Sunteți pe pagina 1din 2

Case Study

A Platform for Innovation


TM

HyperShape/CATIA Streamlines Design Process of Functional and Light Components for Automotive Industry
Overview
belCAT Ingenieurbro Stuttgart and IndustrieHansa Consulting & Engineering GmbH, two German engineering service providers had to design and develop an automotive gear bracket for a renown German automotive OEM. Based on a given design space and static as well as frequency load cases the gear bracket needed to fit to an existing engine design. In a very early development phase, even before a draft CAD model was available, belCAT and IndustrieHansa developed the gear bracket conjunctively and determined the ideal material allocation for the given boundary conditions and loads with HyperShape/CATIA, Altairs in CATIA V5 integrated optimization tool. The optimization disciplines that can be handled with HyperShape/CATIA include Topology Optimization, Topography Optimization, Free Shape Optimization, and Gauge Optimization.

Ingenieurbro Stuttgart

Business Profile
belCAT Ingenieurbro Stuttgart plans, develops and designs for many different industries. Founded in 2006 the engineering services provider is based in Stuttgart and covers entire development projects. belCATs customers are well known companies from the automotive and consumer goods industries. More information about belCAT can be found at: www.belcat.de. The name IndustrieHansa stands for one of the leading engineering and IT service providers in the fields of consulting, training and engineering. This position is the result of over 34 years experience in the key industries where the company operates: automotive, aerospace and energy technology. More information at: www.industriehansa.de

Challenge
To develop a component that fits exactly the customers need in size, stiffness, eigenfrequencies, stress, weight and manufacturability, designers traditionally started their work based on experience by designing a shape that might fit the targeted needs. In todays competitive development environment this approach is not adequate anymore. To speed up the workflow and to avoid error-prone steps designers have to use software solutions such as HyperShape/CATIA to reach an optimized design faster with an enhanced design process. With the traditional design method there is always a risk to not reach the goal at all, or to find a solution which is suboptimal. In any case, the designer will need a lot more time and man power to deliver an acceptable design. To come to a functional solution - that is already optimized for weight and function - faster and with less iteration cycles - a new, simulation driven design process is needed.

The software is really worth its investment. When I start a design I dont need to think about material allocation. With HyperShape/CATIA I just define the design space, boundary conditions and loads and basically over night the software automatically calculates all possible variants and will tell me where the material has to be placed and where not. I dont need as many iteration and optimization cycles to come to a final design and I know that my design will most likely be able to stand the loads it has to carry. With HyperShape/CATIA I can come to a first time right solution that I could not have thought of better. Isabel Braun, managing director belCAT Ingenieurbro Stuttgart and Jens Fischer, team leader IndustrieHansa Consulting & Engineering GmbH

HyperWorks is a division of

A Platform for Innovation

TM

Solution
With HyperShape/CATIA design engineers have the possibility to streamline their workflow and design process. Instead of defining the shape of the part the designer creates a design space and lets the software calculate a functional and optimized form. Besides skipping initial shape creation, the component also needs less iteration cycles with the calculation department since - thanks to optimization - the engineer is able to deliver the best solution in relation to the set boundary conditions and loads. Once an optimal shape is found, a CAD model can be created for strength verification with a detailed Finite Element Analysis. By doing so, the iteration with the calculation department is based on an already optimized component leading to less changes and an overall reduced development time. The new design process follows the following steps: Define the design space Make a first draft Topology Optimization to determine design direction Make a second specific optimization based on the results of the first optimization Automatic import of the design proposal as a new CATPart in CATIA V5 Create a CAD Concept based on the design proposal Do the detailed FE-Analysis Do a Free Shape Optimization (if needed to eliminate local stress peaks) belCAT and IndustrieHansa followed this design process in the creation of the gear bracket and could reach a final design with only two optimization runs.
Optimization targets Volume reduction to 30 percent Maximization of stiffness Raising of the rst three eigenfrequencies Design space Meshing TET4 Load cases 6 static load cases 1 frequency load case Bolt tightening load case

Design Space

Topology Optimization

CAD Concept

FE-Analysis o.k. End Design n.o.k. Detail Optimization

Basic steps of the HyperShape/CATIA design process

Available space for gear bracket

Body shell Gear mount

Gear housing

Support arm

Material data EN AC-Al Si8Cu3 Density: 2,75 g/cm Young modulus: 75 GPa Poissons number: 0,34

Side shaft

Boundary conditions Gear housing attachment points are clamped

Manufacturing constraints Draw direction Minimum wall thickness

Available design space with interfering geometry

Definition of the topology optimization

Benefits
HyperShape/CATIA, offering almost all features and capabilities of OptiStruct seamlessly integrated in CATIA V5, streamlines the design process workflow and leads to an overall reduced development effort. Within the familiar user interface of CATIA V5 the designer can define the design space, run an optimization and finally create the CAD model. The component developed in HyperShape/CATIA is more likely to be functional regarding weight, stiffness, eigenfrequencies, stress displacement and manufacturability and can be created faster due to less iteration cycles. HyperShape/CATIA helps to: Reduce development time through the rapid creation of best initial design concepts Find a load bearing capacity and optimal weight before the first CAD concept Reduce trial and error in the development process Find the optimum design for the desired manufacturing process

Final CAD design of gear bracket

Altair Engineering, Inc., World Headquarters: 1820 E. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, MI 48083-2031 USA Phone: +1.248.614.2400 Fax: +1.248.614.2411 www.altair.com info@altair.com

S-ar putea să vă placă și