Advanced Analysis Ltd

Engineering Problem Solving through Simulation

Example PROJECTS

Below is a small set of examples from the 500+ projects that AAL have completed to date. Select filter and click on '' for more details:

Connecting Rod

01

Automotive, In-House
Powertrain

Stress, Fatigue


Development of Python plugins to calculate and include loads from complete engine cycles with all inertia effects and (big | small end) oil film approximations.

Objectives

  • Calculation of high cycle fatigue of connecting rods.
  • Identify problem areas with finite life and recommend design modifications.

Solution

  • Advanced use of in-house dynamic load calculations and oil film modelling.
  • Use of ABAQUS, FE-Safe, and complex material definitions.
  • Prediction of stress levels at every 1-degree crank angle throughout the engine speed cycle.
Conrod: signed von Mises stresses. Static vs Dynamic analysis

Antenna, Radar, Surveillance Systems

02

Defence
NVH, Shock Wave

Stress, Vibration


AAL use ABAQUS to simulate transient shock wave events on critical structural systems to assess their integrity under extreme acceleration loads.

Objectives

  • Asses the integrity of the structure under high (such as 100G) shock wave events.
  • Identify problem areas with low stiffness and recommend design modifications.
  • Asses the stiffness and configuration of bearings.
Radar NVH: strain energies for a transient shock wave event at 100G

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS in the time domain allows for fast stress analysis due to shock waves.
  • The effects of non-linear assembly preloads are also accounted for in the dynamic transient response.
Radar NVH: strain energies by bearings under a shock wave event

Coolant CFD Analysis

03

Automotive
CFD

Thermal, Flow


AAL use the tools AcuSolve and Converge to predict coolant steady-state or transient and in-cylinder transient flow.

Objectives

  • Water jacket flow optimisation, and mapping of data onto thermal analyses.
  • Under-hood and external air flows.
  • In-cylinder transient flow with moving boundaries (piston, valves).
Water Jacket CFD
CFD water jacket analysis: velocity streamlines

Solution

  • Advanced use of AcuSolve and Converge CFD packages depending on the application.
  • Investigate the system to gain a deep understanding and study design recommendations to improve flow and minimise fluid path losses.

Carbon Fibre Analysis

04

General
FEA, NVH

Stress, Vibration


AAL use ABAQUS and/or OptiStruct (ALTAIR) to optimise composite layups, materials and geometries.

Objectives

  • Develop reliable laminate material properties.
  • Improve laminate designs based on layup, ply orientation and materials developed via FEA.
  • Guide designers and manufacturers to improve structural performance within cost and manufacturing constraints.

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS or ALTAIR tools to gain insights into optimum laminate structural shapes and materials.
Carbon Fibre Simulation
Carbon fibre analysis: materials development

Large Systems, Wind Analysis

05

Defence
CFD, Wind

Flow, Wind Loads


AAL use AcuSolve or ABAQUS/CEL to predict torques and force histories on radar systems under motion and wind loads.

Objectives

  • Predict torque histories on the antenna under different angle and wind scenarios.
CFD wind analysis: transient pressures and velocities

Solution

  • Advanced use of AcuSolve (CFD) in the time domain with moving structures.
  • Detailed torque results are obtained for a large set of antenna angles and wind speed conditions.
  • CFD predictions help control system designers with realistic torque inputs for worst case conditions.
CFD Wind Loads CFD Wind Loads CFD Wind Loads CFD Wind Loads CFD Wind Loads CFD Wind Loads

Cylinder Head Gasket

06

Automotive, In-House
Powertrain

Thermal, Stress, Sealing


AAL has extensive experience in highly non-linear analysis of complex gasket designs. We have developed through the years a comprehensive gasket modelling users guide for non-linear analysis.

Objectives

  • Calculation of sealant properties of head gaskets.
  • Perform a full non-linear analysis of mechanical and thermal cycle loads, to establish a settled state prior to a low and high cycle stress prediction.
Cylinder Head FEA
Cylinder head analysis: materials, thermal and durability study

Solution

  • Advanced use of in-house thermal loads specification, ABAQUS and complex material definitions.
  • Identify areas of low gasket pressure.
  • Understand the reasons behind poor gasket sealing via identifying weak structural areas in the engine during cold and hot conditions.
Cylinder Head Gasket
Cylinder Head Gasket: sealing study

Dual Tracking Motion Systems (DTMS)

07

Defence
NVH, Shock Wave

Stress, Vibration


AAL use ABAQUS to simulate non-linear static and dynamics performance of complete (10m diameter) Dual Tracking Motion Systems (DTMS).

Objectives

  • Assess the integrity of critical metal and carbon fibre components.
  • Understand non-linear static and dynamic deflections in order to meet integrity and pointing accuracy targets.

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS in the time domain (modal superposition and/or non-linear transient) allows for detailed stress analysis due to dynamic loads.
  • Show the effects of non-linear assembly preloads in the dynamic transient response.
Dual Tracking Motion System
DTMS carbon fibre: analysis and installation

Mechanisms

08

Automotive
NVH, Powertrain

Stress, Vibration


AAL use MATLAB, SIMULINK, ABAQUS and/or MotionSolve to simulate complex mechanism systems.

Objectives

  • Build a realistic multi-physics mechanism to understand worst load scenarios.
  • Identify any relevant non-linear dynamic behaviour.
Valvetrain transient analysis: forces, contact pressures and stresses

Solution

  • MATLAB and SIMULINK to model overall system: power electrics, control system and mechanical components.
  • Use of FEA transient solvers for stress prediction in ABAQUS with non-linear contacts, materials and loads.
  • Use of MotionSolve for unusual multi-body complex mechanisms.
Parklock: impact forces, contact pressures and stresses

Hybrid Systems

09

Automotive, In-House
NVH, Powertrain

Stress, Fatigue, Vibration


AAL use Python scripting, ABAQUS and FE-Safe to automate comparisons to vibration measurements for different designs.

Objectives

  • Predict vibration induced durability.
  • Develop software to analyse and understand measured vibration data, and correlate to simulation.
Automotive Hybrid Systems
Automotive Hybrid Systems

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS, FE-Safe and in-house Python scripting.
  • Analyse and understand measured data in terms of engine orders.
  • Gain a deep understanding of the mechanisms of failure including loading, damping and relevant mode shapes of the system.
Automotive Hybrid Systems
Hybrid Systems: tolerance, NVH and durability study

Automated Shape Optimisation

10

General
FEA, Optimisation

Organic Designs


AAL use both ABAQUS and ALTAIR tools to optimise geometric forms, and generate ‘organic’ shapes.

Objectives

  • Optimise shape for best trade off of mass, stiffness, durability and/or dynamic response.
  • Generate new designs via organic shape concepts.
FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation
Structural link optimisation

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS or ALTAIR tools to gain insights into optimum structural shapes.
  • Amalgamation of optimised features into CAD format geometry.
  • Detailed pass-off tests on chosen form.
FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation FEA Optimisation
Rocker optimisation

Vehicle Noise at Driver’s Ear

11

Automotive, In-House
NVH, CFD

Fluid Loads, Noise


AAL use AcuSolve, ABAQUS, OptiStruct (Nastran) and In-House software to predict noise levels in large vehicle models.

Objectives

  • Develop methodology to predict vehicle interior noise at driver’s ear due to fuel tank sloshing loads during a deceleration event.
  • Correlate with measurements and transfer analysis methodology to the client.
Fuel Tank Noise
Fuel tank CFD: fluid sloshing analysis

Solution

  • CFD to calculate fuel sloshing loads.
  • In-House software to map CFD results to FEA of the tank structure.
  • Transient solvers in ABAQUS with non-linear contacts to calculate load histories.
  • Full vehicle noise prediction to 500Hz in OptiStruct (Nastran).
Full Vehicle Noise
Full vehicle NVH: noise at driver's ear

Cylinder Bore Distortion

12

In-House
Powertrain

Deformations


AAL use Python scripting to automate the bore distortion post processing from FEA results.

Objectives

  • Achieve low bore distortion when the engine is hot.
  • Identify cylinder bore out of shape concerns, which may revert into piston-cylinder poor performance.
Cylinder Bore Distortion
Cylinder head: bore distortion analysis

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS and in-house Python scripting to automate the bore distortion post processing.
  • Investigate the mechanics of the system to gain a deep understanding of the root causes for the cylinder walls distortion.
Cylinder Bore Distortion
Bore distortion results

Cooling Electronic Systems

13

General
CFD, FEA

Thermal, Flow


AAL use both AcuSolve and ABAQUS to predict thermal and structural performance on circuit boards and electronics assembly systems.

Objectives

  • Predict temperature distributions on component surfaces and in enclosure cavity.
  • Predict thermal boundary conditions on component surfaces.
CFD Thermal, Electronics Component
CFD thermal conjugate analysis: temperatures and fan

Solution

  • Analysis model may include:
    Chipset build-up | Liquid Cooling | Natural convection cooling | Forced convection cooling | Internal and external heat sources.
  • Predict transient and steady-state temperatures.
CFD Thermal, Heat Sink
CFD on heat sink: temperatures and streamlines

Exhaust Manifold

14

Automotive
CFD, Powertrain

Thermal, Stress, Fatigue


AAL use the tools AcuSolve , ABAQUS and Fe-Safe to predict exhaust manifold coolant boundary conditions, temperature & stress distributions and fatigue life.

Objectives

  • Manifold water jacket flow optimisation.
  • Gas side thermal BCs calculation.
  • Temperatures, Stress & Fatigue life prediction.
CFD Exhaust Manifold
CFD of Exhaust Manifold: coolant and gas flow

Solution

  • AcuSolve predicts thermal BCs and allows mapping to Thermo-Mechanical stress analysis.
  • ABAQUS predicts transient & steady-state temperature and stress distributions on the manifold.
  • Fe-Safe predicts fatigue life based on stress histories from FEA.
CFD Exhaust Manifold
Thermo-Mechanical analysis: temperatures and stresses

Coupling Fluid-Structure

15

General
CFD, FEA

Multi-Physics


AAL use ABAQUS and/or AcuSolve to predict stress, forces and fluid sloshing under non-linear dynamic events such as impact drop tests.

Objectives

  • Predict the effects of fluid-structure coupling on structural deformations and stresses.
  • Predict fluid sloshing for highly non-linear dynamic events.
  • Guide designers on issues such as an oil pump running ‘dry’.
Oil container: drop test (impact) analysis

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS & AcuSolve (CFD) in the time domain with moving structures. Analysis models include coupling fluid-structure via explicit solvers.
  • Study highly non-linear responses on both the structure and the fluid to guide designers.
Engine oil sloshing analysis

Engine Loads Software

16

In-House
Powertrain

Load Calculations


AAL use MATLAB & SIMULINK to generate complete tailor-made calculation tools.

Objectives

  • Build a specific client tool for complex engine load calculations.
  • Build a user friendly graphical interface.
AAL ENGLOAD software
AAL ENGLoad: engine loads calculation package

Solution

  • Advanced use of MATLAB to generate a complete tailor-made calculation tool with a comprehensive graphical interface.
AAL ENGLOAD software

Highly Non-Linear Analysis

17

General
FEA

Stress, Sealing


AAL use ABAQUS to predict stress, forces and sealing properties for highly non-linear assembly processes.

Objectives

  • Develop reliable simulation methods to represent complex assembly procedures.
  • Implement non-linear materials and boundary conditions, such as complex contact interactions.
Rubber analysis: gasket and friction fit assembly

Solution

  • Advanced use of ABAQUS to gain insights into optimum mechanical assembly procedures and highly non-linear materials.
  • Assess stress levels and durability.
Crimp analysis: non-linear assembly procedure

Interior Acoustics

18

General
FEA, BEA

Acoustics


AAL use FEA or BEA to predict the interior acoustics in cavities such as: vehicle cabins, speakers and rooms.

Objectives

  • Calculate the interior acoustic response due to standing waves, quarter wave pipes and Helmholtz effects coupled with various noise sources.
  • Implement acoustic materials and boundary conditions, such as multi-layered sound absorbers.
Room Acoustic Analysis Room Acoustic Analysis Room Acoustic Analysis Room Acoustic Measurements Room Acoustic Analysis Speaker Acoustic Analysis Room Acoustic Analysis Room Acoustic Analysis Room Acoustic Analysis
Room acoustics and speaker analysis

Solution

  • Advanced use of Finite or Boundary Element Methods to gain understanding of the acoustics behaviour.
  • Recommend design changes based on simulation to attenuate noise and/or modify the frequency response of the cavity (or room) to improve sound quality.
Room Analysis: measured vs predicted
Room and speaker analysis: measured vs predicted

Aerodynamics

19

General
CFD, Drag Coefficient

Flow, Wind Loads


AAL use AcuSolve to predict force histories and drag coefficients (CdA) on vehicles under motion and wind loads. Furthermore, a complete set of fluid variables are calculated such as: pressures, velocities, viscosity, turbulence, etc.

Objectives

  • Calculate the drag coefficient under different wind angles and road speeds.
  • Improve the aerodynamics of the vehicle via CFD analysis before prototyping.
Colnago race bike CFD bicycle CAD CFD bicycle mesh CFD bicycle mesh CFD bicycle mesh
Bicycle CAD and CFD mesh

Solution

  • Advanced use of AcuSolve (CFD) in the time domain with moving structures under varying wind loads.
  • Detailed force histories are obtained for a large set of wind angles and speed conditions. This allows for the calculation of drag coefficients (CdA) for vehicle design iterations.
CFD bicycle results CFD bicycle results CFD bicycle results CFD bicycle results CFD bicycle results
Bicycle Aerodynamics: CFD analysis results

Multi Body Dynamics

20

Automotive
MBD, NVH, Dynamics

Loads, Optimisation


AAL use MotionView and MotionSolve to simulate complex Multi Body Dynamics (MBD) systems such as vehicle assemblies.

Objectives

  • Build a realistic mechanism assembly to calculate and understand worst loadcase scenarios.
  • Identify peak loads at component level and joints.
  • Optimise key dynamic components such as shock absorbers.

Solution

  • Use of MotionSolve for unusual multi-body complex mechanisms.
  • Use of robust algorithms to optimise key design components in order to improve the dynamic behaviour of a vehicle or other mechanism assemblies.
Motorbike MBD Analysis: impact contact forces and component loads
See more complex road events in services MBD section

Vehicle Aerodynamics

21

Automotive
CFD, Drag Coefficient

Flow, Wind Loads


AAL use AcuSolve to predict drag (CdA), lift and side forces on vehicles under motion and wind loads.

Objectives

  • Calculate the drag, lift and side forces under different wind angles and vehicle speeds.
  • Identify negative contributions to forces on a component basis.
  • Optimise the aerodynamics of the vehicle via CFD analysis before prototyping.

Solution

  • Use of CFD analysis in the time domain with moving road and wheels under varying wind loads.
  • Detailed force histories can be obtained for a large set of wind angles and speed conditions. This allows to identify worst components for consequent vehicle design optimisation.
CFD Vehicle Aerodynamics