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Mr. Sudhakar V shares his views on CAE Colloquium 2013
Mr. Sudhakar V shares his views on Challenges in CAE for Aerospace in CAE Colloquium 2013.
About Sudhakar Raman
In September 2013, Sudhakar Raman, then representing the Rolls-Royce analysis community in India, spoke at the CAE Colloquium 2013. He summarized the morning session’s presentations and offered his perspective on the role of computer-aided engineering (CAE) in aerospace. Raman stated that tools are enablers for faster design but emphasized that engineers must understand the physics of a system and have core engineering knowledge, as tools alone do not design anything. He argued that experiment validation and correlation between finite element analysis and experiments should complement, not replace, physical testing such as wind tunnel testing. Raman also discussed materials and technology. He said that advancement in materials, particularly single crystals, enables better component design and advised mechanical engineers to focus on materials engineering to choose appropriate materials and understand their capabilities. Regarding composites, he noted that while technological advancements may improve performance, they could present challenges in integrating these materials into systems to create valid and optimal products.
Transcript (1 segments)
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I would like to thank Cuesta for giving me this opportunity to summarize what different speakers in the morning session have actually spoken about. Being the representative of Rolls-Royce for the analysis community in India, I quite enjoyed what the several speakers have said this morning. Dr. Singh and Dr. Bharadwaj have talked about the use of CAE in the world of aerospace applications at a very high level. They gave us more insight into the technical details of analysis. Dr. Roger talked about structural analysis of components. Adapter work talked about composites, which is the latest technology. I think the building engineers and engineering students would have taken quite a few takeaways since morning. I was just trying to make note of the key takeaways that could be taken away from this session for the audience. It's good that they asked me to talk about summarizing what the speakers have said in the morning because I don't need to do any homework, but it makes me concentrate more this morning. You guys were probably a bit more relaxed listening to it; I was listening to every word the speakers were talking about. So just to give you a few takeaways that I've noted down from this morning session, in no specific order: I think one of the speakers gave the different design parameters that could constrain you in terms of designing an optimal product or system. As a CAE engineer, you should have an overview of the different parameters that influence your overall design and try to come out with an optimal design whenever you intend to design something. The other thing that came out very strongly in Dr. Singh's speech was that tools are enablers for you to design something very quickly; tools are not going to design anything for you. That's the key takeaway for any engineering graduates who are trying to learn a lot of tools before they get into the job market. It's essential that you understand the physics of the system, that you have the core engineering knowledge, and tools only enable you to get to the optimal design very quickly in terms of reducing cycle time reductions that Boeing is looking at. Another point is that tools are always good in terms of giving you the effect of a particular design change on a component or system, but they may not give you the absolute value. So it's always important to remember that experiments, validation, and correlation between FE analysis and experiments are also part of the CAE engineer's role. They should be acting as complementary, as Dr. Bharadwaj said, rather than saying we don't want wind tunnel testing anymore just because we have CFD tools. On the structural analysis side, a lot of testing is going on. Dr. Singh mentioned in one of his slides that bird strike is something where if a bird hits the fan blade, most aero engine companies have to demonstrate compliance with certification authorities by actual test. But I'm sure over the years the number of tests has gone down significantly, same with the wing testing, because of the advancement of CAE tools. One key differentiator from Mr. Rajiv's presentation was his focus on engineers having knowledge and exposure to materials engineering. It's critical when designing a component to choose the right material and understand what it is capable of. Mr. Raju's presentation brought that out very clearly. Any mechanical engineers here should concentrate a bit more on the materials side as well, because ultimately it's the advancement of materials and single crystals that will enable better components in the future. One last thing I wanted to say was that the advancement of technology in composites, as Dr. Burgess was talking about, could throw up a lot more challenges as well. It's not that any technological advancement will give you a better handle; it may give you a better handle in the end result, but in terms of understanding what the technology gives you, how do you join? Metal-to-metal joining was much easier; people had experience doing it for the last 150 years. Composites have come and it's a technology that will enable the aerospace industry to perform better, but how do you use that technology to integrate with the rest of the system to come up with a valid and optimal product is the key. I would like to thank Cuesta again for giving me this opportunity, and I thank all the speakers this morning for giving us valuable insights into the CAE world. Thank you.