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September 2008 |
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| Dr Thomas Morel, President of Gamma Technologies Inc What trends are affecting the way users use your software? We all know that the strict emissions legislation and fuel economy pressures are placing great demands on the design of engines and vehicles. These consist of many subsystems, and there usually are strong interactions between them. One example of our work with a customer relates to the interactions between the engine and vehicle thermal management systems. In this instance, the OEM is developing a downsized, highly boosted engine. Such an engine has quite severe heat rejection issues, coming from the need for a large charge air cooler and for an EGR cooler. Their heat loads create a tight coupling between cooling and engine performance and emissions. Analysis of such a set of intertwined systems requires a simulation tool capable of modeling the complete system in a single, integrated analysis. GT-SUITE is the only dedicated engine/vehicle simulation tool that enables such an integrated analysis to be performed, capturing the interactions between the engine, cooling system, underhood cooling modules, and lubrication system, in a single analysis. This ability to model all systems together is fast becoming an industry requirement, as the old methods of modeling separate systems with different simulation tools, and iterating between them are no longer acceptable. Co-simulation between different tools is falling out of favor as well, as the process is tedious, slow and expensive. As viewed by the industry, integrated analysis in a single tool is the most practical way to analyze such problems. How is this affecting the way you will design the next generation of your software? GT-SUITE was designed at its inception as a single simulation tool capable of modeling various subsystems stand alone, or together as a complete, integrated system. Just as the major component suppliers are being asked to deliver integrated modules instead of distinct “parts”, the software industry is facing the same requirement. Given the fact that GT-SUITE is at its core a multi-physics CAE tool, customized for the engine/powertrain/vehicle industry, our next generation of the software will continue adding more dedicated application libraries and productivity tools to allow our users to be productive and efficient in their modeling work. We have recently added a full lubrication modeling capability to GT-SUITE. Along with the requisite physical models, we have also created a CAD based preprocessing tool that allows the engineers to quickly go from a CAD model of their lube system to a GT-SUITE mathematical model, saving considerable engineering time. Are there any simple ways you see for automotive engineers to improve the intelligence of their development processes? There is still insufficient synergy between different groups at the OEMs. They do not interact enough, and perform separate system analyses in isolation, with separate software tools, often with limited knowledge of each other’s requirements. Much of this was inevitable until recently, since there were no tools available that could be used by both groups to model the entire system. But today, different groups in the organization are beginning to share models, and the groups take better advantage of the expertise of the others. What’s holding your software’s ability back? Upfront design is placing ever more demands on modeling detail and accuracy. There are two main barriers to this. The main one is computer speed, which limits the modeling resolution one can use and still get reasonable run time. The other will always be the knowledge of physics, even though the available models are continually improving. Also, optimization is very much the trend, meaning the need to make 100’s or 1000’s of runs. We’ve developed distributed computing capabilities and are currently working on the development of a parallel version. What are you doing to make the software more useful to engineers? We focus on constantly improving the productivity of our users. We have developed automated meshing tools that take 3D CAD data and convert it into a GT-SUITE model. Such meshing tools are common in the CFD and FEA world, but are less common in the system simulation domain. System simulation presents some unique challenges in this area, in that we must interpret the CAD data and then identify from it “super-elements” that we then further convert into basic modeling elements like pipes, masses and springs. It requires the creation of an expert system that can decide how a particular physical part will be broken into the super-elements. This contrasts with CFD and FEA where the entire CAD geometry is meshed wholesale into simple basic elements. We’ve developed such tools for creating models of mufflers, air boxes, intake and exhaust systems, underhood cooling modules, lubrication systems and crankshafts. We will continue to invest heavily in this area to enhance the product and increase the accuracy and productivity of our users. What is the next big step for your software? The next step for our system simulation tool is the introduction of fast-executing 3D flow solutions. These models use relatively coarse 3D meshing, and we expect them to deliver many of the benefits of detailed CFD at very acceptable run times. One such example is our 3D solution for underhood flow through cooling modules. And we are working on other applications of this technology. The development of these tools is aided by our active work on ever tighter integration with mainstream CAD tools. How do you see the software industry evolving in the next five years? Clearly, there will be more and more need for the CAE vendors to develop integrated products that can model complete systems in a single, integrated analysis, as a response to the demands of the transportation industry. Companies will get to that point organically, or they will do it through mergers and acquisitions, as we have seen with ANSYS and Fluent, for example. As more and more of these integrated products become available, we will surely see more use and demand for such capabilities from the car industry, and as such, they will be able to produce more robust products in shorter time frames and at reduced cost. We have anticipated this trend and have developed GT-SUITE to be the most complete automotive CAE tool, which integrates well with leading CAD, FE, CFD and control tools.
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GT-SUITE is used in development departments for production or near production engines and research departments for future engines, we see a very broad range of applications of the tool. With the GT-POWER engine simulation library, for instance, development departments are heavily involved in base engine performance analysis, simulating full and part load conditions to maximize engine breathing and torque while minimizing fuel consumption, emissions, and noise levels. With our valvetrain and hydraulics modeling libraries, they may be looking at solving a current problem, as VM Motori recently discussed in their SAE publication regarding a valve noise problem initiated by the increased backpressure caused by the introduction of a DPF in the system. In the research departments, engineers may be studying more advanced concepts for future engines, such as development of new VVT strategies for throttleless SI engines, or layout of hybrids, or aftertreatment control system optimization. LINKS Ansys: multi-physics analysis pays off. Read more... Integrated: Electromagnetic CAE tools that combine FEA and simulation. Read more... Lotus: vehicle dynamics made quick and easy. Read more...
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