We were honored to have Tim Hunter from Wolf Star Technologies LLC. present at the SIMULIA Americas Users Conference, May 1-2, 2024 in Novi, Michigan.

Slide animations:

Slide 16	Slide 22

Abstract

The need to understand real-world loading is imperative for proper simulations. Traditional approaches may use company standards or even MBD simulations or CFD simulations. However, these approaches are at best approximations of the actual load conditions.  Companies often use experimental load transducers to measure real-world loading. There are two major disadvantages with this approach. The first is that the load transducers often cannot measure all of the desired load inputs for a simulation. The second disadvantage is that the application of the load transducer forces physical modifications of the subject components. The measured loads may not be the actual loads because of the mass and stiffness changes to the subject components. The commercial True-Load® Load Reconstruction software is a non-invasive solution that will be demonstrated in this application. 

Presented will be an example of using True-Load Load Reconstruction technology to understand complex loading on a state-of-the-art tethered hexicopter system. This approach will involve the creation of an FEA model of the hexicopter arms. The hexicopter arms will have unit loads applied to the propeller and motor.  In addition, eigen-mode properties of the hexicopter arms will be calculated. These unit loads / modes will be used to construct a correlation matrix relating strain response to exterior applied loading.   The operation of the hexicopter will be used in typical service environments.

The advantage of this approach is to get real-world structural loads that can be used to drive accurate FEA simulations. The real world is complex, and every event is unique. True-Load loads provide real-world loads for real-world simulation.

Presenter Bio

Tim is the founder of Wolf Star Technologies, an engineering consulting and software development firm which concentrates on the efficient usage of FEA and Test Data on engineering problems.  Tim brings 30 years of product development experience to his client's projects and innovative software.  Tim obtained most of his product development experience at Harley-Davidson where he was Chief Engineer prior to launching Wolf Star Technologies. 

Tim earned a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Marquette University and a Master’s and Ph.D. in engineering mechanics from UW-Milwaukee.