Optimized Vehicle Fleet Modeling with GT-DRIVE+

Written by Jon Zeman

January 2, 2018

Full vehicle modeling has been a capability since the very beginning of GT-SUITE, and with GT-SUITE, Gamma Technologies has always been at the forefront of integrated simulations. In this blog, I’m excited to announce that Gamma Technologies has advanced their vehicle simulations even further with the creation of GT-DRIVE+, the next generation vehicle modeling framework contained within GT-SUITE.

In recent years, we’ve noticed emerging challenges which directly affect the vehicle modeling user base. From a technical standpoint, these challenges include the proliferation of electrification and electrified vehicles, as well as issues in real driving emissions, and overall system integration. These technical challenges have also created further organizational challenges as new groups are needing to work together to create solutions.

To help address these challenges, we created GT-DRIVE+ and built it directly into GT-SUITE. We saw the need for an interface that can quickly and easily build vehicle models and that provides strong modeling practice standardization, traceability, and data management features.

This dynamic new framework empowers engineers to quickly and easily build standardized vehicle models to predict the types of results they need to study, like fuel consumption, emissions, and vehicle performance.

With these capabilities, GT-DRIVE+ is able to adapt to changing trends and requirements, allowing users to predict the behavior of the vehicles of today and the vehicles of tomorrow. Let’s walk through some user-friendly features that improve the vehicle modeling process.

GT-DRIVE+ starts with a flexible and expandable model generator, which means users are able to model not only a single vehicle, but a whole vehicle fleet. And because the model generator is expandable, expert users at a company can tailor the types of vehicles and powertrain options available. Figure 1 demonstrates the types of vehicles constructed within GT-DRIVE+ by using our step-by-step vehicle model builder.

Figure 1. GT-DRIVE+ Vehicle Model Builder
Figure 1. GT-DRIVE+ Vehicle Model Builder

The Vehicle Builder includes a vast array of vehicle configurations like battery electric vehicles, fuel cell electric vehicles, conventional commercial vehicles, and many more. With all these configurations available, virtually any vehicle can be created and examined.

Along with building standardized models quickly, it’s also important for our customers to be able to easily manage model data and structure. For this, we enhanced Case Setup to be full screen on top of the model map. This means that for GT-DRIVE+ models, the main modeling interface is Case Setup itself, which manages all the tasks and topologies of the vehicle model.

As shown in Figure 2, this allows end users to easily manage vehicle components and subsystem data to quickly characterize and optimize common vehicle outputs, like fuel consumption, performance, and emissions through a standard set of pre-defined maneuvers. Because the main modeling interface is tabular, the end user is enabled to change components or topologies effortlessly, without needing to modify an object-oriented model.

Figure 2. GT-DRIVE+ Main Modeling Interface

Together with a standardized model setup, the results format can also be standardized. Figure 3 shows some selected GT-DRIVE+ results from a model.

Figure 3. Selected GT-DRIVE+ Results
Figure 3. Selected GT-DRIVE+ Results

The results for six types of maneuvers are shown, including driving cycles, wide open throttle accelerations, and tip-ins. These results can be output for all the types of vehicles in a single model, allowing a large amount of flexibility in modeling and optimizing the vehicle fleet.

Perhaps the most powerful feature of GT-DRIVE+ is that it is an open framework. This means it is possible for modeling experts to configure customized layouts and workflows, which can then be exercised by anyone in the organization who needs a vehicle model. This open framework encourages smooth and effective collaboration within vehicle teams.

Together with the ability to add advanced physics submodels, GT-DRIVE+ represents the most state-of-the-art framework for modeling vehicle fleets of tomorrow.

Want to try out GT-DRIVE+ for yourself? Contact us to ask for a demo!