Altair and Ziegler Instruments (ZINS) have announced the creation of a unique solution for the evaluation and eradication of squeak and rattle (S&R) phenomena in vehicles. Altair’sexpertise in CAE analysis and Ziegler’s knowledge in material testing has produced a natural alliance between the two firms.
Ziegler’s ‘PEM Material Pair Database’ is a user-friendly web portal hosted by Altair on Microsoft Azure, providing access to results for over 10,000 individual stick and slip test results for different materials pairs. It has been compiled to incorporate many of the common materials in the market providing solutions for grain, coating and after treatments. With a simple search, the database provides information on stick-slip risks with friction values identified, directly facilitating S&R detection within the Altair Squeak & Rattle Director (SnRD), custom software and services solution to rapidly identify and eliminate the root causes of S&R in assemblies.
‘The Squeak and Rattle Director allows us to input different data, like design and manufacturing tolerances, in order to improve the output of our analysis and therefore have more valuable inputs to the project,’ says Marcelo Starling Braga, NVH Coordinator at FIAT Brazil.
The joint solution has progressed from traditionally performed CAE analysis to the solution being provided during the development cycle to aide designers along with the CAE engineers, to enable preliminary squeak and rattle analyses during the design phase. Using Altair Inspire, designers can now investigate S&R risks in a CAD environment thanks to Contact Point Analysis. This method combines proximity checks between parts to material compatibility information from the PEM Material Pairs Database. Simulation enables the designers to visualize how an assembly will vibrate and which interfaces are at risk. Then, optimization in the same environment will suggest different design solution to eliminate problem areas.
‘At Altair, we see simulation at the heart of the product development cycle,’ says Ismail Benhayoun, Product Manager for SnRD at Altair. ‘For S&R, we bring the different technologies together in a process with the PEM Database for material selection, Altair Inspire for simulation and optimization, with SnRD creating a custom workflow and capture decades of experience and industry best practices, providing a powerful solution from concept to validation.’
