Computer Aided Engineering Methods Research Articles

A Deep Learning-Based CAE Approach for Simulating 3D Vehicle Wheels Under Real-World Conditions

The implementation of deep learning (DL) in computer-aided engineering (CAE) can significantly improve the accuracy and efficiency of simulating 3D vehicle wheels under real-world conditions. While traditional CAE methods can be time-consuming and computationally expensive, DL can reduce simulation time and development cycles across all industries. This work explores the role of DL and AI in virtual manufacturing and CAE and investigates how they can be used to improve the accuracy and efficiency of simulations for 3D vehicle wheels. Deep learning models can learn the complex relationships between different wheel design parameters, such as tire load distribution, stress distribution, and fatigue life. Once trained, these models can be embedded into CAE software, allowing for faster and more accurate simulations of wheel performance. This interdisciplinary study uses various deep learning techniques, including convolutional neural networks (CNNs), generative adversarial networks (GANs), and recurrent neural networks (RNNs), to create a more efficient and accurate relationship between CAD modeling and CAE simulation. The research aims to leverage the potential of deep learning models to automate 3D CAD design, accurately predict CAE results, and provide in-depth explanations and verifications. The benefits of this research are expected to extend to the automotive industry's pursuit of more robust and resilient wheel designs. By streamlining the product development process from conceptual design to engineering performance evaluation, this study has the potential to revolutionize the automotive industry's product development cycle.

Simulation and Experimental Verification of Dynamic Characteristics on Gas Foil Thrust Bearings Based on Multi-Physics Three-Dimensional Computer Aided Engineering Methods

This paper presents a method to simulate the dynamic operating characteristics of a gas foil thrust bearing based on linear elastic support and constant ambient temperature to mimic the transient structure–fluid interactions. In the physical model, the top and bump foils are simply represented by an infinite number of Hookean springs attached to a solid wall with a small amount of deformation, whereas the gas film in the bearing is under quasi-steady lubrication flow conditions with hydrodynamic pressure distributed on the little-deformed top foil. A three-dimensional multi-physics model in a cylindrical coordinate system is established via a commercial computer-aided engineering software package to predict the nominal dynamic characteristics of the gas foil thrust bearing. To verify the multi-physics model, an experimental bench was built in-house to measure the thrust force on the support of the bearing. With the pertinent bearing parameters being entered into the package, the simulations agree well with the experimental thrust forces. As a further step, a simulation model of a clamped-rotor gas foil thrust bearing design was thoroughly investigated under nominal operating conditions, resulting in predictions of underdamped oscillations in rotor motions. The phenomenon could be described using a linear mass–spring–damper model that is dependent on the gas film thickness. The stiffness and damping coefficients could serve as a base reference for rotor dynamics analysis. This concludes the potential development of a digital twin for gas foil thrust bearing systems.

Simulation‐Driven Design of an Additively Manufactured Reactor for Exothermic Liquid‐Liquid Reactions

AbstractAdditive manufacturing opens new possibilities in the design of customized process units, creating new synergies with computer aided engineering methods. This work showcases a design process of an additively manufactured reactor for an exothermic liquid‐liquid reaction using a simulation‐driven design approach using up‐scale office‐standard computational resources. The ability to evaluate design changes quickly and cost‐effectively allows the engineering team to move from the requirements definition phase to a working reactor concept and printed prototype in less than three months.

Design, Analysis and Development of Mobile Robot with Flip-Flop Motion Ability

Abstract In this study, a mobile robotic system having the ability for flip-flop motion was designed and analyzed using CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) methods. The robot was designed to manufacture with FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technique that is most common RP (Rapid Prototyping) methods. System was developed with 4 wheels and each wheel was connected to body with 4 motional legs. For the suspension and flip motion ability legs and body were connected to each other with 2 dashpots as up and down sides. Dynamic and structural analyses were conducted to determine the power and torque requirements of the system that can be used for actuator selection, to obtain the energy storage on the suspension system for flip-flop motion and to check the structural strength of the robot’s components. Ansys Rigid Body Dynamics and Static Structural tools were used. In the analyses, a concrete road with the length of 1,000 mm and 10° inclinations was created as ground to simulate the real world. Obstacles with the height of 80 mm were placed on different locations on the path of the wheels for the robot. The length of robot and the number of wheels were decreased to one half of the real to ease the analysis. It was obtained from the analyses results that safety factor values for whole body and critical component (suspension legs) were found as almost 2 and 0.8, respectively. From these results, a reinforcement process was required especially for suspension legs. Maximum equivalent stresses were also calculated as 14.7 and 27.2 MPa. From the rigid dynamic analysis, it was observed that the total power requirement of the system was about 300 Watt while it was driven with maximum speed 2m/s.

A Progressive Damage Model for unidirectional Fibre Reinforced Composites with Application to Impact and Penetration Simulation

The computationally efficient simulation of the progressive damage behaviour of continuous fibre reinforced plastics is still a challenging task with currently available computer aided engineering methods. This paper presents an original approach for an energy based continuum damage model which accounts for stress-/strain nonlinearities, transverse and shear stress interaction phenomena, quasi-plastic shear strain components, strain rate effects, regularised damage evolution and consideration of load reversal effects. The physically based modelling approach enables experimental determination of all parameters on ply level to avoid expensive inverse analysis procedures. The modelling strategy, implementation and verification of this model using commercially available explicit finite element software are detailed. The model is then applied to simulate the impact and penetration of carbon fibre reinforced cross-ply specimens with variation of the impact speed. The simulation results show that the presented approach enables a good representation of the force-/displacement curves and especially well agreement with the experimentally observed fracture patterns. In addition, the mesh dependency of the results were assessed for one impact case showing only very little change of the simulation results which emphasises the general applicability of the presented method.

Practical Application of CAE in the Design Process of the Floating Stages of the Lakeside Festival in Bregenz - Austria

The design of modern and architecturally complex constructions in civil engineering can only be effectively achieved through the application of Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE). This requires, on the one hand the use of fully 3D CAD Systems during the architectural design process and on the other hand the use of fully 3D numerical calculation methods like the Finite Element Method (FEM) during the engineering construction process. The combination of the aforementioned CAE methods allows for the development of highly sophisticated structures. The practical application of these methods will be revealed by examining the floating stages of the lake festival in Bregenz/Austria, these stages are designed and built anew every second year. The aim is to show the development process from the initial designs up to the finished stage; a process made possible thanks to a close collaboration between designers and engineers.

Structural analysis of Scorbot-ER Vu plus industrial robot manipulator

Robots are required to operate in different environmental conditions facing varieties of workspace interactions. Scorbot-ER Vu plus robot is a real industrial robot. Robot is designed and analysed for existing condition. Computer-Aided Engineering methods used effectively in the design process since the robot design has various parameters. Structural analyses are aimed to compute the deformations, internal forces, stresses, support reactions, accelerations and stability of the object. This paper deals with structural analysis of Scorbot-ER Vu plus industrial robot in which the integrated engineering methods are employed. The robot manipulator parametric solid models were constructed using Pro/ENGINEER. During the design process, the different structural modifications are made according to the results of various engineering analysis. ABAQUS was used to analyse the structures of the robot. Nodal analysis of the robot is also reviewed for two mode positions using the ABAQUS program. Finally, accurate model of robot manipulator was developed.

Forensic Engineering Investigation of a Three-Vehicle Accident

An accident involving three vehicles resulted in serious injuries to one of the drivers. It was alleged that the driver was injured because both of the other operators were inattentive and made driving errors. Through the use of electronic data retrieval and computer crash simulation, it was shown that only one of the non-injured drivers made a driving error. A computer-aided dynamic crash simulation program (PC-Crash) was used to show the motion of the vehicles after impact. Because no formal police report was completed for the accident, electronic data retrieval and computer-aided engineering methods were needed to fill in the data voids. Witness statements, in conjunction with the reconstructed data, allowed a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in both the primary and secondary collisions.

Computer-aided engineering for sheet metal forming: definition of a springback quality function

Computer-aided engineering methods are extensively applied to sheet metal forming integrated design. The adoption of a new class of materials, the advanced high strength steels, has increased the occurrence of springback, and consequently the request for tools oriented to springback reduction and optimization. This paper presents an approximated formulation to compute the springback field after stamping through the finite element analysis of the process. This can be found assuming that the residual field of nodal forces after stamping produces a springback shape referable to a linear combination of n modes of vibration of the nominal shape of the component. The aim of this formulation is not that of substituting the finite element analysis of the springback but rather to make use of the coefficients of the linear combination, so to define a global quality function for springback. In this way, Robust Design methods or other current optimization procedures to improve the stamping process as for structural defects (such wrinkling, necking and flatness) can be applied also for the reduction of springback. The meaning of these coefficients will be shown through three test cases and the consistency of the formulation will be discussed according to the number of modes of vibration included in the computation.

A computer aided chaining approach for predicting the shape accuracy in manufacture of automotive structures

The increasing competition and the urge to reduce costs and shorten product-life-cycles in the automotive industries imply the application of virtual manufacturing mock-ups. Computer aided engineering methods including simulations of the structural behavior during manufacturing and assembly contribute to eliminate trial-and-error along the production chains of vehicle structures. Such digital mock-ups also provide an input for additional tolerance analyses and allow the identification of the pending quality of structure components in advance. In this way large numbers of experiments and adjustments on the existent production lines can be avoided. In this paper an approach is introduced, which allows the replication of the physical effects along manufacturing chains based on thermo-mechanical models. The rendered results after considering successive operational steps provide the basis for initial estimations regarding the shape accuracy of structure assemblies. For a specific example of the automotive body-in-white a first run of a manufacturing process chain is investigated in order to predict the shape quality of a probable production cycle by applying a tolerance chain analysis. The results enable the scrap identification due to non-satisfied quality of assemblies. Finally, based on the achieved results a re-engineering of the manufacturing chain is suggested in order to fulfill quality requirements.

Virtual Proving Ground - an integrated technology for full vehicle analysis and simulation

Virtual Proving Ground (eta/VPGTM) is a unique and integrated computer aided engineering (CAE) technology to conduct full vehicle real time, nonlinear dynamic analyses and simulations. The utilisation of this new technology can greatly improve the analytical results as compared with other conventional CAE tools. VPG can expand CAE applications into many special and important fields where the current CAE methods have no or only limited applications. It can also greatly reduce vehicle development costs and time. Presented in this paper are the VPG concept and the advantages it provides for full vehicle system analysis, simulation, and prototyping. Application examples of vehicle durability and fatigue analysis, NVH analysis, vehicle dynamics analysis and crashworthiness and safety analysis are also provided. Other VPG applications such as road load generation, and CPU requirements for VPG simulations are briefly discussed in the paper.

Simplified numerical simulation of forming a car wheel disk using the SIMEX explicit FEM code, and comparisons with press-shop results

The numerical simulation of manufacturing processes became in recent years a very important tool for improving the performance of Computer Aided Engineering methods in industrial sectors using the deep drawing process, such as in the automotive industry. This was a consequence of the development of new user friendly and robust 3D Finite Element Explicit Time Integration Codes for the improved workstations and supercomputers. Although the 3D Finite Element Implicit Time Integration Codes are considered the best methods to analyze the quasi static deep drawing process, the computer and memory size are too large. This paper is focused on the simulation of the forming process of several stages of a car wheel disk, where bending deformation becames predominant over deep drawing and stretching, with the inverse 3D Finite Element Code SIMEX. Among the several numerically predicted results, thickness is compared with the experimental results obtained using hot rolled steel sheets with different properties and thickness; since the weight reduction is the industrial challenge. Although this numerical simulation provides only approximate descriptions, the very short computer processing time required to obtain results makes the code SIMEX very useful at the design stage, where the selection of new materials should be made.

Improving the Process of Engine Design through the Integrated Application of CAE Methods

The increasingly competitive nature of the automotive industry is forcing engine design organizations to target improvements in function and quality at the same time as substantial reductions, in product development cycle times. This paper describes how Ricardo is meeting this challenge through the integrated development and application of computer aided engineering (CAE) methods. The weaknesses of traditional approaches to the management of CAE innovation are discussed and the need for a more strategic approach is identified. Examples are given of CAE research, development and applications carried out by Ricardo. Conclusions are presented outlining the key elements of an effective CAE strategy.

Experimental evaluation of cutting dynamic models in soil bin facility

Computer Aided Engineering methods in earthmoving machines design and their automation require the development of soil-cutting models. These models both in two or three dimensions, static or dynamic, fitted for frictional or cohesive soils, must be mutually compatible and must function with soil transportation models and with machine locomotion characteristic models. In this work two different methods of soil cutting have been evaluated, both of them based on the classical wedge method, in order to verify their applicability to test conditions in the new soil bin facility of CEMOTER. From experimental results the possibility of using dynamic models of soil cutting in the frequency domain is discussed, to improve earthmoving machinery performance by automation and implementation of open and closed-loop control. After a preliminary analysis of a plane blade under different test conditions in sandy soil, soil cutting theoretical models of a simple implement are compared with respective scale models by tests performed in a soil bin facility at various operating speeds and depths, in order to investigate their applicability and the dynamic behaviour of the soil cutting force.

Computer Aided Engineering Methods for Implementing the Fastbus Standard

In this paper, we discuss the benefits of using Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) methods for implementing a bus standard (Fastbus, ANSI/IEEE Std 960). We describe the CAE methods, how standard design implementations and reference models complement CAE tools to form an integrated engineering environment, and we propose to use these methods for future standard developments.