Stuart Bolton wants to quiet things down on our highways and roads. He and colleagues at Purdue University are trying to help tire manufacturers design tires that don't make so much noise. Bolton says that the way tires are made now, especially the shape of the treads, is what makes some tires more prone to noise generation than others. When they interact or smack onto the pavement, the blocky shapes act like hammers, he explains. Underlying reinforcement belts in the tire vibrate and radiate energy outward, producing sound resembling the cones in stereo speakers. Bolton is one of several Purdue University researchers who developed a mathematical model that helps designers identify the portions of the tire that produce the noise. "We've introduced a way of experimentally looking at tire vibration in a way that identifies components that generate the most noise," says Bolton. He measures various vibration waves that travel along the tire's tread band—the outer segment of the tire that includes the reinforcing belts. Specific vibrations are assigned wave numbers. These modes are used for creating graphs that illustrate which vibration is coming from specific portions of the tire. The graphs also indicate which vibrations are likely to produce the most noise. Purdue's Institute for Safe, Quiet, and Durable Highways is working with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Michelin Tire, Continental General Tire Inc., Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., and Hancock Tire Co. Ltd.
A next-generation guided ammunition system for intercepting enemy fire that Lockheed Martin is developing for the Army has hit its targets in an initial series of tests by the company.
Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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