MAHLE Streamlines Simulation Reporting Using Altair Solution
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Success Story MAHLE Streamlines Simulation Reporting using Altair Solution Customer Profile MAHLE services motorsports customers in MAHLE is a Tier 1 automotive systems supplier the region. A new MAHLE North American Headquarters opened in June 2013, housing based in Stuttgart, Germany, with over 64,000 MAHLE Industries, Inc.; MAHLE Aftermarket, employees globally expected to generate sales Inc.; Engine Components USA, Inc.; and of over $13 billion in 2014. The company Key Highlights MAHLE Powertrain, LLC. maintains 10 different research and development (R&D) centers around the world, Industry Scott Janowiak is a Senior Numerical including locations in China, Japan, Brazil, Automotive Simulation Engineer at MAHLE who works England, India, and the United States. In North Challenge mainly on pistons and connecting rods. America, MAHLE generated sales of over ® Make simulation results reporting He has been using Altair HyperWorks consistent, more thorough, and simpler $2.6 billion in 2013, boasting 29 locations for about five years. Altair has closely to perform and more than 10,000 employees. All of supported the team at MAHLE as members MAHLE’s business units are represented in Altair Solution transitioned from other pre- and post- the region, Engine Systems and Components, ® ® Deployment of Altair’s Automated processing tools to HyperMesh and HyperView , Reporting Director Filtration and Engine Peripherals, as well pre- and post-processing tools contained as Thermal Management. within the HyperWorks computer-aided Benefits engineering (CAE) suite. When approached • Reduction of non-value added work All light vehicle and truck OEMs with • More engineering analysis, yielding by Altair’s product development division, better designs production operations in North America are Altair ProductDesign regarding other tools • Consistency in customer reporting supplied by MAHLE. The company serves to help speed up the design process, • Improved collaboration the independent spare parts market though a project was initiated to standardize the its Aftermarket business unit. In addition, team's CAE analysis reporting. Keywords: MAHLE, HyperWorks, HyperMesh, HyperView, Pistons, CAE MAHLE Success Story "All the simulation tools have really cut down the need for engine tests. We still should run a final test, but intermediate development testing can be eliminated with the use of simulation." Scott Janowiak Senior Numerical Simulation Engineer MAHLE The Challenge: and moving parts introduce many variables require FEA analysis based on unknown Simulation is conducted for pistons, into the design process. The gas pressure load cases; the analyst does not know connecting rods, and pins, but pistons force itself is large and only increasing, because whether it will break or not. For example, represent the volume of the group's work. engine manufacturers are trying to extract if the test indicates low fatigue, something The project sought to customize an more power out of each piston, resulting in may be adjusted without running a lot of automated reporting tool to accommodate high loads for each part. Mechanical and expensive engine tests. The whole point the standard MAHLE piston process from thermal loading are all quite high for the of the analysis is to enable the adjustment start to finish, yielding an easily interpreted, new pistons; it is an intricate exercise to detail of the piston design so that it will ultimately a piston and get it right. If the estimate were standard report with lots of detail and flexibility. survive the engine test. Six different engineers were at the time off by 10 degrees in the simulation, and the creating slightly different reports, which meant analysis indicated that performance is ok, Lightweight pistons, high-efficiency engines, there were variations in how the simulation a hotter temperature could cause a failure. highly-loaded four-cylinder engines, story was being told to customers. The main question to be answered by the more variability, and different materials Pistons are very complex components; simulation is whether the piston will survive all add to the complexity of the evaluation. they must be designed to withstand very the engine test. These are quite expensive. Aluminum, steel, forged steel, and titanium high temperatures from the combustion side. A pre-production piston needs to be tested all have different properties that must be For example, newer engines running at speeds before it is put into the engine to save understood and comprehended. MAHLE has of 6000 to 7000 RPMs introduce a huge physical testing costs and to enable more a proprietary material database used just inertia load. Many different components, forces, design iterations. Pre-production pistons for this purpose. FEA Mesh of Piston, Pin and Conrod Temperature Distribution Stress Amplitude Top image: Skirt Pressure (Right) Max Sideforce on ATS(Left) Bottom image: Pinbore Pressure(Right) Max Gas Pressure(Left) Many finite element analyses (FEAs) are Altair ProductDesign to create the automated views and designated load cases. It then performed annually at MAHLE. Once a design reporting solution that improved MAHLE's enables the user to customize notes and is past the proposal stage, there might be day-to-day CAE workflow. While Altair developed views before export, producing a concise, 20 to 30 iterations that occur. Several FEAs the code, MAHLE described the current process suitably detailed report of the analysis results. are done per piston. There are gas as well and reporting requirements to ensure Use of ARD has cut reporting time by several as diesel versions that must be tested, business alignment and an effective result. hours, freeing up engineers to do more analysis. depending on the customer. HyperMesh and HyperView have been hailed Time saved is the main benefit of ARD; for their ease of use, stability, and robustness, The Solution: the team has cut down four to five hours of enabling more time to be spent on analysis as cropping and adjusting to 20 to 30 minutes Altair ProductDesign’s team suggested opposed to waiting or having the system crash. for a big model. This reduction of time an implementation of Automated Reporting spent on non-engineering tasks enables Simulation has enabled pistons to be stronger, Director (ARD) to help MAHLE streamline CAE analysts to better utilize their time lighter, and cheaper. Reductions in material reporting activity. ARD is a configurable and as engineers - yielding more analysis and while meeting performance targets are possible customizable reporting solution which is better design, as opposed to time spent through greater use of CAE. Simulation in embedded in HyperView and loops over all on more mundane tasks. general has cut down time to market, while use defined groups and load cases, creating a of ARD has increased engineering time single report page for each combination. At this time, the entire team of CAE analysts utilization for the R&D team. ARD automates the detection of result at MAHLE's North American R&D center maxima or hot spots, best view selection, is using the same layout of the same report, With respect to the future, Janowiak points creation of notes and legends, and highlights with the same legend. This consistency out that capabilities are increasing every day. the most interesting results in an interactive tab. benefits collaboration between engineers, Using full models for analysis will become The tool is also flexible, allowing the analyst as well as improves relations with customers, the norm. As processing speed and to step through each page before exporting as there is less confusion evaluating the reports. high-performance computing power and it into PowerPoint or another desired format. The way the reporting is set up, MAHLE has accessibility continue to increase, using bigger, Through an intuitive user interface, ARD allows control over the template, the view, and the more detailed models will no longer pose the analyst to post-process results with parameters. Reactions from team members a problem. As to the use of the reporting tool, given criteria, generate interactive overview have been positive so far, and use of the tool he is grateful that it has freed him from some has sparked interest from other simulation result tables highlighting critical results, of the more mundane daily tasks, enabling groups within the firm. compare results between model iterations, more engineering work, more investigations, and more studies of what will affect the design. and export results using preferred, Before, users had to create a HyperView session, customizable reporting templates. This additional time gives Janowiak and other adjust all the pictures, snap a picture of each CAE analysts a head start as they strive to The Results: desired view, bring the visual assets into meet ever more elite performance criteria, PowerPoint, crop and place, go back and and uncover issues that might otherwise MAHLE's experience with Altair has been positive. create call-outs, and re-examine results have remained hidden. According to Janowiak, having the freedom to create notes for the report; this is now to adjust the process to meet his company's a push button operation. ARD automatically requirements is critical. A close collaboration creates the layout for everything in HyperView, has been forged between his team and including 14 or 15 visual slides with standard About Altair From computer-aided engineering to high performance computing, from industrial design to cloud analytics, for the past 30+ years Altair has been leading the charge to advance the frontiers of knowledge, delivering innovation to more than 5,000 corporate clients representing the automotive, aerospace, government and defense industries and a growing client presence in the electronics, architecture engineering and construction, and energy markets. www.altair.com Visit the Altair library of Success Stories About Altair HyperWorks at www.altair.com Altair HyperWorks® is the most comprehensive, open architecture CAE simulation platform in the industry, offering the best technologies to design and optimize high performance, weight efficient and innovative products.