PNNL-13501 - Pacific Northwest National Laboratory

Integrated Modeling and Simulation for Fabrication of Lightweight Structures
David A. Thurman, Kenneth I. Johnson, Kristine M. Terrones, Deborah K. Gracio
Study Control Number: PN99031/1359
The next generation of vehicles (cars and trucks) will be made of lighter weight materials than todays vehicle. This
project provides DOE with an opportunity to develop an integrated modeling and simulation environment for
manufacturing of lightweight structures with minimum trial and error in process development and expand the ability to
manufacture larger components with increasing complexities.
Project Description
This project developed modeling and simulation
technologies for lightweight material manufacturing and
performance assessment to provide the means for an
integrated simulation capability. This effort provides
software tools to ensure that data is passed accurately
from one finite element simulation to the next so that the
effects of the deformation history and material
microstructural evolution of one process to another can be
predicted. By employing a common data format for
representing finite element results, developing data
transformation tools to translate between commercial
finite element codes and the common data format, and
data pedigree representations to ensure that an accurate
simulation history is kept, such a capability will have
dramatic impact on the overall design and manufacturing
process and enable the “all-digital mock-up” of
manufacturing of lightweight materials.
Introduction
The automotive industry is interested in using larger
components to build future cars. To cost-effectively
utilize the performance attributes of aluminum products,
designers are altering traditional design practices that
historically have been used for steel components.
Material producers and automotive companies have
limited experience with making parts from lightweight
materials that in turn will increase the trial and error in
tool and process development.
This research is focused on a problem experienced by
engineers who use multiple commercial finite element
analysis packages. The basic problem is that commercial
finite element analysis products use proprietary file
formats, and few are compatible with the others. As a
result, engineers spend vast amounts of time massaging
the output of one finite element analysis package to
prepare the input deck for another. The primary goal of
this project is to create the ability to perform sequential
analyses so that information is passed between analyses
while preserving the material history effects.
Approach
The activities on the project can be roughly grouped in the
following four areas.
Engineering Data Representation—Focused on the
development of data translation tools, together with a
common data format, to support the transfer of data
among existing finite element codes at PNNL.
Remeshing and Remapping Capability—Provided the
capability to modify the mesh and map the results data
onto the modified mesh between steps in multistep
simulations is critical to the success of these efforts. To
accomplish this, the NWGrid-based remeshing and
remapping capability was integrated into the integrated
modeling and simulation suite of tools by providing data
transformation capabilities between the common data
format and the NWGrid format.
Data Pedigree Representation—Focused on defining
what information should be stored in a data pedigree and
how to collect and store such information when engineers
are using commercial codes in distributed environments.
In multistep simulation efforts, the accurate recording and
retrieval of such information will enable scientists to
facilitate the reuse of research results where relevant.
High-Performance Computing—Explored issues
associated with the use of high-performance computing
environments to run larger and more complicated models
more efficiently which is of great interest to scientists in
this area.
In addition, three test problems were defined to
demonstrate the combined capabilities of these efforts.
Design and Manufacturing Engineering 179