A new approach to vehicle transmission design

The 2020.1 Ricardo Software release marks the completion of the Ricardo transmission analysis solution, which provides a seamless toolchain - based on the SABR, FEARCE and VALDYN products - enabling engineers to optimise systems intended for all types of vehicles, including the complex systems required for hybrid powertrains.

This robust toolchain now provides a comprehensive virtual product development environment enabling the creation of designs offering improved fuel economy, better shift quality and driveability, and - increasingly important for pure-electric vehicles - optimised NVH characteristics.

This toolchain, which is available with the 2020.1 release, enables all of these functional benefits while also offering the potential for much shorter transmission development timescales. 

Elsewhere, the 2020.1 release provides the benefits of recent development effort in improving the fatigue life calculation for structures in FEARCE and improving the implementation and calculation speed of the German research association of mechanical engineering (Forschungskuratorium Maschinenbau) FKM method.

In the fluid simulation products, the VECTIS computational fluid dynamics product is further enhanced in the 2020.1 release with improved combustion physics and solver enhancements for better applicability to a wider range of simulation challenges. This has included support for sub-domains, including porous media, which enables the user to model heat exchangers, radiators and after treatment devices. Spray models within VECTIS are now also compatible with sub-domains so that the user can simulate rain and other particles in under-hood simulations.

Ricardo’s WAVE engine performance and gas dynamics simulation product is also further improved, particularly in the faster than real time WAVE-RT version. Increased integration enables users of competitor commercial products to import their models into WAVE and WAVE-RT much more rapidly and efficiently than before.

“I am pleased that we have been able to deliver the new 2020.1 release to Ricardo Software customers,” commented Ricardo Software MD, Kimberly Matenchuk. “The 2020.1 release marks the first time that the full Ricardo transmission analysis solution toolchain has been made available, providing a much-needed virtual product development environment for the more complex and refined electrified powertrains of tomorrow. Together with this, we are offering a wide range of improvements to our entire suite of state-of-the-art CAE software, which I am sure will be of value to our global customer base.”