AVL's advanced simulation technologies division offers its customers a virtual rainwater management solution, which in many cases is already successfully part of their development processes that benefit from substantially reduced physical prototyping. AVL claims it improves product quality and avoids expensive late-stage modifications, thus decreasing development costs and vehicles' time to reach the market.
AVL says that an important aspect for vehicle developers to consider is rainwater management. It still heavily relies on tests involving a physical prototype on a testbed, e.g., a rain chamber; conventional mesh-based Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) methods are practically inapplicable. This is because they cannot handle full-scale water management applications and do not necessarily deliver reliable results within reasonable time frames.
Smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) as a meshless approach has inherent advantages in modeling highly dynamic, liquid-dominated flows featuring large computational domains and simulated physical times. PreonLab is an SPH-based software that offers an efficient and reliable solution to water management problems. It allows for full geometric complexity, with the turnaround times between one and two orders of magnitude smaller compared to conventional mesh-based methods.
AVL claims to offer a unique user experience within this extraordinary segment of vehicle development. The user receives "distinctively efficient solver performance." The visualization capabilities are offered to enable efficient frontloading and provide insights for rapid water management optimization before a first physical prototype is available. AVL says, "Virtual testing facilitates the reliable prediction and tracking of water paths from the car surface to complex enclosures. Powerful visualizations and virtual wetting sensors can be readily employed for detailed insights into water ingression for any vehicle component. This helps to unveil any potential risks at an early stage of the vehicle development process while opening a wider design space".
Comments