SAE Highlights GT-SUITE for Off-Road Vehicle Simulations
The following is an excerpt from an SAE article written by Bruce Morey:
CAE tools advance for engine design (06-Nov-2016 09:44 EST)
System models such as GT-SUITE are convenient early in the development process, and embedding engine models in the machines they power is vital. (Gamma Technologies)
Gamma Technologies, maker of the well-known GT POWER modeling tool for engines and its GT SUITE for powertrain and vehicle-level simulations, has seen the growing complexity in off-highway engines over time.
“In anticipation of these trends, GT-SUITE has been created specifically as an integrated vehicle system tool capable of responding to these demands,” explained Dr. Thomas Morel, president and founder of the company. “Integration of the whole vehicle system enables evaluations of subsystem alternatives, even individual component alternatives and their effect on fuel economy, emissions and NVH.”
The tool also combines modeling methods, using so-called 0D and 1D system models integrated with 3D models. The company notes that this makes GT-SUITE a particularly useful tool for model-based systems engineering, or MBSE, which enables the progressive development of an engine or powertrain from an initial concept to the final product. It does this by first using 0D and 1D system modeling tools then switching to high-fidelity 3D models that examine system performance, efficiency, dynamics, structural stresses and temperatures and other parameters.
Morel emphasized that GT-SUITE models the whole vehicle. “From fuel combustion to the wheels, including the effects of fluids, hydraulics, all mechanical systems, thermal analysis, chemistry, tribology, friction, hardware-in-the-loop and controls,” he said.
Another key point that Morel emphasized—and is echoed by many other tool suppliers—is the growing need to interface and incorporate simulation tools from other suppliers. For example, the company offers an engine combustion tool from Convergent Science and a CAD-to-model tool as well as a virtual analysis tool for complete vehicles, including GT-SUITE and the predictive 3D chassis models, from Adams, the dynamics tool from MSC Software.
Toward that end, the company recently released its own unique technology for co-simulation employing xLink. To simulate a system, it accepts any tool that matches the Functional Mockup Interface (FMI) standard, Simulink, or executables compiled as a Dynamic-Link Library (DLL). It can also implement a user-defined code through the xLink interface.