SIMULIA Transportation & Mobility Solutions

Developing the drive system for an electric or hybrid vehicle is very different from internal combustion engine design. Motors, cabling, cooling, power electronics and the battery all need to be designed to ensure safety, reliability and efficiency. Optimization powered by simulation helps engineers improve electric performance and range, and find the best trade-off between competing variables.

Every detail counts for the driver and passenger experience. Noise, vibration, temperature and comfort are just some of the factors that vehicle cabin designers must control and optimize. Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems are especially crucial, because they consume significant amounts of energy and impact the vehicle range. With simulation, engineers can optimize the design of HVAC and other interior systems to ensure thermal comfort with minimal power consumption.

The concept is the first stage of design, but decisions made here have implications for the entire development cycle and can make the difference between a winning design and one that doesn’t make it off the drawing table. Simulation at the concept stage lets engineers analyze the performance of the vehicle structure before constructing a physical prototype. Different design variations can be easily modified and simulated without having to perform tedious re-meshing, enabling fast trade-off studies of performance. 

Whether the driver wants something smooth and easy or sporty and fun, vehicle dynamics are crucial to meeting customer expectations for handling and ride experience. Steering, suspension and powertrain components can be optimized in isolation or as part of a larger system with multibody dynamics simulation. Vehicle dynamics can be investigated on rough road conditions and with challenging driver behavior quickly and safely on a virtual twin. Hardware-in-the-Loop (HiL) and Man-in-the-Loop (MiL) simulation offers real-time feedback on handling and ride within a driving simulator to provide insight on the end user experience.

The role of the powertrain is to deliver power from the energy source to the wheels as efficiently as possible. Engines, motors, transmissions and all powertrain components have to last for hundreds of thousands of kilometers under constant stress. Simulation helps engineers to understand the transfer of torque through the powertrain, as well as other important factors and identify potential sources of fracture or wear. Optimizing the powertrain increases the reliability of the vehicle.

With every bump in the road, considerable forces propagate through the vehicle. The aim of the engineer is to ensure that these forces are distributed to minimize the impact felt by the passengers and the wear caused to suspension and body elements. 

Brake performance is crucial to vehicle safety. Brakes need to be capable of stopping the weight of the vehicle and its load even at high speed in wet, muddy or icy conditions. Simulation reveals the stopping power of brake designs under challenging scenarios, without having to test a physical prototype. Brake disk and pad wear can also be analyzed to understand durability and brake dust pollution, and thermal and aerodynamic simulation also shows how brakes heat up and are cooled to help design overall braking systems.

Managing engine heat has long been one of the most important factors in ensuring reliability. The transition to electric vehicles introduces new cooling needs, with motors and batteries generating heat – and in the case of batteries, there is the additional need for heating in the winter. Designing effective cooling & heating systems requires an understanding of the interior coolant as well as the airflow around and through the vehicle body. Thermal simulation reveals heat generation and the effectiveness of cooling systems in different weather conditions and scenarios.

Aerodynamic drag has a huge impact on the efficiency and ultimately the range of a vehicle. Traditionally, aerodynamics requires significant amounts of wind tunnel testing to analyze and improve. Simulation allows aerodynamics to be modeled at any stage of development, from concept onwards, without costly and time-consuming physical testing, and offers a more realistic representation of real-world driving performance than a wind tunnel can alone.

By 2030, electronic systems are expected to make up half the total cost of a vehicle. Safety systems, engine control, autonomous and driver assistance (ADAS) and infotainment are just some of the systems integrated into modern vehicles, and all these systems operate in close proximity without interference or data errors. Electromagnetic simulation allows electronic engineers to analyze electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and signal and power integrity (SI/PI) of on-board electronics and resolve any problems. At the system-level, it also helps integrators to find the best placement for antennas and sensors, and to mitigate crosstalk and co-site interference between on-board systems.

The battery is the largest and most expensive component in an electric vehicle. Manufacturers compete hotly on range, charging speed and cost, all of which are determined in large part by the performance of the battery. Simulation can be used to design batteries, from the individual cell up to the entire battery pack, revealing the complex 3D electrochemical phenomena of charging and discharging. Multiphysics simulation also helps design other aspects of the battery module, including crashworthiness and cooling.