Ricardo Software 2021.2
The 2021.2 release from Ricardo Software is now available to download. Paying customers can benefit from a range of new features and enhancements that will further help to improve accuracy, whilst reducing time spent on development.
Structural Mechanics
Electrified HEV, PHEV and range extender powertrains present challenges in terms of thermal management due to the different load conditions that a hybrid ICE will experience compared with a conventional powertrain. Accurately predicting the thermal loading and temperatures of an IC engine is a key requirement for meeting these challenges.
To accurately predict temperatures when modelling friction and oil consumption in the power cylinder, 2021.2 includes the first release of our analytical FE tool for calculating thermal boundary conditions and metal temperature of engine components. The tool can be used easily, with very little data and in timescales appropriate for real engineering development. Read more here.
ENGDYN load cases can now be solved in parallel, on multiple CPUs. Results are automatically merged together to produce the same output as for the solution running in sequence. This significantly reduces the overall solution time and increases productivity.
View all new Structural Mechanics features
Fluid Dynamics
Ricardo Software has delivered a new CAD manipulation tool. The new process means the user can seamlessly go from CAD to CFD mesh in one GUI and can create conformal surfaces between solid and fluid domains to support the implicit conjugate heat transfer process for ICE, battery, and E-Motor simulations. The first release is linked with Ricardo VECTIS.
In VECTIS 2021.2, anisotropic materials, for example modern materials used in batteries, are now supported in conjugated heat transfer (CHT) simulations improving the battery heating and cooling capability in VECTIS.
Development has also continued on predictive combustion. The new release for WAVE has improved knock and auto ignition modelling by including auto ignition delay calculated from chemical kinetics.Customers will also benefit from a new combustion option, allowing combustion reactions to progress within the exhaust ports. This option enables the introduction of secondary air into the system for improved emissions calculations.
View all new Fluid Dynamics features
Systems Engineering
With the latest release, IGNITE users can automatically process the analysis data related to fuel consumption and vehicle performance. Computing fuel consumption includes an automated correction for xEV applications boosting the overall simulation process and user experience.
2021.2 also benefits from improved management of fuel cell stack power. The enhanced energy management controller provides an easy setup of parameters to balance the power supplied by the fuel cell stack and the primary and auxiliary loads to the system battery.