General Motors Powertrain

General Motors Powertrain uses Abaqus Unified FEA product suite, from SIMULIA, to reduce their reliance on physical testing and give engineers more information about the real-world behavior of parts when they need it during the design phase. General Motors Powertrain is systematically weaving analysis and design together to serve a major strategic goal: the production of first-time-capable designs.

The purpose of physically testing a part is not to find a problem and fix it, but to confirm that no problem exists. The physical test becomes a confirmation of what the engineer already knows about part performance and durability.

An illustration of how analytical correlation with physical testing can benefit design was shown during development of the Vortec 4200 inline six-cylinder engine.

• Dynamic thermal structural analysis of the engine block and cylinder head was performed using Abaqus.
• The simulation matched the dynamometer results so closely that engineers could confidently use the analysis results to predict temperature and pressure hot spots in the head and block and make design corrections.

SIMULIA Success at General Motors

• Simulate the results of physical tests
• Predict part functionality
• Drive the revision of part geometry to meet requirements before test hardware is made