 Technology
Forecast: Engineering Software
Michael L. Bussler
President
Algor, Inc.
Pittsburgh, PA
Beginning in the late 1990s, the computer-aided engineering
software industry began an evolution of products to include CAD/CAE
interoperability tools for working with CAD solid parts and assemblies. At the
same time, efforts began to integrate finite element stress and kinematic
analysis capabilities. In the year 2000 and beyond, these trends will continue,
accompanied by shifts in focus to precision finite element modeling and the
simulation of multiple, dynamic physical phenomena in a WYSIWYG environment.
Such shifts will enable engineers to create more accurate design representations
and replicate the dynamic behavior of a product for more reliable virtual
testing using just one engineering software product.
Product Design Cycle Centers on CAD Solid Model
With the lack of large government engineering initiatives like
"Star Wars" in the 1980s and the automotive emissions crisis in the
1970s, the engineering profession is focusing on refining existing product
design cycles instead of designing new products. The CAD solid model has been
the focus of refinement efforts because it provides a central Product Data
Management point for the entire manufacturing process.
The ideal engineering software enables engineers to maintain the
same CAD solid geometry throughout the entire product design cycle, from design
conception to manufacture. The continued development of CAD/CAE interoperability
tools is key to achieving this ideal CAE product.
Many CAD/CAE interoperability enhancement efforts have evolved
through partnerships between CAE software producers and makers of mid-range CAD
solid modelers. Through these partnerships, CAE producers provide a limited
subset of analysis capabilities that can be run within the CAD system
application programming interface through add-in menu commands. Algor has taken
a slightly different approach with its InCADPlus family of products, which
enables engineers to perform all CAD/CAE interoperability, finite element
modeling, analysis and simulation functions from within the CAD solid modeler.
More importantly, InCADPlus captures the exact CAD part or assembly in Algor
without file translation whether or not CAD and Algor reside on the same
computer. In addition, InCADPlus works the same for all CAD solid modelers,
providing flexibility in today’s multi-divisional, multi-system engineering
environment, which often requires CAD and FEA professionals in different
departments and locations to collaborate.
Retaining CAD Solid Model Detail Leads to Accurate Product
Representation
Retaining the detail of CAD solid models in finite element
modeling is critical to incorporating CAE products more tightly into the product
design cycle. In the past, much focus has been placed on feature suppression, or
"defeaturing," which eliminates small features from the CAD solid
model to enable faster, or "quick and dirty," solid finite element
meshing.
In the year 2000 and beyond, less emphasis will be placed on
simplification and more emphasis will be focused on the accurate representation
of products through the retention of CAD solid model features. As product design
processes remain centered around refinement, manufacturers will realize that the
elimination of even small features in the finite element model can result in
less than accurate stress results. This can translate into design failure,
requiring more physical prototype testing and machining costs, and therefore,
longer, more expensive times-to-market.
The development of faster, more precise finite element modeling
capabilities will enable the accurate representation and reliable testing of a
product on a computer. CAE producers will strive to improve current solid
meshing capabilities to include the creation of hybrid FEA solid meshes.
Available from Algor, hybrid meshes consist of brick elements on the model
surface with tetrahedral elements in the model interior. With hybrid meshes,
engineers can combine the accuracy of eight- or 20-node brick elements with the
speed of tetrahedral elements. In addition, engineers will replace plate
elements with thin brick elements to represent slender components of CAD parts
or assemblies as the algorithms for solving brick element formulations become
more robust. As always, these finite element modeling advances will be boosted
by improvements in computer computation speeds.
Integration of Motion Simulation, Stress Analysis and Physical
Phenomena Enables the Replication of Dynamic Behavior
The accurate representation of a design is just a small part of
the challenge to provide tools that replicate the dynamic behavior of mechanical
designs for more reliable virtual product testing. The widespread integration of
kinematic and stress analyses is expected to continue as engineers become
increasingly aware that static environments do not exist in the physical world.
A process called motion load transfer already has been introduced in the
engineering software industry to address this issue.
In the motion load transfer process, engineers use kinematic
software to simulate rigid-body motion in fully coupled mechanisms and produce
forces over time. Then the maximum force from the kinematic analysis can be used
in static FEA to determine maximum stresses at one instant in time. While this
is an improvement over past methods of calculating dynamic loading, the method
still relies on an assumed static environment for stress determination. Many CAE
producers will soon develop a solution similar to Algor’s Accupak/VE
Mechanical Event Simulation software.
Accupak/VE simultaneously simulates motion, dynamic loading and
flexing to determine stresses in parts of an assembly of interconnected
components during a virtual "event." By combining stress analysis with
dynamics, Accupak/VE provides stress results for each instant during an event
and eliminates the difficulty of manipulating stand-alone solutions and errors
that can result when transferring data between separate FEA and kinematic
packages. Many CAE producers will soon provide software tools, such as Algor’s
Accupak/VE, that offer WYSIWYG environments, which let engineers examine the
behavior of the entire mechanical system without physically building a
prototype.
As stress analysis and motion simulation are combined,
engineering software producers will incorporate more sophisticated contact
capabilities between separate components, including surface to surface contact
and sliding friction contact. Software also will include more sophisticated
simulation capabilities for flexible-body motion. Making strides in this area,
Algor recently invented actuator element technology, which enables engineers to
mimic multi-directional expansion and contraction movement over time that is
common in such components as solenoids and hydraulic pistons.
In addition to the integration of stress and kinematic analyses
into one software product, the consideration for a wider range of physical
phenomena, including changes in temperature, fluid flow, electrostatics and
fluid-object interaction, is necessary to accurately portray the physical
behavior of a product in its natural environment. Stress caused by motion is not
the only way that failure can occur. For example, pressures, significant
temperature gradients or the flow of fluids such as water or air against an
object can also induce forces, which can result in motion and stress.
Many CAE software producers, including Algor, already offer
analysis capabilities for handling multiple physical phenomena. Algor offers a
range of FEA capabilities including linear and nonlinear stress, vibration and
natural frequencies, heat transfer, electrostatics, fluid flow and composite
materials so that multiple physical phenomena can be considered on the same
model – a process known as multiphysics analysis. In the future, multiphysics
analysis capabilities will be more tightly integrated into a single analysis
environment. In addition, engineering software in the future will more
accurately simulate the behavior of a more diverse set of materials as
additional information on material properties becomes available.
Variables Point to One Consolidated Product
In the near future, additional engineering software products
will accurately represent product designs, using the exact CAD solid model
geometry with little or no feature suppression. CAE products will further
replicate and optimize the dynamic physical behavior of product designs,
reducing or even eliminating the need for laboratory testing. Furthermore, PCs
with Windows NT processing systems will continue to dominate the engineering
field, CAD solid modelers will become even more user-friendly, universal and
inexpensive and CAD/CAE interoperability tools will proliferate.
These variables will enable FEA software products to become more
tightly integrated into the product design cycle with engineers performing more
FEA with CAD solid models. The evolution of engineering software toward a
singular but multi-faceted product will continue as manufacturers further refine
the product design cycle.
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