Adams: The Multibody Dynamics Simulation Solution
Adams helps engineers to study the dynamics of moving parts, and how loads and forces are distributed throughout mechanical systems.
Product manufacturers often struggle to understand true system performance until very late in the design process. Mechanical, electrical, and other subsystems are validated against their specific requirements within the systems engineering process, but full-system testing and validation comes late, leading to rework and design changes that are riskier and more costly than those made early on.
Simulate “Real World” Physics
As the world’s most famous and widely used Multibody Dynamics (MBD) software, Adams improves engineering efficiency and reduces product development costs by enabling early system-level design validation. Engineers can evaluate and manage the complex interactions between disciplines including motion, structures, actuation, and controls to better optimize product designs for performance, safety, and comfort. Along with extensive analysis capabilities, Adams is optimized for large-scale problems, taking advantage of high performance computing environments.
Utilizing multibody dynamics solution technology, Adams runs nonlinear dynamics in a fraction of the time required by FEA solutions. Loads and forces computed by Adams simulations improve the accuracy of FEA by providing better assessment of how they vary throughout a full range of motion and operating environments.
Adams Vibration – Create input and output channels for vibration analyses
With Adams Vibration, engineers replace physical tests on shaker devices with virtual prototypes. Noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) are critical factors in the performance of many mechanical designs but designing for optimum NVH can be difficult. Adams Vibration allows engineers to easily study forced vibration of mechanical systems using frequency domain analysis.
- Analyze the forced response of a model in the frequency domain over different operating points
- Transfer your linearized model from Adams products to Adams Vibration completely and quickly
- Create input and output channels for vibration analyses
- Specify frequency domain input functions, such as swept sine amplitude/ frequency, power spectral density (PSD), and rotational imbalance
- Create frequency-based forces
- Solve for system modes over frequency range of interest
- Evaluate frequency response functions for magnitude and phase characteristics
- Animate forced response and individual mode response
- Tabulate system modal contributions to forced vibration response
- Tabulate contribution of model elements to kinetic, static, and dissipative energy distribution in system modes
- Specify direct kinematic inputs
- Plot Stress/Strain frequency response functions
Adams Durability – Integrate with MSC Fatigue to do component life prediction
Durability testing is a critical aspect of product development and issues discovered late in the development cycle lead to project delays and budget overruns. Worse yet, “in service” failures lead to dissatisfied customers, safety issues, and warranty costs. Adams Durability allows engineers to assess stress, strain or life of components within mechanical systems to design products to last. Direct access to physical test data in industry-standard file formats enables engineers to use loads data captured during tests, and to easily correlate simulation and testing results.
- Shorten your development cycle, reducing costly durability testing
- Provide direct file input and output in RPC III and DAC formats to reduce disk space requirements and improve performance
- Perform modal stress recovery of flexible bodies within Adams
- Export loads to popular FEA software including MSC Nastran for detailed stress analysis
- Integrate with MSC Fatigue to do component life prediction
Adams Flexible Body Integration – Adams Flex and Adams Viewflex
Adams Flex provides the technology to correctly include a component’s flexibility even in presence of large overall motion and complex interaction with other modeling elements. Greater emphasis has been placed these days on high-speed, lightweight, precise mechanical systems. Often these systems will contain one or more structural components where deformation effects are paramount for design analyses and the rigid body assumption is no longer valid. Adams Flex allows importing finite element models from most major FEA software packages and is fully integrated with Adams package providing access to convenient modeling and powerful post-processing capabilities.
- Integrate FEA-based flexible bodies into your model
- Better represent structural compliance
- Predict loads and displacements with greater accuracy
- Examine the linear system modes of a flexible model
- Broad and convenient control over modal participation and damping
The ViewFlex module in Adams View enables users to transform a rigid part to an MNF-based flexible body using embedded finite element analysis where a meshing step and linear modes analysis will be performed.It is our new product module powered by MSC Nastran, allowing one to create flexible bodies without leaving Adams View and without reliance on 3rd party Finite Element Analysis software. Also, it’s a streamlined process with much higher efficiency than the way users have traditionally generated flexible bodies for Adams in the past.
- Create flexible bodies entirely within Adams View or Adams Car
- Reduce reliance on 3rd party FEA software using built in MSC Nastran technology
- Generate a flexible body from existing solid geometry, imported meshes or newly created extrusion geometry
- Obtain detailed control over mesh, modal analysis and flexible body attachment settings for an accurate representation of component flexibility
Adams Mechatronics is a plug-in to Adams which can be used to easily incorporate control systems into mechanical models. Adams Mechatronics has been developed based on the Adams Controls functionality and contains modeling elements which transfer information to/from the control system. For example, using Adams Mechatronics in Adams Car, you can quickly create assemblies of vehicle systems including control systems, and then analyze them to understand their performance and behavior.
- Add a sophisticated controls representation to your Adams model
- Connect your Adams model to block diagram models you’ve developed with control applications such as Easy5® or MATLAB®
- Experience flexibility in simulation styles to suit your problems’ needs: simulate within Adams, within the controls software or co- simulation
- Access advanced pre-processing for Adams Controls
- Setup and couple a control system to a mechanical system
- Convert signal units automatically
- Connect transducer and actuator signals to the control systems easily
- Conveniently review and modify the control system input and output specifications
- Ideal for complex integrations
Adams Application References:
- Commonization of critical structure to achieve value engineering with Adams
- Assessing the Performance of Heavyweight Vehicles using Adams
- Door seal behavior prediction and enhancement
- Door closing event simulation using Adams Marc co-simulation
- Virtual prototyping of Magneto-Rheological (MR) damper by comparing realistic motion behavior using Adams
- Designing a plastic robotic arm using Adams & MSC Nastran
- Adams Used to Simulate New Control Strategy that Reduces Truck Stopping Distance by over 30%
- Motorbike Pass-by Noise
- Formula Student Team Develops Suspension System of Electric Racecar with Adams
- Adams Simulation of Hose Routing Helps Reduce Time to Market by Six Weeks
- Adams simulation helps validate a concept called the “hidden robot model” to improve visual serving accuracy
- Formula Student Team Relies on Multibody Dynamics Simulation
- Improving Ride and Handling of Formula Student Car Using Adams Car
- Adams Simulation Reduces Full Vehicle Test Time by 30%
- Simulation Reality Contest Winner – Vrije Universiteit Brussel
- Adams Simulation Incorporated DOE to Help Design Robot with Human Motion
- Adams Simulations Help Diagnose Knee Problems
- Chinese University Develops Legged Robot for Rescue Operations in Nuclear Plants
- Sample of Auburn University Projects Utilizing MSC Adams
- Building Better Trucks – Simulation at Leyland Trucks Expands Analysis, Cuts Design Time, and Reduces Physical Prototypes
- Co-Simulation Helps Win Order to Supply Seals for a New Model Vehicle
- Adams Simulation Saves €3 Million by Replacing Physical Testing in Aircraft Certification
- New Trailer Suspension Designs Tested in Hours Compared to Days or Weeks
- Adams View helps to optimize time to inspect sub-assemblies for zoom lenses
- Adams Machinery Predicts Results of Driveline Testing in Only Two Weeks
- Adams Helps Reduce Time and Cost of the Fatigue Test
- Evaluating New Forestry Machines in a Fraction of the Time
- Adams Dramatically Reduces Time to Design Child Safety Latch
- Adams Simulation Solves Stability Problem in Rotary Wing Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, Saving At Least 6 Months by Reducing Physical Testing
- Adams-Marc Co-Simulation Provides Efficient and Accurate Method of Simulating Misuse Load Events
- Developing the 3POD Antenna Pointing System
- Accurately Simulating a Four-Legged Walking Robot with Adams
- Adams Used to Simulate Complex Package Folding Machinery
- Adams Helps Unravel the Complexities of Hand Motion for Manipulation of Virtual Objects
- Adams-Marc Co-simulation Makes System Analysis 15 Times Faster than Pure Nonlinear FEA Analysis
- Ford Leverages Adams FMI Co-Simulation Method to Optimize Tradeoff between Fuel Economy and NVH
- Quick as Lightning – MSC Software supports ‘Team Fast Forest’ from Deggendorf
- Adams Multibody Dynamics Simulations Help Bring Two Wheelers to Market 7-21 Weeks Faster
- Advanced Powertrain Dynamic Analysis and Development Using Adams
- Meeting the Challenge: Engineering for a New Class of Satellite
- Scania – Improving Heavy Truck Designs
- Knud E. Hansen A/S – Safe Marine Operations in Wind Energy
- General Dynamics Land Systems
- Only One Chance to Get it Right – NASA/JPL-Caltech
- Polestar Racing/Volvo – Racing to Win
- Benelli Armi S.p.A. – Developing New Customizable Armaments
- System Design Evaluation Ltd. – High Performing Mechanisms
- Patrick AFB
- Transmisiones y Equipos Mecánicos S.A. de C.V.
- John Deere – Durability Analysis
- Newman Haas Racing
- Moeller GmbH
- The Boeing Company
- Armor Increases Machine Productivity by 20% with MSC Software’s Adams and Easy5 Simulations
- Motorsports to Mission Critical – Pratt & Miller