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Product category: Simulation, modelling and validation software
News Release from: LMS International | Subject: Virtual.Lab Rev 6
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial Team on 23 June 2006

Software analyses full system
performance

Software provides an advanced and unified modelling environment, integrating all the required model creation and simulation tools to perform accurate system-level performance analyses.

The latest release of LMS Virtual.Lab introduces an advanced and unified modelling environment, integrating all the required model creation and simulation tools to perform accurate system-level performance analyses This new solution eliminates the tremendous effort to create individual models for separate disciplines, and allows easy and smooth cross-attribute analyses

Rev 6 provides multiple innovative technologies and 64bit data processing support, making it more practical to handle complex models with high accuracy, while significantly reducing calculation times.

Rev 6 also marks the introduction of a new value-based licensing system, giving users flexible access to the full portfolio of LMS Virtual.Lab applications.

Furthermore, LMS Virtual.Lab Rev 6 offers new and completed applications for structural analysis, acoustics simulation, noise and vibration prediction, system dynamics analysis and durability simulation, and extended automation and customisation capabilities.

With Rev 6 of Virtual.Lab, LMS delivers a unified modelling environment, which integrates all the required model creation tools and multidisciplinary simulation capabilities to accurately assess system level performance for a complete car, a full aircraft or any other complex mechanical assembly.

The new modelling and assembly solution offers extensive capabilities to flexibly build full-system simulation models starting from multiple component and subsystem models.

Working from a single data model, users can efficiently analyse the system's behaviour in multiple performance aspects like dynamic stiffness, strength, noise and vibration, durability, vehicle ride and handling or the dynamic performance of mechanical systems.

This new solution eliminates the tremendous effort to create individual models for separate disciplines, saving tremendous time and avoiding the accumulation of modelling errors and inaccuracies.

In addition, the unified modelling solution allows easy and smooth cross-attribute analyses.

"The fully integrated and multidisciplinary unified simulation solution in Virtual.Lab offers distinct benefits over a simulation process based on single point solutions", commented Willy Bakkers, Vice-President and General Manager of the LMS CAE Division.

"Recent customer benchmarks have delivered time gains in the order of 30 to 50% in simulation time, while reaching considerably better simulation results and more valuable engineering insights in the performance of new designs".

"LMS Virtual.Lab provides multiple innovative technologies like waved based substructuring, fast trim modelling or advanced CAD contact for multibody simulation, which make it more practical to handle complex models with high accuracy, while significantly reducing calculation times".

"In addition, LMS Virtual.Lab delivers 64bit data processing support with Rev 6, providing the required processing power to easily handle extensive and highly detailed simulation models", added Jan Leuridan, LMS Executive Vice-President and Chief Technical Officer.

These accelerating technologies opens up new application areas for virtual simulation and allows users to model and analyse specific performance phenomena in much greater detail.

As an example, LMS Virtual.Lab succeeded in processing a vibration analysis based on 600,000 high-resolution frequency response functions of a four-component wind turbine assembly in less than 3 hours.

This type of analysis is required to reliably qualify the vibration performance of the wind turbine, but would be extremely cumbersome and practically impossible to run without the 64bit support.

The new release of LMS Virtual.Lab also marks the introduction of a new value-based licensing system.

Through the combination of base configurations with the new value-based licensing system, users get flexible access to the full portfolio of LMS Virtual.Lab modules via a token based licensing system.

Starting from a pool of so-called tokens, users can access a specific application according to their punctual needs, without having to systematically extend their software investment.

Revision 6 of LMS Virtual.Lab Structures extends its fully integrated environment for FEA pre- and post-processing with a number of new modules and key features.

The new wave based substructuring (WBS) tool assembles the structural model as a compilation of the reduced FE models of individual parts and expresses the deformation of the coupling interface in the form of basis functions called waves.

This allows to considerably reduce the computational workload and to quickly analyse the impact of multiple design modifications.

To automate the meshing of complex geometries, Rev 6 introduces a new H-meshing tool that allows users to create a full tetra or hexa-dominant mesh.

Virtual.Lab Structures also gains new capabilities to assemble, trim and analyse full vehicle models (car, aircraft, train, etc) using a variety of connection modelling techniques.

The new advanced mesh morphing solution expands the morphing capabilities with control blocks to fit the shape of the car or aircraft for example, and to reflect any feature lines.

LMS Virtual.Lab Acoustics Rev 6 introduces a new Fast Trim module to efficiently simulate the behaviour of multilayer acoustic treatment that is used to master the interior sound of cars and aircraft.

Trim panels with multiple layers set specific modelling challenges at higher frequencies, since acoustic engineers have to take the porous and viscoelastic effects into account that dominate the acoustic performance of these panels.

LMS Virtual.Lab Acoustics Rev 6 introduces a fast and efficient multilayer modelling approach that simulates the performance of the multilayer trim panel in presence of steel sheet from the vehicle body or aeroplane fuselage.

In addition to the new fast trim module, Rev 6 of LMS Virtual.Lab Acoustics also introduces new capabilities to listen to the sound radiated by a mechanical design, purely based on a virtual model.

After calculating a frequency run up of an engine, for example, the software is able to generate a synthesised sound at different field point locations based on sound pressure predictions.

This capability provides a direct sound feedback when evaluating structural modifications on the engine.

To further strengthen its diagnostics tools, LMS Virtual.Lab Noise and Vibration Rev 6 introduces a new acoustic source quantification (ASQ) module as part of its transfer path analysis (TPA) offering.

In combination with load identification, path contribution and forced response, ASQ helps noise and vibration engineers to efficiently retrieve the noise sources that cause specific acoustic problems.

LMS Virtual.Lab Noise and Vibration Rev 6 also extends its forced-response calculation module with the support of the SPoint functionality.

SPoint allows to drastically reduce large (sub)system assembly models consisting of hundreds of thousands of DOFs, such that processing time can be strongly decreased, allowing many more simulation iterations, while maintaining simulation accuracy.

LMS Virtual.Lab Motion Rev 6 further enhances its CAD contact capability by providing the tools to easily define CAD solids and calculate the interacting contact forces.

The new standard contact tool offers an innovative way to represent contact points and requires dramatically less computation power.

This strongly accelerates the simulation of large models consisting of thousands of contacts.

Rev 6 also introduces a new FE load transfer capability, which allows users to conveniently apply the loads from any selected time step of a dynamic FE-driven multibody simulation to a structural component model that is used to investigate component stress.

Automating the error-prone process of linking the correct loads to the right connection points on the structure translates into considerable time savings and contributes to more reliable stress analyses.

LMS Virtual.Lab Motion Rev 6 furthermore allows the automatic creation of an equivalent noise and vibration model from a motion model at any specific motion simulation step.

In this way noise and vibration performance optimisation can be carried out in parallel to motion performance optimisation in a very efficient manner, illustrating once more the productivity gain that can be achieved in the integrated and multidisciplinary Virtual.Lab solution.

In addition to the vibration fatigue solution allowing fatigue calculations based on spectral loading (PSD) instead of only time domain data, Rev 6 extends LMS Virtual.Lab Durability with a new acoustics fatigue solution that determines the stress distribution and durability performance that result from a random sound pressure.

This application is particularly tuned to cover the simulation requirements in the space industries, where development teams have to monitor the damaging impact of deafening rocket launch noise on the payload, the satellite and the many fragile electronic components.

Next to this new application, LMS Virtual.Lab Durability gains a set of new tools and features to further increase the efficiency of durability simulation.

For example, the new load contribution analysis tools support users in identifying the loads that contribute most to the local damage or local high stresses.

These insights provide clear guidance in refining a mechanical design for better strength or fatigue resistance.

Furthermore new automation tools allow to fully automate complete analysis set ups with extensive loads schedules consisting of hundreds of events. Request a free brochure from LMS International ...

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