EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011 Welcomes an Audience of 600

Transcript

Year 8 n° 4 Winter 2011
Multi-objective Optimization
with modeFRONTIER
Applied to Systems Biology
EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011
Welcomes an Audience of 600 CAE users
EnginSoft ha proposto una tavola rotonda
sulla competitività d’impresa
presso il nuovo centro di ricerca
Synergy between LS-DYNA
and modeFRONTIER to
Predict Low Velocity Impact
Damage on a Composite Plate
Structural Optimization of a
Car-body High Speed Train
An Innovative Analysis
and Design Methodology
Electromagnetic issues for a
IEEE 1902.1 “RuBee” tag dipped
in a fiber/composite laminate
FSO and Shuttle Tanker in
Tandem Configuration
Hydrodynamic Analysis
Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 -
3
EnginSoft Flash
CIRA, the Italian Aerospace Research Centre,
For many of us, December is a time for
illustrates the Synergy between LS-DYNA and
reflection, for harvesting the fruit of our
modeFRONTIER to predict low velocity
work and our personal efforts of the year.
impact damage on a composite plate. We
Our Simulation and CAE environments
hear from EnginSoft Nordic in Sweden on
almost constantly see new developments,
how multi-objective optimization is being
upcoming software releases and changes.
applied to systems biology. Here, we
We are asked to be always ready for the
encourage our readers to watch the movie
“new”. While this is sometimes a challenge
“Insulin Signaling (SignalPathways)” via the
for most of us, every year also brings many
link provided!
new human encounters. In our fields of
business, we can consider ourselves lucky
We are pleased to introduce our customer
to have the opportunity to meet people
and ANSYS user the company Almacis, and
from the CAE community, from around the
AMD, our partner in the area of High
world. While we learn about new and Ing. Stefano Odorizzi
Performance Computing.
different technologies, the human, the EnginSoft CEO and President
Digimat is a powerful software for material
engineer, its broad knowledge and
modeling which is now distributed in Italy by
experiences, always remain at the core of
EnginSoft. More software news covers the LIONsolver by
our attention.
Reactive Research, NVIDIA’s Tesla GPU, EnginSoft’s
By sharing our knowledge, especially on occasions such as
activities for composite materials with ESAComp and
the EnginSoft International Conference, we help to shape
ANSYS Composite Prep/Post as well as MAGMA’s release
the future path of CAE and to support the next generation
5.2. The powerful Sculptor tool allows users to
of CAE engineers.
parameterize any mesh based on arbitrary cubic bezier
In this Newsletter, we speak about the EnginSoft and
control points. Sculptor was recently presented by
ANSYS Italian Conferences 2011, the two annual events
EnginSoft GmbH at the ANSYS Conference and 29th
that offer one of the major knowledge platforms to CAE
CADFEM Users’ Meeting in Stuttgart.
users in Europe and beyond. ANSYS is the provider of the
world’s leading software for engineering simulation and
Furthermore, we hear about Gruppo Ferroli’s project with
EnginSoft’s number 1 partner. EnginSoft and ANSYS were
EnginSoft, the recent introduction of the BENIMPACT
delighted to welcome 600 delegates to Verona on 20th
project in China and about the Minimaster and the
and 21st October, to a wealth of topics on today’s use of
Training Programs of TCN and EnginSoft.
simulation and design tools.
Our Japan Column tells us about the CAE University while
In this issue, we also inform our readers about the Round
some of the activities of JANCAE, The Japan Association
Table Meeting of 100 Top Managers on the occasion of the
for Nonlinear CAE, are explained to us in the article by
opening of EnginSoft’s Research Center in the Scientific
Hideo Takizawa.
Technology Park ”Kilometro Rosso”. The use of ANSYS
Please mark your diary for the modeFRONTIER Users'
Maxwell v.14 is shown in the article on electromagnetic
Meeting 2012, which will be sponsored by ESTECO and
issues for a IEEE 1902.1 “RuBee” tag dipped in a
take place on 21st and 22nd of May 2012 in Trieste.
fiber/composite
laminate.
The
capabilities
of
We hope that you enjoy reading the articles on the
modeFRONTIER are described in AnsaldoBreda’s work for
following pages of this last Newsletter of 2011. We always
the structural optimization of a car-body high speed train.
welcome your thoughts, your feedback as well as your
Our readers also hear about the use of ANSYS AQWA and
ideas for future publications!
the ANSYS Workbench platform for the structural
verification of the FSO Mooring System complemented by
EnginSoft and the Editorial Team wish you and your
EnginSoft’s broad experiences as a partner to the Oil&Gas
families a very happy, healthy and a prosperous New Year
industries.
2012!
The Università degli Studi di Ferrara presents their work
with ANSYS CFX 13.0 while University of Debrecen Hungary
Stefano Odorizzi
informs us of how Grapheur can help its users with
multiple criteria decision- making problems.
Editor in chief
4 - Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4
Sommario - Contents
EVENTS
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8
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EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011: 600 partecipanti all’annuale appuntamento
EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011 welcomes an audience of 600 CAE users
EnginSoft ha proposto una tavola rotonda sulla competitività d’impresa presso il nuovo centro di ricerca
CASE STUDIES
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Electromagnetic Issues for a IEEE 1902.1 “RuBee” Tag Dipped in a Fiber/Composite Laminate
Structural Optimization of a Car-body High Speed Train - An Innovative Analysis and Design Methodology
FSO and Shuttle Tanker in Tandem Configuration Hydrodynamic Analysis Finalized to the Structural
Verification of the FSO Mooring System
FEM analysis in Oil&Gas Industry
Numerical Analysis of a Micro Gas Turbine Combustor Fed by Liquid Fuel
Reconsidering the Multiple Criteria Decision Making Problems of Construction Workers Using Grapheur
Synergy between LS-DYNA and modeFRONTIER to Predict Low Velocity Impact Damage on Composite Plate
Multi-objective Optimization with modeFRONTIER Applied to Systems Biology
TESTIMONIAL
31
Eccellenza tecnologica e qualità: Almacis
SOFTWARE/HARDWARE NEWS
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34
36
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CAE Simulations and Innovations within the High Performance Computing HPC
DIGIMAT per la modellazione avanzata dei materiali
LIONsolver: Learning and Intelligent Optimization
GPU Accelerated Engineering with ANSYS
EnginSoft continua l’attività sui materiali compositi
EVENTS
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39
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EnginSoft presenterà la release 5.2 di MAGMA a METEF 2012
La simulazione di processo nella progettazione di radiatori
modeFRONTIER Users’ Meeting 2012
EnginSoft GmbH Silver Sponsor at the ANSYS Conference & 29th CADFEM Users’ Meeting 2011
The EnginSoft Newsletter editions contain references to the following
products which are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners:
ANSYS, ANSYS Workbench, AUTODYN, CFX, FLUENT and any and all
ANSYS, Inc. brand, product, service and feature names, logos and slogans are
registered trademarks or trademarks of ANSYS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the
United States or other countries. [ICEM CFD is a trademark used by ANSYS,
Inc. under license]. (www.ansys.com)
modeFRONTIER is a trademark of ESTECO srl (www.esteco.com)
Flowmaster is a registered trademark of The Flowmaster Group BV in the
USA and Korea. (www.flowmaster.com)
MAGMASOFT is a trademark of MAGMA GmbH. (www.magmasoft.de)
ESAComp is a trademark of Componeering Inc.
(www.componeering.com)
Forge and Coldform are trademarks of Transvalor S.A.
(www.transvalor.com)
AdvantEdge is a trademark of Third Wave Systems
(www.thirdwavesys.com)
.
LS-DYNA is a trademark of Livermore Software Technology Corporation.
(www.lstc.com)
SCULPTOR is a trademark of Optimal Solutions Software, LLC
(www.optimalsolutions.us)
Grapheur is a product of Reactive Search SrL, a partner of EnginSoft
(www.grapheur.com)
For more information, please contact the Editorial Team
RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER
42
BENIMPACT Suite has landed in China
TRAINING
43
Alta formazione: TCN punta ad una specializzazione
sempre più avanzata
JAPAN CAE COLUMN
44
46
CAE Seminars in Japan “CAE UNIVERSITY”
NPO Activity for Implementation of Anisotropic
Elasto-plastic Models into Commercial FEM Codes
5
Newsletter EnginSoft
Year 8 n°4 -Winter 2011
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Corsi di addestramento software 2012
PAGE 8: ENGINSOFT CAE
CONFERENCE 2011 WELCOMES AN
AUDIENCE OF 600 CAE USERS
PAGE 12: ELECTROMAGNETIC ISSUES FOR
A IEEE 1902.1 “RUBEE” TAG DIPPED IN A
FIBER COMPOSITE LAMINATE
24126 BERGAMO c/o Parco Scientifico Tecnologico
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ASSOCIATION INTERESTS
PAGE 15: STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION OF A
CAR-BODY HIGH SPEED TRAIN
AN INNOVATIVE ANALYSIS AND
DESIGN METHODOLOGY
NAFEMS International
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www.nafems.org
TechNet Alliance
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RESPONSIBLE DIRECTOR
Stefano Odorizzi - [email protected]
PRINTING
Grafiche Dal Piaz - Trento
The EnginSoft NEWSLETTER is a quarterly
magazine published by EnginSoft SpA
Autorizzazione del Tribunale di Trento n° 1353 RS di data 2/4/2008
50
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EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011: 600
partecipanti all’annuale appuntamento
La Fiera di Verona ha ospitato l’edizione 2011 del maggiore
appuntamento in Italia dedicato al calcolo scientifico:
l’EnginSoft International Conference, CAE Technologies for
Industry e l’ANSYS Italian Conference.
Oltre 600 i congressisti, esperti ed opinion leader in metodi
e tecnologie CAE, che il 20 e 21 Ottobre scorso si sono
incontrati, presso il Centro Conferenze del polo fieristico di
Verona.
Molte le aziende presenti, tra cui: Ansaldo, Piaggio, Magneti
Marelli, Avio, Tetra Pak, Ferrari, Iveco, ENI, a dimostrazione
dell’utilizzo crescente del CAE in ambito industriale.
Tra gli obiettivi della Conference vi è stato quello di offrire
ai partecipanti una visione d’insieme del comparto,
attraverso il contributo di esponenti del mondo
dell'industria, dell'università e della ricerca e dai numerosi
sviluppatori di tecnologie intervenuti.
“La Conference – ha spiegato Stefano Odorizzi, CEO di
EnginSoft – è nata nel 1984 quando le tecnologie in fatto di
sperimentazione virtuale erano solo oggetto di ricerca da
parte delle università. Convinti che queste tecnologie
avrebbero avuto un’evoluzione importante, abbiamo deciso di
abbracciare la sfida e oggi continuiamo a perseguire
l’obiettivo di trasferire agli operatori del settore le
informazioni e le conoscenze relative a questi ambienti di
simulazione e supporto alla progettazione”.
Dopo la sessione plenaria di apertura che, oltre alla “Vision”
da parte del Vice Presidente di ANSYS Inc., ha ospitato un
mini simposio dedicato alla tematica del geo-modeling,
l’evento è continuato su sessioni parallele, ognuna delle quali
Fig. 2 - Scorcio della sala conferenze di Verona nel corso di uno dei workshop.
Fig. 1 - Stefano Odorizzi - CEO di EnginSoft - in sessione plenaria.
focalizzata su una macroarea tecnologica o applicativa:
meccanica, fluidodinamica, ottimizzazione, simulazione di
processo, compositi, ecc.
Di grande appeal sui partecipanti e di interesse perchè
d’attualità, l’esperienza presentata da Ansaldo Energia di
Genova in tema High Performance Computing. Stefano
Santucci, IT manager di Ansaldo, ha illustrato le ragioni della
migrazione da una struttura formata da sole workstation ad
un cluster in cui l’hardware distribuito e HPC non solo
convivono felicemente ma si integrano in un tuttuno
estremamente efficiente sia in termini di performance di
calcolo che di ritorno dell’investimento per tutta l’azienda.
Nel corso dei lavori relativi alla sessione sulla simulazione
meccanica sono stati presentati alcuni importanti progetti
tra i quali lo sviluppo di un’innovativo sistema di
contenimeto di argon liquido, commissionato dal CERN di
Ginevra, che consentirà di approfondire la ricerca scientifica
sui neutrini. EnginSoft ha inoltre illustrato il progetto di un
veicolo filoguidabile, realizzato in collaborazione con WASS,
finalizzato all’esplorazione subacquea sino a quattromila
metri di profondità.
La sessione dedicata alla simulazione CFD (Computational
Fluid Dynamics) ha, invece, reso evidente quello che è oggi,
rispetto al passato, il ruolo centrale del progettista che,
attraverso sofisticati strumenti di simulazione di cui può
disporre, ha l’opportunità di focalizzarsi principalmente
sull’aspetto ingegneristico del problema, delegando al
software l’onere di governare gli aspetti matematici di base.
Progettare in CFD oggi si traduce nella necessità di avere:
efficienti funzionalità di dialogo con i sistemi CAD, procedure
automatiche di meshing e parametrizzazione del modello.
Tema centrale della sessione dedicata all’ottimizzazione è
stata l’analisi dello stato dell’arte sulla simulazione multiobiettivo, tematica molto utilizzata in ambito automotive,
dimostrato dalle testimonianze di Ferrari, Iveco e
Continental.
Novità e successo di pubblico anche per il workshop dal
titolo “La progettazione delle strutture in materiale
composito” coordinato da Marco Perillo e dal suo team di
ingegneri. Scopo del seminario è stato quello di condividere
lo stato dell’arte dei metodi di progettazione e degli
strumenti di analisi strutturale sia sul piano
teorico/concettuale, sia sul piano applicativo.
A dimostrazione di molte tematiche verticali sostenute da
EnginSoft, grazie anche all’esperienza nel progetto
BENImpact, è stato inserito nel programma un workshop
dedicato all’utilizzo del CAE in campo ECO-Building e
progettazione sostenibile, il riscontro è stato notevolmente
positivo e ha dimostrato l’ottima integrazione del CAE anche
nelle tematiche “di frontiera”.
L’attività congressuale, inoltre, è stata affiancata da un’area
espositiva, in cui quasi 30 tra le più importanti software
house CAE, sviluppatori hardware e di applicazioni
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complementari hanno condiviso con i partecipanti le novità
relative ai loro prodotti.
Particolarmente emozionante la Cena di Gala organizzata
presso il vicino Museo dell’Auto e della Tecnica Nicolis. Qui i
visitatori, prima delle portate, hanno potuto osservare
automobili, motociclette e oggetti unici da collezione di
epoche differenti.
“Le tecnologie di simulazione rivoluzioneranno i processi
progettuali
attualmente
adottati
dalle
aziende
manifatturiere” ha concluso il CEO di EnginSoft. “Oggi si dice
che queste tecnologie si integrano nel processo progettuale;
in futuro oramai prossimo, queste tecnologie diventeranno il
processo progettuale”.
Con questo messaggio diamo ai lettori appuntamento
all’edizione 2012 della CAE Conference EnginSoft, sperando
di accrescere ulteriormente la community di analisti e
imprenditori che credono nell’innovazione attraverso
l’utilizzo delle tecnologie di sperimentazione virtuale.
Per ulteriori informazioni:
Luisa Cunico, EnginSoft
[email protected]
www.caeconference.com
ATTI DELLA CONFERENZA 2011
Sono disponibili in download gli atti della
Conferenza EnginSoft 2011 all’indirizzo:
www.enginsoft.com/proceedings2011
Fig. 3 - L’area espositiva in cui i congressisti hanno avuto l’opportunità di dialogare direttamente con i produttori di tecnologia presenti in sala.
EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011
welcomes an audience of 600
CAE users
The Exhibition Centre in Verona (Verona Fiere) hosted the
2011 edition of the major event in Italy on simulation
based engineering and sciences, the EnginSoft
International Conference, CAE Technologies for Industry,
and the ANSYS Italian Conference.
EnginSoft and ANSYS had the great pleasure of welcoming
over 600 attendees, among them many CAE experts and
opinion leaders, to the Congress Centre in Verona on 20th
and 21st October.
Representatives of large companies participated and
contributed to the conference program as well: Ansaldo,
Piaggio, Magneti Marelli, Avio, Tetra Pak, Ferrari, Iveco,
and ENI, to name just a few. Their involvement underlined
how CAE technologies are being used more and more in
industry.
One of the goals of the Conference was to offer the
participants an overall view of such technologies with
presentations from industry, universities, research
organizations, and technology developers.
“The Conference – explained Stefano Odorizzi, CEO of
EnginSoft – was organized for the first time in 1984, when
technologies in the field of virtual prototyping were just
studied in universities. At the time, we saw great
evolution, and this is what made us decide to invest in
these technologies. Today, our goal is to transfer as much
information and knowledge as possible about these
simulation and design tools to the experts in this field”.
Fig. 2 - Welcome desk at EnginSoft area.
Fig. 1 - Swaminathan Subbiah - Vice President, Corporate Product and
Market Strategy at ANSYS - during his speach talking about future
developments.
The Plenary Session that opened the event, featured the
“Vision” of the Assistant Director of ANSYS Inc. and a
Mini-Symposium on geo-modeling. Later on in the
afternoon, the program offered to the audience a number
of parallel sessions focused on different technological
fields: mechanics, fluid-dynamics, optimization, process
simulation, composites, etc.
One of the particularly captivating presentations on
current topics was the contribution by Ansaldo Energia of
9
Genova on High Performance
Computing. Stefano Santucci,
the IT manager of Ansaldo,
explained the reasons why the
company has left a structure
with only workstations for a
structure with a cluster, where
the distributed hardware and the
HPC were perfectly integrated
thus generating an efficient
computation performance and
ROI for the company.
In the session about mechanical
simulation, some important
projects were presented, such as
the
development
of
an
innovative storage system for
liquid argon - committed by
CERN (European Organization for Fig. 3 - Some beauties inside of the Nicolis Museum - Verona.
Nuclear Research) in Geneva –
occasion, before the dinner started, our guests from
that allows to perform in depth studies on neutrinos. On
around the world enjoyed a guided tour of the large
this occasion, EnginSoft explained the project of a wireexhibition rooms of the museum.
guided vehicle, implemented with WASS, for underwater
The CEO of EnginSoft closed the Conference saying that
exploration activities of up to 4000 m under sea level.
“Simulation technologies will radically change the design
The CFD session stressed the central role of the designer
processes currently used in manufacturing companies.
nowadays, compared to the past. Today, we can focus on
Now we are saying that such technologies are integrated
the engineering side of the problem, thanks to
in the design process; but in the next years they will be
sophisticated simulation tools, by entrusting the
the design process itself”.
management of the basic mathematical processes to the
With this message in mind, we ask our attendees and
software. Designing in CFD means: effective connections
readers to keep an eye out for the 2012 edition of the
with CAD systems, automatic mesh procedures and model
EnginSoft
International
CAE
Conference
parameterization. The session about optimization
www.CAEconference.com hoping that the Virtual
emphasized the state-of-the-art of multi-objective
Prototyping Community will grow further and further until
simulation, a topic commonly discussed in the automotive
we meet again!
field – as Ferrari, Iveco and Continental assured us.
The workshop titled “The design of structures in
composite materials”, managed by Marco Perillo and his
For more information:
team of engineers, also turned out to be a great success.
Luisa Cunico, EnginSoft
The workshop’s aim was to share the state-of-the-art of
[email protected]
the diverse design methods and the structural analysis
tools, both from a theoretical/conceptual and applicative
level.
Another interesting workshop was connected to the
CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 2011
BENImpact Project and the ECO-Building field. The results
2011 Conference Proceeding are now avaliable
were incredibly positive and demonstrated how perfectly
to download on:
CAE is integrated in the “frontier” topics.
www.enginsoft.com/proceedings2011
An important aspect of the annual event is the exhibition
area. This year, nearly 30 of the most well-known CAE
software houses showcased their hardware and software
products. The conference attendees could hear about the
latest developments and news in personal talks with some
of the developers.
Finally, another highlight was the Conference Gala Dinner,
held at the Nicolis’ Museum of Cars, Technology and
Mechanics, which houses a private collection of vintage
cars and motorbikes of Mr. Luciano Nicolis. On this
EnginSoft ha proposto una tavola
rotonda sulla competitività d’impresa
presso il nuovo centro di ricerca
Il 24 Novembre scorso si è tenuta a Bergamo, in occasione
dell’inaugurazione del nuovo Centro di Ricerca EnginSoft
presso il Parco Scientifico Tecnologico “Kilometro Rosso”,
una Tavola Rotonda dal titolo “Lean Design e Competitività
d’Impresa - Innovazione e moderni strumenti per il
management strategico”. All’evento, al quale hanno
partecipato oltre 100 Top Manager delle più importanti
imprese manifatturiere italiane mentre al tavolo dei relatori
si sono seduti: Roberto Formigoni (Presidente Regione
Lombardia), Alberto Bombassei (Vice Presidente
Confindustria), Antonello Briosi (Vice Presidente
Confindustria Trento), Mirano Sancin (Direttore Generale e
Consigliere Delegato del Parco Scientifico Tecnologico
Kilometro Rosso), Massimo Egidi (Presidente della
Fondazione Bruno Kessler), Giancarlo Michellone (già
Presidente di Area Science Park di Trieste e ora Presidente
GMC Consulting), Marie Christine Oghly (Presidente MEDEF,
Parigi), Sergio Savaresi (professore al Politecnico di Milano)
e Stefano Odorizzi (CEO EnginSoft).
Durante la tavola rotonda, condotta e moderata da Federico
Pedrocchi - giornalista scientifico di ‘Radio 24-Il Sole 24 Ore’,
gli opinion leader, provenienti dal mondo delle istituzioni,
dell’impresa e della ricerca scientifica si sono confrontati sul
tema dell’innovazione quale fattore chiave di successo e
competitività d’impresa anche, ma soprattutto, in tempo di
crisi di mercato.
È Alberto Bombassei ad entrare in tema affermando che “…
le strategie applicate dalla maggior parte delle aziende
italiane - non solo PMI - fondate sull’innovazione
incrementale e di processo, sostanzialmente finalizzate ad
abbattere i costi di produzione e migliorare la qualità dei
prodotti, non sono più sufficienti”. Aggiunge il presidente di
Brembo Spa “in un mercato Globale, dove i paesi in via di
sviluppo e con mano d’opera a basso costo la fanno da
padrone, occorre sempre più innovare per essere competitivi
e mantenere la leadership”. Gli fa eco Mirano Sancin,
Direttore Generale di Kilometro Rosso, che aggiunge“… è
l’innovazione radicale e di prodotto che contribuisce
maggiormente a spostare le attività economiche, e
produttive, da un’elevata concentrazione di manodopera
(sempre più difficile da reperire) ad una elevata
concentrazione di conoscenza (tipica dei sistemi più evoluti)
e ad aumentare la competitività delle imprese a livello
internazionale”.
Anche le istituzioni collaborano, con l’imprenditoria e la
ricerca strutturata, alla causa comune della competitività
dell’impresa-Italia attraverso veri e propri strumenti
finanziari costituiti dai Bandi. “Chi non ricerca non cresce” è
Fig. 1 - Alberto Bombassei, Vice Presidente di Confindustria, che commenta
il contesto di mercato entro cui le aziende italiane devono operare
lo slogan citato da Roberto Formigoni e promosso da Regione
Lombardia che nel biennio 2009-2010 ha stanziato fondi per
oltre 80 milioni di Euro destinati alla ricerca e all’innovazione
industriale. “Nonostante le difficoltà, le aziende virtuose
continuano ad innovare, innovare e ad investire nella crescita
– accenna il Governatore di Regione Lombardia - in un
momento di difficoltà generalizzata, le aziende investono in
ricerca per cercare nuovi margini di profitto e aprirsi a quel
contesto di conoscenza distribuita che caratterizza la società
moderna. È questo il dato positivo - conclude Formigoni - che
emerge dai primi risultati del Bando Regionale”.
“Le nuove tecnologie di simulazione e di analisi predittiva
sono di fatto riconosciute da molte aziende un’effettiva
rivoluzione dei processi progettuali” ha affermato Giancarlo
Michellone.
In questo contesto di ricerca applicata ed incubatore
tecnologico si inserisce a pieno titolo anche EnginSoft che da
tempo collabora con l’R&D di Brembo per la simulazione di
sistemi frenanti e con l’Istituto Mario Negri per applicazioni
farmacologiche: realtà entrambe insediate nel Parco
Scientifico. Con oltre 30 ricercatori ed ingegneri impiegati
Fig. 2 - Overview della platea di Imprenditori e Top Manager che hanno
partecipato alla tavola rotonda organizzata da EnginSoft a Bergamo
nella sede di Bergamo, l’azienda investe sul proprio futuro e
rilancia la presenza in Italia trasferendo una delle sedi
all’interno di un incubatore tecnologico d’eccellenza qual è il
Kilometro Rosso. “È dal 2007 che collaboriamo con il
Consorzio Intellimech e con altri laboratori di ricerca inseriti
nel Parco Scientifico Tecnologico - afferma Stefano Odorizzi,
Presidente di EnginSoft – in questi anni abbiamo toccato con
mano l’importanza di far parte di questa struttura che
condivide la nostra stessa mission: sviluppo di tecnologia e
innovazione”.
L’evento di oggi promosso da EnginSoft, in uno dei rari casi
in cui istituzioni, ricerca universitaria e impresa si riuniscono
a confronto su temi strategici e di vitale importanza per il
sistema-Italia, è la riprova del consenso e dell’autorevolezza
che l’azienda, negli anni, ha riscosso sul mercato.
Mosè Necchio - EnginSoft
[email protected]
11
La gestione progetto in ottica
Lean Design
Sviluppare processi di progettazione e sviluppo-prodotto
sempre più rapidi ed affidabili è oramai riconosciuta quale
una necessità strategica imprescindibile. È quanto è emerso,
in estrema sintesi, dal simposio di Bergamo. Per esplorare diverse alternative di soluzioni è necessario essere rapidi e
tempestivi nell’apprendere i limiti e le potenzialità di ciò che
stiamo ideando e progettando. La velocità e l’efficacia nell’esplorazione delle alternative, quindi, sono profondamente
legate alla capacità di sperimentazione attraverso un numero significativo di prototipi ognuno funzionale alla verifica
delle intenzioni di progetto e la loro corrispondenza alle necessità del cliente. Questo approccio, mediante l’impiego di
prototipi fisici, potrebbe richiedere tempo e risorse in numero incompatibile con il budget disponibile. Anche nei processi di innovazione-prodotto esistono forme di “spreco” definibile in: qualsiasi attività che non crea Valore per il cliente. Il
tema su cui riflettere è che tali sprechi non sono immediatamente visibili e non sono, quindi, facilmente aggredibili se
non attraverso le giuste metodologie per individuarli. La riprogettazione dei processi di innovazione-prodotto, in chiave sperimentazione virtuale, può liberare enormi energie
creative e di conoscenza che frequentemente sono già presenti negli uffici tecnici e di calcolo. EnginSoft, su questo
tema, sta elaborando e sviluppando iniziative ad hoc finalizzate a diffondere le metodologie di Lean Design con la relativa valutazione del ROI soprattutto attraverso l’impiego della Simulazione e della Sperimentazione Virtuale.
Electromagnetic Issues for a IEEE
1902.1 “RuBee” Tag Dipped in a
Fiber/Composite Laminate
The IEEE 1902.1 “RuBee”
communication standard
defines the air interface
for radiating transceiver
radio tags using long
wavelength signals (up to
450 kHz). Conforming
devices can have very low
power consumption (a
few
microwatts
on
average), while operating over medium ranges (0.5 to 30
meters) and at low data transfer speeds (300-9600 bps).
In this article, the approach to model a loop tag operating
at 131.072 kHz through ANSYS Maxwell v.14 is described
when the sensor is dipped in a multilayer fiber/composite
laminate. Some preliminary results are shown in terms of
input inductance and magnetic fields.
Free standing antenna modeling
Fig. 1 shows the prototype and the numerical ANSYS
Maxwell model of a magnetic loop antenna for the short
range “RuBee” protocol. The antenna (Fig.1a) is a 42mm
radius multi-turn coil made of 33 loops of a copper wire
with a section radius equal to 0.25mm. The numerical
model is made of a solid single wire with a circular section
Fig. 2 (a) - Prototype of the multi-turn microstrip coil and (b) Maxwell 3D
model. The PCB connector is visible in the bottom of Fig. 1a. The two side
copper plates are helpful to tune the antenna input impedance.
CPW fed antenna is made of 16 properly distanced 0.6mm
wide microstrip copper line turns.
The background scenario was modeled by imposing
radiation boundaries to the problem region in order to
simulate free emission into space. In the operational
environment, the latter could be a lossy and/or
conductive media like sea water and oil (see Table I for
more details) and it should be consequently modeled with
the correspondent electric characteristics.
Table I - Dielectric characteristics of some media compared with free space
Fig. 3 shows a sample of the electric current density along
the loop and on the solid wire section. The imposed
Fig. 1 (a) - Prototype of the 33-turn copper wire coil and (b) geometrical
details of the Maxwell 3D model. In the top of Fig. 1a the microstrip
feeding line and the PCB connector are visible.
radius rls equal to 0,143cm. As indicated in the bottom of
Fig. 1b, this value corresponds to the radius of a
circumference with a surface equal to the sum of the 33
wire sections.
The second element is a multi-turn printed loop on a
0.8mm thick FR4 laminate and it is shown in Fig. 2. The
Fig. 3 - Sample of the current density distribution along the loop
stranded current, constant on the wire section, is visible
in the bottom left detail and, as expected, the current is
constant along the loop.
Fig. 4 shows a sample of the magnetic induction
distribution in a plane containing the loop axis. This B
field distribution is a well-known result, according to
basic electromagnetic theory. Indeed, the loop length is
much smaller than the free space wavelength at 131 kHz
(around 2.3km), so resulting in an elementary loop
design. For such elements the near field is mainly
magnetic and completely decoupled by the electric field.
13
some other aspects could
make the printed square
loop preferable, like its
mechanical stability and
the
more
accurate
repeatability
of
the
prototyping.
Table II shows the
simulated and measured
values of the input
inductance for the two
configurations. For the
solid loop case, the
calculated
value
is
obtained
from
a
correspondent analytical
Fig. 6 - H field distribution along the
loop axis for the wire solid ring and the
printed microstrip square loop.
Table II Input inductance for the two antenna configurations
Fig. 4 - Sample of the magnetic induction in a plane orthogonal to the
sweep.
Even if the device is an antenna, this consideration
justifies the use of ANSYS Maxwell 3D rather than ANSYS
HFSS because the magnetic near field characterization
provided by Maxwell 3D fully satisfies the design
requirements.
model and this is in good agreement with the simulated
one. The measured inductance is around 10% less than the
previous cases. This disagreement results from the
mismatch between the transverse section areas of the
solid loop of the simulated and calculated cases and the
33-turn one of the prototype (see the bottom detail of
Fig.1b). A 0.9 fill factor (Fig.1a) corresponding to the
missing lighter areas of the prototype with respect to the
numerical models should be considered to compensate it.
An excellent agreement between simulations and
measurements is apparent for the printed element.
Electromagnetic modeling and analysis of the
composite laminate
The two prototypes would be dipped in a composite
material as shown in the sample of Fig. 7.
A composite laminate can be schematized as a stack-up of
several plies, each of them made of a sheet of fibers filled
Fig. 5 - Details of the mesh characteristics for the microstrip printed loop
Fig. 5 shows a sample of the mesh for the microstrip
printed square loop. Around 161000 tetrahedra were used
for the computational domain and around 24000 for the
loop. For the solid wire loop 61000 tetrahedra were
necessary for the computational domain and 14000 were
used for the loop.
Fig. 6 shows the H field distribution along the loop axis,
for both configurations. The H field is higher for the wire
loop, suggesting the use of this antenna type. However,
Fig. 7 - Sample of
rectangular loop dipped
in a fiberglass composite
laminate.
isotropic, in the sense that only their intrinsic dielectric
characteristics are known.
On the other hand, the structures in Fig. 8b and c are
generally anisotropic, as a result of the applied
methodology. The permeability and permittivity tensors
need to be calculated according to the material properties
and to the problem geometry, as:
Fig. 8 - Single composite ply: (a) schematic model, (b) equivalent model for
the intermediate fiber/resin layer, (c) equivalent model for each single ply
where:
and g is a function of the ratio between the fiber and the
resin volume in the intermediate layer of Fig. 8a.
Fig. 9 shows the Maxwell 3D model with 4 plies above and
4 plies below the wire antenna.
Fig. 9 - Example of a composite laminate made of 8 plies: 4 above and 4
below the wire loop antenna
with some dielectric resin, as shown in Fig. 8a. An df thick
intermediate layer made of some fibers and resin lies
between two dr thick single layers of resin. This structure
could generally be dissipative, conductive and
anisotropic, the latter depending on the characteristics
and the distribution of the fibers.
Each ply has been modeled in Maxwell 3D, including all
the material anisotropies and dielectric properties. The
work on the analysis of the effect of a number of plies up
to 64 is in progress. They have been fully parameterized
in order to take into account a number of possible ply
configurations and materials.
An effective approach to model this structure is to define
an equivalent layer for each ply. Many models have been
recently presented, resorting to different approaches but
all of them afford a specific problem without deeply
challenging a general approach. In the framework, the
approach to model an equivalent layer for each ply is to
apply the method described in for the intermediate layer
of Fig. 8a, in order to get an equivalent anisotropic
intermediate one, shown in Fig.8b.
Conclusions
In this work, the approach to analyze the electromagnetic
performance of a tag antenna for the IEEE 1902.1 “Rubee”
protocol has been described through the use of ANSYS
Maxwell. Preliminary results have been shown in terms of
radiated magnetic field and input inductance for both
numerical models and prototypes. Simulated and
measured results are in excellent agreement, proving the
tool reliability. The methodology to model a multi-ply
composite fiber material has been defined and numerical
analyses on the antennas’ performance in its presence will
be the main topic of some future investigations.
Then, a circuital approach can be applied to the multilayer structure shown in Fig. 8b to result in a single layer
equivalent anisotropic model. It is worth noticing that all
the constitutive materials (fibers and resin) in Fig. 8a are
Andrea Serra, EnginSoft
[email protected]
Thanks to Federica Bolognesi, IDNOVA
15
Structural Optimization of a Car-body
High Speed Train - An Innovative
Analysis and Design Methodology
In the past, the main challenge was to achieve a
very high speed, but today the criteria such as
energy efficiency, high transport capacity,
comfort and low environmental impact are
becoming more and more important. For this
reason the philosophy of AnsaldoBreda is to
combine a settled design process with
innovative approaches to optimize the
reliability, safety, low power consumption and an
easy maintenance. In order to be competitive in
the market, especially in this economically
challenging period, it is necessary to push the
envelope of the available technologies to ensure
compliance with top level quality standards.
A new methodology approach has been developed by
exploiting the new capabilities of the multi-objective
design environment modeFRONTIER and it has been applied
to the design of the carbody structure of a new generation
of High Speed trains.
In this context, the aim of the activity was the design
optimization of the aluminum carbody structure in terms of
weight and dynamic behavior, respecting all project
constraints according to the high standard
structural and crash requirements of European
EN 12663 - Category P-ll (Fixed units) and TSI
Rolling Stock.
Starting from the CAD model of the original
configuration, the FE comprehensive parametric
model has been developed by ANSYS APDL
procedure
and
integrated
into
the
modeFRONTIER optimization platform to achieve the
requested goals. The FE parametric model has been divided
into two different main parts:
1. The central parts of the carbody (named “fuselage”) – as
shown in fig.1a;
2. The terminal tapered parts of the carbody – as shown in
fig.1b.
The fuselage geometry (fig.2) is completely parametric in
terms of:
Fig.2 - Section profile of carbody
a) number of the profile reinforcements;
b) angle, position of reinforcements;
c) thickness of reinforcements;
d) thickness of external and internal skin of
profiles.
The aims of the optimization process of a
carbody in modeFRONTIER are:
a. Minimizing weight
b. Maximizing two first own frequencies
Fig. 1a - Fuselage Parametric part of high speed train: it has been completely development in
ANSYS APDL. Fig. 1b: No -parametric part of high speed train: terminal tapered parts are fixed
geometry
with the following constraints:
a. Max Von-Mises stress for static analysis
b. Max Von-Mises stress for equivalent crash analysis
c. Max Von-Mises stress for fatigue analysis
d. Min buckling factor for linear instability analysis
The original configuration, only referred to the parametric
part of the carbody, weighs 5.927 Tons. The main goal is the
weight reduction by min. 500 Kg, maintaining the first
bending frequency of 11 Hz.
The static structural analysis and fatigue analysis have been
performed for both welded and unwelded region (fig.3),
which have different material features:
Only the modal analysis has been performed to find out the
best region for weight and frequency with no timeconsuming run (less than 1 hour on the cluster machine).
The results of this first optimization loop has been used as
a starting DOE (Design of Experiment) for the second one,
where objectives/constraints related to displacement under
pressure loads and to the 5-6 strongest load cases (fig. 4)
have been introduced. This step is more time-consuming
than the first one (5 hours on the cluster machine).
After these optimization loops, some variables have been
changed in agreement with AnsaldoBreda, and the final
Fig.3 - Section of a carbody structure
Due to the high number of time-consuming simulation and
the high number of input variables, a progressive approach
has been studied for the optimization analysis. Therefore,
the optimization analysis has been carried out in three
steps:
• Step1: Screening, driving towards the best designs
region;
• Step2: Rough refinement, including the most important
constraint conditions;
• Step3: Final refinement, achieving the optimal
solutions.
optimization run has been done to achieve the best
solutions. Since this step was really time-consuming (15
hours on the cluster), the problem has become to monoobjective: only the weight has been considered, while the
other objective has become constraints (fig. 5). The set of
best designs belonging to the new Pareto frontier has been
verified for each operative load condition and the best
designs have been chosen using decision making tools.
The optimal designs selected on the basis of stress and
weight values have a considerable variation of both external
and internal skin thickness, which can cause manufacturing
problems. In order to avoid such problems, another post
processing analysis has been done to find out Pareto
solutions with a homogeneous distribution of thickness
A total of 23 different working -load cases have been
considered, with an additional specific comfort requirement
about Static Pressure load (-8 KPa inside Tunnel) which
constrained the side walls
displacements (Uy < 3mm and
Uz < 4.5 mm)
The whole simulation took 3
weeks on cluster machine with
8 parallel simulation (32 core).
The first optimization step has
been carried out taking into
account the two most important
objectives of the problem
(increase of frequency and
weight reduction) which lead
the designs to the best region
Fig.4a - History of weight convergence
and allows to reduce the design
(green points: 1st optimization loop; blue points:
space of the input variables.
2nd optimization loop).
Fig.4b - displacements in y direction (mm)
along external and internal skin. New post
processing using “parallel chart” applied on
best design has been carried out in order to
find a suitable solution matching the new
requirements introduced a-posteriori (fig. 6).
Table II shows the comparison between the
best design selected at the end of the
optimization analysis (Design ID 378) and the
best design after the last post processing
considering a thickness uniformity (Design ID
339).
Thanks to the implemented methodology and
the optimization routine, a considerable weight
reduction has been reached. The chosen
solution, Design ID 339, has a weight reduction
of 546 Kg (- 9.2%) and it has a more uniform
thickness variation which simplifies the carbody
manufacturing.
This work aims to shows how to exploit new
design methodologies and new technologies in
order to manage industrial design processes
that involve a large number of variables (more
than 50), several constraints and objectives,
finding the best solution according to industrial
timing.
It is possible to summarize the most important
steps of this activity, as follows:
• The design optimization procedure
developed has been completely automated:
this allowed to make the most of all
available hardware and software resources,
completely exploiting the downtime (nights
and holidays).
• The requested weight reduction has been
achieved respecting every structural and
comfort requirements: this has totally
fullfilled the expectations of the
modeFRONTIER industrial users.
• The
additional
requirement
about
manufacturing has been fulfilled without rerun any analysis thanks to the new
methodology approach: this has been
possible thanks to the really powerful
capabilities of the post-processing tools of
modeFRONTIER.
• The optimization methodology can be
completely re-used for other design
processes: this activity was dedicated to a
specific carbody but this approach can be
easily adapted also to other railway
vehicles.
Francesco Franchini, Enginsoft
[email protected]
Fig.5 - The workflow of modeFRONTIER with all input and output variables, the final
objective and constraints
Table I - The table above summarize the optimization strategy adopted.
The total number of design has been run in 20 days
Fig.6a - Parallel chart of the best designs
Fig.6b - The selected design (Design ID
339) with homogeneous thicknesses
Table II - comparison between the original solutions and the optimized solutions
Table III - Thickness comparison of the side walls of fuselage (profile ref. 5-6-7-8)
17
FSO and Shuttle Tanker in Tandem
Configuration Hydrodynamic Analysis
Finalized to the Structural Verification
of the FSO Mooring System
Strength and Fatigue Verifications of an FSO
mooring system have been performed
basing the results on proper hydrodynamic
analysis (developed inside ANSYS-AQWA)
and structural analyses (developed inside
ANSYS-Workbench) of the system and
relevant components.
Hydrodynamic Analysis
The FSO (109.000 DWT), operated by
Edison, is moored on the Rospo Mare Offshore Oil Field. The
FSO mooring is guarantees via 6 chains connected to a
rotating turret, installed at the FSO bow. During the oil
offloading operation, the Shuttle Tanker (45.000 DWT) is
moored, via an hawser, at the FSO aft end.
The offloading operation takes place under proper sea
conditions, with waves characterized by significant height
(Hs) ad zero up-crossing period (Tz). To each sea state,
consistent current and wind have been accounted for.
The hydrodynamic model (performed inside Ansys-AQWA
suite), simulating the FSO and the Shuttle Tanker (this one
moored, at its stern, to a Tug via a mooring cable), refers
both to aligned and misaligned meteo conditions (current
incoming at 50 degrees with respect to wave direction,
wind incoming at 25 degrees with respect to wave
direction).
On the model (FSO + Shuttle Tanker + mooring lines), time
domain hydrodynamic analysis has been performed for each
defined sea-state, obtaining, for each mooring chain and
for the hawser connecting FSO and Shuttle Tanker, the axial
tension as function of time.
In order to check the strength resistance of mooring
components (such as Chain Stoppers and 'Ecubier') installed
at the rotating turret, besides hydrodynamic analyses under
offloading conditions, also hydrodynamic analyses of FSO in
moored condition, for extreme storm case (100 years return
period), have been performed.
Strength and Fatigue Verification of
Chain-Stopper and “Ecubier”
Based on results of hydrodynamic analysis performed for
both extreme and offloading conditions, strength and
fatigue verifications of Chain Stopper and ‘Ecubier’ have
been performed.
Strength checks have been based on results obtained from
contact non-linear analysis performed of Finite Element
Model of Ecubier + Chain Stopper under extreme load
case (practically the chain minimum breaking load).
Fatigue checks have been developed according to
spectral approach as required by DNV OS-E301
(Position Mooring), assuming proper S/N curve data
as reported in DNV RP-C203 (Fatigue Design of
Offshore Steel Structures).
The assumed hypothesis at the base of fatigue
spectral approach is that the stress range, S, is a
random variable characterized by a probability
density equal to p(S) and that, for each sea-state, the
number of cycles having stress variation in the range of S
and S+dS is directly related to ni p(S), where ni is the total
number of cycles of that sea-state.
Based on this and on the fact that, for offshore structures,
the probability density of stress ranges, p(S), can
adequately be represented by a Rayleigh distribution, the
Fig. 1 - Hydrodinamic Model of FSO, Mooring Lines, Shutter Tanker
Fig. 2 - Von Mises Stress distribution on Ecubier and Chain Stopper
19
damage, Di, for the i sea-state, is given by the following
relation:
Fig. 3 - Finite Element Model of Ecubier and Chain Stopper
where a and m are factors of S/N curve (C curve has been
considered for fatigue verification of Ecubier and Chain
Stopper), while σs is the standard deviation of S
distribution.
Finally, based on Miner-Palmgreen relation, the total
damage, D, due to the summation of damages of each seastate, Di, is:
Enrico Miorin, Fabiano Maggio, Livio Furlan
EnginSoft
Fig. 4 - S/N Curves in sea-water with cathodic protection
Livio Furlan, EnginSoft
[email protected]
Design and FEM Analyses in Offshore and
Oil&Gas Industry
Besides competencies in Automotive, Aerospace and Industrial Engineering
Simulations, EnginSoft has knowledge also in the Design and Analyses voted to the
Oil&Gas and Offshore Industry. Many consultancy activities have been performed via
collaborations with the most important Italian players in this sector: ENI, Saipem,
Tecnomare, MIB Italiana, Petrolvaves, Cameron, FBM, Officine Resta, Nuovo Pignone,
ATB, Foster Wheeler.
EnginSoft can supply a full range of services covering projects entire design route,
from the earliest conceptual studies passing through FEED and basic design up to
detailed design and installation engineering.
The following list reports some of the Oil&Gas Business Unit competences:
• Conceptual and detailed design and structural analysis of fixed offshore platforms
(jacket, top-sides, buoyancy tanks, stiffened structures)
• Design and analysis of subsea foundation templates
• Design and analysis of pressure vessels, valves, piping, rack, etc.
• Design and analysis of subsea manifold (even for installation, repairing and retrieval operations)
• Detailed structural analysis of structural parts (Hulls, Deck, etc.) of Semi-Submersible Vessels
• Detailed structural assessment of steel Gravity Based Structures (GBS) including stiffened plate code checks
• Detailed design and structural analysis of risers and FPSO's mooring connectors
• Revamping of fixed offshore platforms (assessment of structural reliability- re-certification and life extension), fracture and fatigue assessment of installed jacket structures (risk analysis)
• Motion Analysis of Floating Vessels (even for Marine Pipeline Installations)
The BU, which is located in EnginSoft Padova Office and is coordinated by Livio Furlan, has high skills also in the field
of structural and mechanical applications in general (as an example the design and analysis of Roller Coaster structures
and cars or the design of large valves for hydroelectric power plants).
Livio Furlan, EnginSoft - [email protected]
Numerical Analysis of a Micro Gas
Turbine Combustor Fed by Liquid Fuel
This work presents a CFD analysis of the combustion
chamber of a 50 kWel nominal power micro gas turbine. The
purpose of the analysis is to investigate the combustion
process and performance of the combustion chamber fed by
liquid fuels, through 3D numerical simulations performed
with ANSYS CFX 13.0. Firstly, a sensitivity analysis was
carried out in order to determine the parameters for the
correct modeling of the liquid injection. Then, a simulation
campaign was conducted to investigate the case of Jet A
feeding and the supply with different liquid fuels deriving
from biomass.
Introduction
Nowadays micro gas turbine (MGT) are one of the more
flexible and effective system for the distributed and
residential micro cogeneration, due to their compact size,
the low operating and maintenance costs, their greater
overall conversion efficiency and reduced environmental
impact. The continuous flow operation of this system offers
a greater flexibility with respect to the unsteady process of
internal combustion engines that imposes constraints on
fuel characteristics. In particular, MGTs can be supplied with
fuel (both gaseous and liquid), characterized by a higher
level of contamination thanks to their greater adaptability
to different fuel supply. Among the renewable sources, an
increasing interest has been shown in fuels derived from
biomass since they are a predictable source, allowing the
distributed grid-connected generation without causing
discontinuities in the electric grid and frequency
instabilities.
At the same time, vegetable oils have gained attention
since they can be low-cost fuels and allow to implement
systems for the distributed energy production. MGTs are not
well-established systems for straight vegetable oil feeding,
yet, because the combustion of these oils had to be
investigated due to the opposite physical and chemical
characteristics, such as the chemical composition, the lower
heating value (LHV), the molecular mass, the density and
the viscosity, compared to diesel, biodiesel, dieselvegetable oils and their mixtures. In fact, the combustion
performance depends on the atomization process and spray
characteristics, which are directly related to the fuel
composition and its physical properties, in particular the
high viscosity of vegetable oils. The study presented below
regards the preliminary analyses performed on a MGT
combustion chamber fed by conventional fuel (Jet A), in
order to find the correct settings for the simulation of
biofuel feeding.
Computational domain and numerical models
Geometry. The numerical analysis have been conducted on
the combustion chamber of Solar T62-T32, a micro gas
turbine of 50 kWel nominal power, fed by diesel fuel. The
combustion chamber (Figure 1a) is a reverse-flow annular
type combustor, with six fuel injectors, 24 dilution holes
and a series of holes for the cooling of the liner wall. The
air from the compressor enters the combustion chamber in
counter-current with respect to the combustion gases,
passing through the space between the external wall and
the liner’s wall. The solid domain of the combustion
chamber (Figure 1b) was obtained from the direct
measurement of the real geometry (Fig. 1a). Thanks to the
periodicity of the number of fuel nozzles, dilution holes and
wall cooling holes, the fluid domain was reduced to a 60°
annular sector of the combustor (Figure 1c).
Figure 1 - (a) real combustor geometry, (b) solid domain, (c) grid of the fluid domain.
21
parameters that better predict the
behavior of this type of combustor,
sensitivity analyses on the boundary
conditions have been carried out.
Boundary conditions influence
One of the ways to reduce the particle
spray diameter and, therefore, to obtain a
finer spray, is to increase the atomizing air
mass flow, which also applies to high
viscous fuels. A larger flow of atomizing air
can be obtained by modifying the bypass
Figure 2 - Comparison of the results of the air/fuel ratio variation: temperature distributions.
from the main machine compressor or by
adding external air from an auxiliary
compressor. So the influence of the air
mass flow coming from the compressor has
been evaluated. The air mass flow to fuel
mass flow ratio, AFR, was varied from the
standard value of 70 to 50 (rich
combustion) and 100 (lean combustion).
Figure 2 shows the comparison of the
temperature contour plots in the nozzle
mid plane: the flame increases in terms of
extension and intensity as α increases, as
Figure 3 - Comparison of the results of the particles’ diameter variation.
expected. The quantitative results showed
that the values of the turbine inlet
Grid. Two unstructured tetrahedral grids with an overall
temperature (TIT) and pollutant emissions, such as NOx and
number of elements approximately equal to 1.5 and 2.5
CO, of the case of standard air/fuel ratio (ARF = 70) are in
million respectively were generated using ANSYS ICEM CFD.
good accordance with the measured pollutant
Both grids are characterized by a uniform distribution of the
concentrations and the calculation of the TIT by means of a
elements inside the domain, with a more refined mesh
gas turbine Cycle Deck. For these reasons, an air/fuel ratio
inside the nozzle and combustion zone.
of 70 was chosen for the subsequent simulations.
The sensitivity analysis of the grid showed that both grids
achieved the numerical convergence and were robust with
Spray parameters influence
compared to the overall performances of the combustor. For
The simulation of liquid fuel combustion has been carried
these reasons the 1.5 million elements grid (Fig. 1c) was
out defining a particle injection region placed nearby the
used in the numerical analyses presented below.
fuel inlet surface, which is closed to the exit of the fuel
injection duct. Sensitivity analyses concerning the diameter
Numerical models and boundary conditions. The numerical
of the particles injected into the combustor and the angle
models adopted are: the k-ε for turbulence, the Eddy
of the injection cone have been performed: in particular,
Dissipation (EDM) for combustion with a 2-steps reaction
three diameter sizes (1, 10, 20 µm) and three injection
scheme and a PDF model as the NOx formation method. A
cone angles (10°, 20°, 30°) were investigated.
particle injection region and the TAB (Taylor Analogy
Breakup), as secondary breakup model, were set at the fuel
In the case of variation of the particle diameter, the flow
inlet surface in order to model the fuel spray, while the
field and the temperature distributions in the nozzle mid
primary breakup was not activated. An adiabatic boundary
plane have not presented significant modifications. The
condition was set for all the combustor walls. Fuel inlet
values of TIT and pollutant emissions (NOx and CO)
boundary condition was set according to the data provided
calculated at the outlet surface of the combustor has
by the manufacturer, while the air mass flow value was
decreased as the particle diameter has increased, according
obtained from literature. All the numerical simulations were
to the liquid fuel combustion phenomena. The evaporation
performed with ANSYS CFX 13.0.
time of the particles has increased as they have increased
in size, while the particle traveling distance has increased
CFD Analysis of the combustion chamber
in an irregular way, as shown in Figure 4. A great increase
Case of conventional fuel feeding
has occurred passing with diameter between 10 and 20 µm
In these cases the simulation regards the supply with
and a decrease has occurred with a diameter between 1 and
conventional fuel, so the Jet A fuel of the CFX material
10 µm. This was probably due to the size of the grid
library has been used. In order to determine the simulation
elements. Nevertheless, numerical values were in
Figure 4 - Comparison of the results between Jet A and mock biofuels: particle traveling distance and temperature
distribution.
accordance with it. When the spray cone angle has varied,
the vaporization time and the traveling distance of the
particles increased as the cone angle has increased.
Temperature values into the primary combustion zone are
lower in the case of a cone angle of 30°; the TIT value
decrease accordingly. An anomalous behavior occurred when
cone angle of 20°: there is a reduction of the particle
traveling distance and the evaporation time; the TIT value
is in accordance with the other simulated cases.
According to the results of the sensitivity analyses already
performed, an air/fuel ratio of 70, a diameter of 10 µm for
the particle injection and a spray cone angle of 30° have
been chosen for all the simulation presented below.
Case of vegetable oil fuel feeding
Subsequently, some simulations have been performed in
order to investigate the behavior of the combustor in case
of feeding with liquid fuel derived from biomass. As first
attempt, two mock biofuel have been created starting from
the Jet A characteristics and modifying only some of the
parameters (density and viscosity values), in order to
determine the influence of a single parameter each time.
The density value, equal to 914 kg/m3 at 20 °C and the
dynamic viscosity value, equal to 40 cP at 20 °C, comes
from a direct measurement of a sample of rapeseed oil
derived from dedicated crops (experimental crops realized
within a research project on short energy chain). As a
reference, default Jet A density and viscosity values at 20
°C are 780 kg/m3 and 1.5 cP, respectively.
Figure 4 shows that the temperature distributions of the
mock biofuels differ from the Jet A feeding in terms of
intensity and flame morphology. The maximum temperature
values in the mock biofuel cases are higher than the ones
in Jet A case within the primary combustion zone, and the
flame of Jet A case is more stable and there is less variation
in temperature values. In terms of flame morphology, the
base of the flame starts at the nozzle exit in Jet A case,
while in mock biofuel cases it seems to even start inside the
nozzle. The highest values
in the primary combustion
zone are probably due to
the lower flow velocity that
produces an increase in the
residence time, which come
out from the analysis of the
velocity field and the
particle traveling distance
pattern. The average values
of TIT, NOx and CO
calculated at the outlet
surface of the combustor
are not influenced by the
density
and
viscosity
variation.
Conclusions
The aim of this work is to study the combustion phenomena
related to the liquid fuel feeding of the annular combustion
chamber of a micro gas turbine with an electric power of 50
kW. The main parameters of the fuel spray were investigated
in the case of conventional fuel supply (Jet A) setting
different values of particle diameter and cone injection
angle. No significant modifications in terms of flow field
and temperature distributions were noticed from the
sensitivity analyses on spray parameters. The values of TIT
and pollutant emissions (NOx and CO), calculated at the
outlet surface of the combustor, decrease as the particle
diameter increases, according to liquid fuel combustion
phenomena. The evaporation time of particle and the
particle traveling distance increase as dimension and cone
angle increase, leading to slower combustion and, at the
same time, a longer flame in the combustor. Particles with
a diameter of 1 µm present an anomalous behavior in terms
of the particle traveling distance and mean particle
diameter, which is probably due to the size of the grid
elements.
Subsequently, a numerical analysis was performed in case of
biofuel supplying. A mock biofuel was used by setting the
values of density and viscosity of a rapeseed vegetable oil
obtain from mechanic extraction of dedicated crops. The
setup of the model parameters was performed by starting
from the sensitivity analyses carried out in case of Jet A
feeding. The analysis of the particle track shows that there
is an increase in the particle traveling distance and the
particle time as the fuel viscosity increases and the
consequent increase of the residence time. This leads to
higher temperature values inside the primary combustion
zone. The global performance of the combustor (TIT and
pollutant emissions) are not influenced by changes in
density and viscosity.
Michele Pinelli, Anna Vaccari
Università degli Studi di Ferrara
23
Reconsidering the Multiple Criteria
Decision Making Problems of
Construction Workers Using Grapheur
We are dealing with a series of multiple criteria decision
making problems and analysis related to Canadian
construction projects including waste management,
productivity improvement, human and IT factors, emergy
based lifecycle, and process optimization.
The urgent increase of using IT in construction projects has
been considered as one way to improve the process of
solving our problems. Construction project managers have
to make tough decisions. They have been considering
different IT tools and would like to invest on getting better
data analysis tools for enhancing their decisions. However,
making critical decisions for complicated and multiple
criteria construction projects problems in which huge
amount of data are involved is not a simple task to do. As
the data-sets of our problems are often huge they can not
easily be handled with the traditional means of data
analysis. In order to better manage the data collected and
make the most of our data-sets, we utilized the advanced
interactive visualization tools provided by Grapheur and
reconsidered our problems. Here the idea for solving the
multiple criteria decision making problems is to visually
model and clarify the whole dimension of problems. The
effectiveness and performance of the interactive
visualizations, made by Grapheur, are evaluated along with
a number of our case study related to construction workers.
As the main result, the 7D plots and the option of sweeping
through data have been found very useful for our
applications. The achieved hidden information through
Grapheur’s visualization tools would enhance our further
decisions.
Introduction to Grapheur
Grapheur is a data mining, modeling and interactive
visualization package implementing the Reactive Business
Intelligence approach, which connects the user to the
software through automated and intelligent self-tuning
methods on the basis of visualization. The principles of
Grapheur were originated from researches on Reactive
Search Optimization. The user friendly and innovative
interface of provided visualization, via an interactive multiobjective optimization, facilitates the process of making
tough decisions. Grapheur is a handy and simple tool which
frees the mind from software complications and
concentrates on mining the useful information data. It puts
the user in an interactive loop, rapidly reacting to first
results and visualizations to direct the subsequent efforts,
in order to suit the needs and preferences of the decision
maker. The Reactive Search is utilized within Grapheur to
integrate some machine learning techniques into search
heuristics for visualization of complex optimization
problems and interactive decision making accordingly. In
Reactive Search for self-adaptation in an autonomic
manner, we benefit from the past history of the search and
the knowledge accumulated while moving in the
configuration space.
Grapheur sample visualizations
In one of the building construction projects a number of
workers were surveyed with questionnaires and
observations. Each row of our data-set is a construction
worker with the corresponding columns, characterized by a
series of parameters which are the ID and photo of each
person, work time, looking for materials, looking for tools,
specialization, moving, instruction, idleness and the other
characteristics of the construction workers. The primary
result of our survey clearly notes the urgent need for
training programs to improve workers’ skill levels. However,
the decision-making on how and with what rate the training
programs should be arranged is not a simple task and it has
to be considered from different perspectives and criteria. In
order to learn how the training programs would affect team
efficiencies, spirit, and perceptions of supervision,
Grapheur, the flexible and powerful Business Intelligence
and Interactive Visualization is utilized. With the aid of
provided data mining and visualization some useful and
hidden information are achieved which would enhance the
process of solving the multiple criteria decision making
problems of our case. After clarifying the dimension of the
problem and finding out the relation between involved
parameters and objectives, the effective decisions are easily
made.
1. Supporting the decisions on workers’ skills
Here the idea for solving the multiple criteria decision
making problems is to visually and effectively model the
problems and clarify the whole dimension of them. For
instance we are trying to find out with which rate and how,
the workers’ level of skills should grow in order to maintain
their performance with regard to team perceptions of
supervision. In order to study a part of this problem, we are
considering the similarity map and the parallel filters for
optimizing the idleness characteristic of the workers. The
related multidimensional plot of the networks is created
based on the collected data from the workers. The color
code represents the specialization of the workers and the
size of the bubbles is proportional to the idleness of
workers. In our similarity map of the graphical
visualization, the gray level of the edges and the generated
displays the looking for tools characteristic of the workers.
In this figure (Fig. 2 a) we have found clustering tool very
useful for a deep understanding of the different groups of
workers. In this case, workers could be grouped according
to the given characteristics. After grouping, one prototype
case for each cluster is selected which is indeed a very
effective way of compressing the information and
concentrating on a relevant subset of possibilities.
Fig. 1a - and similary map
3. Sweeping though different characteristics of workers;
tracking and examining the problem with the aid of
animated graphs
In the previous figure (Fig. 2 a), the relationship among
work time, specialization, idleness status, looking for
materials, and looking for tools characteristics of the
construction workers were visualized. Moreover, sweeping
though data and studying the generated animations on
sweeping is an effective tool for further visualization along
with advancing a particular objective. For instance, in our
next visualization experience the previous graph is
reconsidered by sweeping though looking material, Idleness
and skill level as the time advances (illustrated in Fig. 2 b).
Fig. 1b - Parallel filter
clusters provide valuable information for the decision
maker. In the following figure and with the provided video
the capability of the similarity map for an effective
clustering of the workers into meaningful clusters is
illustrated (Fig. 1 a).
The parallel filters (Fig. 1 b) are other useful tools for
optimization. The usefulness of parallel filters in reducing
the complexity of the process of decision making is
evaluated. We start from the matrix of work time in a
multidimensional space while aiming at filtering particular
workers and examining their performance within a particular
group e.g. those who have had maximum idleness
characteristic.
2. Displaying the precise condition of
each construction worker
For complete visualization of the condition of each
construction worker over all parameters, the colored bubble
chart is selected. In Fig. 2 a, the colored bubble chart
shows work time versus specialization for each worker. The
color code and the size of the bubbles represent looking for
material characteristic and the idleness status of the
workers respectively. Additionally, the shape of the bubbles
Fig. 2a - Bubble chart
Fig. 2b - Sweeping through data in the bubble chart
4. Analyzing a particular cluster of workers and their
characteristics; sweeping through skill level and team
perception of supervision
In the new created bubble graph, Fig. 3 b, the idleness and
specialization characteristic of a cluster of four workers is
associated with the size and the color of the bubbles
relatively. Here, by sweeping through team perception of
supervision and the level of specialization of field workers
in our building construction project, the achieved
information from a limited cluster of workers can clarify the
problem with more details in different scenarios. For
instance, when the skill level of the workers and the team
perception of supervision are monthly increased relatively
by the rate of 10% and 5% within a year, the idleness
characteristic is smoothly monitored. We can also play the
resulted animation in smooth mode and track the past
values (they appear in a lighter tone in the background of
the plot), in order to focus on the changes which occur
according to morning and afternoon working shifts.
25
Fig. 3a - 7D plot of data
5. Providing a reliable way to find the
most productive workers
With the aid of the 7D plot, the characteristics associated
with the productivity can be presented within a single
graph. In our case the size, the color and the shape of the
bubbles relatively displays the specialization, the moving,
and the following the instructions characteristic of the
workers. Moreover the blinking feature displays the idleness
characteristic of the workers who have been idle less than
100 hours (Fig. 3 a).
Conclusions
In this short article, along with our case study, the aspects
of data mining, modeling, and visualization of the data
related to construction workers are considered and briefly
presented by utilizing Grapheur. We made the most of IT
applications via newly implemented data mining and
visualization tools of Grapheur. Considering the ability of
Grapheur, the interesting patterns are automatically
extracted from the raw data-set via data mining tools. In
addition, advanced visual analytical interfaces are involved
to support the decision maker interactively. With additional
features of Grapheur such as parallel filters and clustering
tasks, construction managers can solve multi-objective
optimization problems as it amends previous approaches.
Furthermore, the animations of sweeping through data and
advanced visualizations including 7D plots stead managers
and enable them to screen the data at their consulting room
making decision interactively.
In one of our case studies, Grapheur provided a widespread
view on how the throughput of the whole project would be
affected by the increasing workers’ specialization and
supervision. We swept through different characteristics of
workers in order to examine the whole dimensions of the
problem. For instance, we assumed that the problem of
having high level of idleness within the workers might be
solved by increasing the supervision and team perception of
Fig. 3b - Sweeping through data
supervision. For this reason, workers are carefully clustered
and analyzed with regard to their level of idleness and
supervision. In this particular case, Grapheur has been a
facile tool in modeling the problem with the aid of a 7D
plot. Once a 7D plot is created the problem could be visually
analyzed from seven different perspectives simultaneously.
In other words, a convenient way of concentrating on our
objectives and further decision making is provided by
simply observing the size, the color, the shape, and the
blinking of the bubbles. Moreover, utilizing further
visualization options such as similarity maps, parallel
filters, and clustering would support making a confident
decision. For our future studies aiming at making easier and
faster decisions we will reconsider our problems with the aid
of a developed issue of Grapheur called LIONsolver,
Learning, and Intelligent OptimizatioN which is capable of
learning from human feedback and previous attempts while
benefiting from the Grapheur visualization tools.
M.Azodinia - University of Debrecen
Faculty of IT, 4033 Debrecen, Hungary
For more info on Grapheur:
www.grapheur.com
or email: [email protected]
Synergy between LS-DYNA and
modeFRONTIER to Predict Low Velocity
Impact Damage on a Composite Plate
Laminate composite structures do suffer from poor resistance
to impact loading which results in internal damage that
often cannot be detected by visual inspection. The damage
can cause severe reductions in strength and can grow under
load. Therefore the effect of foreign object impacts on
composite structures must be taken into account during the
design process. In order to simulate the impact event, an LSDYNA FE (Finite Element) model was developed and coupled
with modeFRONTIER.
The integrated procedure allowed to obtain a better
understanding of the influence of some numerical parameters
on simulation results (sensitivity analysis), moreover the
configuration, which provided the best
agreement with the experimental data,
(optimization analysis) was computed.
LS-DYNA FE model
As the plates’ length and width dimensions are large
compared to the thickness, a 2D modelling approach was
chosen. In particular layered shell elements with an element
length of 3mm were used. The plate was associated to the
linear elastic material model MAT54 which takes into account
the progressive damage of the material. The elastic behaviour
of the single ply is computed based on the lamina elastic
material properties (Young modulus, shear modulus and
Poisson’s ratio) which can be found in. Damage occurs as
soon as one of the four failure indexes defined below
becomes positive (Chang/Chang criteria):
Test Case Description
The test case used to assess the capability of
the procedure in investigating the impact
event consists in a rectangular plate (whose
dimensions are shown in Figure 1a) impacted
at an energy level of 40J by a hemispherical
steel impactor with a diameter of 25.4mm and
a mass of 1.85kg.
The material of the plate was a laminate composite with a
symmetric, quasi-isotropic lay-up of 24 plies [45°/0°/45°/90°]3s. In the unidirectional plies with the
specification Cytec® 977-2-35-12K hts-134 the carbon fibres
were impregnated with an epoxy matrix. The plies were then
stacked and cured in an autoclave.
The resulting average cured plate thickness was 2.7mm. A
length of 50mm of the specimen was clamped at each end
reducing the free specimen length to 300mm (edge AD and
BC fully constrained).
On the other hands, a simply supported condition was
realized on the lateral sides (CD and AB).
After a failure is detected, elastic properties are degraded
according to a specific degradation rule which depends on
the kind of failure detected.
The impactor was modelled as a spherical rigid body with
conventional shell elements and the material model
MAT_RIGID. An initial velocity of 6.5m/s was imposed to the
impactor by using the PART_INERTIA card. A very fine mesh
was adopted in order to correctly compute the contact force
between the impactor and the plate. The FE mesh used in the
model is shown in Figure 1b. Finally, an automatic surfaceto-surface contact with the option SOFT=0 was defined
between the composite plate and the rigid impactor.
Fig. 1 - a) Dimensions of impact test specimens (in mm); b) FE mesh
27
modeFRONTIER – LS-DYNA process integration
The definition of some numerical parameters of
the LS-DYNA model may be a considerable
challenge because of several reasons (high
uncertainty, no reliable data available in
literature, etc.) and they usually are chosen on
the basis of the analyst’s experience. In order to
better understand the influence of such
parameters on the simulation results, a
sensitivity analysis was performed by coupling
the LS-DYNA FE model with modeFRONTIER, a
process integration and design optimization tool
for exploring the design space (i.e. the free
parameters dominions) and finding the
configurations which fullfill several objective Fig. 3 - Scatter matrix chart
functions. The integration of the LS-DYNA FE
model described above into the modeFRONTIER environment
of an efficient exploration of the design space. Looking at
is roughly described by the workflow in Figure 2. From the
the performances provided by these configurations, the
top to the bottom the so-called “Data flow” can be seen.
“Scheduler” node starts to generate completely new designs
based on various optimization algorithms with the aim of
The blocks on the top define the input variables for which a
achieving the defined goals.
suitable range of variations was set. In particular the input
variables object of this analysis were: the damping constant
Sensitivity Analysis
(variable “sf” in the DAMPING_PART_MASS card), the time
In order to study the interaction between the input variables
step size (variable “tssfac” in CONTROL_TIMESTEP card), the
and the three chosen objectives a statistical analysis was
penalty contact stiffness (variable “sfs” in the CONTACT card)
performed by evaluating an initial population of 144 designs
and the shear stress parameter (variable “alph” in MAT54
generated by using the Full-Factorial method with 3 levels for
card). Each time a new combination of their values is
the variables “alph” and “tssfac” and 4 levels for the
proposed by the modeFRONTIER strategy the LS-DYNA input
variables “sfs” and “sf”.
file is updated and a new LS-DYNA analysis is performed in
The scatter matrix chart, which is a very useful tool to
batch mode.
analyze the data of a statistical analysis, is shown in Figure
3. It is a matrix with 7 rows and 7 columns (4 input variables
The output of each simulation is then post processed and the
+ 3 objectives) which contains in a matrix form three kinds
objectives of the process are evaluated. The output of the
of information: the Probability Density Function chart for
analysis used in this study were the contact force time
each variable (along the diagonal), all the pairwise scatter
plot (above the diagonal) and the
correlation values between the variables
(below the diagonal). For example the
first row and fifth column of the matrix
represents the scatter plot of the variable
“alph” vs. the objective “delta_energy”.
The correlation value is a normalized
index spanning from -1 to +1: a value
equal to +1 (-1) denotes a full direct
(inverse) correlation, while a low absolute
value means low correlation. The
correlation value at the ith row and jth
Fig. 2 - Sketch of the modeFRONTIER - LSDYNA workflow
column can be also seen as the slope of
history, the plate deflection time history and the absorbed
the linear regression line shown in the scatter plot at the jth
energy. These numerical results were compared to the
row and ith column.
experimental ones during the post-processing phase and the
relative errors were computed. Such errors, which will be
It was found that the variable “alph” is the least significant
indicated respectively as “err_f_min”, “err_d_min” and
input variable (low correlation with the 3 objectives) and
“delta_energy”, were thus the objective functions to be
thus it can be considered a constant in the next optimization
minimized. The block DOE means “Design of Experiment”. The
analysis reducing the number of input variables. On the other
user can use this block to generate a suitable initial
hands the damping constant and the penalty contact
population (combinations of input variable values) in respect
stiffness were found to affect significantly the results of the
Fig. 4a - 3D Bubble Chart
Fig. 4b - Contact Force time history curve
analyses. Finally it was found that two pairs of objectives
(“err_f_min”/“err_d_min” and “err_d_min”/“delta_energy”)
are negatively correlated, that means that such objectives
are conflicting and thus an optimization strategy should be
used to find a good compromise.
The peak force and deflection, the impact duration and the
energy absorbed by the plate are predicted by the model with
a very good accuracy.
Optimization analysis
The modeFRONTIER workflow was simplified according to the
findings of the statistical analysis and a multi-objective
optimization analysis with the algorithm MOGA-II was
performed. The optimization strategy provided, in less then
3000 evaluations, several candidate optimal solutions.
They can be easily detected in the 3D bubble chart of Figure
4a where each solution is represented by a bubble in the 3D
plane of the objectives.
A good configuration (the one which minimizes the three
objectives) should stay bottom left in the chart and should
be blue. Among the others the configuration 2940
highlighted in Figure 4a was considered a good compromise
between the minimization of the three objective variables.
Conclusions
An LS-DYNA – modeFRONTIER coupled procedure was
proposed to simulate low velocity impact on composite
plate. The procedure allowed to study the influence of some
numerical parameters on the simulation results and to find
the configuration that provide the best correlation between
the numerical results and the experimental ones in terms of
contact force, deflection and absorbed energy time history.
Moreover, the procedure allowed to take advantage from the
modeFRONTIER automation: once the workflow was set in
modeFRONTIER, the calculations run automatically and all
the available time (night, weekend, etc.) is fully used.
Rosario Borrelli - CIRA - Italian Aerospace
Research Centre, Capua, Italy
www.cira.it
The correlation between the numerical results obtained with
this configuration and the experimental ones, in terms of
contact force, deflection and absorbed energy time histories
are shown in Figures 4b, 5a and 5b, respectively.
Fig. 5a - Deflection time history curve
Fig. 5b - Absorbed Energy
29
Multi-objective Optimization with
modeFRONTIER Applied to Systems
Biology
Systems biology, the art of simulating biological processes in
a computerized environment, is of growing interest due to
numerous applications for e.g. the pharmaceutical industry.
In this article modeFRONTIER was used to automate and
optimize an analysis model written in MathModelica, a
modelling and simulation software based on Modelica.
In the laboratory measurement process, human fat cells are
exposed to insulin and the levels of certain indicator proteins
are measured as the response.
Fig. 1 - Six insulin molecules assembled in a hexamer, the form in which the
hormone is stored in the human body. Source: Wikimedia
Insulin signalling
When the body detects glucose in the blood, e.g. after
digesting a meal, the hormone insulin is released to signal
various cells, such as fat cells, to absorb the glucose from the
blood to prevent the blood sugar levels from becoming toxic.
In this study, a MathModelica model of this process, shown
in figure 2, was run through modeFRONTIER for optimization
and analysis.
Fig. 2 - The MathModelica model
The goal of the optimization process was not to identify a
single solution to the model-fitting problem, but rather
multiple solutions with acceptably small errors but at the
same time with as widely varying parameters as possible. By
identifying model properties shared among these different
solutions, future experiments could be planned to further
improve the model.
Optimization and clustering analysis
A significant number (tens of thousands) of MathModelica
simulations were run through modeFRONTIER (see figure 3
for the workflow setup) and several thousand solutions with
an acceptably small error between measurement data and
model predictions were identified. Since the goal was to
identify different sets of solutions, a Partitive Clustering
Analysis was carried out on the data.
In clustering, the goal is to identify groups (clusters) of
similar solutions. A cluster is well-defined if the
mathematical distances between its centroid (centre-point)
and those of its neighbouring clusters are large compared to
the distances between the points in the cluster and its
centroid. The Davies-Bouldin index, best described as the
ratio of intra-cluster to inter-cluster distances, is an
indicator of the quality of the clustering. The lower the
index, the better separated the clusters are from each other.
Figures 4 and 5 show the results of the clustering. In figure
4, all designs have been colour-coded according to which
cluster they have been assigned. In figure 5, the centroids
for each cluster are shown. The difference between
parameters v1ak1 (first on the left) and v1rk1 (one step to
Fig. 3 - The modeFRONTIER workflow
the right of the middle) is illustrated in this
chart: for v1ak1, all the clusters have similar
values, whereas for v1rk1, different clusters have
different values. The conclusion to be drawn here
is for any good fit of the model, v1ak1 will have
the same value but we can find different values
for v1rk1 which all generate good results. This
matches the biological behaviour where different
people have different body chemistries, yet still
manage not to die from blood sugar poisoning.
Conclusions
By using Partitive Clustering Analysis, one of the
tools available in modeFRONTIER for Multivariate
Analysis (MVA), information regarding complex
system behaviour was identified that could not
readily be understood using the normal tools
available in the Design Space such as Scatter
Charts and Parallel Charts.
Fig. 4 - The Partitive Clustering Analysis identified 8 separate clusters.
The data extracted from the analysis regarding
the different solution clusters could then form a
baseline for determining future experiments and
measurements.
Adam Thorp, EnginSoft Nordic
[email protected]
Thanks to Elin Nyman at Linköping University for
help with modelling and simulations.
For an animated explanation of insulin
signalling, please watch the movie “Insulin
Signaling
(Signal Pathways)” at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkkK5lTmBYQ
Fig. 5 - A plot of the cluster centroids highlights the differing behaviours for the parameters
31
Eccellenza tecnologica e qualità:
Almacis
L’Almacis è stata costituita nel 1987 nell’ambito del più
ampio progetto di ristrutturazione dell’attività delle aziende
del gruppo Marramiero, operante dal 1955 con l’impresa
Marramiero. L’Almacis è in grado di progettare, realizzare
chiavi in mano, garantire servizi di manutenzione, gestire,
telegestire e curare tutte le pratiche relative ad impianti di
co/trigenerazione, centrali termiche ed elettriche,
antincendio, idroelettrico e fotovoltaico in modo del tutto
personalizzato e calzante con le differenti esigenze di
ciascun cliente, tutto tramite personale proprio con
costruzione e preassemblaggio nelle proprie officine.
Parallelamente al settore impiantistico, ugualmente leader
nei propri ambiti, l’azienda dispone di un settore edile e di
uno di realizzazione di reti gas ed acqua che, oltre ai propri
mercati, garantiscono un’ulteriore completezza a progetti di
cogenerazione ed impiantistica in tutte le loro fasi.
Fra le numerosissime referenze, l’Almacis può vantare
collaborazioni con le aziende più importanti sul panorama
mondiale, fra cui: Gucci, Procter&Gamble, Fater, Janssen
Cilag, Angelini, Merck-Serono, Ibi Lorenzini, Marangoni,
Merker, ecc…
Visitate il sito di Almacis all’indirizzo: www. almacis.it
L’utilizzo di ANSYS nella progettazione
ANSYS verrà utilizzato per la verifica strutturale di
scambiatori di calore, diverter, piping e strutture portanti di
diverse apparecchiature.
Inoltre verrà utilizzato anche nell’area “ricerca” per tutti i
prototipi da realizzare e testare nelle proprie officine
Almacis.
Perché Enginsoft ed ANSYS in Almacis
“A seguito di una attenta valutazione tecnica delle soluzioni
software (ANSYS, Comsol…) abbiamo scelto ANSYS perché
rappresenta a nostro avviso la miglior tecnologia attualmente
presente sul mercato per le nostre esigenze” – ha dichiarato
l’Ing. Emiliano Grande Responsabile Ufficio Analisi di
Almacis. “La potenza del software, la sua versatilità e
semplicità di utilizzo ci hanno convinto che ANSYS può
rappresentare un vero e proprio fattore di vantaggio
competitivo e di crescita tecnica per l’Almacis – ha
continuato l’Ing. Grande - inoltre EnginSoft, a differenza di
altre soluzioni che abbiamo preso in considerazione, ha
dimostrato di essere un partner con forti competenze nel
nostro settore industriale e ci affiancherà nella fase iniziale
di start-up consentendoci di essere indipendenti nel più
breve tempo possibile”.
CAE Simulations and Innovations within
the High Performance Computing HPC
Finite
Element
Analysis,
Computational Fluid Dynamics and all
the CAE simulations and innovations
within the High Performance
Computing HPC are top-end market
segments requiring the incredible
processing power provided by today’s
processors and system designs.
AMD has recently announced the
availability of its AMD Opteron™
6200 and 4200 Series processors
(formerly code-named “Interlagos”
and “Valencia”).
The new AMD Opteron processors are
designed
to
provide:
better
performance for business, increased
scalability for Virtualization and the
best efficient economics for Cloud
environments thanks to the reduced
power consumption, up to less than
5W of power per core.
The new AMD Opteron™ 4200 Series
processor is the world’s lowest powerper-core server processor. It has been
built to deliver unparalleled efficiency
different workloads. Designed for powerconscious cloud deployments and ideal
for IT infrastructure and collaboration,
the AMD Opteron 4200 Series processor
was developed from the ground up to
handle demanding server workloads at
the lowest possible energy draw.
The new processors deliver unparalleled
performance, scalability and efficiency
with more cores than the previous
Roberto Dognini, Commercial Account Executive AMD Italia
generation for handling more threads per
The new AMD Opteron™ 6200 Series processor is the world’s
node, thanks to the new instruction set including AVX, FMA4
first and only 16-core x86 server processor, providing the
and XOP, significant memory controller enhancements, the
highest core density for incredible scalability to handle
exclusive new Flex FP for 256-bit floating point processing
demanding multi-threaded workloads such as cloud
and additional features designed for HPC.
computing, virtualization, high-performance computing
(HPC) – this technology is already at the heart of several of
The trends in enterprise computing are driving down two
the fastest HPC systems in the TOP500 list and business
distinct paths: toward greater performance and scalability or
application datacenters.
toward greater energy efficiency and value. AMD uniquely
addresses both of these with its leadership technology.
With this in mind, AMD is proud to say that the new
generation of AMD Opteron™ processors 6200 Series based
on the innovative “Bulldozer” core architecture, have been
chosen to power the most important AMD partners’ solutions,
as HP ProLiant, Dell PowerEdge, Acer, E4 Computers, IBM,
Cray, to provide a superior performance, efficiency and
scalability with a greater CPU and memory density within the
same or even less floor space and power envelope.
The new AMD Opteron processor
HPC is not a one-size-fits-all environment. It is a demanding
one that requires new technologies to keep pace with
customer’s needs. Whether its the “Interlagos” processor or
AMD energy-efficient APU, AMD’s unique x86 and world-class
graphics IP place AMD at the heart of some of the fastest
systems as we push well beyond the PetaFlop moving towards
to the next step: the ExaFlop.
33
DIGIMAT per la modellazione
avanzata dei materiali
EnginSoft ha recentemente firmato un accordo con la società
Belga E-Xstream Engineering per la distribuzione in Italia del
pacchetto software DIGIMAT per la modellazione dei
materiali.
DIGIMAT, è un modellatore avanzato, non lineare, multi-scala
di materiali e si pone come obiettivo quello di offrire una
rappresentazione completa e rigorosa utile sia ai fornitori di
materiali (“progettisti” di materiali), sia ai progettisti
analisti CAE (end users) per i quali, il più delle volte, il
materiale viene modellato in modo semplificato.
A seconda della complessità e della tipologia del problema in
esame, DIGIMAT permette una trattazione analitica, semianalitica o numerica della microstruttura del materiale con la
finalità, tramite algoritmi di omogeneizzazione, di fornire un
modello rappresentativo in una scala dimensionale tipica
delle strutture meccaniche e quindi utilizzabile dai maggiori
solutori FEA commerciali.
L’utilizzo di DIGIMAT in combinazione con i solutori FEA
permette lo studio dei complessi fenomeni di plasticità, di
danno e di rottura di materiali quali tecnopolimeri, gomma,
fibra di carbonio, metalli duri, nanocompositi, ecc. e può
quindi rendere la simulazione numerica estremamente
predittiva anche nell’indagine di fenomeni complessi per
materiali non canonici.
Alfonso Ortalda, EnginSoft
[email protected]
Per una previsione rapida e precisa del comportamento non lineare dei materiali multifase attraverso la tecnologia di omogeneizzazione Mean-Field.
Per una previsione precisa del comportamento non lineare a livello locale e globale di materiali multifase, attraverso un elemento di volume rappresentativo (RVE –
Representative Volume Element).
Per la preparazione, l’archiviazione, il recupero e lo scambio in completa sicurezza dei
modelli di materiali DIGIMAT tra i fornitori
di materiali e gli utenti, favorendo contemporaneamente la protezione della proprietà
intellettuale (IP – Intellectual Property).
Interfacce per lo stampaggio ad iniezione e
codici strutturali FEA per una previsione precisa dei materiali compositi e delle prestazioni delle parti di plastica rinforzate, avvalendosi di una tecnologia di modellazione
multiscala e non lineare.
Per una mappatura efficiente di grandezze
scalari e vettoriali tra mesh di tipo shell e
solido.
Per una progettazione facile e efficiente di
pannelli sandwich a nido d’ape, avvalendosi
delle più avanzate tecnologie di modellazione dei materiali.
LIONsolver: Learning and Intelligent
Optimization
LIONsolver is a smart software to build models, optimize
them and visualize them interactively.
The name LION stands for “Learning and Intelligent
OptimizatioN“, a combination of learning, modeling,
problem-solving and optimization.
LIONsolver has been developed with the aim of offering a
multi-purpose tool; a flexible framework that allows the
users to reproduce their business or design process through
modeling and data analysis.
Finance, logistics, bio-technology and, of course,
engineering are some of the areas where a need for modeling,
optimization and visualization frequently occurs; LIONsolver
with its versatile modular structure has been designed to
deliver accurate results in all possible different domains.
Whether your analysis requires a prediction of the right
amount of material X in the design of component Y or to
determine the optimal composition of your financial stock
portfolio to minimize risk and maximize profit, you are
dealing with problems that, even though very distant in the
real world, can be both managed and solved with LIONsolver.
User-friendly interface
One interesting feature of the software is the clear and
intuitive interface.
The software works entirely with drag and drop.
Everything in LIONsolver is an item in a list that can be
dragged and dropped to a workbench, where it can be
connected to other items in a typical flow-chart process.
What it takes to start is: a valid set of data and the business
process in your mind.
Then it is all about picking up the tools you need to recreate
your business process by linking the icons (representing the
tools you have selected) on the workbench and by
connecting them to your data.
Fig. 1 - Interface
Build your model
Do you want to perform predictive analysis? Do you need to
shed some light on your forecast?
Connect the dots between your data inputs and outputs and
find the rules that lie behind them.
LIONsolver comes with an ample set of integrated modeling
tools: polynomial fitting, neural networks, local regression
just to name a few.
Once you have determined a model that works well with your
data, all you have to do is save it and then reuse it for your
predictive analysis.
The process is just as simple as connecting two icons with an
arrow on your workbench.
Fig. 2 - Modeling
Optimize your model
Single and especially multi-objective optimization problems
are often very tough to solve.
A crucial component of LIONsolver is Reactive Search
Optimization (RSO), a robust and efficient method for solving
difficult problems.
The word reactive hints at a ready response to events while
alternative solutions are tested. Its strength lies in the
introduction of high-level skills often associated to the
human brain, such as learning from the past experience,
learning on the job, rapid analysis of alternatives, ability to
cope with incomplete information, quick adaptation to new
situations and events.
RSO fast and accurate results in optimization problems are
the trademark of LIONsolver.
35
Interactive visualizations
LIONsolver offers a wide selection of data visualizations.
Spanning from the classic ones (pie charts, bubble charts,
line plots) to the most advanced ones (7D plot, similarity
maps). All visualizations are displayed in the dashboard area,
where all panels can be rearranged according to preference;
moreover all visualizations are refreshed in real-time, so that
your filtering or focusing operations are displayed
concurrently.
The RSO philosophy is fully embedded within LIONsolver's
interactive visualizations: investigating locally optimal
solutions is just a matter of a mouse click on a bubble chart.
www.lionsolver.com
Roberto Battiti - Reactive Search
[email protected]
Fig. 3 - RSO, pareto
Fig. 4 - Visualization
IL LIBRO CHE VI SUGGERIAMO
Strategia oceano blu.
Vincere senza competere
Attraverso uno studio condotto in oltre trenta settori Kim e
Mauborgne hanno elaborato un modello sistematico,
replicabile da qualsiasi impresa, per raggiungere alti livelli di
crescita. Dal "Modello T" della Ford allo "iPod" di Apple, essi
hanno identificato i principi e gli strumenti per neutralizzare la
concorrenza e creare uno spazio di mercato incontestato, dalle
possibilità illimitate come quelle di un oceano blu. Strategia
Oceano Blu porta un messaggio carico di ispirazione: il
successo non dipende dalla concorrenza spietata né da costosi
budget di marketing e R&S, ma da mosse strategiche brillanti,
adatte a un uso sistematico da parte di tutte le imprese.
Dettagli del libro
Titolo: Strategia oceano blu.
Vincere senza competere
Autori: W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne
Editore: Etas
Collana: Management
Data di Pubblicazione: 2005
ISBN: 8845308480
ISBN-13: 9788845308482
Pagine: 288
GPU ACCELERATED ENGINEERING
with ANSYS
also required for going parallel for greater than 2 CPU
cores. For academic license users, the GPU capability is
included with the base ANSYS Academic license that
provides access to ANSYS Mechanical.
How much more could you accomplish if simulation times
could be reduced from one day to just a few hours? As an
engineer, you depend on ANSYS Mechanical to design high
quality products efficiently. To get the most out of ANSYS
Mechanical 13.0, simply upgrade your NVIDIA Quadro GPU
or add a NVIDIA Tesla GPU to your workstation, or
configure a server with NVIDIA Tesla GPUs, and instantly
unlock the highest levels of ANSYS simulation performance.
Here is an example of the speed-up you can reach within
ANSYS13.
With the upcoming ANSYS Mechanical 14.0 engineers will
even more benefit from NVIDIA GPUs.
With ANSYS® Mechanical™ 13.0 and NVIDIA® Professional
GPUs, you can improve your product quality with 2x more
design simulations or you can develop high fidelity models
with practical solution times. This accelerates your timeto-market by reducing engineering cycles.
The amount of acceleration achievable when using the GPU
will vary greatly depending mostly on the model of the
simulation, but also on the hardware configuration being
used. To get the best speed-up the simulation should spend
most of its time in the matrix solver operations rather than
other tasks, such as matrix assembly. Also the problem size
should be between 500K to 8,000K DOFs for the sparse
direct solver and 500K to 5,000K DOFs for PCG/JCG
iterative solvers.
To unlock the GPU feature in ANSYS Mechanical 13.0, you
must have an ANSYS HPC Pack license, the same scheme
NVIDIA and ANSYS have collaborated to bring you the
power of GPU computing for ANSYS. With the latest release
of ANSYS R13, NVIDIA GPU acceleration enables faster
results for more efficient computation and job turnaround
times, delivering more license utilization for the same
investment.
This will continue with even more features and
optimizations in the upcoming release of ANSYS.
37
EnginSoft continua l’attività sui
materiali compositi
La progettazione di un componente in materiale composito
rappresenta una sfida complessa ad elevato contenuto
tecnologico che coinvolge attualmente settori industriali
profondamente diversi, dall’aerospace alla nautica, sino
all’automotive ed applicazioni sportive più spinte. Il CAE
svolge un ruolo sempre più importante in questo senso,
rappresentando lo strumento in grado di riprodurre in
maniera fedele ed accurata un prototipo virtuale dei
componenti realizzati in materiale composito. ESAComp ed
ANSYS Composite Prep/Post rappresentano ad oggi lo stato
dell’arte dei software per la simulazione dei compositi; il
loro avvento, sin dalle prime release, ha permesso di
superare definitivamente i limiti intrinseci del classico
approccio seguito per la progettazione delle strutture in
composito, consentendo una caratterizzazione dettagliata
dei materiali di base (fibre, matrici, core in schiuma o
honeycomb, ecc.), una accurata gestione della laminazione
attraverso la simulazione delle fasi tecnologiche di stesura
dei tessuti (Draping & Flat Wrap) e
una dettagliata verifica degli stati
tensionali avvalendosi di Failure
Criteria polinomiali (Tsai-Hill, TsaiWu, ecc.) e basati sulla natura fisica
dei compositi (Hashin 2D/3D, Puck
2D/3D, ecc.).
EnginSoft, attraverso l’organizzazione
di seminari a tema dal taglio
fortemente tecnico, è costantemente
impegnata in attività di formazione
avanzata; l’obiettivo principale è
quello di sensibilizzare le società
leader nel settore ed i principali istituti di ricerca nella
valutazione dell’efficienza dei nuovi software numerici al
fine di affrontare in maniera efficace anche le problematiche
più ostiche e profonde.
Il seminario “Progettazione delle strutture in materiale
composito”, svolto il 21 ottobre a Verona nel contesto
dell’”EnginSoft International Conference 2011”, è stata
un’ottima occasione di ritrovo per tutti coloro che
quotidianamente si ritrovano a dover affrontare tematiche
complesse relative al mondo dei compositi; i consensi
raccolti dimostrano che l’evoluzione del CAE, attraverso
l’avvento di strumenti di prototipazione virtuale come
ESAComp ed ANSYS Composite Prep/Post, ha generato un
nuovo modo di concepire la fase di progettazione delle
strutture, attraverso una sensibilità completamente
rinnovata focalizzata all’efficienza computazionale, alla
drastica riduzione del time-to-market ed all’accuratezza dei
risultati raggiunti. Il seminario è stato replicato il 4
novembre a Marina di Ravenna, nell’ambito dei “Seminari
Nautilus” organizzati dalla Facoltà di
Ingegneria dell’Università di Bologna.
L’evento anche in questa occasione è
stato seguito con particolare interesse
da operatori del settore industriale, in
particolare nautico, e della ricerca
scientifica. La formazione avanzata sui
nuovi software di simulazione per le
strutture in composito rappresenta
senz’altro un punto cardine per
EnginSoft, che continuerà ad investire
in eventi e seminari mettendo a
disposizione competenze e strumenti
CAE d’avanguardia.
Fabio Rossetti, EnginSoft
[email protected]
EnginSoft presenterà la release 5.2 di
MAGMA a METEF 2012
Il Metef, la fiera di riferimento per l’industria metallurgica, si
terrà presso la Fiera di Verona dal 18 al 21 Aprile 2012.
EnginSoft, come consuetudine, sarà presente con uno spazio
espositivo in cui verranno presentate le nuove release dei
sotware sostenuti relativi alla simulazione di processo, in
particolare ci sarà la preview di MAGMA 5.2.
A novembre 2009 è uscita la prima versione di MAGMA 5, la
5.0, che permetteva, in un ambiente completamente nuovo,
di affrontare virtualmente tutti i processi di fonderia basati
su sabbia (ferrosi e non ferrosi).
Con la versione 5.1, attualmente disponibile, sono stati
integrati tutti i moduli, consentendo agli utenti di affrontare
lo studio di tutti i processi di fonderia, dalla conchiglia in
gravità alla bassa pressione, alla pressocolata in camera calda
e in camera fredda ecc.
Per i primissimi mesi del 2012 è prevista l’uscita della
versione MAGMA 5.2. In questa versione sarà
disponibile MAGMA C+M, un nuovo modulo, che
permetterà di simulare la produzione delle anime
con diversi tipi di leganti e di sabbie. Questo
modulo consentirà di simulare la fase di
riempimento delle casse d’anima e la fase di
indurimento delle anime, permettendo di valutare
le problematiche del processo produttivo e porvi
rimedio con soluzioni correttive.
MAGMA 5.2 consentirà inoltre, nell’ambiente di
visualizzazione dei risultati (postprocessore), di
confrontare direttamente simulazioni di differenti
versioni permettendo di analizzare i risultati sia
come singola immagine che come filmato in stato
di avanzamento.
Sarà possibile sincronizzare i filmati delle versioni
a confronto per garantire una più semplice ed
efficace comparazione dei risultati selezionati. Grazie al tool
“User Results”, presente nell’ambiente di visualizzazione dei
risultati, sarà possibile elaborare nuovi criteri di valutazione,
combinando i risultati forniti dal software. Tale procedura
sarà resa possibile da un fornito compilatore matematico.
Sarà infine possibile sfruttare la visualizzazione dei
risultati sfruttando sistemi 3D, che permetteranno una
visualizzazione in profondità dell’oggetto analizzato.
MAGMA 5.2, come l’attuale versione 5.1, sfrutta la
tecnologia
Java,
che
permette
un
diretto
interfacciamento con gli attuali sistemi operativi Linux e
Windows a 64 bit, a garanzia delle più elevate
performance di calcolo.
METEF-FOUNDEQ, giunto alla nona edizione, rappresenta
l'evento di riferimento per le tecnologie per l'alluminio e
la fonderia. Grazie alle tante iniziative messe in campo,
anche nel 2012 METEF-FOUNDEQ, attrarrà buyer da tutto
il mondo interessati ad acquistare impianti, macchine,
attrezzature per la produzione e la trasformazione dei
metalli; componenti estrusi, colati e laminati; prodotti e
materiali per il trattamento e la finitura.
Piero Parona, EnginSoft
[email protected]
Sito web dell’evento: www.metef.com
La simulazione di
processo nella
progettazione di
radiatori
Estetica e integrità di prodotto sono
due fattori fondamentali per la
produzione di radiatori, ma
altrettanto importante è saper
rispondere alle esigenze del mercato
in tempi rapidi con costi
competitivi. Il processo produttivo
utilizzato per questo genere di
produzione corrisponde alla colata
in alta pressione. Tale processo, per le caratteristiche e i
ridottissimi tempi di produzione dovuti all’iniezione forzata
della lega negli stampi, richiede la massima precisione ed il
controllo assoluto dei parametri imposti alle macchine da
pressocolata.
Per assolvere a queste richieste è fondamentale ridurre al
massimo gli sprechi di produzione, comprimendo il più
possibile i tempi di progettazione/realizzazione del prodotto.
In questo contesto la progettazione prodotto/processo
assume un ruolo di considerevole importanza: è infatti in
questa fase molto delicata dove vengono valutate le soluzioni
più efficaci per la realizzazione delle attrezzature ed i più
adeguati parametri di processo. Sviluppare ed ottimizzare un
processo produttivo significa identificare le variabili che
maggiormente influiscono sulle caratteristiche del prodotto,
valutandone gli effetti. Questo può essere perseguito
attraverso un approccio al lavoro di progettazione che
includa la simulazione di processo.
Il caso che verrà proposto all’High Tech Die Casting 2012, che
si terrà a Vicenza il 9 e 10 Febbraio 2012, riguarda la
produzione di una specifica linea di radiatori progettati e
prodotti dal Gruppo Ferroli. EnginSoft è stata coinvolta
nell’attività di riprogettazione delle attrezzature al fine di
ridurre al massimo gli scarti presenti nella linea produttiva,
incrementando al massimo la qualità estetica e di tenuta del
prodotto. Lo studio svolto ha avuto come obiettivo principale
la ricerca del miglior sistema di colata per ottenere la
massima qualità del componente e ridurre al minimo il rischio
di inglobamenti d’aria, principale causa di scarto nel processo
di pressocolata in produzione. La riprogettazione delle
attrezzature ha inoltre permesso di incrementare la
produttività e ridurre i costi. La collaborazione fra il Gruppo
Ferroli ed EnginSoft ha determinato il successo del progetto,
permettendo un rapido avvio della produzione.
Giampietro Scarpa, EnginSoft
[email protected]
39
modeFRONTIER
Users’ Meeting 2012
This year the International modeFRONTIER Users' Meeting
2012 (UM12), sponsored by ESTECO, will take place on 21st
and 22 May 2012 at the Savoy Palace in Riva del Mandracchio
Excelsior in Trieste.
UM12 provides a unique forum to discover how engineering
and academic experts apply the latest methods and
techniques to optimize simulation design processes. The
meeting of global significance has traditionally brought
together experts from leading companies such as FIAT,
Honda, Jaguar, Bombardier and many others. The issues
relate to the operating logic of modeFRONTIER and its
applications in different companies with high technological
interest.
ESTECO's biannual event is coming to its 5th edition,
marking 10 years of exchange of best practices and ideas
among modeFRONTIER enthusiasts.
The leit-motiv of 2012 is Collaboration: nowadays sharing
knowledge and team working are imperatives for any
successful company. Technology helps breaking the barriers
between disciplines, teams and field, encouraging
knowledge sharing and enhancing working in team. It is not
by chance that this concept is the main theme of the
upcoming event, as modeFRONTIER provides a unique
multidisciplinary software platform utilized in a wide range
of fields all over the world.
UM12 is not just a meeting of modeFRONTIER users, but it’s
open also to the academic world: students and researchers
are welcome to attend the event, and have the chance to
look closely at industrial applications while getting the
possibility to present in front of a knowledgeable audience.
Guest of honor of the 2012 edition is David Edward Goldberg,
the leading expert of genetic algorithms, although his
expertise spans multiple disciplines. He has been Director of
Illinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory (IlliGAL) and
Professor at the Department of Industrial and Enterprise
Systems Engineering (IESE) of the University of Illinois. He
will present two talks: one about collaborative engineering
as part of the official UM12 agenda, and another one, open
to the general public, concerning the relationship between
higher technical education and society.
http://um12.esteco.com/um12/
EnginSoft GmbH Silver Sponsor at the
ANSYS Conference & 29th CADFEM
Users’ Meeting 2011
EnginSoft GmbH sponsored the ANSYS Conference and Users’
meeting, held this year at the Stuttgart International
Congress Center. The ANSYS Conference focused on Electric
Mobility Technologies, Machine Tools, Wind Energy Systems,
Electronic Products Design, Building and Environmental
design and Bio-Engineering Simulation.
that are difficult to combine when running aerodynamic
shape optimization, although both the concepts are required
to advance the transportation industry. High Speed Trains
have to withstand the increasing efficiency requirements and
emissions restrictions, hence major efforts are ongoing to
innovate their aerodynamic design. In particular, train shape
The aim of the conference was to inform about the most
recent methodologies for virtual prototyping and
simulations.
From 19th to 21st October, the Stuttgart International
Congress Center hosted engineers and researchers from
industry, research and education institutions, who shared
best practices and recent outcomes from their simulation
projects.
The 29th ANSYS Users' Meeting started with a welcome
speech by Jim Chashman (ANSYS CEO). The conference this
year hosted over 1000 attendees, 200 technical
presentations from Industrial Companies and Universities and
27 Technical Seminars.
Thanks to the wide exhibition area available, the conference
also gave the opportunity to engineers and ANSYS partners
of a fruitful exchange of ideas.
In addition to the more established engineering applications
-like structural-mechanics, fluid-dynamics, electrical
mechanics, a number of lectures and seminars focused on
Engineering Systems Simulation and Optimization have been
performed. Today, Engineering Systems like Car Engines, can
be holistically simulated, accounting the physical and
behavioral interactions between the subsystem parts.
In the spirit of the conference, EnginSoft GmbH presented
and time-lined an aerodynamic shape optimization process,
presenting the paper “High Speed Train Aerodynamic Shape
Optimization Methodology and Framework Comparison” [T.
Newill - G. Buccilli, EnginSoft GmbH].
Train speed and aerodynamics efficiency are two concepts
contributes substantially to the overall aerodynamic
performances. Typically, a 3D train design should guarantee
an improved ratio between aerodynamic lift force and drag
force with respect to reference designs.
To pursue the High Speed Train aerodynamic optimization,
EnginSoft GmbH proposed a methodology which used a
baseline mesh model of the Train and a set of mesh-morphing
control points. Then, instead of re-CADing and re-MESHing,
the model was morphed using Arbitrary Shape Deformation
algorithms. Finally, Latin Hypercube methods have been used
to generate the Design Of Experiments and to identify the
optimal Train Shape.
To mesh-morph the Train model, EnginSoft GmbH used
Sculptor™ software. Sculptor™ directly modifies any
geometry or any mesh model, without using CAD or meshing
tools. The software enables CFD analyses of different
geometries in short time, without re-generating CAD
geometries and meshes. This means that more design
variations can be calculated in the same amount of time.
Sculptor™ proved to be useful to find optimal High Speed
Train design easier and
quicker.
Coupled
with
ANSYS-FLUENT, it allowed
finding an improved train
shape in just a few days,
while with the traditional
re-CAD
and
re-MESH
approach, it would have
taken several weeks. With
subtle shape modifications,
a sound 2% increase of
overall lift/drag ratio and
over 80% simulation time
reduction was achieved –
without affecting the overall
geometry constraints.
Sculptor™ avoided time
consuming operations on
the CAD model and on the computational grid, since the
morphing took place over the ANSYS-FLUENT model directly.
Besides the Train Aerodynamics optimization paper, at the
29th ANSYS Conference EnginSoft held a Seminar on “Product
Design Chain Innovation thorugh Manufacturing Process
Simulation” [N. Gramegna - Enginsoft Italy].
Today the whole product development chain can be
simulated, from manufacturing process to thermalmechanical fatigue behavior and several CAE software are
available for that purpose. More in particularly, the design of
the manufacturing process (like casting, forging and
machining) is gaining importance in product development,
as all those processes directly impact mechanical properties
and component behavior.
41
During the seminar, EnginSoft presented innovative
methodologies for Manufacturing Process simulation, all
aimed at reducing product development time and resources
needed. Nicola Gramegna gave the attendees an overview of
the most relevant manufacturing processes, like Casting
Process and Heat Treatment (simulated with the software
MAGMASOFT), Forging (simulated with FORGE software) and
Machining (simulated by the means of Advantedge software
tools). Nicola showed how residual stresses-strains and local
mechanical properties can be calculated through computer
simulation. Finally, he showed how the non-uniform stressstrain and mechanical properties previously calculated, can
be integrated into the FEM model (like ANSYS) to simulate
the macro component behavior.
For more information on Sculptor™:
Giorgio Buccilli, EnginSoft GmbH
[email protected]
SCULPTOR
Sculptor is a powerful tool that allows a user to
parameterize any mesh based on arbitrary cubic bezier
control points. It can be linked to your existing fluid-flow
(CFD) and/or structural (FEA) analysis tools and then
deform these meshes and maintain quality in real time.
Enabling the user to optimize a product without the need
to remesh, saving you days, weeks, even months.
BENIMPACT Suite has landed in China
Dal 19 al 26 ottobre si è tenuto a Dalian, in Cina, il primo
summit planetario sul basso impatto ambientale - Low Carbon
Earth Summit (LCES 2011), che ha riunito esponenti della
politica, della ricerca, delle tecnologie e pubblico con l’obiettivo
di creare un tavolo intorno al quale scambiarsi le conoscenze
oggi disponibili per riuscire a controllare l’impatto sul clima:
“Spronare la green Economy per tornare in armonia con la
natura”. Al “Forum 8: Clean Sciences and Technology for Low
Carbon Environment - Today’s R & D, Tomorrow Industrial
Revolutionization” di questo importante incontro è stato
presentato anche il progetto CASA ZERO ENERGY, un edificio
progettato e realizzato con un approccio “filosofico” che mira
ad una visione integrata della sostenibilità.
L’edificio, progettato dall’Università di Trento, è stato realizzato
dal Gruppo Polo Le Ville Plus con il supporto della Regione Friuli
Venezia Giulia. Numerose analisi di simulazione e
ottimizzazione delle prestazioni energetiche ed ambientali sono
state eseguite da EnginSoft con l’ausilio di BENIMPACT Suite.
Portavoce dell’attività è stato il prof. Antonio Frattari,
Responsabile Laboratorio Progettazione Edilizia (LPE) Direttore del CUnEd dell’Università di Trento.
BENIMPACT Suite è il risultato di un progetto di ricerca cofinanziato dalla Provincia Autonoma di Trento - Legge
Provinciale n° 6/99 Programma Operativo FESR 2007-2013
Obiettivo 2.
Last month, from 19th to 26th the first Low Carbon Earth
Summit (LCES 2011) was held in Dalian, China.
It brought together important politicians, researchers, and a
large audience. The aim of this meeting was to create a round
table where people could share their knowledge about
controlling the environmental impact: “Leading the Green
Economy, Returning to Harmony with Nature”.
Prof. Antonio Frattari, the chief of Building Design Lab of the
University of Trento, presented the project ZERO ENERGY
HOUSE at “Forum 8: Clean Sciences and Technology for Low
Carbon Environment - Today’s R & D, Tomorrow Industrial
Revolutionization”. A philosophical approach towards
integrate sustainability characterizes this building.
The University of Trento has designed this house, Gruppo
Polo Le Ville Plus has built it, and the local administration,
Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, has given its support.
For the simulation of the building behavior BENIMPACT Suite
has been used.
BENIMPACT Suite is the outcome of a research project cofounded by the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy) –
Provincial Law n° 6/99 Operative Program FESR 2007-2013
Objective 2.
43
CasaZeroEnergy can be called in this way because it has a very low energy consumption, it does not use any fossil fuels,
and its energy demand is produced using renewable energetic sources. It anticipates the EU directive 31/2010/CE that
requires the realization of near zero energy buildings, starting from 2020.
The main features of CasaZeroEnergy are:
• a strong bioclimatic characterization;
• the use of natural, renewable and recycled materials for
the construction of the building;
• the development of a new and innovative timber frame
system;
• the set up of an intelligent system (home automation) to
manage the energy consumption;
• the integration with energy systems that use alternative
and clean sources: photovoltaic plant of 14.6 kWh, solar
thermal panels for DHW, horizontal geothermal plant with
water – air heat pump integrated with a radiant floor
heating and it can also work as a cooling system in
summer.
The building behavior has been simulated using BENIMPACT
Suite and then compared with the real house behavior, which
is monitored.
Comparing the simulation with the monitoring results it is
possible to observe some interesting things:
• the performed simulation (with only two thermal zones)
has been validated with the monitoring;
• the building behavior is very good and it meets in a
perfect way the expected predictions for summer.
except from some temperature picks in the hottest days
(June 29th and July 4th) the comfort in the house has been
always achieved in the monitored period.
Alta Formazione:
TCN punta ad una
specializzazione
sempre più
avanzata
Anche per l’anno 2012 il Consorzio TCN erogherà corsi di
formazione specialistici e corsi a calendario. Continuerà
l’attività di organizzare corsi personalizzati a seguito di
specifiche richieste da parte dell’industria.
A questi si aggiungeranno una serie di Minimaster con
programmi formativi più intensi ed approfonditi rispetto a
quelli dei corsi base ed avanzati.
Per questo nuovo anno c’è anche l’intenzione di inserire corsi
che trattano argomenti inediti di attuale interesse.
Tutto sarà coordinato tra il Consorzio TCN ed i responsabili
della formazione delle varie realtà lavorative.
Per informazioni vi consigliamo di visitare il sito:
www.consorziotcn.it
oppure contattare la segreteria organizzativa:
Mirella Prestini [email protected]
Angelo Messina, EnginSoft
[email protected]
CAE Seminars in Japan
“CAE UNIVERSITY”
Cybernet Systems Co.,Ltd. (with its headquarter located in
Tokyo) has offered a wide range of leading-edge CAE
solutions and services for many years since its establishment
in 1985. Today, Cybernet sells more than 80 CAE products for
diverse applications in mechanical, electrical and control
engineering, optics, civil engineering and construction,
optimization, bioengineering, nanotechnology and other
sectors. To complement its software portfolio for its clients
across Japan, Cybernet provides different types of services,
such as technical support, training, and consultancy, to
companies in manufacturing, as well as to universities and
research institutes…and far more than this: The engineers of
Cybernet are passionate about supporting MONOZUKURI in
Japan, as one of the country’s leading CAE providers. The
company’s corporate message states: “Energy for your
Innovation”.
To foster the interest in CAE and to support the next
generation of CAE engineers, Cybernet developed and
introduced an educational system called “CAE UNIVERSITY”.
CAE University’s primary objective is to grow the use of CAE
techniques among engineers.
In Japan, the use of CAE technologies in manufacturing has
expanded significantly in recent years. While we witness a
growing interest in CAE, we also hear that many companies
ask for additional support and know-how for improving their
application skills and for making the use of CAE more
efficient to solve their real problems. CAE UNIVERSITY is a
new type of educational system which enables students to
learn CAE systematically and continuously. It provides
students with the necessary skills to
use CAE technologies flexibly and
efficiently for the actual requirements
in their product design and
development activities.
Lectures and practical examples
CAE UNIVERSITY offers both, 1-day or
2-day courses, in short periods, on
each single topic in different fields.
In lectures and hands-on sessions,
participants
study
intensively
theories of mathematics, physics and
engineering, which are used in CAE
today. By combining different
courses, they are able to acquire
theoretical knowledge in each field
systematically. For example, by
attending the 1.5 day lecture on
“Design and CAE Mechanics through Numerical Experiments“,
the students learn many applications, from the basic
numerical experiment and its theoretical consideration using
beam and frame structure, to the modeling of solid
structures, thermal stress and anisotropic materials.
FEM Laboratory
Nowadays, performing simulation by using CAE has become
quite common in design and development departments.
However, engineers sometimes are facing problems when
simulation results differ from testing results. By performing
testing and by comparing test results with simulation results
in the FEM Laboratory, students can study and discuss the
factors which sometimes lead to such errors. This helps them
to understand the background and how the different steps
and techniques are linked; they can now evaluate and verify
simulation results correctly and make efficient use of them in
their real design and development work.
I had a pleasure to conduct the following interview with Mr.
Takashi Sakurai, Manager of CAE UNIVERSITY.
Please can you tell us about the
positioning and the features of CAE UNIVERSITY?
The main features of CAE UNIVERSITY are to offer the
curriculum, which meets certain standards based on the
University’s educational system and to invite active teachers
from universities. The courses are linked with each other and
the learning content has been examined carefully to avoid
overlapping and insufficiency. Teachers who are in charge of
the computational mechanics courses get together for
curriculum meetings periodically, to check and modify the
interaction of each lecture and practice. CAE UNIVERSITY can
be regarded as a new CAE education system with a universitylike philosophy that offers high CAE knowledge levels.
Concerning the content, some may think that mostly
advanced CAE theory is being taught. The aim of CAE
UNIVERSITY though clearly is not limited to the teaching of
theory, it also provides the knowledge of advanced
techniques of how to use CAE in the right way. Hence the
theory is just an element of the teaching content. We believe
that a combination of both: learning how to apply CAE and
studying theory, will enable us to use CAE effectively for the
actual job. Many companies have learned in the meantime
that CAE is not a magical tool that will help just by
introducing it. Introducing CAE also requires learning
methods for its correct use. CAE UNIVERSITY is a reasonable
system to learn techniques for CAE usage because it is
systematic and continuous.
45
about them. This means touching and trying shapes their
imagination and deepens their understanding. Therefore, the
“FEM Laboratory”, which offers a combination of lectures and
testing is very effective. FEM Laboratory maintains a high
reputation and gathers many registrations always. The size of
testing is not so large, because it needs to be done on the
desk. However, the testing is very well conducted and
sufficient to understand the essence. Presently, we offer 2
FEM Laboratory courses, we are planning to add more in the
future. Attending these courses, in which the students
perform testing in groups, also provides a good platform for
them to share information and to get to know each other and
each other’s work easily. Often, students from different
companies keep in touch afterwards and discuss their own
problems with other engineers in similar environments.
What type of students do you have mostly?
Many different types of employees participate. We welcome
designers, R&D engineers, analysis specialists and trainers.
We have students from universities too. They usually have
different goals, for example reviewing things they have
learned many years ago and solving specific problems on the
job. We ask everybody who registers to complete a
questionnaire before the course; we ask to tell us about
requests, expectations and backgrounds. Teachers prepare
and try to arrange the course as much as possible following
the students’ satisfaction questionnaires. There is another
questionnaire that is submitted after each course for future
improvement of the courses. With these efforts, we are able
to maintain good quality and to constantly gain reputation.
The number of students who register for subsequent courses
is rather high.
Recently, we received several requests to hold on-site CAE
UNIVERSITYs from customers who greatly appreciate the
philosophy and the intent. Our clients more often book now
on-site Courses and arrange for their engineers to participate
in the entire range of lectures and practical sessions over
months, to provide thorough CAE employee training.
Please tell us about your future
vision for the “CAE UNIVERSITY”
Currently, students need to come to our seminar room to
attend CAE UNIVERSITY. This is difficult for someone who has
to travel a long way or for those whose schedules are tight.
To improve this, we are planning an alternative way of CAE
education. Actually, we already have experiences in
delivering the customized CAE UNIVERSITY on the customer’s
intranet so that all their engineers can learn while being at
work. By using cloud computing, the system can be applied
and extended to a wider area and audience. We can indeed
offer CAE UNIVERSITY to many more people. Also, if we
develop other language versions, it will be possible to share
this education system globally. We want to achieve new CAE
oriented design innovation by collaborating with as many
engineers as possible who have studied and overcome
engineering challenges. To reach this goal, we want to build
a CAE community, to foster comprehensive CAE development
in Japan and in other countries around the world. This is our
ultimate vision and goal.
What is the students’ general reaction
to the “FEM Laboratory”?
CAE is a tool for design. Designers have got into the habit of
doing, looking at and touching real things and thinking
This article has been written in collaboration
with CYBERNET SYSTEMS Co.,LTD.:
http://www.cybernet.co.jp/english/
Akiko Kondoh, Consultant for EnginSoft in Japan
NPO Activity for Implementation of
Anisotropic Elasto-plastic Models into
Commercial FEM Codes
The nonprofit organization JANCAE, The Japan Association for
Nonlinear CAE (chairperson: Kenjiro Terada, Tohoku
University), offers several activities to companies, universities
and software vendors [1] to gain a deeper understanding of
nonlinear CAE including its main work, the nonlinear CAE
training course held twice a year. This article introduces
JANCAE’s efforts to implement anisotropic elasto-plastic
models into commercial FEM codes as one of the initiatives of
the “Material Modeling Committee”.
2. Background and outline
2.1 The efforts of the Material Modeling Committee:
When we think of comprehensive advancements in the accuracy
of a simulation, we are aware that all capabilities of the
material modeling, the boundary conditions as well as the
definition of the geometric modeling have to be improved at
the same level. The capabilities of geometric modeling for FEM
simulations have drastically improved along with the growth of
the 3D CAD market, the advancements in auto-meshing
capabilities and the progresses made in hardware speeds and
capacities, over the past 10 years. Yet material modeling
capabilities have not progressed as significantly as the
advances achieved in geometric modeling. Users need to be
involved in the definition process of material modeling, which
means that they have to choose the appropriate material model
from huge amounts of available material models offered by
each FEM code. As a next step, the parameters of the material
properties have to be determined by performing material tests.
These processes are still necessary, even now, at a time when
many sophisticated commercial FEM codes are available.
In this situation and independently from its CAE training
course, which mainly consists of classroom lectures, JANCAE
organizes “The Material Modeling Committee” as a practical
approach to the study of nonlinear materials. The Committee
was originally established in 2005 to study mainly
hyperelasticity and viscoelasticity. Then, its research activities
have diversified into all material nonlinearity including metal
plasticity. In the frame of the Committee, members learn about
typical nonlinear material modeling by studying the basic
theory of the constitutive equations, material testing methods,
and how to handle test data and parameter identification
techniques.
2.2 User subroutines for constitutive law in FEM Codes
There are many constitutive equations of materials, as we can
see from the many researchers’ names which appear in the
titles of the equations. Although such variety of material
models contributes to the improvement of simulation accuracy,
not all material models, especially new models, can be applied
to various commercial FEM codes. With regard to yield
functions, which are a core concept for metal plasticity, it has
been pointed out that the yield surfaces of the actual metal
materials cannot be represented well enough by the classical
anisotropic yield functions [2]. However now, many different
types of new yield functions are proposed especially in sheet
metal forming; they are able to represent real plastic
deformation much better than before [3].
LS-DYNA provides specific capabilities for sheet metal forming
simulation, it also offers a considerable number of new
anisotropic yield functions [4]. On the other hand, when we
think about other commercial general purpose FEM codes, they
usually have only limited kinds of yield functions, such as the
classical Hill quadratic anisotropic function.
These commercial codes offer user subroutine capabilities to
extend material models. By using these capabilities and
defining material models following the programming rules that
each code provides, users can implement the required
constitutive laws. However in reality, it is difficult for ordinary
users who are not familiar with the framework of continuum
mechanics, numerical simulation and the theory of plasticity,
to perform such processes only from released text books or
available information, as the manual definition in FEM codes
requires professional skills.
2.3 The development activity in the Material
Modeling Committee
The Material Modeling Committee started its unique R&D
activity in 2009. For this activity, engineers with various
backgrounds and skills engaged in the CAE field got together
to jointly work on making subroutines for the constitutive
laws. The members are from industrial companies and CAE
software vendors.
As mentioned above, it is impossible to create such
subroutines without understanding the basic concept of elastoplastic models for FEM. In the first year, in 2009, we studied
the basics of plastic constitutive equations and the framework
Fig. 1 - Framework of the subroutine “UMMDp”
of constitutive law subroutines by referring to some text books
[5], to obtain a better understanding of their principles. In
parallel, we summarized the characteristics of each code’s user
subroutine and proposed a framework for the user subroutine
development. [Fig.1] In this framework, stress integration and
calculation of consistent tangent modulus, which represent
basic capabilities of constitutive law subroutines, have been
determined as “Unified Material Model Driver for Plasticity
(UMMDp)” and separated from each code’s specified rule in
order to be able to be used commonly. Additionally, yield
functions were isolated as a modularized subroutine so that we
can implement different types of yield functions easily. In the
second year, in 2010, the members worked on the programming
based on this framework and by sharing each role.
3. Development and verification of the user subroutine
3.1 Basic equations of elasto-plastic constitutive laws
Here we show the basic part of the subroutine for elasto-plastic
constitutive laws, which is crucial for this programming.
Tensor is represented by the Voigt notation arraying
components as vector. The stress to be calculated is
, and
the strain increment given to the subroutine is
.
Following are basic equations for elasto-plastic constitutive
laws.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
Equation (1) shows the yield condition and represents that
stress point on the yield surface. The shape of the yield surface
is determined by the yield function , the magnitude is given
by the hardening curve
showing isotropic hardening and
the center of the yield surface is provided by the back stress
showing kinematic hardening respectively. Equation (2)
shows that the elastic and the plastic strain increments are
given by additive decomposition, and the elastic strain
increment
gives the stress increment
by Hooke’s
law shown as Equation (3). Equation (4) gives the plastic
strain increment
and here the associated flow rule is
used, in which the outward normal of the yield surface and the
plastic strain increment have the same direction. Equation (5)
is the evolution equation of the back stress. p shows the
equivalent plastic strain which has a conjugate relation with
the equivalent stress
in the plastic work. UMMDp uses
backward Euler’s method for the stress integration algorithm.
In this method, nonlinear simultaneous equation is solved,
assuming the stress
and internal variable (back stress
and equivalent plastic strain pn+1) after the completion
of ”n+1” increment satisfy the basic equations (1) – (5). We
now define residual functions as follows.
(6)
(7)
(8)
47
Now
is the trial stress (initial estimate of stress
integration) assuming all strain increments are elastic
components and given by
Equation (6), Equation (7) and Equation (8) correspond to the
yield condition of Equation (1), Equation (2) – (4) and the
back stress evolution equation of Equation (5) respectively,
and the stress after integration
and the internal variable
(
and
) are obtained by converging ,
and
to 0 using Newton-Raphson method. In UMMDp, it is
predicted that the convergence calculation will be difficult
because of implementation of higher order anisotropic yield
functions. So we relaxed the condition of (6) by using Multistage Return Mapping [6] which leads to gradual convergence.
3.2 The idea of UMMDp
The variables used for convergence calculation of the stress
integration are the yield function
, the isotropic
hardening curve
, the back stress evolution equation
and their first and second order differentials. In
the static implicit method, tangent matrix (Material Jacobian)
consistent with stress integration algorithm, is also required to
obtain the quadratic convergence in equilibrium calculation. In
this calculation, as with the stress integration, yield function,
isotropic hardening curve, back stress evolution equation value
and its differential value are going to be needed. The
frameworks of calculation for stress integration and consistent
tangent modules are in common regardless of forms of yield
function, hardening curve and back stress evolution equation.
Therefore, if we could make a unified interface for those
various sets of functions, the function group of a variety of
constitutive equations described above would be able to be
modularized and have higher expandability. When we think
about the variable names and the stored formats in subroutines
of commercial codes, of course they vary from code to code.
However, the role of the constitutive law in FEM codes is to
provide “local stress-strain relation at integration point” and
there is no difference on this point. By using proper variable
conversion for code-independent user subroutines, they can be
linked to UMMDp correctly. From this standpoint, the great
variety of constitutive equations, such as yield function and
hardening law can be externalized. Additionally, if we develop
the interface for different commercial codes using their
specific user subroutines, which we call “Plug”, it will kick-off
an open effort and a discussion which will not be limited to a
specific code.
3.3 Yield function subroutine
The yield function subroutine is developed mainly by CAE users
from industrial companies. Following are the yield functions for
the implementation. (von Mises is used for verification of the
implementation.)
von Mises[7]
Hill(1948[8], 1990[9])
Gotoh's bi-quadratic yield function [10]
Barlat yield function (Yld89[11], Yld2000[12],
Yld2004[13])
Banabic yield function (BBC2005[14], BBC2008[15])
Cazacu 2006[16]
Karafills & Boyce[17]
Vegter[18]
The yield function subroutine receives the stress component
as the argument, and then returns the corresponding
equivalent stress , its first order differential
and
its second order differential
.
To demonstrate objectively that the developed subroutine
works correctly, also numerical verification is being performed.
For this verification, we also provide a main routine so that
only the capability of the yield function’s subroutine itself can
be checked separately without mixing up its bug with other
bugs in UMMDp (the parent routine of the yield function’s
subroutine), and “Plug” for commercial FEM codes. By doing
so, the members can work independently. The verification was
performed by the comparison between the yield surface in the
original paper, which proposed anisotropic yield functions, and
the output from our developed subroutine as shown in Fig.2,
as well as by the comparison between analytical and numerical
differential values to secure correctness.
3.4 Development of the interface “Plug” for commercial
codes
The “Plug” subroutine, which becomes an interface to
commercial FEM codes, is developed mainly by engineers from
CAE software vendors. This subroutine links to UMMDp correctly
through each different manner depending on commercial
codes. The name of the ‘Plug’ is based on the functional
analogy of plug-adopter for AC power socket which differs by
nation.
The Plug needs to offer overall capabilities for communication
with commercial codes, such as storing and updating internal
variables, and variable output adjustment to result data. On
this point, it was very helpful to gain the cooperation of
engineers from software vendors, who are familiar with each
commercial code. We appreciated their cross-border
cooperation.
The verification of the developed Plug was also performed. For
this verification, we used the basic benchmark test provided by
the NAFEMS guidebook [19] for “Code to Code Verification”. We
(a) Yield locus in original paper [12]
(b) Output from ummdp_checkyf
Fig. 2 - Verification of yield function subroutine (eg:Yld2000).
compared the result using
default elasto-plastic models
prepared in each commercial
code (von Mises type
isotropic yield functions) and
the result using the von Mises
type yield function through
UMMDp, and we confirmed
that these stress histories are
matching as shown in Fig.3.
Fig. 3 - Comparison with result of
commercial code (von Mises model)
3.5 Implementation of combined hardening law
We finalized the development and the verification of the
program for the standard isotropic hardening models in 2009.
It is difficult to simulate deformation behavior accurately when
the direction of stress is reversed. So we are promoting the
development of the combined hardening model including
kinematic hardening shown in the basic equations. Kinematic
hardening behavior is modeled by back stress evolution
equation. For this evolution equation, various types of models
are proposed, and we need to accept this diversity as with
yield functions. At this point in time, we are developing a
framework to modularize the function
shown in
Equation (5) as a subroutine.
3.6 Total verification
For total verification of the developed program, we analyzed
problems which come to the surface by the influence of plastic
anisotropy, and we compared them to the reliable result. We
simulated a hole-expansion test of a steel sheet [20] and a
hydraulic bulge test of aluminum alloy [21] in cooperation
with Prof. Kuwabara, Tokyo
University of Agriculture and
Technology. Fig.4 shows the
simulation result of the holeexpansion test. We can see
that the thickness decrease
around the center hole varies
with angle from the rolling Fig. 4 - Simulation example of holeexpansion test
direction. Afterwards, we
verified that the developed subroutine group worked rightly, by
comparing the UMMDp simulation result and the reliable
simulation result. The aim of the verification at this stage is
not the comparison with experimental results, instead it is
absolutely for Code to Code Verification. We think that using
the middle scale problem, which is positioned between small
scale problems like material testing and large scale problems in
realistic sheet metal forming, is more important for the
material model validation rather than jumping to a
complicated large scale problem.
4. Closing
In this article, we introduced an activity of the NPO “JANCAE”
working group. As the volume of tasks becomes larger, the
development is still in progress. In 2011, the development of
a common subroutine for resin and rubber has been planned as
a subsequent activity of the working group. The effort this
time is the implementation of the yield functions which were
already proposed in previous papers, hence there is no
academic novelty. Meanwhile, it is not just about a limited
activity for a specific commercial code only. This is why the
topic is not really suitable to be presented in academic
societies or at specific users’ conferences by CAE vendors. We
introduced this work as an example of the activities featuring
NPO’s neutrality. Following NPO’s guidelines, it is planned that
the subroutine group will be opened to the public a year after
activity completion. Yet more than 30 engineers from different
organizations have already joined the working group. Their
backgrounds are different, some have already obtained
permissions from their managers, some join to support their
own personal development. In any case, their motivation is the
most important driving force for the activity.
C.A Coulomb, when he was a building engineer in the military
corps of engineers, expressed the reason to write a paper by
making an analogy to an artisan when he submitted the paper
to the French Académie des sciences in 1773, as follows.[22]
“Besides, the Sciences are monuments consecrated to the
public good. Each citizen ought to contribute to them
according to his talents…. While great men will be carried to
the top of the edifice where they can mark out and construct
the upper stories, ordinary artisans who are scattered through
the lower stories or hidden in the obscurity of the foundations
should seek only to perfect that which cleverer hands have
created.” We think the reason why so many engineers were
eager to be involved in the work is because of their motivation
to understand in a deeper way and to express their sympathy
for the activity based on Coulomb’s words. We, ordinary artisans,
have great responsibility in the present apprehensions regarding
the gap between computational mechanics and CAE [23].
5. References
[1] http://www.jancae.org/
[2] The Japan Society for Technology of Plasticity ed.: StaticImplicit FEM – Sheet metal forming (process simulation
series), Corona Publishing, pp.198, 2004. (in Japanese)
[3] ibid. pp.172.
[4] LSTC, JSOL: LS-DYNA Version 970 User’s Manual Vol.2,
2003.
[5] F.Dunne, et al.: Introduction to Computational Plasticity,
Oxford Univ. Pr., 2005.
[6] J.W.Yoon, et al.: Elasto-plastic finite element method
based on incremental deformation theory and continuum
based shell elements for planar anisotropic sheet
materials, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg., vol.174,
pp.23-56, 1999.
[7] R.von Mises: Mechanik der festen Körper in plastischendeformablem Zustand, Göttinger Nachrichten math.-phys.
Klasse, pp.582, 1913.
[8] R.Hill: A theory of the yielding and plastic flow of
anisotropic metals, Proc. Roy. Soc. A: vol.193, pp.281,
1948.
[9] R.Hill: Constitutive modeling of orthotropic plasticity in
sheet metals, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, vol.38, no.3, pp405417, 1990.
49
[10] M.Gotoh: Improvement of orthotropic theory by
implementation of forth order yield function (plane
stress) I, JSTP journal, vol.19, no.205, pp.377-385, 1978.
[11] F.Barlat, et al.: Plastic behavior and stretchability of
sheet metals. Part-I, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.5, pp.51-66,
1989.
[12] F.Barlat, et al.: Plane stress yield function for aluminum
alloy sheet: part 1:theory, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.19,
pp.1297-1319, 2003.
[13] F.Barlat, et al.: Linear transformation-based anisotropic
yield functions, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.21, pp.1009-1039,
2003.
[14] D.Banabic, et al.: Influence of constitutive equations on
the accuracy of prediction in sheet metal forming
simulation, Proc. of NUMISHEET2008, 2008.
[15] D.Banabic, et al.: Plane-stress yield criterion for highlyanisotropic sheet metals, Proc. of NUMISHEET2008, 2008.
[16] O.Cazacu, et al.: Orthotropic yield criterion for hexagonal
closed packed metals, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.22, pp.11711194, 2006.
[17] A.P.Karafillis, M.C.Boyce: A general anisotropic yield
criterion using bound and a transformation weighting
tensor, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, vol.41, no.12, pp.18591889, 1993.
[18] H.Vegter, et al.: A plane stress yield function for
anisotropic sheet material by interpolation of biaxial
stress states, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.22, pp.557-580, 2006.
[19] A.A.Becker: Understanding Non-linear Finite Element
Analysis Through Illustrative Benchmarks, NAFEMS, pp.20,
2001.
[20] Kuwabara, T., Hashimoto, K. Iizuka, E. and Yoon J.W.,
Effect of anisotropic yield functions on the accuracy of
hole expansion simulations, J. Mater. Processing Technol.,
211 (2011), 475-481.
[21] Daisaku Yanaga, Toshihiko Kuwabara, Naoyuki Uema and
Mineo Asano: Material Modeling of 6000 Series Aluminum
Alloy Sheets with Different Density Cube Textures and
Effect on the Accuracy of Finite Element Simulation, Proc.
NUMISHEET 2011, Seoul, Korea, 21-26 August, 2011,
pp.800-806. (AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1383)
[22] Timoshenko, S.P.: History of Strength of Materials, Dover
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[23] N.Kikuchi: Computational Solid Mechanics –Trend and
Future, JSCES Journal, vol.11, no.1, pp.1290-1295, 2006.
(in Japanese)
Hideo Takizawa (Mitsubishi Materials Co, Japan)
Vice-chairman of JANCAE Material Modeling Committee
For more information about this article, please e-mail:
[email protected]
By courtesy of Mechanical Design & Analysis Corporation, an
original version of this article was presented at the 4th Mech
D&A Users’ Conference, 1 July 2011 (Tokyo, Japan) and
published in the Conference Proceedings.
EnginSoft Event Calendar
ITALY
For more information on the next EnginSoft Seminars and
Webinars, please contact: [email protected]
Stay tuned to: www.enginsoft.com (Events)
Download the 2011 Conference Proceedings now on:
www.enginsoft.com/proceedings2011 and stay tuned for the
dates/venue of the 2012 International Conference:
Every year, the conference program features applications of
CAE in: mechanics, industrial applications, structural
engineering,
optimization,
manufacturing
process
simulation, computational fluid dynamics, emerging
technologies, durability and fatigue, rapid and impact
dynamics, CAD/CAE integration, …
9-10 February - High Tech Die Casting, Vicenza
EnginSoft will present a case history of the process
simulation applied to Ferrioli radiators.
www.metallurgia-italiana.net
18-21 April - METEF 2012, Fiera Verona
EnginSoft will present the MAGMA 5.2 release.
www.metef.com
15th European Conference on Composite Materials. 24-28
Giugno; Venezia. www.eccm15.org.
3rd Dolomites Workshop on Constructive Approximation and
Applications; 9-14 Settembre; Canazei
events.math.unipd.it/dwcaa2012/?q=node/1
GERMANY
15-16 November - NAFEMS European Conference: Simulation
Process and Data Management (SDM). Munich
If you would like to hear more about EnginSoft Germany’s
presentation on: Methodology and Validation for
Bidirectional, Homogeneous Simulation Data Flow
Management in a Fluid-Structure Interaction Problem
Utilizing Workflow Management and Shape Deformation
Tools,
please
contact
our
team
at:
[email protected]
EnginSoft Germany. Regular Webinars and On-site
Presentations 2011 & 2012: EnginSoft Germany hosts regular
Webinars to present the company’s products and services, as
well as specific Webinars to discuss our customers’ current
applications and needs.
To hear more and to fix an appointment for your company,
please contact: [email protected].
Please stay tuned to: http://www.enginsoft-de.com/
FRANCE
Flowmaster Roadshow 2012
Pour accompagner le lancement de Flowmaster V7.9 et
présenter ses principales nouveautés, Enginsoft France
organise des conférences dans plusieurs villes de France.
Vous y découvrirez notamment l’analyse diphasique, le temps
réel, et le couplage avec modeFRONTIER. Inscrivez-vous vite!
Book your place now, for the Conferences that EnginSoft
France will host in 2012 – Hear about Flowmaster V7.9 and
the coupling with modeFRONTIER!
Voici les lieux et dates – Dates & venues:
• 2 février 2012 après midi à Nantes
• 7 février 2012 après midi à Lyon
• 9 février 2012 après midi à Toulouse
• 14 février 2012 après midi à Aix en Provence
• 16 février 2012 après midi à Paris
Pour vous inscrire, appelez vite le +33 (0)1.41.22.99.30 ou
visitez http://www.enginsoft-fr.com/
EnginSoft France 2011 & 2012 Journées porte ouverte
dans nos locaux à Paris et dans d’autres villes de France, en
collaboration avec nos partenaires.
Pour plus d'information visitez: www.enginsoft-fr.com,
contactez: [email protected]
UK
The workshops are designed to give delegates a good
appreciation of the functionality, application and benefits of
modeFRONTIER. The workshops include an informal blend of
presentation plus ‘hands-on’ examples with the objective of
enabling delegates to be confident to evaluate
modeFRONTIER for their applications using a trial license at
no cost.
modeFRONTIER Workshops
Warwick Digital Laboratory, Warwick University
• Thursday 10th March
• Tuesday 12th April
• Tuesday 21st June
• Wednesday 17th August
• Tuesday 1st November
• Wednesday 14th December
modeFRONTIER Workshops at Warwick Digital Laboratory,
Warwick University
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thursday 10th March
Tuesday 12th April
Tuesday 21st June
Wednesday 17th August
Tuesday 1st November
Wednesday 14th December
modeFRONTIER Workshops at Cranfield University
• Thursday 27th May
modeFRONTIER Workshops for InfoWorks CS at Warwick
Digital Lab
• Tuesday, 8th February
• Thursday 26th May
• Wednesday 20th July
• Thursday 13th October
• Tuesday 22nd November
To register, please visit: www.enginsoft-uk.com
7th December - CIWEM Innovations Showcase, Coventry
EnginSoft has been selected to present 'Exploring the full
range of possible solutions to DG5 schemes by combining
modeFRONTIER's smart algorithms with InfoWorks CS maximising customer choice between performance and cost'
http://bit.ly/InnSC
SWEDEN
2011 Training Courses on modeFRONTIER – Drive your designs
from good to GREAT EnginSoft Nordic office in Lund, Sweden
The Training Courses are focused on optimization, both
multi- and single-objective, process automation and
interpretation of results. Participants will learn different
optimization strategies in order to complete a project within
a specified time and simulation budget.
Other topics, such as design of experiments, meta modeling
and robust design are introduced as well. The two day
training consists of a mix of theoretical sessions and
workshops.
The following dates are scheduled for 2012.
All courses are held at the EnginSoft Nordic office in Lund,
Sweden.
• 1st-2nd December
• 25-26th January
• 8th-9th February
• 6th-7th March
• 2nd-3rd April
• 3rd-4th May
• 5th-6th June
• 4th-5th September
• 3rd-4th October
• 6th-7th November
• 6th-7th December
To discuss your needs, for more information and to register,
please contact EnginSoft Nordic, [email protected]
51
SPAIN
EnginSoft Iberia. Programa de cursos de modeFRONTIER and
other local events. To enquire about the next events in Spain
and for more information, please contact: tel: +34
938.945.092. email: [email protected]
Stay tuned to: http://iberia.enginsoft.com/empresa
El 14 de diciembre de 2011 a las 09:30
Webcast: Add-On para LabVIEW de modeFRONTIER para la
Optimización de parámetros y Prototipado Rápido de Control
El 20 de diciembre de 2011 a las 10:00 (45 minutos)
Webcast: Metodologías que aumentan su valor añadido a sus
clientes
For more information on the 2 Webcasts, please visit:
http://www.aperiotec.es/agenda.php
USA
TMS 2012 Annual Meeting & Exhibition; 11-15 March;
Orlando. www.tms.org/meetings/annual-12/AM12home.aspx
Courses and Webinars on Design Optimization with
modeFRONTIER Sunnyvale, CA.
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
www.ozeninc.com
ISRAEL
AUVSI; 20-22 Marzo; Tel Aviv
event.pwizard.com/auvsi2012/index.py?p=376
EUROPE, VARIOUS LOCATIONS
modeFRONTIER Academic Training
Please note: These Courses are for Academic users only. The
Courses provide Academic Specialists with the fastest route
to being fully proficient and productive in the use of
modeFRONTIER for their research activities. The courses
combine modeFRONTIER Fundamentals and Advanced
Optimization Techniques.
For more information please contact: modeFRONTIER
University Program, [email protected]
To meet with EnginSoft at any of the above events, please
contact us: [email protected]
Corsi di addestramento
software 2012
L'attività di formazione rappresenta da sempre uno dei tre
maggiori obiettivi di EnginSoft accanto alla distribuzione ed
assistenza del software ed ai servizi di consulenza e
progettazione.
Per ciascuno dei possibili livelli cui la richiesta di formazione
può porsi (quella del progettista, dello specialista o del
responsabile di progettazione), EnginSoft mette a
disposizione la propria esperienza per accelerare i tempi del
completo apprendimento degli strumenti necessari con una
gamma completa di corsi differenziati sia per livello (di base
o specialistico), che per profilo professionale dei destinatari
(progettisti, neofiti od analisti esperti).
La finalità è sempre di tipo pratico: condurre rapidamente
all'utilizzo corretto del codice, sviluppando nell'utente la
capacità di gestire analisi complesse attraverso l'uso
consapevole del codice di calcolo. Per questo motivo ogni
corso è diviso in sessioni dedicate alla presentazione degli
argomenti teorici alternate a sessioni 'hands on', in cui i
partecipanti sono invitati ad utilizzare attivamente il codice
di calcolo eseguendo applicazioni guidate od abbozzando,
con i suggerimenti del trainer, soluzioni per i problemi di
proprio interesse e discutendone impostazioni e risultati.
Anche per il 2012 EnginSoft propone una serie completa di
corsi che coprono le necessità di formazione all'uso dei
diversi software sostenuti. Le novità proposte, confermano
l’idea che EnginSoft ha della formazione: non è una realtà
statica che si ripropone uguale a se stessa di anno in anno,
ma è un divenire, guidato dall'esperienza accumulata negli
anni, dall'evoluzione del software e dalle esigenze delle
società che si affidano a noi per la formazione del proprio
personale. In tale contesto EnginSoft organizza e sviluppa
anche attività didattiche attraverso un programma formativo
personalizzato, soluzioni di progettati in relazione alle
necessità e alle specifiche esigenze aziendali del
committente.
L’offerta dei corsi ANSYS viene ridefinita ogni anno per
adeguarsi, sia all’evoluzione del software ed alle
caratteristiche dell’ultima versione disponibile, che
all’introduzione di nuovi moduli e solutori. In tale senso si
segnala in campo fluidodinamico l'introduzione, accanto ai
corsi tradizionalmente erogati, del corso ANSYS FLUENT:
Corso Avanzato sulla Combustione.
Sono stati inoltre rivisti ed aggiornati i corsi relativi a tutti
gli altri software sostenuti da EnginSoft per adeguarli allo
stato attuale delle relative distribuzioni.
Si segnala infine l'introduzione del nuovo corso DIGIMAT,
modellatore avanzato, non lineare, multi-scala di materiali
che si pone come obiettivo quello di offrire una
rappresentazione completa e rigorosa utile sia ai fornitori di
materiali (“progettisti” di materiali), sia ai progettisti
analisti CAE (end users) per i quali, il più delle volte, il
materiale viene modellato in modo semplificato.
Dal punto di vista organizzativo nel 2012 tutte le sei sedi
EnginSoft saranno impegnate nella formazione, dando la
possibilità agli utenti di scegliere la location a loro più
conveniente in termini di vicinanza geografica alla propria
società.
Tutto questo a riprova dell'impegno nella formazione che, per
EnginSoft, è e rimane un punto fondamentale della politica
aziendale, un impegno costante verso l'eccellenza, un
servizio per fare crescere i suoi clienti e, se lo desiderano,
crescere con loro.
Per maggiori informazioni: www.enginsoft.it/corsi
Per richiedere una copia del libretto: [email protected]

EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011 Welcomes an Audience of 600

Transcript

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