Rheinmetall Leverages Ansys Tools to Streamline and Optimize Automotive Product Design

“Rheinmetall is convinced by the advantages performing CAE-based variants analysis. They are indispensable part of continuous CAE workflows starting at topology optimization and end up in robustness evaluations. Ansys optiSLang hosts key capabilities of those workflows that enable early innovative designs and significant performance improvements of up to 45% compared to reference design. We also appreciate the benefits with regard to development efficiency by applying such straightforward methods.”

— Jessica Tamasi, Staff Engineer, Computer-Aided Optimization, Rheinmetall AG

Challenges

Central simulation department of Rheinmetall's mobility area supports all Division’s Business Units as the internal CAE service supplier, executing a broad spectrum of CAE tasks to support the development teams expanding and improving company’s extensive product portfolio, which ranges from parts for internal combustion engines to parts for hybrid and electrical vehicles. Needing to streamline design optimization throughout their processes and develop optimal and robust designs, the team uses optiSLang to perform sensitivity analysis, surrogate modeling, parameter optimization and robustness evaluation.

Engineering Solution

Inspired by the idea of simulation driven design optimization, Rheinmetall performs CAE variants analysis in various development projects. optiSLang supports setup and execution of customized CAE workflows on the one hand side and provides required analysis tools and algorithms on the other side to create following results:

• Obtaining a system-based understanding of designs under variability as fundament for efficient part development.
• Disclosing optimization potential and determining operating limits.
• Receiving optimized and robust designs.

Convinced by optiSLang technology, Central simulation department of Rheinmetall deployed collaborative efforts to introduce optiSLang across the company, expanding the software’s usage from pilot projects to broad usage in multiple CAE disciplines over the last six years. Next, Rheinmetall will expand optiSLang’s international usage, and launch an innovative service platform to internal customers thanks to optiSLang web-service.

Benefits

Simulation-driven design optimization simultaneously reduces development cost and time and optimizes design performance according to requirements, using all available design freedom. Early design studies, which are an indispensable part of simulationdriven design optimization, provide the development team with frontloading advantages and deliver a complete view on feasibility, risks and costs. This significantly reduces the number of required prototypes