Bulk-material simulation specialist EDEM released a co-simulation solution between its software and RecurDyn, the multibody dynamics modeling and simulation toolset from FunctionBay. This new integration enables engineers designing heavy equipment such as excavators, ploughs and off-road vehicles to introduce realistic bulk-material behaviors into their multibody dynamics simulations. EDEM says the new technology offers heretofore unrivaled insight into how material loads are transferred throughout the product’s structure and systems, and provides engineers with essential insights into equipment/material interactions.
EDEM’s software models and simulates the behavior of a wide range of real-world bulk materials—from gravel, sand and rocks, to compressible soils, clays and highly cohesive ores, as well as powders. Users can select materials from a library of over 40,000 ready-to-use materials models, as well as create customized models to suit specific applications needs.
With an easy-to-use interface, highly optimized CPU and GPU solvers, and powerful analysis tools, EDEM delivers realistic predictions of material loads and forces acting on equipment parts during operation. During simulation, the new coupling transfers the realistic material loads from EDEM directly into RecurDyn, where they are used to calculate the effect on equipment dynamics. The updated dynamics are then passed back to EDEM to provide realistic force-feedback modeling throughout the simulation process.
“Engineers no longer have to rely on ‘rules of thumb’ and assumptions to get realistic material loads in their multibody dynamic simulations”
The ability to introduce high-fidelity load values into their RecurDyn multibody dynamics simulations frees engineers from having to rely on hand calculations—or engineering-intuition assumptions and guesswork—to represent equipment loads, resulting in greater design confidence. This also allows extensive what-if analysis to be performed without the need to build costly, time-consuming physical prototypes.
Engineers can also readily explore different product scenarios and easily compare designs across a range of various materials and equipment maneuvers early in the design cycle. This provides greater insight into equipment performance and enables more design optimization improvements to be made. It also gives confidence that equipment will perform as expected in specific conditions.
EDEM CEO Richard LaRoche commented, “When designing heavy equipment, being able to accurately predict the loads and forces acting on equipment is key to optimizing equipment performance and durability. By coupling EDEM with RecurDyn, engineers no longer have to rely on ‘rules of thumb’ and assumptions to get realistic material loads in their multibody dynamic simulations.”
FunctionBay CEO Michael Jang added, “Our partnership with EDEM means our RecurDyn users can get access to an accurate representation of the loads and forces acting on equipment. This capability brings greater insight into equipment performance and results in increased design accuracy and reduced prototyping costs.”
The EDEM-RecurDyn coupling is available as part of the recently released EDEM 2018 and RecurDyn V9R1.
