Session: 01-01-02: General Topics of Aerospace Structures 2

Paper Number: 162379

162379 - Meshless Simulation for Rapid Gearbox and Transmission Initial Analysis 

The finite element analysis of gearbox and transmission assemblies is a process that traditionally requires several weeks, or even months, of various model-building and model-checking stages. Defeaturing complex geometry, meshing discretization, creating/assigning material properties, applying boundary conditions, running a solver, processing results, checking/adjusting for errors, rerunning the solver, etc. are all necessary steps in the cycle for simulation-driven validation and verification of engineering assemblies and parts. And even this process does not account for downstream design changes that will restart the cycle all over again.

By adopting a meshless solving approach, many of the hurdles in developing a finite element model (FEM) can be avoided. By skipping the extensive process of characterizing complex geometry as a mesh of simple elements and nodes, days or weeks of meshing can be replaced by the click of a button. Not only does this save time, but it eliminates the need to defeature or simplify models as the meshless approach facilitates scaling of model complexity and size extremely well. In addition to these direct benefits of this approach, there’s also the indirect benefit that this approach requires significantly less training and expertise to use, meaning that design engineers can now use this simulation approach to rapidly validate initial designs before sending their designs to the analysis teams.

We will show how all these benefits of the meshless approach come together to boost the efficiency of the simulation-driven design to validation/verification lifecycle. By performing a Free-Free modal analysis on a transmission gearbox system, we explore the different rates at which one can obtain and observe the dynamic response of a system design from the meshless approach compared to the traditional FEM approach. Finally, we discuss how these tools are used strategically to concentrate major design changes at the beginning of the design cycle for this use case, and others across large aerospace OEMs.

Presenting Author: Bijan Niakan Altair Engineering, Inc.

Presenting Author Biography: My name is Bijan Niakan and I am a Technical Account Manager on Altair Engineering's aerospace team, based out of DFW, Texas. My background is in Structural Finite Element Analysis for aerospace applications, ranging from mesh-based model building techniques to load processing. I also have a background in Simulation-Driven Design methods with both rapid-analysis and structural optimization tools. I am currently supporting Altair Engineering software workflows at Safran (US), Textron, Gulfstream, and Lockheed Martin.