure 4. Simulating pedestrian crossing the road while on cell Figure 5. Simulating vehicle driving during evening. Simulation done
phone. Simulation done in VIRES VTD. in VIRES VTD.
MSC Software Indo-Pacific team celebrating the exciting launch of the first Thai MSC
Software publication, “Finite Element Analysis with Patran/MSC Nastran.” Pictured:
Sridhar Dharmarajan (DS), Managing Director, Indo-Pacific Region and renowned author
Dr. Pramote Dechaumphai, Professor at Chulalongkorn University.
“Skills development has always been a focus for us at MSC Software. Over the years,
books on MSC Nastran and Patran have helped engineers across the globe gain a
better understanding and advance application use. We are especially thrilled since this
the first book on MSC Software’s industry leading products launched in Thailand. I
would encourage engineers in Thailand to take advantage of this book to better their
skills with MSC Nastran and Patran.” -Sridhar Dharmarajan, Managing Director,
Indo-Pacific Region, MSC Software.
We would also like to thank Sedthawatt Sucharitpwatskul from the Thailand National
Science and Technology Development Agency for your efforts.
Capitalizing on the MSC One licensing system, MSC has invested more than 5 M€
worth of commercial software with major campuses in the Istanbul area. These include
Istanbul Technical University, Marmara University and Yıldız Technical University,
empowering tens of thousands of students with an easy way to capitalize on a robust
digital thread. MSC representatives visited education institutions in Turkey during the last
month and introduced the University MSC One bundle.
“This is just the beginning,” says Olivier Tabaste, Director Industry R&D / Academia at
MSC Software, “based upon the very warm welcome we received from our new
partners, MSC subsidiaries are looking for replications across EMEA.”
Congratulations to the Grand Prize winners of the MSC Software Korea 2019 Simulating
Reality Contest. The University students used Adams to study and analyze the efficiency
and stability of a rigger design. The annual contest provides the opportunity for students
and graduates to compete by creating innovative designs using MSC Software solutions.
The event took place on January 30th, 2019 with a special ribbon cutting ceremony,
an open house, tours, and demonstrations. Attendees were able to learn more about
innovative projects and meet simulation partners. This research institute will be working
with materials that will have very high impact in many industries such as aerospace,
aviation, automotive, energy and sporting equipment.
Renovation of MSC Software China’s R&D Center in Wuhan was completed in early
March. The effort, which began in November 2018 has not only doubled MSC China’s
R&D capacity to better accommodate new initiatives from MSC Software and Hexagon,
but also transformed the Wuhan facility into an airy modern environment. The center
includes an open workspace, brand new lobby, and spacious break area.
To enable operating against the newly created event and event set objects, Adams
2019 introduces a new Event Browser (similar to the model browser). Adams Solver
can now participate in co-simulations performed in the SCALEXIO real time
environment from dSPACE. This is achieved via extensions to Adams’ support for the
Functional Mockup Interface (FMI). A functional mockup (FMU) unit exported from
Adams Controls or Adams Mechatronics within Adams View or Adams Car can now
be imported into dSPACE. In Adams 2019, a new three-dimensional plotting capability
has been added. A 3D plot defines a surface in three-dimensional space with X, Y and
Z values, where color interpolation is done based on minimum and maximum values of
Z. The term “4D Plotting” comes from the ability to add another dimension whereby
the surface color can, itself, be an independent parameter and can be plotted based
on a different result channel.
Marc 2019 | Marc 2019 shows MSC’s commitment to accuracy, efficiency and effectiveness when it comes to nonlinear solutions.
Its enhanced remeshing capability allows users to specify a local area for refinement, while reducing runtime. With added support for the
HDF5 output format for easy access to result values, improved efficiency and accuracy of the model data transferred from one analysis to
another, the release also improves contact accuracy between a rigid body and deformable body. Marc 2019 closes the gap in specific
physics at the request of our users.
Additional enhancements include broad accessibility of additive plasticity material models in order to expand our experimental data fitting
support, enhancing inherent strains for additive manufacturing and welding simulations, adding non homogeneous current distribution for
improving the accuracy of induction heating, and modeling chemical diffusion processes.
Dytran 2019 | Dytran 2019.0 improves user experience and enables a fast fluid-structure coupling approach. In the latest version, a
number of User Defined Services (UDS) are newly introduced as well as improvements to user experience, software performance, and
robustness. In addition, Dytran now employs a fast coupling approach for simulating fluid-structure interactions, which allows users to use
the DMP capability when auto coupling is activated.
Simufact Forming 16 | Faster and more efficient modeling of complex manufacturing processes.
With Simufact Forming 16 users can model complex manufacturing processes with just a few mouse clicks and a significant reduction of
mouse paths. Thanks to Simufact’s intelligent context menus and integrated dialogues, the graphical user interface (GUI) convinces with
extraordinary ease of use. Furthermore, the memory handling has been improved in Simufact Forming 16 so that the process modeling
and computationally intensive steps during the result evaluation of the model have been accelerated. The user is now enabled to model
and to evaluate even larger manufacturing designs quickly and efficiently.
MSC Apex Feature Pack 1 | MSC Apex Feature Pack 1 is the latest
version of MSC Apex with additional scripting features to enable a highly-efficient
conceptual design environment. Users now can leverage MSC Apex to create
conceptual designs automatically with Python scripts, including import, geometry
partition, stiffened panel modeling, meshing, model attribution, and fast validation.
Users can also export the analysis-ready model and take advantage of the analysis
power of MSC Nastran.
Along with the above enhancements, MSC Apex now adds the Mesh Control
Curves function to meshing toolset. This feature pack can be useful for conceptual
design engineers working on civil/military aircrafts, space launch vehicles, and
shipbuilding projects.
Mechanisms and
Structures
Mechanisms and
Aerodynamics
Structures and
Aerodynamics
www.mscsoftware.com/cosim
92 | Engineering Reality Magazine