New Software Puts Equipment Design Engineers in the Driver’s Seat

military grade heavy equiipment

Traditionally, engineers live and work in an abstract world that is composed of mathematical equations, physical laws, and other academic entities. Operators of heavy equipment like bucket loaders and dump trucks have a better understanding of how materials as coal, ores and soil actually behave and “feel” in real world applications.

New co-simulation software created by Scottish company allows engineers designing next-generation materials handling equipment to virtually experience what real-world operators face every day.

The new software designed by Discrete Element Method Solutions — which is headquartered in Edinbugh, Scotland, UK — seeks to provide the “missing link” between the conceptual world of engineers designing new equipment and the actual operators who will be using it. DEM Solutions worked with the engineering simulation software company ANSYS to create the new tool for design engineers creating new types of materials handling equipment.

Shane Moeykens, ANSYS’s senior partnerships manager, said the software is the breakthrough that connects theory with practice that engineers have been waiting for. 

‘Removes the Guesswork’

“This development will complete the picture for design engineers in providing a detailed understanding of the effects of materials on equipment design, allowing improved design accuracy and greater insight into equipment performance,” Moeykens told the materials handling website HUB. “In addition, the cost of expensive physical prototyping and days of reliance on assumption and guesswork will be reduced. By coupling EDEM with our ANSYS Workbench, equipment designers can access multiple tools in a quick and easy environment.”

The software allows high-quality representations of bulk materials and their complex behavior. It streamlines the process of transferring material load data so that equipment designers and manufacturers can better understand the sort of pressures and forces bulk materials put on equipment.

Behavior of Actual Materials Difficult to Accurately Predict

Companies that make bulk materials handlers like bucket loaders, transfer chutes and truck bodies need to understand the complex ways materials such as coal or soil behave in the real world. Previously, this has been to difficult to predict using traditional methods. This new software solves that problem by estimating the effect of material loads on equipment so that it can significantly impact the success of the product design.

Previous methods of gaining insight into the structural integrity of any proposed design relied on tools that provided only an approximation, which then had to be confirmed by time-consuming and expensive physical prototype testing to ensure the design meets requirements. Now it can all be simulated on a computer, according to Richard LaRoche, DEM Solution’s VP for engineering and software development.

“This innovation has been driven by customer demand and streamlines the integration of the simulation data,” LaRoche said. “DEM Solutions is delighted to work with ANSYS to bring this innovative software development to the international CAE community. In line with our collaborative approach, we wish to work with partners to create and enhance co-simulation solutions to allow equipment design engineers to be more productive and create better designs. The new EDEM-ANSYS co-simulation will allow the design and delivery of equipment with renewed confidence and certainty.”