Simcenter Testlab 2206 Available

The latest release of Simcenter Testlab from Siemens has the Virtual Prototype Assembly, or simply VPA, as part of the release. With VPA, test and simulation engineers can explore the performance of several assemblies without the need for a physical prototype. This allows for design updates in the early phases of the development cycle.

In the new release of Simcenter Testlab 2206, the capabilities of VPA are expanded, allowing the users to create more detailed Virtual Prototypes, or digital twins.

Multi-Level Substructuring

Take vehicle Road Noise as an example; engineers responsible for this attribute want to investigate not only at the level of the loads exchanged at the interface of tire–knuckle, but at any level of the suspension. To make this possible, in this release a new component type is included, the Passive Component.

The Passive Component is a representation of intermediate structures between sources and receiver. An easy example of such a component is a vehicle sub-frame, rear axle carrier or compressor pump, or transmission brackets. With this component type, it is possible to perform Multi-level Substructuring, which is fundamental for the assessment of complex systems.

Multi-Dependent Loads

With VPA, not only the complexity of assemblies was increased, but the loads and test scenarios are also supporting multiple tracking dependencies. This means that the forces and moments can depend on multiple variables, such as rpm, torque, preload, etc. Taking as an example an Electric Drive Unit (EDU), the blocked forces can be modeled as orders in the function of the EDU rpm, as well as the discrete torque levels. The data set is stored in a single Load component and is accessible in the virtual assembly based on the used test scenarios.

This additional feature in VPA is suited to evaluate nontrivial driving scenarios, typically resulting from the control logic, for example in Hybrid-Electric vehicles.

For more details, click here.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.