Faster radiator thermal analysis NX for simulation cuts analysis time by 80 percent

www.siemens.com/nx

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.