Bremar Automotion uses Altair Radioss to Design & Certify FIA Motorsport Roll Cages

Established in the early 1990s and headquartered in Gemlik, Borçelik is the highest quality galvanized steel producer, with the largest production capacity in Turkey. They are engaged in manufacturing hot dip galvanized steel, cold-rolled steel and hot-rolled (pickled and oiled) steel groups, all of which are industrial raw material inputs. Reducing emissions and fuel consumption drives the development of advanced materials and production processes in the automotive industry. Fuel efficiency relies on the successful design of vehicles and developing technologies that reduce the weight of vehicle body structure. There is always a need for research and development to maintain passenger safety while reducing the mass of the vehicle structure. A study was conducted to investigate the ductile fracture behavior of the high-strength galvanized flat steel that forms a vehicle body structure. To reduce the analysis calculation time, mass scaling was applied using the /DT/NODA/CST option which controls the nodal time step, and reduced the simulation time by nearly 50%. In terms of quality-related challenges, Borçelik saved nearly 10% of scrap material, and reduced costs by 5% after working with the design of experiments and applying numerical calculations through Altair simulation solutions.

To support its goal of accelerating the development cycle, early in 2020 NIAR commissioned a study to assess the scalability of Altair Radioss™, Altair’s structural analysis solver for highly non-linear problems under dynamic loadings. Regular support from an Altair engineer ensured swift familiarization with Radioss. The study was performed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). OCI with its bare metal HPC shapes that use low latency RDMA interconnect provided highly scalable infrastructure-as-a-service (IAAS) for Radioss.

The idea for its cooling technology for electric motor systems was born at high-tech start-up Dynamic E flow (DEF), when the founders first experienced an overheated engine of an electrical car. The existent development process at DEF used analytical methods and physical testing to confirm results. With increasing customization, that process was not flexible enough to handle various design possibilities. With the need for a simulative design approach, DEF employed Altair software to tackle its multi-physical design challenges, and to meet all the customer requirements for their unique motors, test hundreds of variants, and to check the feasibility of the customized product.

When Ana Casares Crespo, a former member of the ARUS Andalucía Racing team from University Seville in Spain, was looking for a final degree project, the team was inspired by the capabilities of Altair’s software. They came up with the idea to improve the impact properties of the vehicle nose cone laminate with the help of simulation. With more than seven students actively using Altair products to improve various aspects of the vehicle, the decision to incorporate Altair tools was an obvious choice. They wanted to make use of the knowledge they had gained from previous studies for structural design of aerodynamic packages. The team conducted static analysis and topological optimization using tools from the Altair HyperWorks™ suite, which helped them create optimized, lighter components. To improve the impact properties of a Formula SAE car’s nose cone laminate, the Altair solution included structural analysis, and topology optimization verifying structural behavior of a new material. The benefits were improved impact characteristics and fracture properties, and lighter components.

Rimac Automobili’s main challenge has been to design a monocoque as a single carbon fiber part with an unprecedented size. Hence, in the development of the monocoque, the main topic to manage was the material, a lightweight, carbon fiber reinforced with epoxy resin. As this carbon fiber is an orthotropic and brittle material, its representation in a finite element (FE) material card is very difficult. To meet this challenge the company introduced Altair HyperWorks™ into their development process.

Canadian start-up company Philomec specializes in mechanical engineering services that helps companies design and optimize their products using mechanical and biomechanical FEM simulation. Their creation of customized, validated biomechanical models, and the analysis of simulation results by experts allows surgeons to choose the model of an implant and adapt surgical maneuvers to a specific patient, thus reducing the number of implants used, as well as the risk of complications. It is challenging to validate biomechanical models due to the complexity of materials, scarcity of experimental data, and the lack of representation of variability. The application of Altair HyperWorks for explicit multiphysics simulation provides a high-level of confidence in the validity and stability of the musculoskeletal models.

Statistics on fatal vehicle accidents show that victims most often do not die during or right after a crash, but in the hours and days afterwards, with research indicating that up to 44 percent of people who died in car crashes could possibly have been saved if first responders and hospitals had real-time, detailed information about the victim’s injuries. In an effort to transform data received from the car sensors into meaningful information about the victim's injuries, the MDGo team began applying crash simulation using Altair Radioss™. The Altair Startup program was a major help to the Israeli startup company in creating a system which automatically alerts first responders and hospitals of accidents, and reports on potential injuries.

Israeli motorsport company Griiip has designed a new, fast and professional race car that combines efficiency in racing with a competitive purchase price and low running costs, to make it more affordable. By harnessing the power of data, Griiip has created the first smart connected race car – the G1 – and with it, an entirely new racing series. Accessing the software via Altair's new Startup Program, Griiip engineers employ several products from the Altair HyperWorks™ suite, among these Altair Radioss™ for crash simulation, Altair OptiStruct™ for structural optimization, general FE analysis as well as Altair HyperMesh™ and Altair HyperView™ for pre- and post-processing tasks in the development of race cars.

Melbourne-based Integrated Design and Engineering Solutions (IDES) provides full “systems-life-cycle” tailored engineering solutions to fulfill demanding defence requirements. For the LAND 121 Phase 3A project involving the procurement of Mercedes-Benz G-Wagon light trucks for the Australian Army, the IDES team had to design a protective module for a G-Wagon variant intended for surveillance and reconnaissance (S&R). Altair HyperWorks was instrumental in enabling the quick, efficient and accurate development of an optimum design for the vehicle rollover protection structure (ROPS), saving valuable time while revising and significantly improving the structures’ strength and safety.

Mabe is a Mexico-based international appliance company designing, producing and distributing a wide spectrum of home appliances such as washing machines, dryers, cooking ranges, refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwaves, etc. Altair technology has enabled Mabe to increase the capacity of their washing machines by 35%, and the spin speed by 24% while reducing the cost per cubic foot by 10%.

The challenge in the development of Arcimoto’s SRK Generation 8; an all-electric, multi-purpose/utility commuter vehicle, included creation of an optimized platform that offers 3-wheeled stability, a space frame enclosure for protection, and a rear swing arm that handles the load requirements and also follows the visual design of the vehicle. HyperMesh® provided an environment for rapid model generation allowing Arcimoto to answer queries by helping them perform the analysis in OptiStruct® in an easy, time efficient manner. Using RADIOSS® for the physics helped them achieve repeatable and accurate results, reduce simulation cycle times and allow for evaluating multiple design scenarios thus enabling better decisions.

Automotive suppliers are facing many challenges in having in-house simulation capabilities compared to that of OEM’s. One of the ways to overcome these challenges is to invest in simulation technologies that require an affordable initial investment, the ownership cost of which is low, the codes are reliable & proven, and the suite of tools provide suppliers access to a broad range of solvers (a true multi-physics environment) helping them pick and choose the solvers as per their simulation requirements. In the early stage of in-house simulation implementation at Endurance Technologies, HyperWorks was being adopted primarily for pre and post processing due to its extraordinary FE modeling solutions. With constant support, Altair team has helped Endurance in exploring and implementing various HyperWorks solvers at Endurance Technologies.

The successful launch of a new platform UAS is a comprehensive design engineering and manufacturing endeavor. The full lifecycle must consider maintenance and replacement components. As these requirements often require the use of tools (i.e. screw drivers, wrenches, pliers), the concern became apparent that as the flight surfaces are minimum gage, heavy tools dropped on the structure could cause irreparable damage. The objective of this project was to determine the specification for maximum maintenance tool weight such that, if dropped from a nominal height of 0.762 meters, would not cause permanent damage to any part of the Swift020 UAS. The Altair solution included a Radioss Explicit Dynamic Impact Simulation.

Subros is the leading manufacturer of thermal products for automotive applications in India and operates in technical collaboration with Denso. Being a major supplier of AC units to the predominant automotive segments and all classes of vehicles produced by global players in the country, it is very important for Subros to honor deadlines of product delivery with agreed benchmarks of quality. The Subros team has used Altair solutions such HyperMesh for FE modeling, RADIOSS and OptiStruct for structural analysis, AcuSolve for flow analysis, and solidThinking Inspire for Modal Analysis

As Manufacturers of Automotive Components such as Chassis and Brakes, Mando Softtech India has to ensure that they maintain highest performance and quality standards of the products they develop. Implementation of Altair HyperWorks solutions has helped them considerably reduce their product development time and costs, while augmenting product quality. Their overall development time was reduced by up to 30 to 40%.

The International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) is an automotive testing and R&D centre. In their pursuit to carve a niche as a one-stop solution for the automotive industry’s needs in the areas of product design, testing and validation, the ICAT team required a very advanced suite of software solutions. They needed a software suite that would save them time, money and also help in all phases of product development. The Altair software suite has greatly helped the team in providing timely and appropriate solutions to their clients.

HyperWorks used by leading Indian manufacturer of seating systems Harita, for homologation testing, regulations and crash analysis for all commercial vehicle seats, bus passenger seats and tractor & off-road seats

In performing lightweighting projects for large OEMs, Mubea is the only provider worldwide who delivers innovations of tailor-rolled blanks (TRB) which are ideal for not only vehicle body structural but also for suspension components that encounter different loads across their length. The Mubea team has worked collaboratively with Altair for over 6 years. With Altair Unlimited Physical Appliance, they are able to optimize their TRB applications more efficiently than ever before, including expanded capabilities for unlimited design exploration, reduced lead time and major cost savings over traditional hardware/software purchase

Analysis and optimization to improve crash performance while reducing reliance on physical tests.

In order to improve the simulation and accuracy of a high fidelity battery CAE model. Ford has turned to the cut methodology available in Radioss.

Simulation is extensively used in the early development phases at the Sigma Group, where about 10-15 engineers are working with different types of simulations.

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center is a leading research university in biomedical sciences and bioengineering that provides students and faculty with outstanding opportunities for personal and professional growth.

Sharma & Associates (SA), a Chicago-based consulting firm that is focused on providing engineering solutions to the railroad industry, led the effort. Since 1995, SA have delivered safe, effective and efficient solutions to its customers, which include the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), the Association of American Railroads (AAR), railroads and transit agencies, rail car builders and rail car component manufacturers. The objective of the Altair ProductDesign team effort was to develop an ‘Engineer Protection System (EPS)’ that can protect train crew in frontal collisions (a common mode of train collision) from secondary impact injuries.

When developing a new child seat, safety is paramount. Dorel Juvenile, market leader in child safety in cars, was confronted with the task to develop a new child seat - the Maxi-Cosi 2wayPearl. To investigate and analyze the best feasible design, considering the occurring forces during an accident, Dorel Juvenile turned to Code Product Solutions, an engineering service provider that supports their customers in the development and optimization of products, using computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools. Within the development process, Code Product Solutions engineers employed the Altair HyperWorks CAE suite utilizing RADIOSS® for crash simulation, OptiStruct® for the layout of highly loaded plastic parts that comprise the reclining system, HyperMesh® for pre-processing tasks, and HyperCrash® and HyperView® during post-processing.

Engineers in the Marine, Shipbuilding, and Offshore industries face many design challenges including physical space constraints, extreme weather conditions, deep water and remote locations. These constraints create an extreme environment for the engineer to develop a sound, reliable and safe operating platform.

FIAT chose Altair ProductDesign as a partner to perform a pilot project to investigate squeak and rattle. The project focused on studying issues on the FIAT UNO, a vehicle made exclusively for the South American market. Altair ProductDesign suggested that FIAT implement Altair’s ‘Squeak and Rattle Director’ (SNRD), a comprehensive set of services and software automations that rapidly identify and analyze design alternatives to eliminate the root causes of squeak and rattle in assemblies. With customization from the Altair ProductDesign team, the solution provides a semi-automated approach to determine relative component displacements in the time domain that can lead to undesired noise. A dedicated four day workshop facilitated a fast ramp-up of the NVH team’s knowledge of the SNRD and helped Altair to identify FIAT’s specific design process that the solution could be tailored to.

This success story illustrates how a reputed engineering institute of national acclaim has set-up a CAE - Optimization Lab, equipped with Altair HyperWorks CAE tools, to expose their students to the latest technologies in product design, analysis, and optimization. Within the range of the CAE - Optimization Lab, CoEP has launched various courses to impart knowledge on Altair HyperWorks. This CoEP initiative bridges the gap between industry expectations and needs and the knowledge that graduating students possess. Being trained on advanced and contemporary technologies such as the HyperWorks suite has opened new opportunities for students to embark their career, has improved the national ranking of the college due to investing in a modern and robust infrastructure, and also has benefitted the industry by creating a talent pool of well-trained manpower, available to work on breakthrough engineering initiatives.

Haier Group is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of home appliances and consumer electronics. The company is the leader of its industry in China, where it is headquartered.

Haier ships its products all across the globe and in more than 100 countries, so well designed product packaging is crucial to the company’s ability to deliver products without damage to even the farthest destinations.

Download the Case study to see how Altair was able to reduce costs of physical testing and eliminate drop damage using simulated drop testing with HyperWorks.

In today’s remarkably competitive markets, the packaging industry needs to be highly responsive to the rapidly changing industry they operate in. New products are being produced all the time, and packaging professionals must maintain a fine balance between packaging performance, environmental impact and shelf appeal while keeping costs to a minimum. Amcor wanted to explore ways that it could accelerate the engineering and analysis tasks associated with the development of new packaging products. Altair ProductDesign’s Enterprise Solutions Group worked with Amcor’s simulation specialists to identify where time and eventually costs could be saved within the design process. Following an investigation into current design practices, the ESG suggested that Amcor could take advantage of the Impact Simulation Director (ISD).

CAE is a core element in developing high-end, long-lasting professional power tools at DeWalt, a Stanley Black & Decker brand.

Euro-Pro, maker of Ninja blenders and Shark vacuums, has embraced simulation-driven design to reduce physical tests and improve product performance and durability. HyperWorks solvers (OptiStruct, RADIOSS and AcuSolve) are used across the board via Altair’s HPC cloud infrastructure

The huge capacity of a pickup comes at the expense of storage. The loading area is often a simple box with no ability to store smaller items safely or secure them from theft. After spotting an opportunity in the marketplace, entrepreneur, Lance Meller, started work on a well-built alternative. Lance founded DECKED with his business partner, Jake Peters, with a shared determination to create an innovative, robust and useful storage solution for both commercial users and private owners alike. The system had to be able to withstand a load of 2,000 lbs, fit it into a wide range of pickup models including those from Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota and Nissan and be manufactured for a compelling retail target price. DECKED selected Altair ProductDesign as it needed a partner that was able to deliver conceptual design work along with advanced engineering and prototyping services.

As design exploration and optimization methods have become commonly accepted across a range of industries, such as aerospace, automotive or oil and gas, they are frequently utilized as standard practice to efficiently produce designs and aid critical engineering decisions. The widespread acceptance of these methods coupled with the power of modern computing has led to applications across a range of design problems and ever-increasing complexity. The size and scope of this expansion continually pushes the boundaries of existing exploration and optimization methods. Furthermore, a complete exploration of the optimal design space includes computationally intensive features such as multi-objective optimization, to understand the trade-off between competing objectives, and global optimization, to avoid local extrema.

In this paper, several failure criteria are compared in their ability to predict necking point and failure propagation during a forming process. The paper has been presented at the 2014 IDDRG Conference in Paris, France.

This paper summarizes the findings of a benchmark study with Radioss and Intel® Xeon® processors. In the study, Altair benchmarked Radioss using a modified crash simulation model on a single-node platform -- Radioss was able to easily take advantage of all 60 cores, running the workload 2.75X faster than on a comparable 24-core platform.

Beta Epsilon designs racing cars and offers engineering. Beta Epsilon offers component and vehicle meshing, FEA analysis of metal and composite components, crash test simulation, optimization, and CFD simulation. Beta Epsilon uses HyperMesh, OptiStruct, HyperCrash, RADIOSS, AcuSolve, HyperView, and Virtual Wind Tunnel. With HyperWorks, Beta Epsilon could improve the quality of its products and extend its range of services.

Analysis and optimization tools enable Samsung engineers to reduce the cost of appliances without sacrificing performance.

By Beverly A. Beckert
Concept to Reality Winter 2013 Subscribe to C2R Magazine

Two-Wheeler Designer-Manufacturer Cuts New Component Time to Market and Optimizes Component Design with the Altair Partner Alliance

LG Electronics needed to sharply reduce their simulation time to meet rapid design cycle demands. They used Altair's automation capabilities and engineering expertise to significantly speed up and standardize routine drop test simulation processes , increase reliability and repeatability, and capture knowledge and practices. They were able to slice the time required for drop-test simulation from a week to just hours.

HBPO GmbH optimizes their design process by utilizing multiple products, such Total Materia and MADYMO, alongside HyperWorks products for the development of their front end modules.