Overview

Dynamic simulation of mechanical and mechatronic components has become an integral part of the product development process. Due to limitations regarding the available computational resources the utilized numerical models often consider a limited number of physical effects only, leading to a broad variation of result interpretation.

The contact stresses within the contact interfaces of jointed structures are a typical example for such simplifications as the constituting nonlinear relations are expected to increase the computational effort tremendously. As a consequence detailed joint models are rarely used. But the nonlinear behavior of joints, such as those on bolted housings or spot welded sheet structures, can substantially influence the local and even the global results of a dynamic simulation.

The MAMBA software package provides a nonlinear model order reduction method for getting a streamlined simulation model. This model is capable of computing meaningful contact stresses during many time increments of a dynamic multibody system simulation. This way the CAE engineer is well prepared for the evaluation of jointed structures.