NAFEMS Americas and Digital Engineering (DE) teamed up (once again) to present CAASE, the (now Virtual) Conference on Advancing Analysis & Simulation in Engineering, on June 16-18, 2020!

CAASE20 brought together the leading visionaries, developers, and practitioners of CAE-related technologies in an open forum, unlike any other, to share experiences, discuss relevant trends, discover common themes, and explore future issues, including:
-What is the future for engineering analysis and simulation?
-Where will it lead us in the next decade?
-How can designers and engineers realize its full potential?
What are the business, technological, and human enablers that will take past successful developments to new levels in the next ten years?

Resource Abstract

Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) can be used to produce topologically complex designs, which are difficult or impossible to engineer using traditional manufacturing techniques. Non-destructive inspection and testing of such structures can be challenging due to internal or inaccessible features. Inability to find and correct for defects in built parts can lead to increased performance testing, as well as potentially more failures and therefore increased scrappage of parts; wasting precious time and resources.

Here a “hot box” heat exchanger is presented as an industrial example of how X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) can be used as part of a non-destructive testing process to inspect complex structures.

From the CT scan, an image-based model was built to identify and analyse defects and deviations from the original design. At this stage, the part could be deemed fit for use if any deviations fall within allowed tolerances or inspected further using image-based simulation. Inspection at this stage also means changes can be made to the manufacturing process for future manufacturing runs (such as a design change for trapped powder extraction).

Image-based simulation allows virtual performance testing of the “real” part (as opposed to a CAD idealisation). This representation of the “as-built” structure includes any defects, pores, warping etc. which could have occurred during the manufacturing process.

In the “hot box” heat exchanger example, defects in the structure were identified. This was mainly in the form of trapped powder in narrow channels, and some deviation to the lattice structure. An image-based simulation of the “as-built” structure was undertaken to show the impact of these deviations from the “as-designed” structure. This simulation focuses on the thermal performance of key areas of the “hot box”.

The ability to perform dimensional, integrity and surface inspection in a single workflow proved to be highly beneficial for the current production process of the “hot box”. It has the potential to reduce inspection time and remove the need for additional inspection equipment, therefore reducing costs, cycle times and potentially increasing workable floorspace.