Off-road Vehicle Design using EDEM, MotionSolve, and PM-FlexTire

Off-road mobility vehicle manufacturers face a wide range of challenges when it comes to testing design modifications and different maneuvers for different terrains.

There are also huge costs associated to physical testing of vehicles - the full vehicle including all components have to be manufactured and shipped to the testing site; it is therefore highly expensive to make modifications to the vehicle after each round of physical testing is done. Additionally, during testing periods, it is virtually impossible to reproduce the same terrain conditions each time.

Using Altair® EDEM™, automotive and defense industry OEMs can virtually test their vehicles in an almost infinite range of terrain types with repeatability through simulation. These tests can be done in a time and cost effective manner as seen in this video example.

In this case, EDEM has been coupled to Altair® MotionSolve® alongside PM-FlexTire® by Pratt Miller, to model the dynamics of the vehicle to a high level of accuracy. By conducting the tests with this coupling, it also allows engineers to obtain relevant information on the effect that the bulk material has on the vehicle components when the tires interact with the terrain.