Optimizing for Motorcycle Success - Improving Design Performance of Printed Composite Parts

Jyoti CNC Automation Ltd. designs and manufactures a wide array of CNC Machines for metal cutting industries. They utilized Altair HyperMesh to optimize the existing design and improve static stiffness of their machines, and Altair HyperWorks to reach the optimized design and arrangement. Altair OptiStruct solver was then used to validate the effectiveness of the optimized product design. The result was an immense benefit in terms of resources and cost saved as mechanical accuracies were ensured right at the stage of the FEA software level, without having to create the physical prototype.

With more than 35 years of experience in research & development projects INESPASA has been working with companies such as Airbus, Alestis, Boeing, and Renault. To be successful in a highly competitive market, aeronautical tooling companies like INESPASA must deliver maximum quality and comply with highly demanding standards and regulations while meeting tight time constraints and limited budgets. Developing and testing aircraft component prototypes is time consuming and expensive, so INESPASA had to find new and faster ways – like Multiphysics simulation – to evaluate its aero-structure designs, identify problems before they occur, and ensure viability. INESPASA turned to Altair and applied tools such as Altair SimSolid®, Altair® Inspire™ and Altair® MotionSolve®. Thanks to fast simulation results, INESPASA addressed their challenge and found the solution with the best weight-stiffness ratio providing optimum usability of their aero structure elements.

While rail is the most environmentally friendly means of transport, freight trains today do not look much different than those from the past. To reach the climate and energy targets of the European Union while achieving higher payloads and a better ROI, the railway sector needs an innovation boost to build more efficient and sustainable rail freight wagons. TransAnt GmbH, a joint venture with ÖBB Rail Cargo Group and voestalpine Steel Division, was established to bring more efficient and sustainable rail freight solutions to the market. With its innovative concept based on modularity and lightweight design, once operational the company seeks to revolutionize the market as a full supplier of freight wagons. The company used Altair® HyperWorks® for topology optimization – in particular Altair® HyperMesh® – to realize the transition to a weldable structure, Altair® HyperView® for pre- and post-processing, and Altair® OptiStruct® for FEA (including local buckling) and optimization.

Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) are a rapidly evolving technology and used for a variety of civil and military purposes. To ensure airworthiness, UAS manufacturers rely on advanced simulation and manufacturing techniques to create efficient designs. Aerial systems active throughout Europe and operating with diverse payloads for different missions require a reliable vehicle architecture and fuel supply. To ensure perfectly tuned architecture and a lightweight design while increasing stiffness and strength, Schiebel used Altair solutions in combination with 3D printing. The engineers performed various simulations to optimize the design of AM engine parts. Using Altair’s topology optimization structural design tool, Schiebel reduced the weight significantly while maintaining high stiffness. Subsequently, the system was evaluated by laminar and turbulent flow simulation as well as conjugate heat transfer simulation using Altair CFD™. Contacts, NLFE and complex dynamic systems were modeled with Altair® MotionView® and Altair® MotionSolve®. Schiebel also took advantage of APA solutions.

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.

Truck dynamics, control system, thermal, and fatigue analyses all need to be completed when designing a new truck design. Using Altair HyperWorks, Hitachi achieves a 10% weight reduction in the main frame and rigid body, while maintaining product quality.

TGM Lightweight Solutions is an engineering services company with a focus on lightweight design and strategic weight optimization for aircraft, rail cars, road vehicles, and marine vessels. For a recent customer project requiring weight reduction of a railway container, TGM used Altair HyperWorks to achieve the target weight. Topology optimization helped identify the weight savings potential, resulting in material and cost savings, and a 20% reduction in weight while meeting tight development schedules.

One of the competing teams in the Formula SAE competition is FST Lisboa of the University of Lisboa, Portugal. 39 students from seven different faculties use their know-how on motorsport technology and high-precision engineering to design and build a racing car fit for the competition. For their last car, the team had to design a new set of rims to further reduce the weight of the rim set by 25 percent. With linear static analyses and topology optimization solutions from Altair, the team was able to make sound geometry choices for the rims, and reduce the weight of the components, while meeting all compliance requirements.

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.

BOTT stands for “Battle of the Twins,” a racing category for motorbikes with two-cylinder four stroke engines. Bottpower is a Spanish motorsport engineering company located in Valencia. They specialize in designing and building custom motorbikes for racing and street use. They design and build parts, systems, and prototypes for other companies. A project challenge at Bottpower was to design a lightweight stay bracket for their motorbike that could withstand the main and aerodynamic loads. The goal was finding the optimal weight and stiffness ratio to reduce weight while ensuring safety measures. All of this had to be done quickly in order to arrive on time at Addit3D, Spain's most important 3D-print fair, to showcase the bike. The optimal design for aerodynamic loads was found using Altair software.

To expand the rpm range of a motorcycle engine, a new type of rocker arm with lower inertia was needed at KTM. The new rocker arm was required to have the same, or better stiffness and deformation level as the previous design. KTM used Altair HyperWorks™ for nonlinear topology optimization and nonlinear structural analysis to develop the new rocker arm. Thanks to this, the component inertia could be reduced by 15 percent, component mass was reduced by 21 percent, and the stiffness increased by 14 percent which lead to an extension of the rotational speed by 150-200 rpm.

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.

PATAC needed to develop an efficient CAE simulation management platform to accommodate their changing needs and accelerate digital growth.

Renault Nissan Mitsubishi Alliance is a French-Japanese strategic partnership between the automobile manufacturers Renault (based in France), Nissan (based in Japan) and Mitsubishi Motors (based in Japan). Today, the automotive group has 122 manufacturing plants worldwide with nearly 450,000 employees controlling ten major brands: Renault, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Infiniti, Renault Samsung, Dacia, Alpine, Datsun, Venucia, and Lada. The ambition of the alliance is to offer autonomous drive, connectivity features, and services on a wide range of affordable vehicles. As part of the Renault Chassis Le Mans plant, which is building car-to-ground connecting components for the Renault Group and for the Alliance, the CTC Chassis Technical Center is a CAD engineering center where 350 engineers and technicians are working with a focus on testing and validation. Renault has been using SimSolid to perform simulations to develop lighter chassis faster.

Sweden-based Nolato, a global provider of injection molded parts for numerous industrial and medical applications has developed Nolava as a collaborative project with companies including Altair and Avalon Innovation. Nolava is Nolato’s medical self-injector, a complex electro-mechanical device housed in an injection molded fiber-reinforced plastic body. Within this presentation different aspects of the product design cycle are considered, including co-simulations of the device operation during the actual injection process, misuse in case of forceful bending or opening of the loading tray, and drop tests of the autoinjector. Based on Altair’s optimization technology, alternatives for the rib structure of the casing are investigated. To assure manufacturability, molding and assembly simulations are performed to identify and mitigate problems likely to occur throughout the process.

Czech company Duratec Ltd. develops handmade bike frames using both aluminium and composite materials. For a recent project at Duratec presenting the latest approach in development of carbon fiber optimization of the bike frame, Altair HyperWorks was used for model creation in Altair HyperMesh, optimized via the Altair OptiStruct code and evaluated in Altair HyperView in the development and optimization of a lightweight composite racing bike frame.

An Altair customer for many years, Schneider Electric at first used only Altair Flux; now the company has extended their usage to several more software products in the Altair HyperWorks suite, including solutions such as Activate, MotionSolve, OptiStruct, and others to apply co-simulation in their development processes. Schneider feels their collaboration with Altair is more like a partnership than the standard supplier-OEM relationship.

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.

Established in the year 1969, Imperial Auto is one of the biggest integrated manufacturers of ‘Fluid Transmission Products (FTPs) in the world. The company has eight dedicated manufacturing and assembly plants in India. The grand vision of the company’s top management can be easily gauged from the strategic and technical alliances that Imperial has formed with major international players in their industry.

INTECH DMLS is playing the visionary role in the field of metal-based DMLS 3D printing in India since its inception in 2012. The company with this rich expertise in metallurgy and machining, established themselves rapidly as the leader of the Metal Additive Manufacturing industry in India. Sinteneering Innovations®, the company’s tagline signifies its commitment to innovation in manufacturing and marks the beginning of a new era in metal manufacturing.

With over 2 decades of experience in manufacturing Aluminum Heat-exchangers such as Condensers, Evaporators, Heaters, Radiators, Oil Coolers, IHX and Roof AC units, Pranav Vikas (India) Private Limited (PVL) today is one of the largest and most diversified Heat-exchanger manufacturers in India. The company currently is the only fully integrated Condenser manufacturer in India with their own state-of-the-art Micro-tube facility at Ranjangaon, Pune. PVL serves leading global and Indian Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) in the Passenger, Commercial, and Off-road vehicle segments.

Sharda Motor Industries Limited (SMIL) is the market leader in the country in the manufacturing of exhaust systems, catalytic converters, independent suspension systems, seat frames, seat covers (two and four wheelers), soft top canopies, and stamped part for white goods products. Their state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities help them to continuously focus on new products, innovation, technology upgradation, and research & development. The facility seamlessly caters to various emission norms ranging from BS4, BS6, and Tier 4.

Tucked away in a remote location in the mountains, designed by ZHA, the Lushan primary school, when complete, will be an educational institute located 160 kilometers North-West of Nanchang, the capital of China’s Jiangxi province.

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.

The National Composites Centre (NCC), in collaboration with the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre (AMRC) and University of Warwick (WMG) worked on a collaborative project to develop a Cross-Catapult technology demonstrator; the Mono-Ski or Sit-ski, a device for sports that uses adaptive equipment on mountain slopes, designed for individuals with lower extremity limitations. Composites were used extensively in the new Sit-ski design with the Altair HyperWorks™ suite being utilized throughout the development process.

Hussmann provides tailored food safety solutions designed to improve food quality and integrity. As the manufacturer of refrigerated display cases and systems, they have to maintain the highest performance and quality standards of the products they develop. Using Altair solutions helped them reduce their product development time by 20 to 30% with the CFD Thermal solutions successfully addressing even the most complex problems in challenging areas that were faced in product design analysis and CFD.

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%.

APA Partner, DSA, uses Altair HyperMesh, AcuSolve, and Virtual Wind Tunnel to create high-quality hydrodynamic mesh and models for ship and marine structures.

At the forefront of innovation at CEC Systems is the world’s first semi-automated Collapsible-Economic-Container. Achieving a 4:1 ratio, COLLAPSECON® enables 4 empty containers to be collapsed and combined to form a single container, improving operational efficiency, enhancing return on investment and reducing the impact on the environment. For the design for mass production and optimal operational use, the Altair HyperWorks Suite was leveraged to find solutions for weight reduction without increasing manufacturing costs. The newly engineered container is potentially 30% lighter than the original design, whilst reducing material requirements, increasing manufacturing efficiency, and reducing cost.

For a competition launched for the Museum of the 20th Century, Zaha Hadid Architects re-invented a similarly radical approach by applying new advances in technology to generate structural and architectural expression. With Altair’s assistance, they created a plug-in for their design tool, enabling topology optimization. Altair HyperMesh was used for finite element preprocessing mesh generation, with Altair HyperView providing post-processing and visualization solutions. Structural analysis solver Altair OptiStruct provided advanced analysis and optimization algorithms.

As part of educational programs for students to acquire practical skills and knowledge, Aichi University Technology (AUT) participated in a demonstration test competition aiming for future Mars exploration. A Rocket Launch for International Student Satellites (ARLISS), is a competitive event for the evaluation of autonomous robots – conducting tests relating to their autonomous descent back to the ground after being launched 400m above the ground using a small rocket. For the final designed robot, HyperWorks was used for structural analysis to understand whether or not the robot meets requirements, and MotionSolve was extremely useful for practical industrial education that is linked to CAD design.

Officially known as the Caleido project, the Fifth Tower in Madrid is owned by Inmobiliaria Espacio, a company that, among other services, deals with infrastructure and construction for all types of buildings.

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.

Argon 18 partnered with the ÉTS Research Chair on Engineering of Processing, Materials and Structures for Additive Manufacturing to manufacture a new track bike for Lasse Norman Hansen, one of the athletes competing for the Danish team in track cycling at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. Their aim was to develop a bike that was stiffer, highly integrated, more aerodynamic, providing greater efficiency. An important aspect of the project was the development of a new aluminum stem to be used by Mr. Hansen in the Flying Lap event which is achieved by the fastest lap from the moving start. Altair solutions included OptiStruct for structural analysis, AcuSolve® for CFD, and Virtual Wind Tunnel.

Sujan CooperStandard manufactures (anti-vibration) NVH products for leading automotive companies. Currently, the automotive industry is under extreme pressure because of environmental norms and has to adhere to stringent government policies related to pollution control and one of the simplest ways to address these is to optimize designs and reduce weight of products and components. They began using Altair HyperWorks on the on the recommendation of their joint venture partner CooperStandard. The team decided to improvise design of their Torsion Vibration Damper using Altair solutions like solidThinking Inspire to optimize designs of the brackets and OptiStruct for structural integrity of the designs. Altair solutions have helped Sujan CooperStandard get their product designs right the first time and consistently meet their time, cost and quality targets.

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.

Kampmann GmbH is an internationally leading specialist for heating, cooling, air-conditioning and integrated building automation. Within their virtual development process they are using the Altair HyperWorks® software suite, in particular AcuSolve®, the CFD solver; OptiStruct®, the suite's FE-solver and an optimization tool; and HyperMesh® for modeling and meshing tasks. For plant control design, Kampmann is currently considering solidThinking Activate®, a mapping software for control systems. Thanks to simulation, Kampmann engineers are now able to answer questions regarding the internal processes of the system, which are difficult, if not impossible, to study through physical testing.

HyperWorks and the Altair Partner Alliance Streamline Testing of Truck Components at IVECO Australia

Toolmaking is usually characterized by cost-intensive, custom made, single-unit production. To create innovative tools, the industry increasingly relies on new manufacturing methods such as 3D printing. To meet market demand, PROTIQ GmbH, a spinoff from Phoenix Contact needed to increase productivity through more efficient injection mold tools. The Altair solution included development of optimized tools using simulation, optimization and additive manufacturing (model setup with HyperMesh, topology optimization and FE analysis with OptiStruct, CFD analysis with AcuSolve and refinement with solidThinking Evolve. The benefits included increased productivity due to shorter production cycles, weight reduction of 75%, shortened development time and production costs reduced by 25%.

The company PROTIQ (www.protiq.com) worked with Altair and created a highly efficient molding tool. Optimization with OptiStruct was used to find the optimal design to guarantee the maximum tolerances of the generated products. The cooling process of the product was simulated with CFD (AcuSolve). As an overall result, the cycle time could be significantly decreased and the part quality also improved due to lower thermal deformations.