software training courses 2010 corsi di addestramento ... - EnginSoft

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 6 n°4 - 25
Optimization in product development -
An efficient approach to integrate single
CAE Technologies up to the entire
design chain
Overview
In today’s industrial production plants, state-of-the-art
software systems are used to analyze different loading
conditions in order to determine the performance and
durability of a product. Similarly, production companies
use simulation for manufacturing processes, such as
casting and welding. Optimization techniques are widely
regarded and applied as the next logical step to perfect
competencies in simulation for modern product
development. Possible applications of optimization
techniques range from local problems with single
applications up to the mapping and optimization of a
large range of parameters of an entire product
development process. Hence optimization can provide
significant time and resources savings, opportunities that
are illustrated in this article.
Introduction
Since the introduction of the computer, nearly all areas of
life have changed rapidly. This applies also, and in
particular, to the working environment and all professional
activities of engineers.
For example, engineering
drawings are no longer
made on a drawing board
using 2D techniques; 3D
models are created
instead on the screen.
Thus necessary
adjustments to the
product are realized
quickly, for example the
weight or the moment of
inertia of complex
Figure 1: Stress analysis of a crank shaft
Figure 3 (a) Solidification stage of a casting simulation and (b) forging simulation of a crank shaft
Picture 2: CFD simulations for a turbine blade
geometries can be determined – all in an automated way.
Advances in computational mechanics, such as the FEA
Finite-Element Method, have also made their way into
modern production facilities a long time ago. Again, clear
advantages of simulation are shortened product
development cycles, improved assessments of product
quality and, importantly, savings in experimental time and
equipment.
Today’s status of simulation in product development
covers a number of standard analyses, including:
Strength and durability/fatigue analyses of mechanical
and/or thermally stressed devices in most diverse
loading conditions (Figure 1),
Computation of characteristic measures in CFD
problems as shown in Figure 2,
Crash Simulations in the area of Safety Engineering and