RESOURCE LIBRARY

Using modeFRONTIER to minimize crash deformation of an aluminum hood Honda Automobile R&D Center strives to fulfil their social responsibilities as an automaker with respect to environmental conservation, safety and quality assurance. Among these challenges, engineers at Honda employed modeFRONTIER software solution to find the optimal vehicle aluminum hood configuration in order to reduce pedestrian head injuries caused by car collisions. ## Challenge Japanese traffic accident statistics show that more than a thousand of fatalities occur every year mainly due to head injuries. The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) is widely used to evaluate pedestrian head protection with impacts against vehicles. In addition, car manufacturers are required to reduce vehicle weight to meet CO2 emissions standard. As a result, they have increased the use of aluminum hood which guarantees 40% of weight reduction compared with steel. However, this normally demands a longer crash deformation for pedestrian protection because the energy absorption characteristics is lower than steel (low inertia and stiffness). Accordingly, aluminum requires increased clearances under the hood together with further restrictions in terms of layout structure. Combining pedestrian protection and weight reduction became a key challenge in the car industry. Engineers at Honda, focused on building an aluminum hood capable of reducing crash deformation and achieving five-star Euro NCAP for head protection. ## Solution Starting from a conventional aluminum hood with many large holes, the panel has been filled and impressed with truncated cones to increase mass and stiffness. An optimization process was created in modeFRONTIER workflow to perfect the inner embossed aluminum hood for 9 head impact points defined by Euro-NCAP. modeFRONTIER allowed to refine 15 design parameters (mainly related to mass and stiffness) to minimize the impact deformation, and automate the interaction between different simulation solvers. CATIA was used to modify the shape, while ANSA solver generated the mesh for head impact simulation performed by LS-DYNA solver. The results were then processed in LS-PrePost to evaluate Head Injury Criterion (HIC) and deformation. Benefits “modeFRONTIER enabled us to save computational time when optimizing design variables for each head impact point. Design of Experiments (DOE) analysis led to identify the impact point (No. 6) which did not meet the HIC requirements. The Multi-Objective Simulated Annealing (MOSA) algorithm was used to optimize the worst impact point. This allowed to find the best designs after few evaluations. The overall optimization process allowed to reduce 6% of the crash deformation compared to the conventional aluminum hood and satisfy HIC target values” said Osamu Ito, Assistant Chief Engineer, Technology Research Division, Honda R&D Co. Ltd.

With ESTECO modeFRONTIER, you can manage the logical steps of your engineering design process, perform design space exploration and search for the optimal solution efficiently and faster.

Business Process Management (BPM) is about modeling, analyzing and improving business processes - coordinating the behavior of people, systems and information. In simulation-driven product design, BPM helps overcome silos by adopting a process-oriented approach, where interdependencies between tasks become clearer. The new VOLTA BPM modules expand the benefits of the existing Simulation Process and Data Management (SPDM) technology by bringing the sequencing and orchestration of both human and machine-operated tasks from a single workflow. In this white paper, you'll read about how companies can use BPM to: increase the visibility of the simulation process, align interaction between management, engineering and simulation departments, speed up product development.

With VOLTA, ESTECO Enterprise platform for Simulation Process and Data Management (SPDM) and design optimization, you can expect to scale up the usage of simulation models and design exploration and optimization techniques across teams and different organizations to deliver better products, faster.

Within the world of simulation, automation is a leading digital technology that’s proving its worth, accelerating and democratizing every step in the design process. Usability, though, is a key issue for many working with automated solutions. Regardless of their level of expertise, individuals are faced with complex algorithms and must identify the right optimization strategies to get the best result, while taking into account the available resources. In this white paper, you'll read how the ESTECO Autonomous Optimization technology can help: automate every sort of simulation process, free up time and human resources, democratize design space exploration and expedite decision-making processes.

From the recent pandemic to rising awareness of climate change, innovation is essential for the survival of today’s aerospace industry. While emergent aircraft can deliver the required level of transformative change, many challenges exist to unlock these next-generation designs. Multidisciplinary Design Optimization (MDO) is the perfect methodology to design new concepts and address complex engineering challenges, helping engineers iterate and discover innovation solutions. When working in the conceptual and preliminary design phases, engineers have the freedom to explore the entire design space using MDO. In this white paper, you'll read about: issues** associated with designing the next generation of aircraft, how to choose the right MDO framework.

Simulation process and data management (SPDM) software has become an essential design and analysis capability, especially for large organizations that might be running dozens of simulations at any time, and then needing to track, share and recall that data at the appropriate time in the design lifecycle. Specifically, the SPDM technology is critical to: Automate the execution of complex simulation and enable more engineers to perform routine analysis. Master simulation processes** and data with version control, dependency management and traceability. Democratize the access** to simulation data among users throughout the company. In this white paper, you'll read how the right SPDM tool helps digitalize product development processes and accelerate time-to-market by scaling up the use of simulation models across global organizations and teams, in the aerospace, automotive, manufacturing and other industries.

Passive safety systems protect the occupants and other road users in the event of an impact. But designing such systems is a complex undertaking where many variables must be considered. To design passive safety systems, engineers need to meet contrasting objectives and consider multiple conditions, including different impact modes, crash test dummy sizes and types, and a broad range of vehicle variants. Simulation process automation and design optimization are essential to expedite the development process, while balancing different variables and requirements. In this white paper, you'll read about: the multidisciplinary nature of passive safety, the issues faced when designing such systems, how automation and optimization can address these challenges.

Danilo Di Stefano, modeFRONTIER Product Manager, talks about process automation and integration in the engineering design process.

This webinar demonstrates the use of the electro-mechanical FEA solution JMAG for modeling and analysis of the electric machine and modeFRONTIER for simulation process automation and optimization. Adarsh Viji Elango from ESTECO, and Sainan Xue and Dheeraj Bobba from Powersys Inc. present the design process of a highly constrained multi-dimensional rotor geometry for an electric traction machine using principles of multi-objective optimization. Agenda: Introduction to Synchronous Reluctance Machines (SynRM) Baseline SynRM design and model setup in JMAG Input design space definition and performance criterion Integration of JMAG model in modeFRONTIER DOE and Optimization Set-Up in modeFRONTIER Optimization result analysis and design selection