With Network-free Simulation To Better Machine Frames

2023 Author: Hannah Pearcy | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-26 11:39

The development of new manufacturing and assembly systems always poses great challenges for the industry, as these systems are extremely complex and include many different components and numerous subsystems. When developing such a system, engineers today mostly rely on software solutions such as CAD and CAE in order to structurally design and coordinate the individual components. Linear finite element analysis (FEA) usually comes into play when optimizing structures and simulating complex machine systems.

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Simsolid does without networking

The market has a large number of such software tools for taking into account and analyzing physical effects for a wide range of applications and industries. The traditional FEA solutions offer a high degree of accuracy for a whole range of applications, but due to the size of the systems, they require a considerable amount of work and extensive expertise to prepare the models for analysis. In the preparation of the actual analysis in particular, the traditional tools require complex cleaning, simplification and subsequent networking of the geometry. The CAE tool Altair Simsolid is pursuing a new approach here that does not require any painstaking preparation and can significantly speed up the overall process.

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Simsolid in action

As a manufacturer of automatic storage systems for the corrugated cardboard and cardboard packaging industry, Universal Corrugated BV (UC), which is part of the Minda Group and is based in the Netherlands, offers solutions for the drying end downstream of the processing machines. In a recent project, the engineers had the task of analyzing and simulating one of their systems. To support their project, the team turned to the engineering service provider Vierhout Engineering (VE) based in Hengelo, the Netherlands.

When asked about an analysis and simulation of the plant, Vierhout Engineering was able to quickly determine that new solutions were required to improve the development process for these large plants. Vierhout Engineering also recognized that considering the extreme complexity of the machine to be analyzed, the traditional FEA could reach its limits in this project. When looking for a solution, they discovered the mechanical structure analysis software Altair Simsolid, which was specially developed for predictive structural evaluation. VE was convinced by Simsolid within a short time, because the new tool made two of the most complex and demanding tasks of traditional FEA superfluous: the simplification of the geometry and the networking.

Dossier simulation

How simulation improves product development

Limitless simulation

At the beginning of projects such as that of Universal Corrugated, VE engineers usually perform a basic check to determine whether the design meets the relevant standards. In the past, these analyzes were carried out using traditional FEA software. The FEA offers a high degree of accuracy for a wide range of applications, but it reaches its limits when it comes to simulating very large and complex systems. In order to calculate these large systems with reasonable effort, the geometry had to be simplified and divided into subgroups. To do this, the engineers had to create a simplified 3D FE model for each individual subgroup. Not only is this time-consuming, it also quickly pushes the computer hardware to its limits, depending on the model size. If particularly large frame frames also come into play, they have to be simplified using bar and shell elements - a very tedious, error-prone and extremely time-consuming process.

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Simulation: state of the art and new possibilities

Simulate the entire steel assembly as a whole

In the special application of Universal Corrugated, Vierhout Engineering should analyze a steel machine frame in detail. The steel structure had a total weight of 20 tons and was about 32 meters long. The focus of the simulation was on the analysis of various load cases, taking into account the forces and contacts prevailing in the frame. In addition, it had to be checked whether the tailor-made frame would offer sufficient strength and stability to meet all relevant requirements of the Eurocodes.

The use of Simsolid gave the team the decisive advantage: The engineers were able to analyze the complete, detailed 3D model of the complete steel assembly as a whole - including the screws and nuts with tightening torques and preloads. For this purpose, components including contacts and flange connections were analyzed geometrically non-linear. The 3D analysis results were very detailed and the resulting material stresses, the displacements, the natural frequencies and the reaction forces on the supports could be clearly displayed and evaluated.

Focus on development

Based on this successful project, Vierhout Engineering will now use the Simsolid software for all complex analyzes and simulations. The advantages for the engineering service provider are obvious: The Simsolid analyzes are detailed and can be carried out completely on 3D solids. In addition, the VE engineers in Simsolid can use the complex 3D CAD detail models of the structures directly and thereby all important details such as B. Consider welded and screwed connections. Thanks to the network-free simulation method with Simsolid, the networking phase can be dispensed with completely in the design process, so that the engineering team can pay more attention to numerous details such as contacts, loads and preloads. Last but not least, it leads tothat significantly more development time is available to test different design variants.

Simulation paves the way

Vierhout Engineering sees a lot of potential in Altair Simsolid with its efficient and detailed analysis and will continue to use the software in future 3D CAD projects. “Simsolid outperforms traditional FEA systems in terms of efficiency and attention to detail, which offers a great advantage. The time we save by not having to simplify and clean up the geometry and the mesh-free analysis enable us to examine more variants and load cases than before with the traditional FE tools,”said Evert Vierhout, owner of VE. "We are very satisfied with the results and look forward to supporting our customers with this efficient solution."

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