All Posts By

Shanna Hoppie

In Research

How to use the 2D Belt

If a belt assembly in your product undergoes primarily 2D behavior, learn a faster way to simulate it using the 2D belt option of the RecurDyn/Belt toolkit. A second benefit of this option is that long belts with thousands of segments can be solved efficiently. The commands of the 2D Belt are found within the 2D Belt group of the Belt tab.

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In Newest Release

RecurDyn V9R2 User Interface Enhancements

Let’s briefly review the following new RecurDyn functionality:
System Navigator– quickly identify structures of subsystems and immediately move to the desired subsystem regardless of hierarchical order
CAD Import Enhancements– intuitively identify CAD hierarchical structures and effectively import original CAD structures
General Grouping– group any combination of desired entities together

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In Research

RecurDyn and Particleworks co-simulation: Washing machine

RecurDyn and Particleworks co-simulation: Washing machine

In another article, we shared a unique application of RecurDyn and Particleworks co-simulation on a clothes styler. In this article we would like to showcase the same type of co-simulation being used to simulate both a top-loading and a front-loading washer. The co-simulation illustrates the dynamic interaction of flexible bodies (representing clothes) and the moving impeller and/or drum in RecurDyn and the fluid particles of Particleworks that represent the water and detergent.

This example demonstrates the power of doing Multiphysics simulations with RecurDyn and partner software. In this case we consider the physics of multibody dynamics, nonlinear flexible bodies, and particle-based fluids. As we provide new combinations of simulation capabilities, the ability to simulate your systems of interest become broader and more accurate.

Some of the critical engineering questions that can be answered with this type of simulation are:

1. How does the motion of the fabric change with different levels of water, quantity of clothes in the drum, or different agitator motion?
2. How does the energy consumption of the washer change with different levels of water or different agitator motion?

Below are two videos showing the co-simulation between RecurDyn and Particleworks with a top-loading washer model and a front-loading washer model.

Top-loading Washer

Front-loading Washer

Other applications of this capability could be:

1. The transport of wet or dry product in flexible containers, including during stacking,
2. Effects of fuel sloshing in flexible containers during vehicle motion,
3. Response of flexible seals in motions to internal and external fluid flows.

Can you think of other examples where an accurate simulation requires the consideration of rigid bodies, nonlinear flexible bodies (with contact), and particle-based fluids?

MotionPort plans to create additional examples of this new capability, both with Particleworks and EDEM. If you have an application of interest, please let us know.  To send your examples, please enter them on our Contact Us page.

In Latest News

RecurDyn was demonstrated at the NAFEMS World Congress 2019

RecurDyn is Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software that is focused on Multibody Dynamics (MBD), while offering multiphysics solutions. The technology behind RecurDyn has superior calculation efficiency because it is based on recursive formulation. Because of this, RecurDyn gives the best performance in large-scale multibody problems (systems with a large number of bodies), including mechanical systems that experience a lot of contact.

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In Contact Modeling, Flexible Bodies, Machinery General, Manufacturing, Multibody Dynamics, Research

RecurDyn V9R2 capability to include FFlex bodies in co-simulations with Particleworks

RecurDyn V9R2 capability to include FFlex bodies in co-simulations with Particleworks

In earlier versions of RecurDyn and Particleworks the fluid particles could only interact with rigid bodies. Now, RecurDyn V9R2 has the capability to include FFlex bodies in co-simulations with Particleworks. An interesting tutorial uses the example of a styler steam clothing care system to teaches how to perform a co-simulation between RecurDyn and Particleworks. The co-simulation illustrates the dynamic interaction between the shaking mechanism and the flexible bodies (representing the clothes) in RecurDyn and the fluid particles of Particleworks that represent the steam.

The styler unit, shown in the image, is used to shake off the dust attached to cloth and to remove its wrinkles with steam. It also reduces the odors and allergens in the clothing.

The tutorial analyzes the dynamic interaction between an item of clothing, which is expressed as a flexible body, and the steam, which is expressed as particles.

After the co-simulation, an analysis is made of the stress in the clothing as the particles touch the flexible body, using the Contour function of RecurDyn.

To learn more about the styler unit, perform a search on your favorite search engine using the text: “styler steam clothing care system.”

The Styler co-simulation video covers the following topics (with time stamps): Creating walls (0:30), Exporting walls (1:55), Creating steam particles (2:16), Setting fluid properties (3:26), Co-simulation (7:32), Post-processing (8:45)

Click play below to watch the video (approx. 9:38).

More examples of RecurDyn and Particleworks co-simulation in action:

RecurDyn and Particleworks co-simulation: Washing machine