Technical Expert MDO & P/T Attributes Balancing, Volvo Cars
Dr. M. Törmänen finished his Ph.D. in Vehicle Engineering in 2001 at the department of Machine and Vehicle Systems at Chalmers University of Technology. He has joined Volvo Car Corporation in 2005 to work with powertrain simulations with focus on the longitudinal vehicle dynamics, i.e. driveability. Since the attribute driveability is influenced by almost every mechanical systems in the front-end of the vehicle he has gained a broad overall system knowledge and experience in different customer attributes that need to be optimized. To improve the optimization between several attributes he has formed a CAE framework that makes it possible to reuse components and speed up the optimization process. This work has formed a vision for integration of multi-disciplinary optimization framework within a large company, starting from model-based systems engineering, through CAE process automation towards multi-disciplinary collaboration, and optimization.
Speeches
Today, optimization tools have become a commodity for engineers working with product development. Optimization is performed in many engineering areas such as Computer Aided Design (CAD), Finite Element Method (FEM) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for structure and topology, in multibody dynamics, 1D-simulation and controls development, to optimize behaviour and performance, each with different flavour of challenges. On the market there are various kinds of tools that makes optimization efficient. From numerical optimization toolboxes in high-level mathematical applications to more general purpose multi-disciplinary optimization tools that offer direct integration of engineering tools, and thus providing workflow automation to make optimization more efficient. In addition, some engineering tools include also built-in optimization modules for their specific needs. In other words, it has become relative easy to set up a complex optimization
task which generates convincing results, nicely and professionally packaged. Communities of practice are continuously improving the efficiency of optimization. Despite this, what if the optimization setup does not cover all the important aspects of the task. If the design space is too wide, or if the prerequisites are not valid? Taking a metaphor from sailing competition, if the winds and streams are not properly analyzed it is not helping much to optimize the sails if the planned route is wrong. The fast skipper uses effectiveness before efficiency, i.e. doing the right things before doing them right, and can, thereby, win the competition without having to stretch the sails too hard. So, how do we apply effectiveness before efficiency? Are there any
methodologies that could bring clarity to this question, and what are the requirements to succeed? This keynote will address these questions and present an idea on how to take systematic optimization to the next level by combining existing methods within optimization tools (e.g. modeFRONTIER), SPDM systems (e.g. VOLTA), advanced data analytics and CAE/IT best practices.