MSC Software Alpha Magazine Fall 2007 alpha · 2009-07-29 · MSC Software is driving change in the simulation marketplace with SimEnterprise and MD Solutions, our new “category

MD in Action

Enterprise Simulation Management An Expanded Perspective on Simulation by CIMData

Change of Heart

Closing the Test GapDr. Reza Sadeghi, Chief Technology Officer, MSC Software

MSC SoftwareAlpha Magazine

alphaThe Journal of Virtual Product DevelopmentFall 2007

The Journal of Virtual Product Development • Volume 11 | Fall 2007

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Gaining Competitive Advantage through Engineering Productivity

Welcome to the 2007 MSC Software Global VPD Conference

MSC SoftwareThe Path Forward

to managed simulation environments. Through exposure to the

underlying capabilities and associated use case models, attendees will

gain a clear understanding of the value proposition available to them

through our engineering products. We will

show you how we are addressing customer

demand for an integrated multi-discipline

simulation environment that allows for

complex system interaction and frees users

to explore more innovative design potential.

This issue of Alpha explores how

MSC Software is driving change in the

simulation marketplace with SimEnterprise

and MD Solutions, our new “category

killer” simulation solutions. Our MD

and SimEnterprise Solutions have been

introduced through a series of releases in the past twelve months.

The feedback and adoption results we’ve seen have been

tremendous. We invite your thoughts and feedback as we embark

on a clear path forward to redefining the world of simulation. a

Welcome to MSC Software’s 2007 VPD Conference and the Fall

2007 issue of Alpha magazine. This year’s conference, “Gaining

Competitive Advantage through Engineering Productivity,” is designed

to help companies maximize their return on

simulation investments, ensure right-to-market,

and minimize time-to-market for products

in highly competitive global environments.

The conference will celebrate the best in

simulation process management, industrial

application, and design innovation, providing

attendees with information on strategies

and technologies that they can immediately

use to enhance concept development,

design, simulation, testing, manufacturing,

and business performance. Through

keynotes from industry executives, customer

technical presentations, break-out sessions, and opportunities

to network with your peers, MSC Software will celebrate the

very best and latest in virtual product development with you.

Our sessions will focus on both our core engineering products

and the path forward to greater engineering productivity through

multidiscipline and enterprise simulation solutions, detailing how and

why manufacturers should make the move from point CAE solutions

Bill WeyandChairmain & CEO, MSC Software

“MSC Software is getting traction and improved execution as a leader on the Path Forward to Enterprise Simulation solutions.”

Volume 11 | Fall 2007 | 1


Letter from the CEOThe Path Forward

Table of Contents

P16

Fall 2007Table of Contents

Letter from the CEO

The Path Forward 01

Case Study

Change of Heart 03 Transition to MSC Software Offers Elegant Solution

for Pacemaker Development at Boston Scientific

Jeff Bodner, Principal Mechanical Engineer and

Adam Rivard, Mechanical Engineer. Boston Scientific CRM Division

Case Study

Closing the Test Gap: 04 At GM, Adams Increases Accuracy, Decreases Cost

Joseph A. Schudt, Prasad Kodali, Hyung-Joo Hong, Vivek Chidambaram,

Glenn Babiak and Robert L. Geisler. General Motors Corporation

Industry Perspective

CIMData: 06 Enterprise Simulation Management,

An Expanded Perspective on Simulation

Ed Miller, CIMData, Inc.

MSC Perspective

Leading the Way to Competitive Advantage: 14 The Clear Path Forward

Feature Story

MD Solutions in Action 16 Integrating Vehicle Dynamics with Noise, Vibration,

and Harshness

Technical Matters

SimManager Enterprise 101 20 MSC Software’s Solution Encompasses a Complete

Set of Capabilities for Enterprise Simulation Management

alphaEditors: Carlson Choi, Marilyn Townsend

Contributing Editors: Steve Bodnar, Ted

Pawela, Jennifer Brannon

Copy Editors: Chris Jensen, Lorie Loe

Art Director: Jim Planet

Advertising Manager: Carlson Choi

Reader comments and suggestions are

always welcome. Contact the Alpha

editorial staff at [email protected].

Corporate

MSC Software Corporation

2 MacArthur Place

Santa Ana, California 92707

Telephone +1 714 540 8900

www.mscsoftware.com

Europe, Middle East, Africa

MSC Software GmbH

Am Moosfeld 13

81829 Munich, Germany

Telephone +49 89 431 98 70

Asia-Pacific

MSC Software Japan LTD.

Shinjuku First West 8F

23-7 Nishi Shinjuku

1-Chome, Shinjuku-Ku

Tokyo, Japan 160-0023

Telephone +81 3 6911 1200

The MSC Software corporate logo, MSC, and the names of the MSC Software products and services referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of the MSC Software Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners. © 2007 MSC Software Corporation. All rights reserved.


Case StudyChange of HeartTransition to MSC Software Offers Elegant Solution for Pacemaker Development at Boston Scientific

At Boston Scientific, engineers in the Cardiac

Rhythm Management (CRM) Division use Adams motion simulation technology from MSC Software to study extendable and retractable pacemaker leads. The challenge is to understand the small forces and dynamics affecting product performance – variables such as lead friction with the vein, stylet friction with leads, and contact between the various lead components. Although generating a flexible model with rigid body software is an unusual approach, Adams provided the quickest and most economical process for simulating motion and small forces.

The CRM team considered many approaches for studying lead performance, but each alternative came with serious drawbacks. Animal models, for instance, are expensive and present ethical issues. Plastic or rubber models allow measurement of some forces but not of motion, so their practicality is uncertain. Using a bench model of the heart to test variables (such as the effect of a change in tubing stiffness) is time-consuming. And making test samples, in which each sample observes different variables, remains prohibitively expensive.

These and other methods proved impractical for Boston Scientific. According to Jeff Bodner, the principal mechanical engineer on the CRM project, nonlinear FEA software “required too much time for generating models and was inefficient for motion dynamics studies.” MSC Software’s motion simulation technology offered Bodner’s

team a practical and elegant solution: Adams. As team member Adam Rivard explains, “Computer simulation with the Adams solver allowed us to change the parameters and instantaneously evaluate different configurations of the product.”

For example, an extendable and retractable pacemaker lead implant scenario begins with the surgeon bending the stylet into a curve to aid in lead positioning. The stylet stiffens the floppy lead, thus allowing for greater control. The surgeon pushes the lead against the desired heart tissue and rotates a coil within the lead. The coil then rotates a mechanism that, in turn, rotates and extends a helix into the tissue. The helix serves as the electrode.

“With Adams, we can bend the stylet into a curve just like a surgeon,” Bodner explains. “Also, we can simulate the cutting action of the helix and track its furthest penetration into the soft tissue. The amount of torque needed to drive the helix into the tissue is obtained from an experiment and incorporated into the model. If we partially back the helix out and start again, the force is not recognized until the helix reaches the point where the cutting ended previously.”

To reduce the time spent modeling the leads in Adams, Bodner called in MSC Software’s professional consulting group to help build macros. Now his team can generate a working model of a lead in less than 30 minutes. Bodner adds, “We expect the integration of Adams with MSC’s nonlinear Marc into a multidiscipline code will open up further opportunities to model the lead and flexible soft tissue that could be very beneficial.”

“The actual time to execute is extremely fast. We can spend more time thinking about the problem statement without

worrying about building the model.”

Adam Rivard, Boston Scientific CRM Division

MSC Software’s VPD capabilities allow the CRM team to perform analysis and execution with impressive speed, according to Rivard. “Basically, we tell Adams how long the lead is, the diameter, and which components to include and hit go,” he explains. “Most of the 30 minutes is spent thinking about which variables to consider and their corresponding values. The actual time to execute is extremely fast. We can spend more time thinking about the problem statement without worrying about building the model. Without the macros, model construction would take days. With Adams, it takes minutes.” a

Authors: Jeff Bodner, Principal Mechanical

Engineer and Adam Rivard, Mechanical

Engineer. Boston Scientific CRM Division


Case StudyChange of Heart


Case StudyClosing the Test GapAt GM, Adams Increases Accuracy, Decreases Cost

Understanding the effect of dynamic loads—such as when a car runs over a pothole or travels down a rough road—is crucial during the development of a new car. However,

physically testing all configurations and assessing design robustness through all levels of variation is time-consuming, cost-

prohibitive, and manpower-intensive. We have found that multi-body dynamic simulations with simulation solutions like Adams provide an efficient and cost-effective method for supplementing test information and closing the gaps between physical test variables.

One limitation of road load measurement is that a physical test vehicle represents only a single sample of the total number of vehicles

that will be produced. Typically, a test vehicle is subjected to off-nominal build conditions which may impact the measured loads. Examples of such conditions include vehicle trim heights (stance), off-nominal bushing, jounce bumper stiffness, and variation in tire performance. Other variables may affect test results, such as vehicle setup (tuning, trim heights, etc.), worst-case loading (axle mass, tire performance, etc.), transducers,


Case StudyClosing the Test Gap

4 | Fall 2007 | Volume 11

Vertical Wheel Forces: Pothole

Time (sec)1.2 1.22 1.24 1.26 1.28 1.3

Forc

e

and weather. Since many tests are run far in advance of producing the subsystems and vehicle, understanding design variation is crucial for assessing vehicle performance.

Process The general procedure whereby measured data is supplemented, adjusted, or extended commences with an assessment of the current measured data and the measurement vehicle. This data is assessed for accuracy and completeness. The focus is on identifying launching points for supplemental studies intended to extend the dataset. Then gaps between the measured dataset and the needs of the validation (or associated activity) task must be identified. It is these gaps that the VPD tools will be used to fill.

For each gap, a capability assessment of the simulation solution must be made. If the solution has gaps in its ability to simulate an event or condition, the analysis may need to be balanced or augmented with test data. Therefore, simulation identifies what information—shock characterizations, bushing measurements, full vehicle finite element models, etc.—is necessary for further simulation. Existing measured data should be used as much as possible as a basis for assessments of design changes or variation.

Measurement Correlation and Modeling Requirements Whenever possible, the analytical simulation vehicle should be based upon the test vehicle. Deviations from a simulation of the test configuration are better representations of the actual changes to vehicle configuration. We have found certain issues to be critical in matching the performance of measured vehicles. These issues include tires, vehicle characteristics, vehicle trim height (stance), mass, bushings, stabilized bars, flexible body structure, other flexible components, jounce bumpers, shock absorbers, and active suspension controls.

All of these issues must be capable of simulating test events so that any deficiencies can be understood and quantified. Dimensions, force, and moment curves have a considerable impact on results attained with simulation, and therefore an engineer’s judgment will be important to understanding model fidelity. Additionally, many of these issues are interconnected; by changing one, another is affected. For example, larger mass or tire size will affect trim height.

Modeling AssumptionsMulti-body dynamics solutions such as Adams are employed to simulate these events, although other options are possible. Model fidelity must meet the needs of the event under consideration. This implies that a greater level of detail must be employed as events (potholes, for example) become more severe.

Potholes and bumps can be some of the most severe events that are simulated to supplement measured vehicle data. In many cases, these events cause substantial structural deflection in the chassis and vehicle body structure. It is also possible for wheels to exhibit deflection (occasionally plastic) during these events. Tire models should comprehend wheel rim ground out.

Evaluation of ResultsAssessing changes to the design requires a solid baseline model. For comparison purposes, the baseline analytical run should be correlated to available measured data. This simulation provides the basis for all other comparisons. A variety of methods, such as direct comparison of time histories, can be used to compare simulation results with measured vehicle loads.

For moderate to severe events concerned with peak loads, the criteria for determining correlation within a simulation must be precise. The peak loads for these events are often the crucial factor, but peaks at different interfaces occur at different times and the phasing must also be matched. It is possible that the measured vehicle experienced complicating effects (e.g. shock cavitations) during the event, which must be accounted for or understood in the context of the extended data set.

For potholes, time histories are compared directly for wheel force, wheel acceleration, and other component loads. The load phenomena early in the event are often


Case StudyClosing the Test Gap

primarily due to tire-road interaction, while later phenomena are likely due to downstream components such as bushings, shock absorbers, and other vehicle structure. Additionally, pothole events often give rise to substantial design or “strength” loads, so accurate simulation is extremely important in assessing the impact of vehicle tuning changes and platform bandwidth (e.g., differing tires, shocks, stabilizer bars, etc.).

Low-to moderate-severity potholes are good measures for testing vehicle correlation. Severe pothole events can be more problematic in that they may introduce significant structural deflection into the body and chassis components. This structural deflection of the body and chassis represents substantial energy storage during the event.

For rough road events that are longer in duration than pot holes, it may be more appropriate to make a comparison based on total damage. Since the vehicle’s path usually cannot be determined or simulated exactly, and since the primary purpose of these loads is to drive high-cycle fatigue failure, statistical assessments are appropriate.

AssessmentsIt is crucial to understand the variation inherent both in the production vehicle and in any measurement activities used as a reference. The analytical model is a useful tool in this regard, and we have employed it to discern sensitivities and comprehend variation. In fact, we often conduct simulations to understand the effects of trim height, tire pressure, and shock valving on loads generated during pothole events. These parameters may show significant variation over the life of a vehicle; understanding that variation leads to understanding the variation in the event-based loads.

ConclusionWe supplement more and more measured road load data with data generated from simulation solutions and plan to leverage even further the capability of simulation to minimize the cost and timing impact of vehicle testing. We expect that the capability of simulation technology will grow to meet our needs. a

Author: Joseph A. Schudt, Prasad Kodali, Hyung-

Joo Hong, Vivek Chidambaram, Glenn Babiak, and

Robert L. Geisler, General Motors Corporation


1. Introduction Continuous pressures to improve productivity, lower costs, compress delivery times, and enhance quality of products are challenging manufacturers around the world. At the same time, the quest for innovation of both products and internal processes is essential in order for companies to be successful. In this environment, companies are investing in many initiatives that promise to address these challenges.Investments in initiatives that will enable a company to more effectively define and develop innovative products have been increasingly recognized as critical for successful companies. Among them, product performance-related simulation is one of the areas that offer the greatest opportunity for enterprise impact.

The area of simulation and analysis has been mostly ignored for many years in terms of its integration into the broader enterprise. Investments in simulation have typically been for development or acquisition of focused technologies to be used by specialists to more precisely analyze the performance of alternative product designs for improving performance, validating compliance, etc. However, simulation and analysis has generally been treated as something of a “black hole” within the overall product development organization. Previous investments have not focused on linking simulation more effectively into the broader enterprise.

As a result, investments in simulation and analysis now offer an excellent opportunity to significantly improve the overall product development process. New approaches are being developed and implemented in companies worldwide that much more effectively integrate simulation activities into the enterprise and enable the capture and reuse of knowledge

gained in this critical area—knowledge that is generally lost in most companies.

These new approaches are transforming product-related simulation into a visible and accessible component of the product development process, across the full product lifecycle and across extended enterprises; not just a domain for specialists. The impact on a company’s operations and success is much broader than previous simulation-related initiatives. We call this new approach Enterprise Simulation Management (ESM). Forward-thinking firms are incorporating ESM in order to create more efficient and innovative product development environments so that they can prosper on the world stage. This paper provides a perspective on ESM; the pressures that motivate its use, an introduction to the market evolution and ESM’s role, and a perspective on its value and future. The following sections address:

• Business Problems—a description of the business problems challenging companies today, and the issues related to utilizing simulation and analysis technologies within the context of comprehensive product development environments.

• Market Evolution—a description of how the market is evolving to address the problems identified previously.

• Business Impact and Value—a discussion of the impact that ESM will have on a business, from the perspective of both business operations and value.

• Future Roadmap—a brief review of the ongoing industry evolution and anticipated roadmap for its development over the coming years.

• Summary & Concluding Comments—a brief summary of the paper along with concluding remarks.

2. Business Problems In today’s challenging global market, enterprises must innovate to survive. They must deliver more innovative products and services, reduce costs, improve quality, and shorten time to market, while achieving the targeted return on investment (ROI). In order to reach these goals, businesses must continually improve how they operate in order to become more efficient and productive. Innovation must occur in all dimensions—product, process, and organization—in order for companies to achieve operational excellence, and product leadership. Operational excellence requires enterprises to focus on operating efficiently, effectively, and flexibly, working with their partners to reduce the cost and time necessary to deliver high-quality products that meet their customer’s requirements in a timely manner. Product leadership means delivering leading-edge products and solutions tailored to customer needs. All of these challenges require getting the right products to the right market, at the right time, for the right cost.

Corporate knowledge is a key business asset in a company’s quest for innovation. While products, sales, and profits are the end objective of a business, the corporate knowledge—the intellectual assets of the company—are what are used to develop


Industry PerspectiveCIMData

Industry Perspective CIMData: Enterprise Simulation Management, An Expanded Perspective on Simulation

Reprint with permission from CIMData, Inc.

Figure 1 — Knowledge is a Key Enterprise Asset


innovative products and processes. Figure 1 illustrates that intellectual assets are developed by capturing product-related information and lessons learned, putting them into context, and then making that contextual information broadly available. Creating, capturing, and managing a company’s intellectual assets are critical to enabling innovation. It empowers users to build on previous experiences and fosters continuous improvement and collaboration of multiple experts. It also lessens the pain of having expertise “walking out the door” due to retirement, resignations, unforeseen reductions, etc. Further, when training new hires, it can significantly reduce the ramp-up time for individuals to become productive. One of the key factors in delivering right-to-market products in the shortest possible time is improving how companies analyze, simulate, and test new designs and products to validate that the design meets functional requirements and applicable standards. Historically, this has been accomplished by using a combination of different, non-integrated analysis tools and building physical prototypes to test. Such processes have added significant time and costs to the overall development process. Additionally, if the analysis and simulation of a virtual model is not considered to accurately reflect the physical product, then designers will “over-engineer” the product to ensure it will not fail. This introduces additional materials, weight, and cost into the design. In order to address these issues, the use of engineering simulation and analysis has increasingly become an indispensable part of product development. Technologies such as structural analysis, multi-body simulation, and computational fluid dynamics let engineers quickly and cost-effectively investigate “what-if” scenarios, explore new ideas, evaluate alternatives, and gain deeper insight into product behavior. In this way, simulation and analysis tools are powerful enablers for developing innovative products as well as establishing innovative design processes. However, the area of simulation and analysis has long been one that is neither well understood by, nor utilized effectively by the rest of the organization. In many companies, simulation and analysis is handled in a serial manner in which

conceptual engineering creates a design and then passes it to simulation specialists who then enter (or most likely re-enter) the design data in a form needed to run their simulation applications. Once complete, they return the results of the simulation and analysis to conceptual engineering who then update the design. This process is repeated until the design meets all requirements. Unfortunately, this process is time consuming, and while the simulation specialists perform their analyses, the conceptual designers continue to work—which results in designs developed (or modified) without the needed simulation and analysis to determine what changes should be made. The design then must be re-worked, again adding time and cost to the overall process. It is important to get feedback on the design as early as possible in the process to reduce or eliminate the cost of late changes. As shown in Figure 2, the cost of a change increases exponentially the later in the lifecycle that it occurs. Even within the engineering phase, early identification of needed changes reduces the cost of those changes.

Early detection of design faults and issues is best accomplished by creating a virtual model of the design and using it for simulation, analysis and testing. Using a virtual model dramatically reduces the need to build and test physical prototypes and enables design change needs to be identified much earlier in the overall development lifecycle. Because of the critical nature of virtual prototyping and simulation-based design, information on analysis and related work processes represents a critical part of the

product definition, including aspects of these processes such as: how problems were set up, which analysis software was used, which analyses were executed, what decisions were made, who made approvals, when changes were made, and so forth. Unfortunately, most companies have no formal system in place for properly archiving and managing this valuable intellectual capital; nor do most of them have mechanisms in place to capture and leverage “best practice” processes developed by their best simulation and analysis experts.

Usually, individual engineers and analysts are responsible for maintaining their own records, so all too often data is discarded at the end of a project, lost in disorganized filing systems, or stored only in the recollections of a few individuals. When others need the information at a later time, they must spend considerable time checking with colleagues and looking through obscure files and information, perhaps coming up with nothing or maybe retrieving the wrong version. Even within the same project, analysis done early in the conceptual stages may be irretrievable or forgotten later in the cycle. Worse yet, critical information is often inaccessible when originators leave the company or are

otherwise unavailable. In addition to problems of data management, the processes used to develop the analysis may not be defined or remembered, even by the individuals who initially developed them, so repeatability of analyses is often not achievable, and comparison of results may be questionable. The knowledge of what processes work best is often lost entirely. The impact of not managing analysis data and related information on work processes can be significant. Without this information, no audit trail exists documenting how work

was performed. Additionally, procedures are not recorded for reuse on subsequent similar projects, forcing engineers and analysts to waste time re-inventing the same process over and over. Problems with inefficiency and inconsistency are magnified when people in different locations, collaborating on the same simulation projects, have no system for exchanging analysis data or standardizing work processes. Companies need to create environments in which the knowledge of the simulation and



Figure 2—Early Decisions Drive Product Costs


Figure 3—ESM is Part of the Virtual Product Lifecycle

Multiple technologies contribute to the realization of a company’s full PLM strategy. As a key component of a PLM strategy for industrial companies, simulation and analysis environments are essential components of any full PLM initiative, and critical for product (and business) success. Many recent investments in simulation and analysis technologies and programs have focused on a new aspect of this critical area—a desire to better utilize simulation and analysis capabilities both earlier in product design and more broadly throughout the product lifecycle. Additionally, companies have a strong need to achieve both more effective knowledge capture and reuse, and improved management control of simulation and analysis processes and information. These needs from companies reflect the fact that simulation and analysis is one of the last areas within the enterprise product design process that has not been enterprise-enabled. Moves to support these needs are becoming available and visible in industry, and provide an opportunity to integrate simulation and analysis environments into a company’s overall PLM initiative and provide major improvements in competitiveness as simulation-based product design becomes a reality.

3.2 ESM Brings Simulation to the Enterprise Simulation and analysis is an area within product development that offers huge opportunities for business improvement. In response, this area is being targeted by new initiatives from major suppliers of technologies and services as they seek to address the industry demands described in the previous section of this paper. The current situation in most industrial companies is:

• A huge number of technologies are used to support simulation and analysis activities. These include technologies that are both commercially-purchased and those developed internally—all of which are used primarily by focused specialists and are typically not incorporated into an integrated environment.

• The area of simulation and analysis has long been considered “isolated” from most other product development groups and has not been well integrated into the company’s PLM strategy.

• Companies want to have “simple” simulation and analysis capabilities

analysis specialists is captured and made available to others who need that information. Further, some simulation, analysis and test functionality should be incorporated into the conceptual design process such that design engineers can perform some of the preliminary simulation to determine the validity of their design. Integrating simulation and analysis data and related information about work processes into an overall PLM initiative requires considerable effort in deciding matters such as what information is important, how it is organized, where it resides, and who is responsible for it at each stage of the lifecycle.

3. Market Evolution Companies have demanded solutions that address the business problems and pressures described in the previous section and suppliers of software and methodologies have pursued developments to satisfy those needs. Clearly, the desire to more effectively integrate simulation and analysis into the broader enterprise and to also take better advantage of the knowledge within the enterprise have been strong motivations. The resulting evolution is described in the following sections.

3.1 Enterprise-Focused Investments Are Required As companies seek the most effective ways to increase their competitive strength, they have become more likely to invest in enterprise-focused programs that provide the broadest value and impact on both top-line and bottom line business results. The rationale for this trend is clear; limited-scope initiatives are targeted at improving performance in sub-areas within the business, and thus tend to have limited value and may actually be counter-productive for the overall enterprise. In today’s tough competitive climate, companies cannot afford to invest in programs that focus on improving individual areas within the business at the expense of overall business performance. An enterprise focus for investments is critical. As examples, consider the range of “lean” initiatives, Six Sigma programs, enterprise globalization enablement initiatives, etc. All of these programs are focused on overall enterprise business improvement. A key aspect of many enterprise-focused programs is the underlying premise that an organization must be able to evolve and transform itself as necessary to continually enhance competitiveness, or a decline in business success is inevitable. No organization stagnates and remains

competitive. Successful companies must adapt to changing market pressures and constantly strive to implement innovative business processes to enable development of innovate and successful products. In this business climate, product-focused investments continue to gain in visibility and momentum. In the broad sense, Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) has become the overall enterprise-based initiative to tackle product and product-related process improvement. PLM is not just some sort of new technology, fad, or buzzword. Rather, PLM is a strategic business approach in which companies apply a consistent set of business solutions in support of the collaborative creation, management, dissemination, and use of product definition information across the extended enterprise from concept to end of life—integrating people, processes, business systems, and information. PLM forms the product information backbone for a company and its extended enterprise. Thus, PLM initiatives typically encompass investments in many different types of technologies, processes, and services. PLM initiatives have been validated as excellent business performance enhancers and have become major programs in leading companies around the world. PLM focuses on support for the entire virtual product lifecycle, in the same manner that Enterprise Resource management (ERP) focuses on support for the physical product lifecycle. These major initiatives are complimentary and, as shown in Figure 3, they have many different points of interaction throughout the lifecycle of the product. PLM has continued to evolve and mature as an enterprise-wide initiative, and it is important to remember that PLM is a strategy, an overall initiative, and is not enabled by a single type of technology.




embedded within the product development process so that they can be utilized by design engineers to facilitate early design decisions.

• Companies want to take advantage of many recent advances in information management to enable a more managed environment for simulation and analysis, and make its activities more visible and valuable to the enterprise.

Companies want to provide capabilities to capture the knowledge of simulation experts so that this knowledge can be validated, reused, shared, and continuously improved across a much wider range of individuals in different roles.

Enterprise Simulation Management (ESM) is the overall initiative that is evolving and being developed to address this industry situation and enable the area of simulation and analysis to become much more valuable to the enterprise. ESM is targeted at enabling an enterprise focus and value to the area of simulation and analysis. This enterprise focus isn’t provided by technology, but from harmonization and integration of simulation and analysis activities more broadly across and integrated into the product development processes. The major objective of ESM is to transform simulation from a specialty operation to an enterprise product development enabler. ESM’s primary components include:

• Knowledge capture and replication—enable simulation-based process knowledge to be captured, shared, reused, continuously improved, and utilized by a range of individuals across the enterprise.

• Integrated simulation management—bring both information and process management science to an area previously often managed as an “art,” and integrate it with the rest of the enterprise.

The domain of ESM across the broad product lifecycle is shown in Figure 4. This figure illustrates the greatly-expanded breadth of ESM versus the more restrictive scope (and business impact) of traditional Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) environments. An ESM approach provides companies with an opportunity for both substantial initial

improvements in business performance and ongoing continuous improvement. Early gains derive from improved efficiencies and integrity of activities resulting from information management technologies and processes. Major longer-term gains come from the ability to capture unique company best practices and then enable continuous improvement through additional experience, enable consistent repeatability, and make these practices usable when appropriate by “less expert” individuals throughout the product lifecycle. In an ESM-enabled environment, the capture of knowledge and best practices becomes pervasive and useful throughout the extended enterprise. Experts develop their practices and the environment provides a mechanism to capture both these practices and the results of the simulation analyses. Once these are captured, they are made

available to be utilized by anyone in the organization capable of gaining value from them. Capturing simulation and analysis best practices provides the basis for reusing those practices as part of a “packaged” process. Thus, designers or other individuals could execute a “packaged process” that was developed by a skilled expert, see the results, and use that information to make better decisions. In this way, the knowledge of skilled experts is captured, managed, and utilized as broadly across the enterprise as is appropriate to gain the most value. For example, an ESM environment will enable simulation and analysis to be more effectively integrated into broader enterprise programs, such as full systems engineering processes that include mechatronics (e.g., electro-mechanical designs that incorporate embedded software) simulations. The

ability to more broadly utilize simulation capabilities and enable non-experts to benefit from expert practices provides many positive returns, including:

• Elimination of barriers between various groups

• Enabling improved assessment of risks

• Enabling more informed decisions

• Enabling a more collaborative engineering enterprise

ESM environments enable a broad perspective on the breadth and value of simulation and analysis capabilities. Companies should consider all aspects of product simulation to enable simulation-driven design. A key for these concepts to be successful is to ensure that the breadth of

simulation capabilities incorporated into the environment is sufficient to perform the “right” product performance simulation, including:

• Functional performance

• Compliance to standards and regulations

• User experience performance, e.g., “handle like a BMW,” “sound like a Harley,” etc.

• Other requirements

In essence, the knowledge capture and information management aspects of ESM

appear to be “common sense,” and they are. These concepts are not new; they have been applied to many other aspects of business and product development. However, they haven’t previously been applied to simulation and analysis to the extent needed. ESM is changing that, and provides the opportunity to transform simulation and analysis into a competitive weapon.

3.3 Market Situation and Issues As the ESM opportunity has developed and become more visible and demanded by industrial companies, suppliers of technologies and services have worked diligently to provide solutions to the market. Currently, several companies are working to provide a wide variety of solutions that fit within the framework of ESM. Some suppliers are targeting broad-based offerings while others are focusing on particular aspects of ESM.




Figure 4—Exanding Domain of Simulation/Analysis

Since ESM is a fundamental component of full PLM strategies, it is not surprising that the major suppliers of broad comprehensive PLM solutions are interested in and are targeting ESM. Their current offerings typically include enterprise lifecycle process management facilities and they position their ESM offerings as utilizing and fitting within these process management environments.

The traditional suppliers of broad-based simulation and analysis offerings are also keenly interested in ESM and are striving to satisfy market demand. They are well positioned to address knowledge capture and reuse within simulation and analysis activities, as well as development of simulation-focused information management capabilities that can be integrated into broader PLM environments.

ESM is a new market opportunity and the solutions are evolving rapidly. Solutions released over the past year have been impressive, and even more substantial solutions will become available over the coming months and years as industry gains more experience and ESM matures.

Of course, even with substantial and high-quality solutions from suppliers, there are still many challenges to companies that embrace and implement ESM solutions. In order to address these barriers to success, it is important to take advantage of lessons learned with some other major aspects of PLM. Some of the most valuable ones include:

• Big gains derive from process change—the greatest value to be derived from ESM comes from re-thinking the processes and addressing up-front cultural issues and organizational barriers. Define and deploy ESM as an enterprise program, not a solution for a single group of users. Understand your current and future simulation and analysis requirements and what technologies and applications you will need. Define the level of simulation and/or analysis capabilities that different types of users need, e.g., be able to perform high-level, basic analyses, be able to run a simulation, be able to access and review results of an analysis, etc.

• Ensure early value delivery—early value gains result in huge gains in internal support for programs. As an example, for successful Product Data Management (PDM) implementations, one of the early steps

was to deliver visualization capabilities to a wide range of users. The value from this action was substantial, and helped users become comfortable with the new system and more positively embrace subsequent enhancements. For ESM, a valuable early step may be to provide “simulation snippets” to people who normally have no access to them (e.g., marketing personnel) and who can receive huge value from new visibility. This early value will generate additional supporters for the program and facilitate enterprise acceptance.

• Implement in digestible pieces—as with any enterprise program, don’t try to do everything at once (implement in “bite-sized” pieces) but do have a clear long-term strategy and implementation plan. Since ESM will be an enterprise investment, executive (and organizational) commitment is essential to success and proper project management must be applied.

Of course, there are many other steps that can be utilized to ensure ESM implementations success. As for any large-scale information system-based program, effective program management, executive commitment, adequate budgets and resource commitments are all essential for success. The value to be derived from ESM (to be described in the next section of this paper) will make all of these efforts very worthwhile.

4. Business Impact and Value The central role of ESM in the product development process opens the way to a number of positive impacts on the financial health of organizations that embrace ESM’s capabilities. The benefits that can accrue from ESM fall into two broad categories: business value enhancements and product development cost savings. As illustrated in Figure 5, these further break down into sub areas of benefit. The overall opportunity for business value enhancement can be identified in several areas:

• Improve design quality by supporting the use of simulation and analysis technologies and capabilities much more broadly across the product lifecycle:

− earlier in the product developmentprocess, during conceptual and design engineering

− downstream in the process as well, during production, maintenance and service, and other areas

• Improve product designs and speed development by expanding the number and types of people who can use simulation and analysis technologies, processes, and knowledge

• Promote innovation and enable continuous improvement by capturing and continuously refining knowledge and applying it to:

− increase revenue by being more productive and effective

− increase revenue by increasing the number of better and more accurate bid responses per year and number of bids won

• Decrease time-to-market by integrating simulation and analysis earlier into the development process

• Increase new products per year by enabling faster development of products

• Improve collaboration and faster time to production because people in non-analysis areas can “see,” use, and react to simulation results

It is important to understand that business value enhancement tends to provide much larger—but more difficult to measure—benefits than cost savings benefits because they result in overall revenue increases from tenths of a percent to single-digit percentages. Product development cost savings are much more direct and easily measured. Experience with ESM users show that these savings can be estimated for many areas, some of which are:

• Reduced costs, by up to ninety percent, of executing simulations through lower efforts for data acquisition, model creation, pre-processing, solving, post-processing, reporting, and simulation data and process management

• Reduced cost for managing third-party analysts through better management and coordination of their work

• Increased analysis model re-use can reduce cost by up to sixty percent

• Reduced costs, by up to forty percent, for prototyping and testing through lower numbers and costs for prototypes and tests

• Lower simulation technology budgets by up to forty percent through consolidation of simulation tools and techniques



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• Lower re-work costs due to performing analyses earlier in the lifecycle and providing results earlier to designers

A very clear evaluation of ESM’s impact on, and value to, an enterprise can be determined quantitatively. For example, CIMdata has developed a Benefits Analysis and return on investment (ROI) methodology and supporting tool to achieve this analysis. This is illustrated in Figure 5. The essential concept is that benefits in many of the areas described above can be quantified. When combined with information about licensing and implementing ESM, it is a straightforward process to create a multi-year ROI that can be used to help management understand the value of ESM as well as to provide a mechanism to monitor its ongoing success and impact on the organization.

Some key observations about the value of ESM:

• Key ESM enabling technologies are evolving. What is revolutionary is the impact ESM has on the product development process—evolutionary changes yield revolutionary results.

• Remember that if the value of an ESM program cannot be quantified, then it may not be an appropriate solution to an organization’s business issues and may not be worth undertaking. You must be able to demonstrate quantifiable value to the enterprise to justify pursuing any ESM project. However, when benefits can be quantified and an ROI can be demonstrated, then there is a cost of not doing ESM that is equivalent to the lost opportunity of gaining the identified benefits.

• A multitude of benefits for ESM have been identified, the key is to quantify those that apply in the enterprise’s business situation. However, the data for most of these are fairly simple and easy to identify and estimate, so creating an ROI is an achievable goal.

Also, remember that processes and people tend to improve when they are measured; but be careful to not create measurements of benefit that encourage unwanted behaviors.

5. Future Roadmap The area of simulation and analysis started as a technology with a few passionate advocates and a select set of highly-trained specialist users. Now ESM is evolving into a suite of technologies and processes that

have enterprise value and can be used across a much broader span of individuals in the enterprise—not just analysis specialists. In the future, expect many changes as ESM becomes an enterprise-pervasive approach.

The theme of product development will be “simulation-driven design,” reflecting the evolution to virtual simulation environments that encompass both the physical aspects of the product and also the end-users’ experience of using the product.

Detailed analysis and multi-physics/multi-discipline capabilities will continue to be developed and enhanced. The value of these will continue to improve for specialists. However, these capabilities will provide even more value as they are made available more broadly through “packaged” services that capture best practices so that they can be used by non-experts, especially early in the product development process. Simulation and analysis will become a fundamental part of the conceptual design process, not a validation phase that occurs after a significant level of design is completed, even though ever more detailed analyses will be performed throughout the development lifecycle.

There will be a transition from “push” to “pull” for simulation technologies by increasing numbers of people throughout the enterprise who can use it. Companies should expect that newer, younger workers will demand these services be embedded within an increasing number of development processes. As an example, purchasing personnel will be able to explore the impact of alternative

purchasing decisions and validate those decision using simulation analyses.

As another example, sales personnel will be able to invoke a simulation and/or analyses as part of the selling and quotation process.

They will be able to show a customer how a product will look and “feel” based on their unique requirements. They will also be able to initiate analyses that will feed directly into the design and change processes. As simulation becomes more embedded in the up-front sales process, companies will be able to generate more accurate quotations with a reduced risk of error. This will enable companies to respond faster to customer requests while also improving design variation predictability, leading

to more quotes and higher profitability.

Continued industry experience and the use of simulation more broadly throughout the product lifecycle and enterprise will result in more effective methodologies created to implement, utilize, and gain maximum advantage from ESM. The ability to virtually simulate a product and its user experience will accelerate the ability to design innovative products that are right to market in the shortest possible time. Because simulation and analysis is now moving from the domain of a few users to a capability that benefits the larger enterprise, investments in ESM are anticipated to be one of the highest priority and fastest-growing areas within the broad field of PLM.

6. Summary and Concluding Comments Manufacturers around the world are being constantly challenged to improve productivity, lower costs, compress delivery times, and enhance product quality. In order to be successful in this environment, companies must be innovative; both with innovative products and with innovative processes that enable more effective business operations and customer service.

As companies seek the most effective ways to address these challenges, product performance-related simulation is one of the areas that offer the greatest opportunity for enterprise impact. As a key component of an enterprise’s overall PLM strategy, the area of simulation and analysis has been mostly ignored for many years. Investments in simulation have typically been



Figure 5—An ESM Benefits Analysis Methodology

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for development or acquisition of focused technologies to be used by specialists. This area has not been very visible, well understood, or highly-prioritized within the overall product development organization.

Today, investments in simulation and analysis offer an excellent opportunity to significantly improve the overall product development process. New approaches are being developed and implemented in companies worldwide that much more effectively integrate simulation activities into the enterprise and enable capture and reuse of knowledge gained in this critical area; knowledge that is generally lost in most companies.

Product-related simulation is being transformed into a visible and accessible component of the product development process, across the full product lifecycle and across extended enterprises; not just a domain for specialists. Its impact on a company’s operations and success is much broader than previous simulation-related initiatives. We call this new approach Enterprise Simulation Management (ESM). Forward-thinking firms are incorporating ESM to create more efficient and innovative product development environments so that they can prosper on the world stage. In response, this area is being targeted by new initiatives from major suppliers of technologies and services as they seek to address these industry demands.

ESM enables an enterprise focus to the area of simulation and analysis. This isn’t provided just by technology, but from harmonization and integration of simulation and analysis activities more broadly across and integrated into the product development processes. The major objective of ESM is to transform simulation from a specialty operation to an enterprise product development enabler. ESM’s primary components include:

• Knowledge capture and replication—enable simulation-based process knowledge to be captured, shared, reused, continuously improved, and utilized by a range of individuals across the enterprise.

• Integrated simulation management—bring both information and process management science to an area previously often managed as an “art,” and integrate it with the rest of the enterprise.

The central role of ESM in the product development process makes possible a number of financial benefits, which fall into two broad categories:

• Business value enhancements, including gains from improved design quality, enhanced innovation, lowered time to volume production and time to market, better utilization of resources, etc.

• Product development cost savings, through reduced personnel costs as individuals are able to more effectively access simulation data and utilize previously developed information and processes.

Product development cost savings are relatively direct and easily measured. While more difficult to measure, business value enhancement tends to provide much larger benefits that result in overall revenue increases from tenths of a percent to single-digit percentages.

The transition of the area of simulation and analysis from having a few passionate advocates and a select set of highly-trained specialist users to an enterprise-focused ESM environment is just beginning, with many changes yet to be seen in many companies. The theme of product development will be “simulation-driven design,” reflecting the evolution to virtual simulation environments that encompass both the physical aspects of the product as well as the end-users’ experience of using the product.

Detailed analysis and multi-physics/multi-discipline capabilities will continue to be enhanced, but these capabilities will provide even more value as they are made available more broadly through “packaged” services that capture best practices so that they can be used by non-experts, especially early in the product development process. Simulation and analysis will become a fundamental part of the conceptual design process, not a validation phase that occurs after a significant level of design is completed, even though ever more detailed analyses will be performed throughout the development lifecycle.

Simulation capabilities will eventually become available much more broadly throughout a company, from purchasing, to sales, to many others as they are enabled to utilize them to make more informed and confident decisions. The business will benefit and be able to respond faster to customer requests while also improving design

variation predictability, leading to more accurate quotations and higher profitability.

As ESM is more broadly adopted as an enterprise strategy, industry will gain more experience and additional advances will be made in both technologies and practices to most effectively take advantage of these continued advances. This will result in yet more value to companies that adopt ESM. Because of the overall value and benefits for the larger enterprise, investments in ESM are anticipated to be one of the highest-priority and fastest-growing areas within the broad field of PLM over the coming years as leading companies seek to take advantage of it to improve their ability to compete successfully. a

About CIMdata CIMdata, an independent worldwide firm, provides strategic consulting to maximize an enterprise’s ability to design and deliver innovative products and services through the application of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions. CIMdata offers world-class knowledge, expertise, and best-practice methods on PLM solutions. These solutions incorporate both business processes and a wide-ranging set of PLM enabling technologies. CIMdata works with both industrial organizations and suppliers of technologies and services seeking competitive advantage in the global economy by providing world-class knowledge, expertise, and best-practice methods on PLM solutions. In addition to consulting, CIMdata conducts research, provides PLM-focused subscription services, and produces several commercial publications. The company also provides industry education through international conferences in the US, Europe, and Japan that focus on PLM. CIMdata serves clients worldwide from locations in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

To learn more about CIMdata’s services, visit our website at www.CIMdata.com or contact

CIMdata at: 3909 Research Park Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, USA. Tel: +1 (734) 668-9922. Fax: +1 (734) 668-1957. In Europe: Siriusdreef 17-27, 2132 WT Hoofddorp, The Netherlands. Tel: +31 (0)23 568-9385. Fax: +31 (0)23 568-9111. Produced by CIMdata, Inc. December 2006



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SimEnterprise accelerates the

power of integrated simulation

solutions to your business,

creating game-changing

competitive advantages through

increased innovation and

knowledge management.

Innovation, it’s a driving force for today’s enterprise. Manufacturers

who push the innovation advantage through the organization

and supply chain will lead the field. • As the leading global supplier of enterprise simulation

solutions, MSC Software has over forty years of experience helping manufacturers to

accelerate the speed and accuracy of simulation, increase design productivity, and bring

better products to market faster. • We bring this experience to the enterprise level with

SimEnterprise™, a seamless-integrated, end-to-end simulation and process-management

solution. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information.

MSC SimEnterprise. Pushing the innovation advantage to the limit.

Leading the Way to Competitive Advantage:The Clear Path Forward

MSC Software’s customers want an integrated, multi-discipline simulation environment that allows for complex system interaction while freeing users to explore the potential for increasingly innovative design. With last year’s introduction of MD Solutions and SimEnterprise, MSC Software redefined the simulation software market, bringing it out of highly specialized engineering silos and into the realm of integrated end-to-end simulation. These ground breaking solutions allowed customers to consolidate, share, and automate simulation design practices, processes, and data across the enterprise for added efficiency and cost savings.

Before MSC’s introduction of this radically new approach to product simulation, customers were limited in their ability to perform true multi-disciplined analysis

with consistency and repeatability. Due to the difficulty of reusing best-practice simulation data and tracing processes and tools, real-world interactions across disciplines were inevitably lost. As a result, the simulation process lagged and was decoupled from the overall product development processes of the organization.

This year, MSC Software continues paving the path forward for the simulation marketplace. Besides investing even further in its leading traditional solutions, MSC has introduced new versions of its productivity-enhancing solutions, including new versions of MD and SimEnterprise.

With the fully integrated SimEnterprise and MD Solutions, a complete range of simulations can be performed in a single, consistent environment. This new capability provides engineers with a powerfully optimized solution set that enables true multidiscipline simulation, improves design efficiency, drives early design validation, and provides manufacturers with insight into total product lifecycle performance. MSC Software offers the only multidiscipline simulation solution in the market that allows multi-attribute mathematical analysis models to interact so that the effects of one environment can be simultaneously applied to another. Through this approach, engineers are able to create models

that reflect actual operating conditions for even the most complex situations, achieving faster, more accurate results.

The newest versions, introduced over the past few months, consist of five primary applications that help engineers conceptualize, develop, and test product designs using traditional approaches. At the same time, these applications enable new methods for addressing real-world, multi-disciplined analysis and reusing best practices across the product engineering enterprise. The latest releases of these solutions include:

MD NastranThe most powerful and widely used simulation solution for linear, non-linear, thermal, fluid-structure interaction (FSI), and explicit analysis.

MD AdamsA new addition to the MD Solutions platform, MD Adams supports better co-simulation for multi-body dynamics as well as coupled motion and structures analysis.

SimXpertAn unparalleled stand-alone analysis environment leveraging the MD Solutions platform while also supporting capture and re-use of expert methods.


MSC PerspectiveLeading the Way to Competitive Advantage:

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SimDesignerA CAD-embedded analysis suite that supports functional workbenches for a variety of disciplines as well as the ability to execute automated analysis templates created by SimEnterprise methods and process experts.

SimManager EnterpriseMSC’s simulation hub for providing completely open simulation process and data management across the full breadth of simulation assets within its customers’ analysis portfolios.

MSC Software has also initiated a series of Path Forward programs to enable a significant value proposition and offer true competitive advantages both in technology and in business. The Path Forward enables existing engineering product customers to progressively incorporate new productivity-enhancing technology while maintaining the inherent value of their historical environments and investments.

For example, MSC Software’s newest solutions are designed from the ground up to leverage a technological framework that supports re-use of the models and technological components its customers have used over the years—products such as MSC Nastran, Adams, Marc, Dytran, and others—while offering exposure to new capabilities and the common data model in its new enterprise solutions.


MSC PerspectiveLeading the Way to Competitive Advantage:

Enterprise Advantage License SystemCapabilities• Provides access to over 170

engineering simulation solutions.

• Offers a single license system for an unlimited number of users.

• Includes MSC Software’s core engineering solutions such as MSC Nastran, Patran, Marc, and Adams (and all others included in the MSC MasterKey™ license system).

• Gives access to MD Nastran and optional access to the rest of the MD Solutions line (MD Patran and MD Adams) as well as the MSC Software SimEnterprise suite*, SimXpert, SimDesigner, and SimManager.

• Provides continuity between MSC Software’s engineering products and its new enterprise solutions.

Benefits• Enjoy direct savings through the

unmatched flexibility of MSC Software’s engineering productivity solutions.

• Adopt next-generation solutions while maintaining access to previously acquired technology.

• Reduce the need for multiple CAE vendors and redundant software technology.

• Create a flexible environment to accommodate changes in CAE needs and reduce cost-of-entry expenses.

The Enterprise Advantage License System enables the following product families:

SimEnterprise Solutions*SimXpert BaseSimXpert StructuresSimXpert MotionSimXpert ThermalSimXpert CrashSimManager Client AccessSimDesigner

MD SolutionsMD AdamsMD Nastran MD Patran

Engineering ProductsAdamsDytran EASY5Enterprise Mvision FlightLoads MarcMSC NastranMvisionMvision DatabanksPatran Sofy

* Some restrictions apply. See your MSC Software Account Representative for more information.

From a business perspective, MSC Software has introduced the Enterprise Advantage License System, designed to allow organizations to take advantage of the breadth and depth of MSC Software’s world-class simulation software portfolio within a flexible licensing system. This includes optional access to the newest technologies available in SimEnterprise and the MD Solutions as well as continuity with the full MSC MasterKey product set. Like MSC MasterKey—the original token-based solution enabling multiple product access across an unlimited number of users—Enterprise Advantage utilizes a checkout-based license unit system to maximize productivity and stretch engineering budgets. With this checkout-based method, organizations purchase a pool of Advantage License Units (ALUs) and gain access to over 170 different software products available under the Enterprise Advantage License System. ALUs are used to access and run a full range of CAE solutions, and each software item requires a certain number of ALUs to run. After each use, the unused ALUs return to the pool and remain available to meet the full range of VPD needs across the customer’s enterprise. a

“MSC Software offers the only multidiscipline simulation

solution in the market that allows multi-attribute mathematical analysis

models to interact so that the effects of one environment can be simultaneously applied to another.”

MD Solutions in ActionIntegrating Vehicle Dynamics with Noise, Vibration, and Harshness

Today’s vehicle development process requires that engineers evaluate performance across multiple disciplines (MD). Experts use many simulation software applications to help them predict and optimize performance within each of these disciplines, but evaluating design tradeoffs remains very difficult. In addition, the vehicle development process is often very serial in nature, with engineers from one discipline forced to wait for design constraints set by others before they can complete their work.

MSC Software engineers, in cooperation with engineers from an automotive OEM, have proven how MD can accelerate the vehicle development process and improve overall vehicle performance by enabling collaborative, multi-discipline simulation.

Typically, NVH (noise, vibration, and harshness) engineers wait for vehicle dynamics to set suspension hard point locations and packaging constraints before performing detailed evaluation of noise and vibration. The vehicle dynamics engineer also waits for controls engineers to provide ABS (anti-lock braking system) and electronic stability control models before they can complete their own evaluations. When any of these engineers make changes to improve performance within their respective disciplines, the others have to re-evaluate, leading to an iterative design process that is time-consuming and inefficient.

By contrast, MSC Software’s MD Solution enables vehicle dynamics, controls, and NVH engineers to streamline the collaborative evaluation of vehicle performance.

Building a Multi-Discipline ModelIn our example, vehicle dynamics engineers rapidly create a parametric multi-body dynamics vehicle model using pre-built configurations that come “out of the box” in MD Adams/Car for common subsystems including suspension and axles. This model can then be run against standard maneuvers and events (lane change, J-turn, etc.) that are built into the software, eliminating the need for engineers to build models manually and establish analysis procedures.

MD Adams/Car’s “Road Builder” capability also enables engineers to define their own road profiles, including obstacles such as potholes and bumps to represent real-world driving conditions.


Feature StoryMD in Action

16 | Fall 2007 | Volume 11

3D Road Example

Rigid to Flex Swap



Volume 11 | Fall 2007 | 17

Often, vehicle dynamics models using rigid elements neglect important dynamics of components that are flexible in the real world. It is possible to integrate finite element (FE) models for key components into multi-body models, but before MD this was a cumbersome and time-consuming process.

Using MD Adams/Car, our engineers easily replace rigid representations for lower control arms and vehicle body with

FE models that realistically represent the flexibility of these components and result in more accurate performance simulations.

MD Adams/Car includes standard control system “black boxes” that are easily linked to control systems models for hydraulics and actuators built in Matlab or EASY5, allowing vehicle dynamics and controls engineers to couple their models and co-simulate. This coupled analysis, using MSC Software’s MD Solutions framework, enables integrated performance evaluation and allows the controls and vehicle dynamics engineers to optimize their designs together quickly and easily.

Simulation of integrated ABS and stability control systems illustrates the superior performance and safety that these systems bring to modern automobiles. In our example, a driver with typical reaction times swerves late to avoid a large pothole and loses control of the vehicle, veering off the road

surface. With ABS and electronic stability control active, however, the driver maintains control and stays safely on the road.

Evaluating PerformanceOur engineers now have a vehicle model that couples three unique solution technologies (multi-body dynamics, FE analysis, and control systems) in a single, integrated, multi-

Modal Shape Visualization



18 | Fall 2007 | Volume 11

discipline simulation. This model provides accurate, real-world results and enables trade-off studies to be performed easily and efficiently across vehicle dynamics, NVH, durability, and control systems engineering.

Our engineers “drive” the vehicle model over the road profile, computing stresses in the flexible components over the full duration of the simulation. These stresses, along with the load time histories from the vehicle model, can be used directly by durability engineers to compute fatigue life.

By placing a “virtual sensor” on the springs of the suspension, our engineers can monitor the magnitude of spring displacement and acceleration. Then, using a unique MD Adams/Car capability, we can trigger an NVH simulation to run when the displacement exceeds a threshold value.

The goal here is to allow the NVH engineer to understand how events like hitting a pothole will affect passenger comfort; the NVH simulation must use the properties of the suspension bushings in their deformed state when the car encounters the pothole. MD Adams/Car automatically linearizes the bushing properties in the deformed state and runs a frequency response analysis to understand how this will “feel” to vehicle occupants as vibration in the seat or in the steering column.

System-Level NVH ModelThis model contains a combination of rigid and flexible bodies connected by joints and forces (bushings, springs, etc.). Actions performed by the code behind the scenes include the following:

• Solving linearized representations of selected sub-models at a specified operating point in the form of MD Nastran models

• Performing analysis of operating points (static, initial conditions, dynamic, etc.) in MD Adams

• Determining boundary conditions between sub-models in the MD Adams model

• Freezing (or deactivating) degrees of freedom (DOF) in sub-models not being exported to MD Nastran

• Assembling a complete FE model by replacing the sub-models not exported from Adams with original MD Nastran component bdf models

• Connecting components (typically CELAS or CBUSH) in MD Nastran to create a fully connected model

Multi-Discipline Trade StudiesTo understand the overall vehicle performance across all of these disciplines and evaluate design tradeoffs, we use the built-in design of experiments (DOE) capabilities in MD Adams/Car to run a series of simulations, varying the values of key input parameters and monitoring the responses from key performance measures.

A typical use case for vehicle dynamics and NVH would be to optimize bushing

properties; in our example, we will allow bushing properties to vary while monitoring the vehicle yaw rate (a key vehicle dynamics performance measure) and vibration at the steering column (a key NVH performance measure). The DOE toolkit helps populate the allowable design space (range over which the input parameters can be varied) to extract the most information possible with the least possible number of simulations, automate the execution of each simulation, and organize the results into a summary table. MD Adams/Car then creates an HTML page that embeds a mathematical response surface model.

The NVH and vehicle dynamics engineers can use this model to vary values of the input parameters and see the effect on the yaw rate and steering column vibration, effectively conducting a multidiscipline trade study.

Only with MDMSC Software’s MD Solutions provides the unique ability to evaluate multidiscipline vehicle performance by leveraging a common data model spanning numerical techniques. No other solution unites control systems, FE, and multi-body models to provide reliable, real-world answers that include the interactions between NVH, durability, vehicle dynamics, and controls. Together with MSC Software’s SimEnterprise product suite, MD is defining the path forward to the next generation of simulation. a

SimManager Enterprise 101MSC Software’s Solution Encompasses a Complete Set of Capabilities for Enterprise Simulation Management

Simulation data (models, results, files, relationships, and attributes) must be captured, stored, organized, and protected during analysis. Traditional data management solutions require users to publish data and generate all such relationships manually, often ignoring detailed process flow and methods. This introduces the opportunity for error or omission, thus diminishing the value of the data.

As noted by industry analysts and confirmed by MSC Software’s customers, an end-to-end simulation process involves much more than simply inputs, outputs, attributes, files, and relationships. To take full advantage of the system, the information must be combined with process flow and methods. Furthermore, multiple loops or analysis runs often take place during product design optimization; these are not captured by the user, but may be necessary for comparative analysis and decision making. Managing the process,


Technical MattersSimManager Enterprise 101

tasks, methods, and all data associated with analysis is of critical importance to building and maintaining an analysis audit trail, comparing analyses with tests, and making design decisions. Therefore, an Enterprise Simulation Management solution must deliver measurable and proven value that far exceeds the limits of conventional data management.

These factors were considered as driving forces when defining the underlying capabilities and architecture that make up SimManager as an open system for managing and executing simulation processes, resources, and information across an engineering enterprise.

Managing and executing simulation processesEvery SimManager system allows users to embed the analysis pattern or flow of work conducted by engineers into an

analysis/simulation template. For example, a simulation model, in the form of an input file, might be submitted to a solver to obtain an output file that is subsequently post-processed for key results (values, curves, fringe plots, animations, etc.). SimManager can automate the execution of the process as a “batch” or server-side job, or can allow engineers to perform the work and ensure adherence to the process steps. A SimManager system built to execute and manage this process enforces the basic pattern or flow of the work, making certain that each step observes best practices. The system also maintains a history of the simulation tasks and data, such that users can verify that the data is produced using approved best practices.

Managing simulation resourcesIn the example above, a number of simulation resources are involved. These include software applications (e.g., solver and

20 | Fall 2007 | Volume 11


Technical MattersSimManager Enterprise 101

postprocessor), hardware (the computers on which the solver and postprocessor run), and personnel (the engineers performing the work). The software applications and hardware can, and often do, include analysis tools and applications from third-party providers as well as customer-developed applications. SimManager’s architecture was designed from the outset to work with third-party products, and that capability has been a cornerstone of SimManager’s success to date. In every step of the simulation process, SimManager distributes the correct input to the correct resource to complete its task in the process.

For software applications, SimManager ensures that the correct version of each application is used to optimal capacity. For hardware, SimManager distributes “jobs” (e.g., solving and post-processing) across all available computers, ensuring that the workload is balanced and that all are used to maximum capacity. With respect to personnel, SimManager ensures that only authorized users have access to the appropriate simulation processes, information, and resources, and provides management with the ability to monitor schedule and performance risk so that personnel may be deployed (or re-deployed) on critical tasks.

Managing simulation informationSimManager captures all information used and created while managing simulation processes and resources. Once captured, SimManager stores, organizes, and protects that information, including inputs to processes (e.g., input files, material properties, and loads information), outputs of processes (output files, values, curves, and animations), and the information (meta-data) that describes the processes, resources, inputs, and output as well as all relationships between all components of information. A critical fact is that the input and output data is of little value without the descriptive information, and often the methods context, that goes along with it. For simulation, examples of contextual information that makes data valuable relates to product structure (i.e., the specific version of a product), engineering discipline (durability, noise, vibration, impact, CFD, etc.), performance targets, and simulation methods applied.

SimManager presents simulation information in context, providing the ability to audit the

entire simulation process and measure its quality and effectiveness, as well as to compare the results to previous analyses. This provides a value that is unique to SimManager among other systems that primarily strive to manage simulation data (e.g., PDM systems) or manage simulation processes (e.g., optimization software). Furthermore, SimManager enables users to capture simulation data as published by engineers during guided or exploratory work-in-process analysis. When connected to SimXpert and/or SimDesigner, this information can be collected and captured automatically as a benefit of the interoperability enabled by SimEnterprise. A significant value therefore lies in establishing a simulation environment that enables continuous improvement. In essence, SimManager is a simulation knowledge management system that empowers Six Sigma for simulation.

Value Enterprise Simulation Management delivers far more value than any system built primarily for simulation data management. The benefits include:

• Automation: Management of simulation processes and resources means that repetitive, manually intensive tasks can be conducted automatically. Example: A Major European Automotive OEM has built into its SimManager system the ability to automatically run full vehicle simulations and post-process output files to extract key results. This automation is estimated to reduce overall simulation time by 30%.

• Reuse of Methods: Simulation methods are able to be reused by engineers throughout an engineering enterprise when they are version-controlled and distributed effectively. These methods can be in nearly any form, including scripts, templates, session files, and macros. Methods can be controlled through automation or guided “manual” analysis. Example: A major North American Tier-1 Automotive company has embedded best-practice methods for simulations in multiple disciplines (drop-testing, thermal-structural “burst” tests, blow-molding of fuel tanks, and more) into its SimManager-based system, enabling 10 times as many people to use simulation in the corporation. This has led to a 30% reduction in physical prototypes.

• Reuse of Models: Simulation models can be reused when we can easily find them

and understand what is in them and how they were created (context). Example: A Major North American Heavy Machinery OEM’s SimManager system manages hydraulic cylinder design and enables libraries of validated hydraulic cylinders and components that are routinely re-used when developing designs for new programs and projects. This has led to a 90% reduction in overall design time and an 80% reduction in design effort (manpower) for each new design.

• Maximum Leverage of Simulation Resources: When the use of software, hardware, and personnel is monitored and managed, tasks can be distributed to balance workload and achieve peak utilization. Example: A Major European Automotive OEM uses a SimManager-based system for crash analysis to manage solver job distribution across a 1000 CPU compute cluster. This system enables more efficient utilization of the compute cluster and maximum return on hardware investment.

• Assured Simulation Quality: An auditable simulation process enables continuous improvement of simulation methods and processes, resulting in less rework and more confidence in simulation as a replacement for physical prototypes and tests. Example: A Major North American Automotive OEM’s SimManager system manages pedestrian impact simulations and monitors the number of simulations that run to completion without adjusting solver parameters. This has enabled the optimization of solver settings, resulting in reduced rework and fewer failed analysis jobs.

SummarySimManager is the only simulation management system in the world delivering proven, measurable value in production engineering environments. SimManager enables MSC Software’s customers to create and maintain a managed environment that enables reuse, automation, and resource management while assuring reliability and quality. a

Volume 11 | Fall 2007 | 21

Documents

MSC Software Alpha Magazine Fall 2007 alpha · 2009-07-29 · MSC Software is driving change in the simulation marketplace with SimEnterprise and MD Solutions, our new “category