Engineering software

[flapjack]

Let's see, there is CAD/CAM software, FEA software, and CFD software for
designing parts. Anything else that I am missing?

 

[clwill]

Several decades of experience in tuning a fuel car?

 

[flapjack]

Several decades of experience in tuning a fuel car?

Well, yeah... But I am not interested in tuning one. I am more interested in
the design of the parts. Experience will give insights into what a better design
might be, but software will help confirm that idea before actually committing
to a physical prototype... I am interested in what that software might be and
how it is used.

 

[clwill]

I hear you... I was just ragging on you.

What really would be valuable would be really detailed data from a few dozen passes on an engine -- to compare how reality differs from the lab. To improve the models.

 

[vegasnitro]

Pretty sure CFD is mostly used for aero parts ... at least in F1 it is. CFD stands for computational fluid dynamics ... some clever chap figured out air is just much less dense water and applied fluid dynamics to air and how it moves over the surface of a racecar. These predictive computer modelling programs for CFD have dramatically altered aero in F1 ... in fact Mike Gascoyne built the Lotus in F1 completely using CFD ... the car was never in the windtunnel.

 

[flapjack]

Pretty sure CFD is mostly used for aero parts ... at least in F1 it is. CFD stands for computational fluid dynamics ... some clever chap figured out air is just much less dense water and applied fluid dynamics to air and how it moves over the surface of a racecar. These predictive computer modelling programs for CFD have dramatically altered aero in F1 ... in fact Mike Gascoyne built the Lotus in F1 completely using CFD ... the car was never in the windtunnel.

Yeah, Fluent is used in the F1 world for aero. Not sure of other software that might be used. I was googling the other day and ran across a few companies that are using CFD for flowing cylinder heads. The main advantage there is that you have control over far more variables in a simulation (cylinder temperature and pressure, for instance) than you would with a physical flow bench.

 

[flapjack]

Below is an interesting article about use of FEA in piston design, using SolidWorks. Pretty cool to do thermal and load analysis with FEA.

JE Releases Asymmetrical Piston Designs! - JE Pistons

 

[JON]

For a 'full-house' CAE suite, I'd add a kinematics simulation package.

By the way, one of the most commonly used CFD codes (even used in F1) is open source.

Just like vehicle tuners, base engine designers rely on a *baseline* consisting of engineering 'rules of thumb', experience (especially the bad stuff), a bit of reverse engineering , etc. ... and then they "push the envelope" from there through experimentation with computer simulation AND hardware.

A good engine designer could design every component from scratch without a computer at all and be 95% right out of the box. The only trouble is, 95% fast enough is pretty much useless in a race!

 

[flapjack]

For a 'full-house' CAE suite, I'd add a kinematics simulation package.

Do you mean a simulation package like those used for car crash testing or cell phone drop testing?

Ad what is the open source CFD code that is used in F1? Open source is great. I love it and have been involved with several open source projects. But I also know that open source can be narrow in scope. For instance, does this code handle the generic Navier-Stokes equations, or just a few special cases?

 

[JON]

ADAMS is popular for dynamics simulation. An example might be dynamic simulation of a valve train.

Adams for Multibody Dynamics

There are lots of open source cfd codes - OpenFoam is one of the most widely used / mature.

OpenFOAM&#174 - The Open Source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Toolbox

For engine performance simulation, 1D unsteady flow code can be useful plus a good set of baseline data to correlate to. The leading code is GT-Power

Gamma Technologies - Engine and Vehicle simulation

If I was completing my dream kit I'd add a fully dynamic AC dyno

https://www.avl.com/engine-and-powertraing-testing

But before that I'd need my LOTTO numbers to come up...

Good luck with the project.

 

[flapjack]

Good luck with the project.

Thanks for answering my questions, They were more driven by curiosity, as in "which kinds of CAE applications are used in small(er) race engineering shops?", than for a project of mine.

I know that the automotive industry uses commercial codes like Abaqus or Fluent, but those are expensive and not likely to be used by smaller shops. Good to know that open source codes are being used. And I like the fact that this probably means Linux (or some flavor of UNIX) is being used...

 

[Earl]

The most widely used 3D mechanical design software it either SolidWorks, ProE, or Catia. Catia is used in the aero space industry where class 3 & 4 surfaces are common. ProE and SolidWorks being used more widely than anything else for mechanical design by far. The most bang for the buck is SolidWorks for sure. They have a suite of products covering just about everything from mechanical design, CFD (FloWorks), FEA (Simulation – statics and non-liner) including a full Kinematics program (Motion). Many speed part manufactures use SolidWorks and all their programs run on a PC.

Most of the F1 teams use Catia, or Unigraphs. Most NASCAR teams have SolidWorks or ProE.

If I was you I would find the local SolidWorks dealer and ask for a demo, or go in to their office for a “Hands On” session where they show you how to easy it is to design a part and assembly and produce a drawing. You will be hooked.

 

[DrRocket]

I use Unigraphics NX, but am also fully trained on Solidworks. You get a lot of bang for the buck with that program.