FSAE Flex Body Tutorial

Replacing a Solid Upright with a Flexible Upright

Presented By: Reed Sullivan

April 8, 2013

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What We Will Simulate

We will simulate the stress in an upright during a braking event using the Formula SAE demo car shown below (view slideshow to watch animation).

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Creating the Flexible Body

We will use ViewFlex in Adams/View to generate a Modal Neutral File (MNF) and import it to our subassembly in Adams/Car.
Open Adams/View. Select New Model. Name the model flexible_upright. Select File -> Import. Fill out the box as shown. (your upright parasolid file may be in a different location) Select OK. Rename the upright part from PART_2 to upright.

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Creating the Flexible Body

We now need to create all of the attachment points as joints in order for ViewFlex to generate an MNF.
Change your working grid to the XZ plane by selecting Settings -> Working Grid and setting the orientation to the Global XZ plane. Create fixed joints between upright and ground at:
0,0,0 0,0,115 0,0,-115 85,0,-72.6

*MUST BE IN THAT ORDER FOR FUTURE STEPS To input joints at specified locations, right click anywhere on the screen and the following dialog box will appear.

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Creating the Flexible Body

Now we must make the upright geometry flexible.
Right click on the upright and select Part:upright -> Make Flexible. Select Create New. Change the material to aluminum by right clicking the box and selecting Materials -> Guesses -> Aluminum. Check the advanced settings box. Fill in the box as shown below and select Mesh preview :

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Creating the Flexible Body

We must now determine how we will distribute loads from each of the attachment points.
Select the Attachments button. Now select Find Attachments. For Coordinate Reference 1:
Make Selection Type = Closest Nodes Make Attachment Method = Compliant(RBE3) Make Number of nodes = 40 Select Transfer IDs

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Creating the Flexible Body

For Coordinate Reference 2:
Make Selection Type = Cylindrical Make Attachment Method = Rigid(RBE2) Make Radius = 5mm Make End Location = 0,0,90 Select Symmetric Select Transfer IDs Make Selection Type = Cylindrical Make Attachment Method = Rigid(RBE2) Make Radius = 5mm Make End Location = 0,0,-90 Select Symmetric Select Transfer IDs

For Coordinate Reference 3:

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Creating the Flexible Body

For Coordinate Reference 4:
Make Selection Type = Cylindrical Make Attachment Method = Rigid(RBE2) Make Radius = 5mm Make End Location = 96.26,0,-74.93 Select Symmetric Select Transfer IDs

Select Flexbody preview to make sure everything looks as expected. If everything looks as it does on the right, select OK

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Accessing the MNF File

In your working directory, there is now a file named upright_0.mnf.
In this unique case where the upright part is symmetric (about its own mid-plane), we will use the same mnf file for the right and left side. Therefore, we need a copy. Copy and paste the mnf file into the same directory so you now have a upright_0 Copy in your directory and rename it upright_0_2.mnf

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Loading the FSAE Database

Open Adams/Car
If you do not have the FSAE database downloaded, please download it from this link. To be able to use the database, follow the directions to add your database to the session in the technical article linked above. Set the FSAE database as your default writable database by selecting Tools -> Database Management -> Select Default Writable and select the FSAE database.

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Importing the Tutorial Files

Please copy and paste the templates _fsae_frontsusp_flex.tpl and _fsae_frontsusp_noflex.tpl to the templates.tbl folder in the FSAE database.
Please copy and paste the subsystems fsae_front_susp_flex.sub and fsae_front_susp_noflex.sub to the subsystems.tbl folder in the FSAE database. These files have been created to adapt the FSAE front suspension to accommodate the upright design.

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Using the MNF File

Open the subsystem fsae_front_susp_flex.sub.
After making sure all of the icons are showing, right click near the left hub and select General Part: gel_upright -> Modify. In the dialog box, select Rigid to Flex.

Fill out the box as shown:

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Using the MNF File

Now select Launch Precision Move Panel.
Fill the box out as follows to bring the part from 0,0,0 to the bearing center hardpoint:

Select OK on the open dialog boxes and your upright should be in place.

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Using the MNF File

Now do the same for the right upright but using the upright_0_2.mnf file and making C2=700.

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Comparing Flex vs. No Flex

We now need to create two suspension assemblies, one with the flexible uprights and one without the flexible uprights. Select File -> New -> Full-Vehicle Assembly and create the following assemblies:

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Comparing Flex vs. No Flex

We will now look at the effect of flexible uprights on a harsh braking event, where the driver will apply enough force for a 1.1g decel in .01 seconds.
Select Simulate -> Full-Vehicle Analysis -> Straight-Line Events -> Braking and run the two events shown below:

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Comparing Flex vs. No Flex

Switch to the Post-Processor by pressing F8.
Highlight both simulations we performed and plot chassis_accelerations -> longitudinal.

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Comparing Flex vs. No Flex

Notice how the flexible-body simulation has a peak that does not exist in the simulation with a rigid body. This is due to a front wheel lock-up that only occurs in the flexible-body simulation. When the wheel regains traction, there is an acceleration spike. See below:
Go through other results sets and see what else is different between the flexible upright simulation vs. the rigid upright simulation.

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Analyzing Stress in the Flexible Upright

Select View -> Load Animation.
Now select flex -> flex_brake. We need to load the Adams/Durability Plugin to analyze stress by selecting Tools -> Plugin Manager

Select Yes under Load for Adams/Durability and select OK.

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Analyzing Stress in the Flexible Upright

Select the Camera tab.
Right-click in the Follow Object box and select Flexible_Body -> Guesses -> ger_upright_flex. Press Shift+S to view the animation in wireframe view and zoom in on the right upright. Select the Contour Plots tab. Set Contour Plot Type to Von Mises Stress. You can now watch the stress plot as the model runs.

You can see the animation in the flex_braking_event.avi file attached to the example page.

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Analyzing Stress in the Flexible Upright

To plot stress of the node that sees the highest stress, go to the Hot Spots tab.
Select Display Hotspots and Node ID. Notice that it says Node=22256 which is the node ID.

Now select Durability -> Nodal Plots

Fill out the box as shown below:

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Analyzing Stress in the Flexible Upright

To plot the stress in this node, select View -> Load Plot
Select Source -> Result Sets and type *flex* in filter. Plot the option shown below:

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