As with many other sectors, the rail industry has an increasing emphasis on reliability, availability, and connectivity to ensure maintenance and operational costs are optimized. It needs to develop robust and aerodynamic rail car designs that provide comfort and safety to the passengers. To succeed companies must exploit CAE as early as possible in the process to drive decision making and deliver designs on time, on target, and on cost.
Digitalization has also emerged as a key driver for innovation in railways. It provides significant opportunities to streamline operations, improve reliability of assets, and enhance passenger (or freight customer) experience while reducing costs. It is being used to derive real-time information on rail movements and is an enabler of predictive maintenance for fixed assets and rolling stock.
Drivers and Passenger Environment: Competition in the rail industry requires constant innovation to make the passenger experience more pleasant and convenient. The advanced noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) analysis of Altair® OptiStruct® is used broadly to ensure the passenger experience is enhanced, and quality is further addressed by Altair® Squeak and Rattle Director™ Altair CFD™provides solutions engineers need to design better passenger compartment airflow and thermal comfort.
Network Connectivity: Equipment connectivity and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) is essential to today’s rolling stock, and can be optimized with Altair® Feko® and Altair® Flux®. Feko is widely for the design and placement of antennas and modeling wave propagation for network simulation. Feko can also simulate both the radiation and irradiation of cables, antennas, and devices to inform the design of effective shielding. Flux can evaluate the magnetic field radiated by power cables and busbars, and the effect of external fields on the operation of sensors or actuators.
Optimized and Robust Designs: Altair® OptiStruct® and Altair® HyperStudy® are powerful tools in design development to meet performance requirements, all while handling the trade-offs. Railcar body optimization achieves the structural requirements for safety, acoustics, weight and cost. Bogie designs achieve the optimal balance of durability, acoustics, assembly and performance. Seat optimization helps meet all safety, weight and comfort requirements. Pantograph design benefit from an optimal robustness, impact, and transmission efficiency.
Mechanical Analysis: Detailed occupant simulation using certified occupant models and seat models for crash and impact simulations are performed with Altair® Radioss®. It is the leading solution for performing dynamic simulations on the impact of metallic and composite structures.
To rail industry durability requirements Altair® HyperLife® provides a comprehensive and easy-to-use durability analysis workflow. It is automating the weld certification and complies with industry norms like DVS, Eurocode, and FKM. For the generation of load cycles, Altair® MotionSolve® is a powerful product for full dynamic simulation, including those with flexible bodies.
Electric Drivetrains: Altair® FluxMotor® is dedicated to the simulation-driven design of electric rotating machines. It enables users to build from standard or customized parts, add windings and change materials to quickly develop a concept design. Flux models even the most complex electromechanical systems with proven accuracy. It provides multiphysic capabilities – magneto static, steady-state, and transient conditions, along with electrical and thermal properties – to optimize machine performance, efficiency, dimensions, cost, and weight.
Reduce Downtime and Extend Useful Life: Asset management with the Internet of Things (IoT) has given birth to “digital twins” of critical assets. Digital twins help organizations optimize product performance, gain visibility into the in-service life of a product, know when and where to perform predictive maintenance, and how to extend a product’s remaining useful life (RUL).
