ESI talk 39

The Virtual Prototyping Magazine issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

special report

Rapid Die Face Design: a step towards End-to-End Virtual Prototyping

Letov develops two components in a single high quality part with PAM-FORM

Faster, optimized distortion and stress analyses with Visual-WELD

contents

editorial

04 special report

• Rapid Die Face Design: a step towards End-to-End

Virtual Prototyping

07 success stories

• J. Walter Miller Company selects QuikCAST to support its technological transition to larger castings • Europea Microfusioni Aerospaziali optimizes nozzle guide vane blades with casting simulation • Renault Mégane III scores 5 stars at EuroNCAP thanks to Virtual Performance Solution • Dongfeng Motor Corporation draws on Virtual Performance Solution to validate the Fengshen S30 • Ford uses PAM-CRASH for human modeling to advance automotive safety research • Tecnalia-Labein uses PAM-STAMP 2G to design an industrial hotformed part • IAC streamlines its automotive component simulation and reporting process with Visual-Process • Letov develops two components in a single high quality part with PAM-FORM

17 partner highlights

• ESI is actively involved in the Research & Development of

• ESI sponsors the Student Formula SAE Racing Team Pilsen

composite materials

19 product news

• Virtual Performance Educational Package initiates students to

• VA One v2009.0 includes advanced models of foam and fibers • Faster, optimized distortion and stress analyses with Visual-

simulation

WELD

21 corporate

• VisualDSS features in Oracle Partners Innovation 2009

• PROCESSWorks is recognized as ‘having educational value’ • Upcoming Expert Seminars • Save the date!

• Users’ Conferences Worldwide on End-to-End Virtual

• Financial news

magazine

Prototyping

esi talk is issued bi-annually by ESI Group Executive Editor: Amy de Rouvray Editor-in-Chief: Elise Lavoue - elise.lavoue@esi-group.com ESI Group Marketing PARC D’AFFAIRES SILIC 99 RUE DES SOLETS - BP 80112 94513 Rungis Cedex - FRANCE Tel: +33 (0) 1 41 73 58 00 - Fax: +33 (0) 1 46 87 72 02 www.esi-group.com - info@esi-group.com Design: Agence TETRAKTYS ISSN 1635 – 866X Print: RIVET PRESSE EDITION 24, rue Claude-Henri-Gorceix - 87022 Limoges Dépôt légal: Mai 2010 All PAM- and SYS- product names as well as other products belonging to ESI’s portfolio are tradenames or trademarks of ESI Group, except specified proprietary mention. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

All text and images included in the articles are the copyright of the companies presenting their applications and simulation tasks.

Photo credits: Tower Automotive, Seat, J. Walter Miller Company, Europea Microfusioni Aerospaziali, Renault, Dongfeng Motor Corporation, Ford, Tecnalia-Labein, Letov, International Automotive Components, Piaggio Aero Industries, University of West Bohemia.

Harald Porzner and Martin Skrikerud Virtual Manufacturing Product Line, ESI Group Virtual Manufacturing has become very powerful for the industry as it helps prevent and solve critical problems that can occur during production. Indeed, many of the existing Computer-Aided Engineering/Design/Manufacturing systems are dedicated to a specific manufacturing process or testing procedure, which makes them both essential and easy-to-use.

These systems, however, are reaching their limits – for the same reasons that have made them strong. Because these are dedicated tools, it is a challenge to move on to the next step: End-to-End Virtual Prototyping, to integrate the entire manufacturing chain. The performance of manufactured parts and components depends on their manufacturing history. A stamped part will have thickness variations, stresses and strains introduced and modified by the welding which will ultimately change the performance of the part. This is why the entire manufacturing chain must be taken into account for accurate End-to-End Virtual Prototyping. The key strength and differentiation of End-to-End Virtual Prototyping is that it enables the concurrent engineering of all manufacturing effects, not only to evaluate manufacturability but also to improve the performance of the simulation models.

When looking at Sheet Metal Forming, the trend is to integrate the simulation stage into the Product Lifecycle Management and Computer-Aided Design systems. The prior process was to perform early feasibility studies based on rapid die face designs, which did not allow for connected engineering updates. Throughout the design phase of a new product, single parts typically undergo several design changes or adjustments, which then imply new feasibility tests. In support of this recent trend, ESI offers PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5, a rapid and comprehensive die face design software directly integrated in the CATIA environment.

Our Sheet Metal Forming customers are now able to benefit from a solution allowing continuous data flow throughout all die engineering as well as maintenance of design iterations within the Product Lifecycle Management, while delivering rapid feasibility assessments through simulation.

G/RO/10.58-A

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

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special report

D I E F ace D E S I G N

Rapid Die Face Design: a step towards End-to-End Virtual Prototyping PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 combines the convenience and speed of rapid die face design with the quality of the native CAD surfacing.

Traditionally, the die face design job was a time consuming trial-anderror task with a high risk of production delays. With the introduction of numerical simulation in the last few decades, these risks were significantly reduced along with the prototyping time. Nonetheless, the complexity of the job still meant that engineers were often creating a draft design of the tool on which feasibility studies could be performed.

Once a feasible design had been reached based on the draft dies, the die face design had to be repeated to obtain a better quality to validate the design with simulation. Once validated, the final CAD-based

die face design could be produced. This process thus implied designing the same tool three times with different accuracy levels along with the uncertainty that the dies used for simulation might differ from the ones actually used for milling. In the end, this meant that the prototype could still offer some unpleasant surprises.

PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 offers a new approach, allowing engineers to create their entire die face design inside the CATIA PLM environment.

The risk of encountering difficulties during the prototyping phase is thus considerably reduced thanks to a validation of the simulation based on the exact same tools used for milling.

The new improved workflow based on PAM- DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 (bottom), clearly shows potential time savings.

What is PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5?

PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 is a dedicated workbench inside the CATIA PLM context, providing a trade-oriented solution for rapid stamping tool design directly within CATIA V5. Using this application, tool

designers implement tool design and process knowledge by following the natural tool face design process, thereby gaining in efficiency. This dedicated solution also provides guidance and support for part preparation, binder development and die addendum.

1 2 3 4 Typical workflow using PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5; from part (1) over blankholder design (2) to addendum surfaces (3) and finally solid model export (4)

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esi talk

3 questions for…

Mark Vrolijk Die Face Design Product Manager

What are the main market challenges?

“As many other areas, the die face design market has felt the impact of the economic crisis; thus reinforcing the urge to save time and money, without compromising on quality. During a die face design process, the design is often modified several times; although we still observe an increasing lack of automation as we go forward in the process – meaning a lot of manual re-work.

In fact, while the cost estimation and feasibility phases can largely be automated, the final die face design, where more details and higher surface accuracy need to be considered, cannot. The user is left with a generic CAD environment which does not contain dedicated functionalities and workflow for his/her job. In practice this means that die face designs are often created twice: once for prototyping, often in a CAE environment, and once for production, in a CAD environment.

Additionally, many CAE-based die face designs cannot be used for the final die milling, which implies a redesign in a CAD environment. When taking into account all of these above limitations and challenges, saving time and money are therefore not an easy task.”

What are the opportunities presented by PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5?

“PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 enables data transferability and consistency between the various stages of the die face design process by offering surface quality and functionality required for each step. By avoiding time-consuming duplication of geometries, considerable time-saving can be achieved. Moreover, due to the fact that all phases in the die face design process can be supported in a fast and efficient manner,

F ro m pa rt data . . .

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

there is no longer a need for a costly in-house die face design solution in a CAE environment.

Most of the die face design solutions currently available work with parametric 2D profiles. This is a very fast and efficient way to create the addendum geometry. However, when working on more complicated geometries, it frequently fails to create the required geometry and either the user has to make a compromise, or he needs to model the die design (partially) in a CAD environment. PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 is very flexible: it is based on the 2D profile approach, but when specific geometries are required, all available CATIA V5 (surface) functionality can be used to create the shape required.”

What is the future and strategic importance of Virtual Manufacturing as a whole?

“The world is full of changes, with some of them, such as climate change, straining the manufacturing industry. Consequently, the industry continually needs to come up with new ideas, manufacturing methods, and materials to meet the ever-changing requirements and expectations.

‘New’ entails test and validation before implementation. Testing new ideas is thus a common and regular task.

Virtual Manufacturing allows this ‘testing’ in a fast and efficient way – whilst saving resources. So before anything is built, Virtual Manufacturing is performed to select the right innovations.

The fundamental idea to create an integrated and synthetic environment, to support Virtual Manufacturing, is now at an advanced stage with the offer of PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 for instance. The next step, already underway, is fully enabling End-to-End Virtual Prototyping throughout the entire chain from manufacturing to performance testing and to delivering the product.”

...to final tool .

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special report

PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 has been widely tested and proves to be a highly valuable tool for die face design.

SEAT’s Prototype Center of Development (CPD), situated in the manufacturing plant of the Spanish automotive company in Martorell (Barcelona) is considered one of the most innovative in the Spanish industry and is emblematic within the Volkswagen Group. It gathers in a single location all activities linked to the development of prototypes for virtual and physical phases, from pre-serial vehicles to serial analyses.

“For SEAT’s Prototype Center of Development (CPD), the release of tools integrated into CATIA V5 such as PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5, allows a rapid and accurate development of die face design. It is very valuable to be able to perform the appropriate geometrical changes and to have these evolutions simultaneously available for machining within CATIA. This represents a tremendous advantage in terms of productivity as well as for the final quality of our design, giving us the opportunity to perform our work in a common environment during all process phases.”

Tower Automotive do Brazil is part of Tower Automotive, one of the largest independent global suppliers of automotive metal structural components and assemblies. The company uses PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 for speed and surface quality of the die face design performed in their Technical Center.

“The software tool PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 gave us the opportunity to perform all the steps of our work in a single environment during all phases of the development process. This brought us more speed for our cost estimation analysis, with precise blank sizing and formability simulations. We are finally more competitive when we present an offer to our clients, having strong arguments with a guaranteed quality.”

Vladimir B. Ferreira Jr. Tech Center, Tower Automotive, Brazil

Javier Diaz Martinez, Manager of the Prototype Center of Development (CPD), SEAT S.A.

sheet metal forming

Come meet the experts on Rapid Die Face Design with PAM-DIEMAKER for CATIA V5 E R FREN I A SEM

Rapid Die Face Design Roadshow 2010 locations & dates:

Zamudio, Spain - May 27, 2010

Milan, Italy - June 10, 2010

Shanghai, China - July 2, 2010

Rungis, France - June 9, 2010

Erfurt, Germany - June 24, 2010

Seoul, Korea - July 6, 2010

Beijing, China - June 30, 2010

For registration & exact locations, please visit: www.esi-group.com/die-design-roadshow

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esi talk

success stories

casting

J. Walter Miller Company selects QuikCAST to support its technological transition to larger castings With QuikCAST, JWMC fully reconfigures its complex castings in 2 weeks instead of the 12 required by conventional trial and error, and at minimal cost.

Historically, J. Walter Miller Company (JWMC) was specialized in small castings but has lately been growing into larger sizes with the acquisition of the DISA Match 130, a match plate molding machine. As a result, JWMC recently undertook a profound technological evolution from manual green sand squeeze molding to fully automated molding machines where each squeezer pattern needed to be converted to run on the new equipment.

For a foundry producing non-leaded pump components, impellers are a main challenge because of the heavy and thin sections of the casting. Indeed, JWMC’s impeller castings exhibited shrink porosity and voids in the hub when machined at the customer’s facility; thus, the riser at the hub area required redesign.

The initial design, prior to the use of QuikCAST software, led to the addition of a core in the hub, to reduce the amount of liquid metal required to feed the hub during solidification, showing no defect after boring. However, a new defect began to appear in the wear ring section of the casting.

At this time, JWMC decided to explore the use of QuikCAST solidification software to determine the cause of this frustrating new defect and was subsequently able to find a new design configuration, eliminating the shrink during machining. QuikCAST thus enabled JWMC to reduce the number of iterations required to reconfigure patterns, reduce porosity in finished castings and explore opportunities for yield improvement. In addition, JWMC’s cus-

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

tomer witnessed a dramatic reduction of scrap in the machining process, which contributed to large cost savings for both the customer and JWMC.

“

We selected QuikCAST because it has the most comprehensive capabilities for simulating brass and bronze alloys.

Q u i k CA ST i s a ve r y p owe r f u l s i m u lat i o n

Left: Closed riser and cored hub design – Shrink pocket shown in wear ring.

Right: Open riser, solid hub design – No shrink pocket in wear ring.

“This problem would have taken about 12 weeks and $6,000 in pattern changes plus countless hours of machine time to solve using conventional trial and error methods. With QuikCAST, we can easily solve similar problems in 2 weeks and produce a good pattern the first time. We have used simulation on about 20 parts to date and the simulation results are similar to what we see in the shop,” said Dan Rudolph, Quality Engineer at J. Walter Miller Company.

”

tool.

Dan Rudolph, Quality Engineer, J. Walter Miller Company

A bout J . Walter M iller C ompan y J. Walter Miller Company has been producing brass and bronze castings for the fire protection, pumping and valve industries since 1887.

JWMC is a leader in casting no lead alloys and helps its customers convert from leaded castings to no lead castings through a smooth transition thanks to its design services and pattern shop.

www.jwaltermiller.com Left: original Shrink defect found in the heavy hub section of the casting Right: Hub with no shrink cracks present

f or more information: www.esi-group.com/casting/quikcast

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success stories

casting

Europea Microfusioni Aerospaziali optimizes nozzle guide vane blades with casting simulation Using ESI software during the early stage of their design process, EMA saves time and money while benefiting from yield improvement and better process control.

Thanks to the development of dedicated techniques over the last two decades, investment casting modeling with ESI software has become reliable and efficient to optimize safety components such as turbine blades for jet engines.

The solution includes dedicated superalloy material databases and ceramics characterization allowing very accurate predictions.

Europea Microfusioni Aerospaziali (EMA) study presented here refers to a stator type Nozzle Guide Vane (NGV) with three airfoils including cores. ESI software was used to carry out a Design of Experiments (DoE) with several independent variables covering about 103 feasibility hypotheses.

ESI software can be used within an automatic optimization loop. Indeed, ESI’s simulation tool allows to perform a DoE automatically after defining an objective such as minimizing porosity without going against defined constraints.

With this module, one can also perform design robustness analysis in order to control the stability of the process.

“

When you have the right tool in your hands, you can easily get quick and optimal solutions arising from extremely complex problems in superalloy foundry. ESI software does have the potential

�

to do this.

Ciro Caramiello PhD, Process Modeling, EMA Rolls-Royce

Fig. 1: Solidification time

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These simulations led to the automatic run of about thirty models, in batch mode (command line programming) (Fig. 2).

Preheating phase The preheating phase includes preliminary heating of the shell before metal pouring. This stage is important as it affects significantly the final part integrity. Preheating temperature and heat transfer losses are fundamental, and therefore undergo the DoE parameter level.

The former is the temperature reached by the shell at the end of the pre-heating cycle; the latter is the elapsed time from when the shell is taken out of the pre-heating furnace to the start of the pouring phase.

Fig. 3 shows, in particular, the thermal field of the shell with a sliced view of the critical areas such as the Leading Edge (LE), the Trailing Edge (TE), and the core.

Pouring phase The pouring phase is the next important step in the investment casting process. The velocity profile, pouring angle and pouring time will influence the quality of the component (shrinkage porosity, local grain size, etc.).

Typically, in a modelled DoE, it is important to take into account the thermal and fluid dynamics profiles, as well as the solid fraction and thermal flow during pouring. The filling phase is particularly important for equiaxed components (grain formation) compared with Directional Solidified (DSX) ones. It is therefore always subject to a DoE study, at least for a couple of the above-mentioned parameters.

esi talk

Modeling casting processes is a very complex task in terms of testing domain: it may well be regulated by over a hundred variables. The advantage of using an optimization tool is straightforward. The tool helps find the optimal process parameters as well as evaluate the risk of possible casting rejections due to random fluctuations in the process.

Fig. 2: Testing domain showing some parameters and their respective levels To conclude, the general aim of the DoE analysis is to achieve a Pareto optimality, i.e. a condition in which any change to a dependant variable, such as porosity, is impossible without adversely affecting the performance of another variable, such as grain structure for instance.

Fig. 3: Isotherms view just before the pouring starts

Fig. 6: Final shrinkage porosity prediction resulting in a sound part as critical porosity remains in the risering system

To fulfill this, the two following conditions must be met: 1) Pareto optimal solutions must be identified (e.g. maximizing performance only as regards porosity), 2) The process must be stable (design robustness).

A bout E uropea M icrofu sioni A erospa z iali ( E M A ) Located in Italy, EMA is a world class investment casting foundry for the production of components dedicated to civil and defense aerospace, marine and energy industries. The company is qualified to produce superalloys components, using the equiaxed, directional solidification and single crystal technologies.

EMA is owned by Rolls-Royce and thus has inherited its know-how for developing and refining innovative and industrially advanced methods.

Fig. 4: Filling pattern temperature field

Solidification phase The study of the solidification phase concludes the DoE analysis. In general, the cooling rates, the local solidification times, and the shrinkage porosity prediction are analyzed. However, advanced metallurgical analyses such as grain structure or freckle prediction (SX) are also possible and will determine more directly the integrity and the specifications of the as-casted part.

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

www.emaht.com

Fig. 5: Temperature contours and fraction of solid

f or more information: www.esi-group.com/casting

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success stories

crash, impact & safety

Renault Mégane III scores 5 stars at EuroNCAP thanks to Virtual Performance Solution The new Renault Mégane III earned 5 stars, the highest possible rating with 37 points at EuroNCAP vehicle safety test.

Renault started using Virtual Performance Solution with PAM-CRASH in 2001 for structural crash simulation. Over the past few years, several Renault car models such as the Laguna III and the Scenic were validated by simulation with PAMCRASH and obtained excellent results, earning both of these five stars at EuroNCAP. The new Renault Mégane (also known as Mégane III), launched in November 2009 in Europe, with a new design and enhanced key features, has followed this trend for safety excellence. Indeed, the Mégane III was awarded five stars at EuroNCAP crash test. The highest rating was granted for frontal crash testing, partly thanks to prior simulation results obtained with PAM-CRASH.

“

PAM-CRASH is a tailored solution fully adapted to Renault’s problematic, especially during the d eve l o p m e n t o f t h e

”

Mégane III.

Eric Duguet, CAE Body-in-White Manager, Renault Group

This high score for Mégane III is a turning point for Renault as they are the only automaker to have ever earned eleven times five stars at the EuroNCAP. Renault relied on virtual prototyping to validate the design of the Mégane III car model,

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Mégane III front crash simulation and EuroNCAP test before testing any physical prototypes. Virtual Performance tests with PAM-CRASH spanned Body-In-White modeling, structural crash analysis, as well as spotweld modeling. These also included safety simulation with ESI’s occupant safety analysis application within Virtual Performance Solution, such as airbags release, belt pretentioners and occupant behavior under load cases.

One important challenge Renault addressed during the development phase of Mégane III was the decrease of CO2 emissions. In order to achieve this, they optimized the steel parts of the Body-in-White to reduce the weight of the car, thus decreasing the overall CO2 expense and keeping the same standard of vehicle robustness.

Another target was to reduce the number of physical prototypes relative to the Mégane II, thereby saving in development costs.

“Simulation is key to our project development process,” said Eric Duguet, CAE Body-in-White Manager, Renault Group. “PAM-CRASH allows us to identify not only the behavior of standard vehicle definition but also the probability to improve our crash performance and to build virtually every element that has an impact on our decision-making.”

A bout renault Renault S.A. (Euronext: RNO) is a French automaker producing cars, vans, buses, tractors, and trucks. The strategic alliance with the Japanese automaker Nissan in 1999, makes Renault the world’s fourth largest automaker.

Established in 1898 by the Renault brothers, the company is well-known for numerous revolutionary designs, security technologies and motor racing. Renault also owns the Romanian automaker Automobile Dacia and the Korean automaker Renault Samsung Motors.

www.renault.com for more information: www.esi-group.com/virtual-performancesolution

esi talk

crash, impact & safety

success stories

Dongfeng Motor Corporation draws on Virtual Performance Solution to validate the Fengshen S30 Virtual Performance Solution allows the entire development process and validation of the Fengshen S30 car model, the first passenger car designed and developed by Dongfeng Motor Corporation.

As a new comer in the car construction market, Dongfeng Motor Corporation (DFM) had to quickly gain experience and at the same time competitive advantage to penetrate successfully one of today’s most competitive markets.

They chose to implement Virtual Prototyping in order to reduce their time to market and optimize their Product Development Cycle by decreasing the total number of physical tests; thus strongly cutting development costs.

To enable Virtual Prototyping during the development of the Fengshen S30, DFM validated its virtual car model with Virtual Performance Solution before building a real physical prototype to pass the high safety requirements demanded by China’s National forced regulations. PAM-CRASH, crash simulation tool featured in Virtual Performance Solution, was widely used by engineers to analyze the component structure strength as well as the entire car strength and stiffness.

The occupant restraint system integration was also tested virtually for safety using Virtual Performance Solution.

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

“

Our analysis engineers love PAM-CRASH. It is becoming the reference analysis tool of the crash simulation

”

Body-In-White simulation

platform.

Dr. Chen Gan, Deputy Chief Engineer, Dongfeng Motor Corporation

DFM benefited from a single simulation model to run all performance tests, thus avoiding repeating work. While the side crash engineers set up seat, airbag and dummy for side crash testing and performed the side crash, another team of engineers from a different speciality are able to divide the basic model, load seat belt anchors and improve the local model. Through strict job analysis, the Fengshen S30 solved the defects early in the Product Development Cycle, passed successfully and even surpassed National forced regulations, and ensured the development tasks were done favorably.

“We used Virtual Performance Solution for a number of crash and safety simulation analyses with PAM-CRASH to develop the Dongfeng Fengshen S30. We found and solved many problems. PAM-CRASH is a good crash and safety simulation tool, which guarantees finishing the design work in time. We are planning to use it widely in new product developments,” said Dr. Chen Gan, Deputy Chief Engineer at Dongfeng Motor Corporation.

Frontal crash simulation

A bout D ongfeng M otor C orporation Dongfeng Motor Corporation is one of the three giant auto makers in China; including passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, engine, auto parts & components, and equipment as main businesses. With about a 14% share of China’s automotive market in 2008, Dongfeng Motor Corporation ranks respectively twentieth in the Top 500 domestic enterprises and fifth in the Top 500 domestic manufacturers in China.

www.dfmc.com.cn for more information: www.esi-group.com/virtual-performancesolution

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success stories

crash, impact & safety biomechanics

Ford uses PAM-CRASH for human modeling to advance automotive safety research A long-standing relationship Ford Motor Company and ESI have had a longstanding relationship since the early nineties. It is then that Ford Motor Company started using PAM-CRASH for advanced biomechanics simulation in research and development, and they still do today. PAM-CRASH is ESI’s structural crash analysis application software, included in Virtual Performance Solution.

The project started with human head injury modeling in PAM-CRASH and continued to

“

PAM-CRASH is a tailored simulation tool for advancing research in biomechanics in replacement of impact tests with human body

”

models.

Dr. Jesse Ruan, Technical Specialist, Biomechanics and Human Body Modeling, Ford Motor Company

building the whole human body model. Ford is one of the few carmakers developing human body modeling techniques today. Thanks to these technologies, virtual human crash tests can be realized. The virtual human models are savvy alternatives to study the dynamic responses of real humans during blunt impacts, since using actual human subjects for physical testing is undesirable, if not impossible.

Stress-strain analyses are performed on the deformable model, as stresses/strains are the physical parameters related to injury, recovery, and growth of biological tissues.

Injury criteria are then defined once the mechanisms of injury are known through the impact simulations with the human body model.

Defining impact injury criteria Ford Motor Company uses PAM-CRASH mostly to perform impact biomechanics research.

Engineers set up model and related parameters to measure the impact responses of the vehicle and different parts of the occupant – including brain, chest, thorax, abdomen and low extremity – during vehicle crashes.

Human Head Injury Finite Element Model The starting point of the project is brain injury modeling, which is of high importance and complexity in vehicle safety. Then the rest of the body is modeled.

It is essential that the model be as close as possible to the real human, and that including accurate model geometry and human-like material properties.

A bout F ord M otor C ompan y Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn (MI, USA), manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 200,000 employees and about 90 plants worldwide, the company’s automotive brands include Ford, Lincoln and Mercury. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company.

www.ford.com f or more information: www.esi-group.com/biomechanics

Crash Simulation with Dummy Model

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Crash Simulation with Human Body Model

esi talk

success stories

sheet metal forming

Tecnalia-Labein uses PAM-STAMP 2G to design an industrial hotformed part Hotforming simulation enables Tecnalia-Labein to notably reduce quenching times and direct cost, better understand the process and obtain a robust design.

Hotforming involves the stamping and press hardening of high temperature heated blanks with active cooled tools, a complex process in which a high number of physical phenomena occur simultaneously.

Is it possible to use a fully coupled simulation handling all these parameters? Or is uncoupled simulation still the best way for optimum process design?

To find out, Tecnalia-Labein chose PAM-STAMP 2G to simulate the hotforming of the central part of an automotive B-pillar, geometry courtesy of Renault, where physical tests with a prototype tooling manufactured by DieDe were used to validate the methodology and results.

Hotformed automotive B-Pillar

Simulation was first performed in terms of drawin shape and value, thinning, thickness, radius runover, wrinkling, thermal distribution within the blank, press force, and hardness. The results were then confronted to experimental results, correlating accurately.

“

PAM -STAMP 2 G h a s enabled a fast design of the hotforming tooling,

The next step was to determine the die behavior and identify potential cooling improvements that could be applied on the final tool design, by using another general purpose Finite Element method (FEM), in an uncoupled way. The optimization of factors affecting heat transfer from the hot blank to the cooling fluid within the tooling is essential to ensure completely quenched parts whilst reducing cycle time, thermal stresses and tool wear.

and due to the high

Using thermal simulations with the general purpose FEM code, the final tool’s cooling channels were redesigned to eliminate hot spots while achieving a low and uniform temperature distribution, ensuring proper quenching of the part, following DieDe and Renault specifications.

Iñigo Aranguren /Marian Gutiérrez (Automotive Unit, Tecnalia-Labein)

level of accuracy of the results, it has allowed the validation of the tooling and simulation results with the experimental

”

tests.

A bout T ecnalia - L abein Originally founded in 1955, Tecnalia-Labein is the biggest technology center in Spain working mainly with businesses, which seeks to be a natural ally of firms in the marketplace and help them develop their innovation capabilities using technology to provide a competitive edge. www.labein.es f or more information: www.esi-group.com/sheet-metal-forming

Thickness correlation

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

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success stories

simulation systems integration

IAC streamlines its automotive component simulation and reporting process with Visual-Process The automated workflow substantially reduces design and crash testing analysis time, increases accuracy, and cuts engineering costs.

by DE Editors | Published February 24, 2010 As part of its operations, International Automotive Components (IAC) receives geometric studio design surfaces for interior components from automotive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the form of a computer-aided design (CAD) files. The company’s engineers use this information to design parts and meet federal crash test requirements. The OEMs are responsible for testing the systems to ensure they comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) for instrument panels (IPs) and upper interior components.

Federal Safety Standards FMVSS 201 states that when an area of the instrument panel is hit by a 6.8 Kg, 165 mm diameter head at 19 Km/hr, the deceleration of the head should not exceed 80 g continuously for more than 3 ms. FMVSS 201U provides a similar requirement for upper interior components, such as the pillar trim, headliner, and grab handle, but it is expressed in terms of Head Injury Criteria (HIC(d)) of less than 1000.

European ECE-21 and EEC 74/60 regulations are similar, except they specify an impact speed of 24 Km/hr.

The OEM or supplier is responsible for identifying the zone in which the passenger’s head may contact the IP and upper interior components (Fig. 1). FMVSS 201 defines the head-impact area as the nonglazed surfaces of the interior that are statically contactable by a 6.5-inch diameter spherical head form, having a pivot point to top-of-head adjustment ranging from 7.36

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to 7.40 m. This process is normally undertaken to cover the range of dummies (5th%, 50th%, and 95th %).

The regulations state that all points in the impact zone must meet the 80 g deceleration requirements. The OEM or supplier must select the number of representative points for simulation that fall in the calculated head-impact zone. For each impact point, the OEM or supplier must determine the impact angle of the head with that point. The regulations state the angle should be determined by positioning a line vertically at the seating reference point, the rearmost normal position where the hip contacts the seat and rotated down toward the instrument panel until contact occurs. The intersection of the perpendicular with the panel assembly surface is the location of the point of impact, and the direction of impact is taken along the perpendicular.

The Manual Process In the past, to assess the performance of interior systems, IAC analysts had to perform a lengthy manual process in a CAD system to calculate the potential head-impact zone, define impact points and approach angles, create input data for crash simulation, and generate a report from the simulation results. As part of this process, they selected a series of points in the impact zone and computed the impact angle for each point. The analysts positioned the head form at the impact point, assigned it an initial velocity, created contacts between the head form and IP, created input-output

Fig. 1 control cards, exported LS-DYNA input data, read the LS-DYNA result files, and created an electronic report of the analysis results.

IAC’s engineers were dissatisfied with this process because it tied up highly skilled analysts for a considerable amount of time. In addition, it often was a bottleneck in the delivery schedule.

Finding a Better Way The analysts evaluated several possible solutions for automating the manual process.

A number of vendors offered the ability to develop automated workflow around different CAD and simulation solutions. IAC’s engineers decided that ESI offered a flexible solution that enabled them to develop a script that automatically determines the impact zones, selects impact points, and calculates impact angles at a studio released CAD level very early in the product development cycle.

“ESI’s Visual-Process solution made it possible to automate the entire simulation setup and reporting process,” said Arun Chickmenahalli, Computer Aided Engineering Manager for IAC. “This substantially increased the time-

esi talk

the complete end-to-end head-impact simulation process,” said Arun Chickmenahalli.

savings that we were able to achieve in this application.”

Developing an Automated System IAC worked with ESI to develop an automated system for this process. The solution is based on ESI’s VisualDSS (Decision Support System), which is designed to build and manage simulation models for multiple domains, automate processes and workflows, manage simulation content and data, and support knowledgebased decisions and automated reporting. The environment captures and automatically executes simulation processes, using wrappers for popular simulation and CAD tools. Templates are defined, using the Python scripting language, and the task-execution sequences can be described through a visual interface. The templates library can be searched, using filters and defined criteria for re-use in new projects.

Another key component in the application is ESI’s Visual-Crash Dyna, which provides an environment that enables both automated and manual creation of LS-DYNA models. VisualCrash Dyna enables graphical creation of an LS-DYNA input deck, modification and deletion of contacts, materials, constraints, control cards, and crash entities. Visual-Crash Dyna modification tools help correct errors before the model is submitted to the solver. VisualCrash Dyna is incorporated in the automated process, and analysts also use it to check and tweak the input deck.

Script Operation IAC analysts defined the inputs and outputs required to execute the sequence of codes to automate the entire crash simulation set-up and reporting process. ESI developed the application’s core by using IAC’s expertise and best practices. The actual process begins when the user inputs data, such as the seating reference point and the center of gravity of the head, and reads the CAD data from Dassault Systèmes CATIA, Siemens PLM NX CAD software, or any other suitable CAD format. The script automatically scans the CAD file by moving the head model as specified in FMVSS regulations to identify the impact zones. The script selects impact points based on criteria provided by the analyst/OEMs (Fig. 2). For example, one OEM

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

“

As a result, we have been able to reduce by

Fig. 2. The crash-test analysis calculates the head-impact zone.

four weeks the time needed to complete the simulation process re q u i re d t o co m p ly with regulations, while increasing the accuracy

Fig. 3. The automated analysis also calculates target points and approach angles for head impacts. might specify that impact points be selected every 100 mm, starting with the center of the impact zone. The script computes the impact angle for each point and positions the head form at the impact point (Fig. 3). The initial velocity is assigned to the head form as defined in the regulation. The script then creates LS-DYNA contacts between the head form and the instrument panel interior and among the instrument panel interior components.

Afterward, the script creates the LS-DYNA input-output control cards. An experienced analyst reviews the input data and sometimes makes changes, using the Visual-Crash Dyna environment.

For example, an analyst may move an impact point, perhaps to a location on the IP, opposite a bracket, which may be particularly sensitive in terms of causing injury. The analyst directs the script to export the LS-DYNA input data and submits it to the solver. When the solver has completed its run, the script captures the results. The analyst then runs the report-generation command. The script captures the results and formats them as defined by a template created by the analyst. The software can produce reports in HTML, PDF, and PPT formats.

The Benefits “The Visual-Process script has substantially improved our process to comply with FMVSS 201 regulations. Unlike other solutions that we looked at, Visual-Process was able to automate

”

of the simulation.

Arun Chickmenahalli, Computer Aided Engineering Manager, IAC The time savings help IAC bring products to market faster, reduce its engineering costs, and enable its analysts to complete more projects.

The improvements in accuracy are impossible to quantify at this time but are also substantial. The definition of impact zones, selection of impact points, calculation of impact angles, and other aspects of the process are now performed by an auditable process so the company has eliminated the risk of manual errors.

A bout I nternational A utomotive C omponents (IAC) IAC is a leading global supplier of instrument and door panels, headliners, carpet and acoustic systems, cockpits, and fascias. Originally the former interiors divisions of Lear and Collins & Aikman, IAC has nearly a century of expertise, dating back to the Ford Model T. The company has more than 80 manufacturing sites and more than 90 total locations in 17 countries. IAC has more than 23,000 employees and approximately $3.2 billion in sales worldwide.

www.iacna.com for more information: www.esi-group.com/simulation-systems-integration

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success stories

composites & plastics

LETOV develops two components in a single high quality part with PAM-FORM By enabling the forming of an integrated shape in one shot, PAM-FORM helps LETOV reduce the weight of the part as well as the cost of production without impairing its mechanical characteristics.

Nowadays, the use of composite materials has expanded in various areas of science and technology due to their special properties.

Thus, developers and manufacturers of composite parts in order to remain competitive, are urged to leverage their engineering expertise to address the challenges of high performance composites and increase the process and material understanding for future applications.

One of LETOV’s recent projects has been the production of clips for a major aircraft constructor. Clips are small joining parts in the fuselage structure of an airplane made of two components. They have chosen this project to try out the development of an integrated part in a single shot without impacting the mechanical properties of the clip, using virtual prototyping in order to lower production costs and weight.

To do so, LETOV engineers used ESI composites forming simulation software PAM-FORM to evaluate multiple strategies and determine the right tooling and process parameters of the integrated composites clip. As the clip’s shape is quite complex, this would have required many trials and considerable development time without the use of a dedicated software tool.

PAM-FORM was also used for tool design optimization where LETOV engineers measured the high temperature material property values characterizing the forming behavior of the composites part. The simulation displayed the fiber orientation changes resulting from the shaping, especially in the corners. The fiber orientation induced by the forming process is critical for the mechanical behavior of the final part.

16

Simulation with PAM-FORM allowed LETOV engineers to design a theoretical virtual model with the forming tool and blank shape they determined to be best. The use of PAM-FORM for the virtual prototyping of clips proved to be a success and confirmed that the combination of experienced engineers and PAM-FORM simulation tool can be very effective for problem solving in high performance composite applications.

Axial Strain on Fibers after forming

“

PAM-FORM helped us ac h i eve o u r p ro j e c t

Prototype built based on PAM-FORM computations

goals: lower weight and cost of production while preserving the mechanical properties of the part.

Additionally, it provided us with more information on optimizing our p ro d u c t i o n p ro c e s s which can be reapplied

”

to similar projects.

Josef K ena, Development Manager LETOV LETECKA VYROBA Ltd., GROUPE LATECOERE

A bout L E T O V L E T E C K A V Y R O B A Ltd The company was established in 1918 as the first facility for aircraft manufacturing in the Czech Republic, developing and manufacturing parts and subassemblies for civil and military aircraft. Since 2000, LETOV LETECKA VYROBA Ltd. is a subsidiary of the French company, GROUPE LATECOERE. The Composite Production Center was created for manufacturing and also development of composite parts for civil aircrafts.

www.letov.cz f or more information: www.esi-group.com/composites

esi talk

partner highlights

composites & plastics

ESI is actively involved in the Research & Development of composite materials ESI GmbH successfully coordinates the PreCarBi project Today, advanced composites in the Aerospace industry mostly use either prepreg tape laying, or resin infusion of dry textiles (Liquid Composite Molding or LCM). Generally, prepreg composites have superior stiffness, strength and fatigue resistance due to toughened resins and high fiber content. However, this type of materials suffers from high costs, limited shapeability, complex, expensive and time-consuming manufacturing, and limited shelf life.

While LCM technologies can overcome these drawbacks, LCM relies on low viscosity resins for infusion and suffers from fiber misalignments due to textile patterns, both leading to poorer mechanical performance intolerable for many structural aircraft applications.

This is why and where ESI initiated the European Commission (EC) funded project – PreCarBi three years ago to improve composite materials

for LCM. Involving eleven partners from 9 countries, the consortium had for main objective to develop a new generation of bindered composite materials and associated simulation tools.

The PreCarBi project took into account three principal materials: new composite materials for bindered carbon yarns, compatible resins, and converted new binder yarn composites into industrial preforms (Woven or Non-crimp Fabric).

ESI’s major contribution to the project has been forming, infusion and mechanical analysis of industrial aerospace applications manufacturing with the Liquid Resin Infusion (LRI) technology, using PAM-QUIKFORM and PAM-RTM, simulation solutions for thermoforming and manufacturing of plastics and composites.

This resulting research is considered an important contribution for advanced Liquid Resin

Infusion (LRI) technologies to compete with expensive and complex prepreg composite technologies.

The Research Consortium team included Airbus, Eurocopter, FACC, Toho Tenax Europe, Sigmatex, Huntsman Advanced Materials (Switzerland) GmbH, ESI Group, Cranfield University, IPM Latvia, University of Patras and SICOMP.

ESI initiates the 4-year INFUCOMP consortium Accelerating its contribution to the Research & Development of composite materials, ESI GmbH coordinates the recently initiated 4-year INFUCOMP European Research Consortium.

The Consortium involves fourteen partners and aims at providing an End-to-End Virtual Prototyping solution from pre-form design to manufacturing (LRI) specific to the manufacture of large aerospace composite parts. Simulation will minimize expensive and time-consuming ‘trial and error’ testing methods and help man-

focuses on aerospace applications, it is expected the results will be very relevant to other industries.

“The INFUCOMP project is an essential part of an integrated composites solution package and will provide a unique opportunity to move forward with composites simulation and to develop new tools in collaboration with leading research and industrial Aerospace partners,” said Dr. Anthony Pickett, Scientific Director at ESI GmbH.

ufacture high quality parts, faster and at lower cost.

The INFUCOMP project will positively contribute to further the use of textile composites in the Aeronautic sector, lowering cost, improving performance, increasing payloads and reducing fuel emissions. Although the planned research

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

Coordinator: ESI GmbH Mergenthalerallee 15-21 65760 Eschborn - GERMANY Phone: +49 (0)6196 9583 0 Fax: +49 (0) 6196 9583 111 E-mail: Anthony.Pickett@esi-group.com

P180 Aircraft Courtesy : Piaggio Aero Industries f or more information: www.esi-group.com/composites

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partner highlights

crash, impact & safety

ESI sponsors the Student Formula SAE Racing Team Pilsen

simulation systems integration

The University of West Bohemia succeeds in designing the front deformable part of a Formulastyle race car thanks to PAM-CRASH and Visual-Environment.

The University of West Bohemia (UWB) in Pilsen, Czech Republic, joined the student design competition - Formula SAE® - organized by SAE International (Society of Automotive Engineers).

The concept behind the competition is the development of a small Formula-style race car for a fictional manufacturing company. Each student team designs, builds and tests a prototype based on a series of rules, which is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item.

3 questions for Jiri Koldinský, UWB team leader: What are the main achievements of the team?

How well did MECAS ESI support this project?

We consider the fabrication of the entire Formula-style race car from the very beginning in only 6 months as our major success. Indeed, we achieved this within a relatively small team, with limited material support and minimum skills. Our goal was to participate in the Formula SAE Italy where students had the opportunity to show their prototype; an objective that we reached.

MECAS ESI provided the PAM-CRASH and Visual-Environment licenses free of charge to the team, enabling us to efficiently design the frontal deformable element. Indeed, the front part meets the safety requirements set in the series of rules. This would have been difficult to accomplish without MECAS ESI’s help. The company gave us also valuable advices throughout the project in regards to virtual prototyping.

The UWB team is the first team in Czech Republic to successfully complete the project by creating a prototype which meets the set criteria. The UWB team obtained the support of MECAS ESI for the Formula’s deformable elements‘ design, where simulation was needed.

Do you wish to further cooperate with MECAS ESI? Definitely! Next year, we will have to design a lighter deformable part, project in which we will appreciate MECAS ESI’s help and cooperation.

A bout F ormula S A E ® Formula UWB Racing Team Pilsen

Formula SAE® promotes careers and excellence in engineering as it encompasses all aspects of the automotive industry including research, design, manufacturing, testing, developing, marketing, management and finances. Formula SAE takes students out of the classroom and allows them to apply textbook theories to real work experiences.

www.students.sae.org for more information: www.esi-group.com/virtual-performancesolution www.esi-group/simulation-systems-integration www.uwbformula.cz

Simulation of the front deformable element with PAM-CRASH

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esi talk

product news

crash, impact & safety

Virtual Performance Educational Package initiates students to simulation ESI is present in the academic community through active collaborations on research and development projects, and more recently through educational programs. Indeed, with the release of a Virtual Performance Educational Package, ESI makes its Virtual Performance Solution accessible to undergraduate and masters students in a special version for Finite Element simulation.

Offering an easy-learning introduction to simulation basics, the package enables static and modal analyses (implicit solver) as well as crash/ impact simulation (PAM-CRASH explicit solver) through self-learning tutorials based on automotive and aerospace case studies.

“Tutorials using PAM-CRASH explicit finite element code are an integral part of the Finite

Elements and Materials Modeling module of the Advanced Materials MSc course at Cranfield University. The students use the software to reinforce their learning on explicit finite element technologies, whilst investigating real life impact problems. The tutorials provided

by ESI allow a very efficient introduction to the pre- and post- processing tools”, declared Dr. Alex Skordos, academic fellow at Cranfield University in the UK. “The Virtual Performance Educational Package is an extremely useful teaching tool which ties very well with our research activities”.

The Virtual Performance Educational Package is free for students and teachers during the first 6 months and is available for download at www.esi-educational.com.

Tutorial 5: Frontal crash of a simplified truck model

for more information: www.esi-group.com/educational

vibro-acoustics

VA One v2009.0 includes advanced models of foam and fibers Poroelastic materials such as foams and fibers are an important part of the design of quiet products with superior noise and vibration performance. The VA One 2009.0 release includes improved functionality for modeling foams and fibers at low frequencies using foam finite elements; and also at mid and high frequencies including automatic calculation of treatment coverage from CAD or FE data.

Originally developed as part of a long term research project between ESI Group and several leading universities, this functionality is now fully integrated within the VA One environment.

“Modeling the vibro-acoustic response of poroelastic materials is one of our core areas of

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

research”, said Pr. Noureddine Atalla, Acoustic Department at the University of Sherbrooke.

“Our ongoing collaboration with ESI Group on the research, development and implementation of these methods has proven to be fruitful as shown in VA One latest release”.

“VA One version 2009.0 is the result of a long term collaboration with our research partners and provides our customers with state-of-theart methods for modeling poroelastic materials”, said Dr. Phil Shorter, Director of Vibro-Acoustic Product Operations, ESI Group. “The VA One 2010 release will also be available shortly and includes a large number of enhancements across all modules.”

Modeling the low frequency response of a seat in VA One using Biot foam finite elements f or more information: www.esi-group.com/va-one

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product news

welding & heat treatment simulation systems integration

Faster, optimized distortion and stress analyses with Visual-WELD ESI’s Welding Simulation Suite, complemented by Visual-WELD dedicated user interface, offers today the full set of welding engineering methodologies needed by designers, process planners and manufacturing practitioners.

“

V i s u a l - W E LD

was

designed with the objective of allowing our customers to benefit easily from more than 100 men-years of experience

”

in welding simulation.

Dr. Frederic Boitout, Welding Project Manager, ESI Group

Visual-WELD: Simplicity is the key

Simplicity being the key, Visual-WELD allows faster and accurate distortion and weld quality virtual engineering at any stage of product design and manufacturing. Indeed, Visual-WELD helps reach a stress minimized welding assembly within tolerances at minimal cost, respect customer’ specifications and secure the production.

grated and collaborative software environment, encompassing the complete workflow for realistic, physics-based Virtual Prototyping. In fact, ESI has included all multi-physics involved in Welding Simulation within Visual-Environment latest release 6.0 to offer a fully industrialized collaborative software environment, including the following major components:

Knowing that the failure of even the simplest weld can cause the failure of the entire design, Visual-WELD helps control component weld quality in terms of temperature, microstructure and residual stresses. Consequently, it enables engineers to avoid problems such as overheating in critical repair situations, stress corrosion cracking as well as crack initiation due to tensile stresses at the wrong place. Engineers are also able to produce uniform stress distribution and uncover hot stress spots all over the design due to the welding fabrication process that would have a negative impact on the fatigue life.

•V isual-Mesh, complete pre-processing meshing tool which supports CAD import, 2D and 3D meshing and editing for linear and parabolic meshes; •V isual-WELD, dedicated workflow-based welding simulation interface that enables Single-Pass and Multi-Pass Welding simulations. The complete workflow is represented with sequential and intuitive steps. The set up requires the minimum amount of input and allows engineers to be fully operational within a few hours.

•V isual-Viewer, post-processing tool with advanced plotting utilities. It allows the display, synchronization and animation of several computed physical quantities at the same

Visual-WELD is also the latest simulation tool developed within ESI’s Visual-Environment, inte-

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time, and the comparison of result variants.

It is easy and straightforward to identify and understand problems and thus take the necessary actions to improve the welded design or its fabrication.

“Included in the latest version of VisualEnvironment, Visual-Weld delivers a great combination of intuitive interface and simulation of the physics of materials in this domain. Our customers are already excited about the possibilities this new Welding Simulation Suite brings to improve their welded products and welding processes”, declared Dr. Yannick Vincent, Welding Product Manager, ESI Group.

for more information: www.esi-group.com/welding www.esi-group.com/visual-environment

esi talk

corporate

VisualDSS features in Oracle Partners Innovation 2009 magazine VisualDSS is an open environment enabling the building and management of simulation models for multi-domain usage, the automation of project workflow, and the management of simulation content and data. With VisualDSS, ESI delivers an advanced End-to-End Decision Support system to further leverage enterprise best practices and increase the value of simulation.

ESI has empowered Visual DSS with Oracle latest technologies and product architecture to further optimize simulation process and data management. VisualDSS thus responds to the market’s needs in simulation to enable numeri-

cal tests and to reduce the cost and time of physical tests.

the “Knowledge Base of Calculation” inside the company.

Why is VisualDSS innovative?

Oracle database enables storing and manipulating data that ranges from product classification attributes to models and voluminous simulation results, and visual representations of key results, efficiently and securely using a unique technology.

In a customer ecosystem consisting of heterogeneous applications and scattered simulation data making the collaborative work of multidisciplinary teams difficult, VisualDSS brings an effective answer thanks to centralized data management. Visual DSS , with its management of simulation data, facilitates sharing and exploiting data spreading updates, as well as pooling best practices. VisualDSS thus becomes

for more information: www.oracle.com/fr www.esi-group.com/alliances/partners

PROCESSWorks is recognized as ‘having educational value’ Today’s students are tomorrow’s professionals!

This is why Computer-Aided Design (CAD) and Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) providers partner to provide students with the advanced simulation tools they need for successful careers.

PROCESSWorks, provided by CADWARE, first SOLIDWORKS Reseller for Education in the World in 2009, is one of the best examples.

First software platform for the simulation of pre-industrialization processes operating with a unique user interface within SolidWorks, PROCESSWorks provides students with a multidomain solution for Cutting and Bending, Sheet

Metal Forming, Forging, Machining, Casting, and Plastic Injection. Indeed, the multi-domain platform includes six different software from five CADWARE partners, among which ESI’s Casting and Sheet Metal Forming software.

From a given part’s specification, the student has the opportunity to use different simulation software to study and validate the feasibility of that part or its modifications involving other materials or other procurement methods. Each simulation software is very easy to use and contains the essential business parameters ensuring the student will obtain relevant results quickly.

To help teachers who use multimedia educational tools, the French Ministry of National Education grants labels to software and multimedia designs that meet the needs and expectations of the educational system. As PROCESSWorks includes several documentary and pedagogical resources which are accessible in an easy and intuitive interface, the application was awarded the label “Recognized as having educational value” (Reconnu d’Intérêt Pédagogique, RIP) on February 3rd, 2010.

“PROCESSWork’s labelling recognizes its quality for educational purposes and is the result of a successful collaborative work with our partners”, said Jean-Luc Cottin, Director, CADWARE.

f or more information: www.cadware.fr/education/processworks.htm

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

21

corporate

Upcoming Expert Seminars Thanks to a team of carefully selected international experts and intimate setting of the course, engineers and scientists learn to overcome industrial challenges and acquire best practices in the discipline chosen.

Composites Expert Seminar

Hotforming Expert Seminar

Discover latest advancements in composites modeling

Meet the industry’s top experts in hotforming

Confirmed speakers: • Dr. Anthony Pickett, ESI, Germany

• Prof. Christophe Binetruy, ENSTIM – DOUAI, France

• Mr. Jérôme Raynal, PPE, France

• Prof. Philippe Boisse, INSA Lyon, France • Dr. Argiris Kamoulakos, ESI, France

• Dr. Alex Skordos, Cranfield University, UK

• Prof. Stepan Lomov, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

• Dr. Magnus Svanberg, Swerea SICOMP SA, Sweden

• Mr. Serge Mouton, Université Bordeaux 1 – LMP, France

find out more: www.esi-group.com/composites-expert-seminar

When?

Oct 4-5, 2010

Where?

Bordeaux, France

find out more: www.esi-group.com/hotforming-expert-seminar

When?

Nov 2010, dates to be announced...

Where?

Rome, Italy

Contact: expert.seminars@esi-group.com / +49 (0)6196 9583 178

Save the date!

INNOV’SAIL 2010

2nd International Conference on Innovation in High Performance Sailing Yachts organized by RINA (Royal Institution of Naval Architects)

Lorient, France

Vdot™ Seminar

Lean Project and Process Management Seminar focusing on new methods for better planning, execution and management

El Segundo, California, USA

VA One Infodays

Learn about VA One simulation environment for Vibro-Acoustic analysis and design

Dresden and Munich, Germany

Sept 14, 2010

2010 ESI CFD Users’ Conference

Technical exchange between CFD-ACE+ users, as well as a chance to preview upcoming technical advancements

Santa Clara, California, USA

Sept 8-9, 2010

NAFEMS Virtual Conference 2010

2020 Vision of Engineering Analysis and Simulation hosted by ESI North America

Online

Oct 4-5, 2010

Composites Expert Seminar

Expert Course on Composites Modeling to understand how multi-domain simulation can contribute to the advanced composites parts development

Bordeaux, France

Oct 5-7, 2010

Hotforming Expert Seminar

Expert Course on Press Hardening processes in collaboration with AP&T

Rome, Italy

Oct 20-22, 2010

IDMME - Virtual Concept 2010

9th International Conference on Integrated, Interactive and Virtual Product Engineering

Talence, France

Oct 26-28, 2010

Texcomp 10

10th International Conference on Textile Composites

Lille, France

Nov 16-17, 2010

VDI SIMVEC 2010

15th International Congress & Exhibition for Calculation and Simulation in Automotive

Baden, Germany

Nov 18-19, 2010

ESI Japan Users Forum 2010

ESI’s 21st Japanese Users Conference and Exhibition on Virtual Prototyping

Tokyo, Japan

June 30-July 1, 2010

June 22, 2010 June 29-30, 2010

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esi talk

corporate

Users’ Conferences Worldwide on End-to-End Virtual Prototyping

Financial news

ESI Global Forum 2010, the first global users conference on Virtual Prototyping which took place on May 19-20, 2010 in Munich, Germany, offered the opportunity to witness some of the ambitious new projects undertaken by ESI customers worldwide showcasing the growing importance of End-to-End Virtual Prototyping and its already significant benefits. Designers, engineers, analysts and managers of customer and partner companies from around the world and from various industries convened to listen to over 100 presentations on End-to-End Virtual Prototyping present and future, and prepare for it collaboratively, dynamically and efficiently.

2009/2010 Annual Sales

End-to-End Virtual Prototyping anticipates the surprises coming from tests made on real (hardware) prototypes by virtually fabricating, building and testing the product in coherent progressive stages: part by part, component per component and concurrently across multiple domains. A good Virtual Prototype enables at each step of the development cycle to test the performance, margins and robustness on the virtual model under assessment, in order to evaluate and correct, if needed, some critical aspects of the product design or fabrication. Its foundation is Virtual Manufacturing, which relies on a sharp knowledge of the physics of materials during manufacturing and assembly processes to define in a realistic way the “as built” product.

License Sales reached 54.1 million euros, up +2.9% in actual terms. The installed base was up +6.4% on the previous year, with the rate of repeat business reaching 85% in 2009/10 versus 77% in 2008/09 and New Business falling by a moderate -7%.

End-to-End Virtual Prototyping enables product development teams to produce concurrently quality results: accurate, for the right cost and at the right time with impressive benefits.

ESI Global Forum was followed by ESI China Forum 2010, which took place on May 27-28, 2010 in Beijing, China.

ESI’s next users conferences and exhibitions on Virtual Prototyping will take place on November 16, 2010 in Seoul, Korea and on November 18-19, 2010 in Tokyo, Japan.

issue 39 | spring / summer 2010

Good growth over the year ESI Group’s annual total sales totalled 75.1 million euros, up +7.1% in actual terms compared to the previous year.

Licensing: Improvement in the high rate of repeat business

Services: Confirming the successful integration of Mindware Service Sales came to 21.0 millions euros, an increase of +19.5% in actual terms. In particular, Mindware, a company consolidated in ESI’s books since mid-December 2008, has reaffirmed its growth potential and its successful integration within the Group, recording again a double-digit growth in activity in 2009, with sales totalling 5.2 million euros.

Revenue breakdown per area A more balanced breakdown in regards to the geographical split in activity – 22% of sales for Americas, 45% for Europe and 33% for Asia – confirms ESI Group’s international presence, credibility and appeal.

“ESI’s overall performance highlights two major lessons. Firstly, it provides confirmation of our business model solidity, based on the annual rental of our licenses and benefiting from a high level of repeat business, which generates an enviable visibility in the current economic context. Secondly, it indicates the endurance of our activity, which reflects the high value proposition of our ‘Virtual Prototyping Solutions’ sources of strategic advantages increasingly sought-after in the current competitive environment. This performance was achieved whilst keeping costs under control and our teams on board. These factors give us confidence in the continuity of our growth and profitability amplified by the gains of our business sectors diversification,” concluded Alain de Rouvray, ESI Group’s Chairman and CEO.

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ESI headquarters 100-102 Avenue de Suffren 75015 Paris - France Phone: +33 (0)1 53 65 14 14 Fax: +33 (0)1 53 65 14 12

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