Simulation-Driven Design

Use Simulation to Drive Product Development

The rules of product development are changing. Smart manufacturers are realizing that by reordering product design activities, they can guarantee a more efficient product development process. By empowering engineers with easy-to-use and powerful 3D conceptual design tools together with early access to CAE, they can be sure their designs are optimal before committing them to labor-intensive detailed design.

Optimize Product Design and Eliminate Rework

One of the greatest opportunities available to improve the traditional design process is to bring simulation forward. When CAE lags detailed design, changes can become costly and time consuming; last-minute compromises deter optimal results, cutting into performance and profits. Using simulation in advance of detailed design ensures that the CAD models meet performance requirements and mitigates last-minute changes.

SpaceClaim Engineer integrates with simulation tools to optimize product designs prior to detailing in CAD. Engineers can get the engineering right the first time, allowing the CAD teams to design for the manufacturing process using corporate best practices.

SpaceClaim Engineer makes it easy to:  

• Optimize against distinct design parameters, helping engineers understand design trade-offs.
• Change materials, design approaches, and manufacturing processes without having to start from scratch.  
• Reuse existing parts and designs as a starting point for new ones, applying existing knowledge and best practices to new design challenges.  
• Provide accurate solid models to the CAD team to maximize process efficiency in detailed design and manufacturing.

Reach Optimal Solutions Rapidly

By exploring diverse concepts early in the process, engineers quickly understand the design approach that will best meet performance objectives and they can use that concept to specify detailed design. The following example illustrates a typical design process for a heavy-duty shelf bracket.

Example: Designing a Shelf Bracket Using Simulation-Driven
Product Development

1	Identify key performance requirements and goals and sketch out the hard constraints.   What are key mounting points and interfaces? What fixed geometry must the design accommodate?
2	Create a "space claim" or "envelope" for the design. Create a rough shape for the design or start drawing directly in 3D.   Which rough shapes will work?
3	Explore different options while accommodating manufacturing constraints. In this example, FEA only requires half of the design due to symmetry, and the thin-walled concepts were adequately represented as a simple surface.   No need to model more detail than necessary to evaluate the design.
4	Once the design specifications are known, feature-based CAD users can create a detailed model with proper parameterization and design intent.   The design is ready for the model to be opened and details in any CAD system.
5	Validate the detailed design to ensure that features introduced for manufacture do not degrade performance. In this example, model preparation software split the CAD file in half and extracted a midsurface to simplify the model for simulation.   Final, late-phase simulation confirms expectations.