Faster radiator thermal analysis NX for simulation cuts analysis time by 80 percent
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NX
Benefits• Speedradiatordevelopment
byupto80percent,frominitialdesignthroughfinalvalidation
• Reducetimespentbuildingradiatoranalysismodels
• Createfluiddomaingeometrywithease
• Acceleratemeshingforradiatorcoolanttubes
• Respondfastertodesignchangesthroughautomaticanalysismodelupdates
• Performmoreiterationsinlesstimetodeliverbetterproductsfaster
Features• Synchronoustechnologyand
otherpowerfulgeometryeditingtoolsthathelpyoubuildfluiddomaingeometryfasterthantypicalCFDtools
• Surfacewrappingtoolsthatfacilitatefasterfluiddomaincreationaroundcomplexgeometry,includinggeometryforunder-hoodcoolinganalysis
• Uniquecoolantductmeshingmethodusing1-Delementsinsteadofhexahedralelementstoshavehoursoffyourmeshingprocesses
SummaryNXCAEenablesmanufacturerstoreducethetimeandcostrequiredforradiatordevelopmentbyacceleratingtheoverallanalysisprocess.Whenusingtraditionalanalysistoolsandprocesses,typicalradiatoranalysisprocessescantake20daysormoretosizeandvalidatetheperformanceoftheradiatorcomponentandthefullunder-hoodsystem.ByusingNXCAE,youcancutthisprocessdowntojust4days–an80percenttimesavings.
Radiator development challengesRadiatormanufac-turersacrossmanyindustries,includingautomotiveandheavymachinery,areunderconstantpressuretoreducecosts,minimizeweightandimprovefuelefficiency.Asaresult,under-hoodspaceisatapremiumanddrivestheneedforsmalleryetmoreefficientcoolingsystems.Accordingly,manufacturersneedtounderstandradiatorperformance.
Radiatordevelopmentisamulti-stepprocess,whereengineersdeterminetheinitialsize,validatetheradiatorperformancebyitself,andthenvalidateperformanceintheunder-hoodenvironment.Engineerscanquicklydeterminearadiator’sinitialsizebasedonfunctionalrequirementsandpastexperience,butvalidatinghowtheradiatorwillactuallycooltheengineismoreofachallenge.Onewaythiscanbedoneisbytestingphysicalprototypes.Unfortunately,thisisaverycostlyandtimeconsumingprocess.Companiesusingcomputeraidedengineering(CAE)cansignificantlyreducevalidationtimebyvirtuallytestingmanyradiatordesigns.However,evenwithCAE,theradiatordevelopmentprocesssometimestakes20daysormore.
Faster radiator thermal analysis
Features continued• Coupledfluid/thermalsolver
integratedwithinthesameCAEenvironment
• Analysismodel–to-designassociativity,whichenablesyoutoquicklyupdatetheanalysismodeltoreflectdesigngeometrychanges
• Multi-CADsupportforavarietyofgeometryformats,includingCatiaV4/V5,ProEngineer,SolidEdge®software,SolidWorks,I-deas®software,STEP,IGESandtheJT™format
NX
Partdesign
Analysis modeling SolveEvaluateresults
Partdesign
Analysismodeling
SolveEvaluateresults
Figure 1: NX reduces analysis modeling time by up to 90 percent.
Radiatorsimulationiscomplexbecauseitcombinesfluidanalysis(CFD)andthermalanalysis.Thisposesachallengeifthefluidandthermalsolversarenotwellintegrated.Butthebulkofananalyst’stimeisspentjustbuildingtheradiatoranalysismodel.Essentially,engineersfacethreemainchallengestobuildinganalysismodelsusingtraditionalCAEprocesses:
• Creating the fluid domain.TypicalCAEtoolsdonothavethecapabilitiesnecessaryforcreatingthegeometrythatrepresentstheairflowingaroundandthroughtheradiator.Instead,engineersoftenusemultipletoolstocreatethefluiddomain,whichinturnoftenresultsindatatransfererrors.
• Meshing the coolant ducts.WithtypicalCFDtools,analystsmodelthecoolanttubesbymanuallybuildingahexahedralfiniteelement(FE)meshforeachtube.Thisprocessisextremelytediousandtimeconsumingsinceradiatorscancontainasmanyas50ormoretubes.Thisapproachalsocreateslargenumbersofelements,whichleadstolongersimulationtimes.
• Analyzing design changes.Whenengineersneedtosimulateadesignchangeoralternativeidea,theymustrepeatalloftheanalysismodelingstepsfromscratch.WithtypicalCFDtools,itusuallyiseasiertobuildacompletelynewmodelthantotrytoadaptanyexistingmodeltoanewdesign.Asaresult,previousworkisnotre-usedveryoften.
NX CAE for faster radiator simulation
NXCAEreducesradiatoranalysismodelingtimebyasmuchas90percent.Minimizinganalysistimeenablesmanufacturerstoestablishacompetitiveedgebyallowingthemtosimulatemoredesignsinlesstime.
NXreducesanalysismodelingtimebyprovidingafullyintegratedenvironmentthatincludescomprehensivegeometryeditingcapabilities,advancedmeshingtools,afluid-thermalsolverandanalysismodel-to-designassociativity.ThefollowingsubsectionsillustratehowyoucanuseNXCAEtoovercometoday’skeyanalysismodelingchallenges.
Partdesign
Analysis modeling SolveEvaluateresults
Coupled thermal-fluid analysisWhenmeshingiscomplete,NXmakesiteasytoapplyboundaryconditionssuchasconvectionbetweentheradiatorandair,coolantvolumeflow,andairflowdefi-nition.Theintegratedsolverthenconductsacoupledfluid-thermalanalysis.Sincethemodelincludes1-Delementsforthecoolantductsinsteadofnumeroushexahedralelements,thesimulationisfaster.
NX
Domainchange
Create fluid domain geometry
Mesh radiator
Loads andB.C.’s
SolveEvaluateresults
Figure 4: Radiator coolant duct geometry. Figure 5: Coolant ducts modeled with 1-D elements.
Domainchange
Create fluid domain geometry
Mesh radiator
Loads andB.C.’s
SolveEvaluateresults
Domainchange
Create fluid domain geometry
Mesh radiator
Loads andB.C.’s
SolveEvaluateresults
Figure 2: Initial design geometry. Figure 3: Fluid domain geometry quickly created in NX.
Accelerate coolant duct meshingInsteadofmanuallycreatingahexmeshforeachcoolantductintheradiator,NXusesauniquemethodtomodelthecoolantductsusing1-Delements.The1-Delementmeshcanbegeneratedwithinminutes.ThisapproachenablesengineerswhouseNXtoshavehoursofftheircoolantductmodelingprocess.
Faster fluid domain creationNXincludespowerfulmulti-CADgeometryeditingcapabilitiesnotfoundintypicalCAEtools.Thesecapabilitiesenableengineerstoeasilymodelthecompleteairdomainwithintheradiator.DirecteditingusingNXsynchronoustechnologyletsengineerscreateandeditcomplexgeometryquicklyandintuitivelywithouttheneedtoknowthegeometryfeaturehistory.
coolantducts.Inaddition,theanalysismodelisdirectlyassociatedtotheradiatordesign,whichfostersrapiddesign-analysisiteration.Moreiterationsinlesstimeenablesyoutodeliverbetterproductsfaster.
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A new bottom lineNXCAEspeedstheradiatorsimulationprocessbydeliveringcomprehensivemulti-CADgeometryeditingcapabilitiesandfacilitatinguniqueradiatormeshingstrategiesthatuse1-Delementsforthe
NX
Figure 8: Rapidly update analysis model to account for 1-fan to 2-fan design change to evaluate results faster.
Domainchange
Create fluid domain geometry
Mesh radiator
Loads andB.C.’s
SolveEvaluateresults
Figure 6: View airflow streamlines through radiator. Figure 7: Temperature plot of radiator tubes.
Domainchange
Create fluid domain geometry
Mesh radiator
Loads andB.C.’s
SolveEvaluateresults
Easy post-processingNXprovidesseveralwaystoevaluatetheresultsofthesimu-lation.Youcanplotstreamlinestoseehowairflowsthroughtheradiatororviewtemperatureplotstoidentifyhotspots.Youcanevencreatepostprocessingtemplatestoquicklyproduceviewsofcommonlyusedresultsandreports.
Faster analysis turnaround after radical design changesAfterreviewingtheresults,engineersmightfindthattheradiatordesignisnotextractingenoughheattomeetcrucialrequirements.Tocorrectthisissue,theengineeringteammightdecidetomakeadesignchange,suchasaddingasecondfantotheradiatorsystem.
WithtypicalCFDtools,thiskindofradicaldesignchangewouldrequireengineerstocreateanentirelynewanalysismodelfromscratch,therebyincreasinganalysistimewithanothermulti-dayprocess.Incontrast,engineerscanuseNXtorapidlyupdatetheexistinganalysismodeltoaccountforthenewdesign.Theanalysismodelisassociatedtothebasegeometry,whichmeanstheanalysismodelwillautomaticallyupdatetothenew2-fandesign.Asaresult,analystscanupdatethemodel,solveandreviewanalysisresultsforthenewdesigninlessthanaday.