This paper on "Product Development by Integration of Test and Analysis" was presented at the NAFEMS World Congress on Effective Engineering Analysis - 25-28 April 1999, Newport, Rhode Island, USA.

Introduction to Paper

MIRA's computer-aided engineering resources include the analysis of crash response and occupant safety, vehicle acoustic and electromagnetic characteristics and fluid flow as well as finite element stress and vibration (“durability”) analysis. MIRA has the capability to provide complementary facilities for both test and analysis in all of these areas.
MIRA's Engineering Analysis Department is dedicated to structural analysis. A range of industry-standard analysis software is used to complement design and development activity and to support diagnosis of production and in-service problems. Recent consultancy projects have applied these techniques at component and assembly level and for customers from both automotive and non-automotive industries.
This diversity in both customers and structures requires careful planning to match appropriate modelling and analysis tools to project requirements. There is also a wide variation in application of this software. Rarely do successive projects have exactly the same analysis requirements. As a result it is uneconomic to purchase many of the very specialised analysis tools now available for particular, focused use. However, the innovative use of a more general-purpose structural analysis program such as MSC/NASTRAN, integrated with other software, allows MIRA to respond positively to customers' analysis needs. A constant awareness of possibilities for the integration of analysis and test resources also broadens the applicability of these analysis techniques.