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A detailed study conducted by a student from Universidad Pontificia Comillas ICAI in Spain highlighted the need for ecologically safe and sustainable products. While recycling plays an important role in the circular economy, many consumers don’t recycle for a variety of reasons, including lack of space, inconveniently located recycling centers and collection containers, or distrust and/or disbelief in the recycling process. Organizations needed a model that made recycling easier and more accessible for everyone.

On the e.Deorbit proposal, Airbus DS engineers addressed these concerns by using system modeling to simultaneously develop the mission requirements and architectures. They developed a SySML model that integrates the safety and architecture requirements, system capabilities, functional architecture, and concept of operations (CONOPS).Developing the architectures and requirements in parallel helped to validate the requirements at an earlier stage in the project, saving considerable time and money. While this approach was a major step forward, Airbus DS engineers recognized that its benefits were limited by the fact that the domain simulations required to support the development of the architectures were each run manually and separately by engineers responsible for a particular domain.The results from these simulations were later uploaded to a database and used as input parameters for the system model and other simulations.The performance of the entire system for a particular use case is not clear until each of the simulations involved is completed which takes days or weeks. Considerable time and effort are required to simulate the performance of the entire system for even a single case, limiting the number of cases that can be run in the architecture definition phase.This creates the potential for errors and unexpected interactions that cost considerable time and money to correct when they are discovered later during the detailed design stage.

GE Aviation, a renowned name in the aerospace industry, recognized the potential of 3D printing technology in transforming the sector. The primary challenge was to reduce the weight of the aerospace parts, which would directly impact the fuel costs. A lighter airplane would mean lower fuel consumption, leading to cost savings and a smaller carbon footprint. However, achieving this weight reduction without compromising the strength and functionality of the parts was a significant challenge. Traditional manufacturing methods were not able to provide the desired weight reduction while maintaining the required stiffness and strength of the parts. The challenge was to find a solution that could create strong, light, and functional aerospace parts.

The global bank, based out of North America, was facing a significant challenge in managing its report repository connected to dozens of applications and database systems used across the enterprise. The bank, serving close to 20 million customers worldwide, had to manually download hundreds of thousands of reports from these applications to a centralized location for use on a weekly basis. The file formats were typically unstructured data, usually in text or PDF, with no consistency in report formats across the different applications, or even for reports created using the same application. End users would then manually copy data from the text / PDF formats to Excel-based reports used for reconciliation, attestation, financial reporting, journal entries and other uses. This process was time-consuming, prone to human error, and inefficient.

Faraone SRL, an Italian provider of architectural components, was faced with the challenge of designing a new full glass balustrade with a special aluminum profile at the bottom to hold the glass structure in place. The goal was to save on development time, material, and production costs, while increasing the stiffness of the aluminum profile. The development engineers at Faraone needed a new design strategy and special optimization tools to help reach these goals. The design of architectural components such as a balustrade can be challenging, since the design does not only have to look good, it also has to meet several safety requirements and standards. In addition, all designs have to be developed within the shortest time possible. To meet these challenges the engineers, architects and designers at Faraone are always looking for solutions that can reduce their design and testing cycles.

Gator Motorsports, the Formula SAE team based out of the University of Florida, was faced with the challenge of improving the performance of their Formula-style racecar. The team aimed to decrease the weight and increase the strength of the car parts for better competition performance and faster design. The critical components that needed redesigning included the pedal box and suspension bell cranks. The team's goal was to develop and construct a single-seat race car for the non-professional weekend autocross racer with the best overall package of design, construction, performance, and cost. The challenge was not only to engineer and produce a reliable, high-performance vehicle but also to organize and manage a team to develop a feasible product for the market.

The case study presents four distinct challenges faced by different sectors of the marine industry. The first challenge was to design mooring systems, considering the tension in the mooring lines, the movement of the floater, anchor capacity, and interactions of lines with the seabed. The second challenge was to equip ROV pilots training with simulation software and real-time data about structure, cable, and umbilical tensions. The third challenge was to efficiently assess the motion/response of tidal energy platforms in complex wind, wave, current, and loading, and ensure the design is maintainable. The last challenge was to determine the effect of strong tidal currents acting on cable and barge during cable lay operations and determine the operational impacts of having to lay cable after a slack tide.

OHB System AG, a leading space company in Europe, faced a significant challenge in the development of optical instruments used in satellites. The company had to ensure the structural safety of a satellite mirror subsystem and therefore used CAE software in their development process. The challenge was to ensure that the device would function correctly and last as long as predicted without any fatigue failure when in space. All satellite parts have to withstand very heavy loads and vibrations, especially during launch, and it would be prohibitively expensive to exchange them once they have been launched into space. The engineers had to predict some of the loads as a function of time (deterministic loads), but they could only estimate others statistically (random loads). For these random loads, the engineers normally employ a random environment introducing broadband and high frequency vibration into the system, which comes from the engine, acoustic loads or aerodynamic turbulences.

The case study presents three distinct challenges faced by maritime operations. The first challenge was to determine the spar response in waves of various frequency, amplitude, and direction in tidal platform analysis. This was crucial to understand the impact of different sea conditions on the structure. The second challenge was in towing operation analysis, where the task was to determine how the tow point moves in different sea states. This was important to ensure the safety and efficiency of towing operations. The third challenge was in cable ferry analysis, where the objective was to determine wave radiation and diffraction loads on a cable ferry. This was necessary to understand the forces acting on the ferry and ensure its stability and safety.

The challenge was to develop an effective seismic retrofit design for a hypothetical unreinforced masonry structure. This was part of a bachelor's project by Davide Gamberini, a student at Politecnico di Milano University's ACTLAB, the Architecture Computation and Technology Laboratory. The focus of the project was on unreinforced masonry structures, which are common in historic buildings in Italy. Given Italy's reputation as one of the most earthquake-prone regions in Europe, there was a pressing need to develop improved retrofitting strategies to preserve the country's cultural heritage. The challenge was to analyze the structure of a hypothetical unreinforced masonry building and find structural improvements to enhance the building's seismic performance.

The Bionic Tower, a high-rise tower proposal in Abu Dhabi designed by the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA), is a symbol of LAVA’s visions of tomorrow’s architecture. The design unifies nature’s organization system with advanced computing technology, to achieve an architectural expression of ultimate lightness, efficiency, and sophistication. The structural expression of this architecture is a proposed organic exoskeleton which acts to structurally stabilize the building. The major challenge was to generate a unique structural form that is lightweight and organic in appearance in order to achieve the free-form exoskeleton structure.

The Technische Universität Dresden's Formula Student Team faced the challenge of designing and manufacturing a new Formula Student steering column mount. The existing steering column mount was complex, consisting of four different areas at different angles, making it difficult to produce with a 5-axis milling machine. The solution to produce this part consisted of four different milled aluminum parts that were all bolted together. The team was looking for a way to simplify the design and production process, reduce the weight of the part, and improve its performance characteristics.

Soueast, a China-based automobile manufacturer, was faced with the challenge of optimizing the crash performance of its DX7 vehicle while reducing reliance on physical tests. Crash safety is a crucial part of the development process, and designing a car body that has good collision energy absorption performance is one of the main goals of automotive design. However, due to the high cost of prototype crash tests, it is not practical to validate a design’s feasibility through trial and error alone. The key to the success of virtual simulation is dependent on whether the simulation results are an accurate representation of the physical test results. The target for the DX7 project was to achieve the best possible crashworthiness while under tight time and budget constraints. The two main challenges were ensuring the CAE simulation results accurately reflect the physical crash test and analyzing and optimizing the restraint system.

Biberach University of Applied Sciences, specifically the Institute for Architecture and Urban Development, was faced with the challenge of creating modern, functional, stiff, and light architectural designs. The university wanted to provide its students with practical experience and introduce them to cutting-edge design and engineering tools. The challenge was to create designs that were not only aesthetically pleasing but also structurally efficient and cost-effective. The university also aimed to foster a higher level of collaboration between engineers and architects, reduce the number of design iterations, and ensure that the final design remained faithful to the initial concept.

AMETEK, a leading global manufacturer of electronic instruments and electromechanical devices, was contracted by Lockheed Martin to design a portable flight suit chiller unit for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. The chiller unit works with a pilot cooling vest to maintain a pilot’s deep body core temperature at ≤ 100.4° F (38° C). The JSF program aims to deliver affordable, next-generation striker aircraft weapon systems for the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marines, and allies. Pilots flying these aircrafts are subject to high levels of acceleration – up to 9g – and must wear G-suits to prevent blackouts. To prevent pilots suffering from heat stress in the cockpit and on the ground, portable flight suit chiller units are needed. The design challenge was to monitor multiple variables and develop the code that goes to the controlling device to make those adjustments automatically. The chiller unit must also run within its power limits to prevent damage.

Dalhousie University, a public, research-intensive institution in Nova Scotia, Canada, faced a challenge in keeping its mechanical engineering curriculum current with industry demands. The university, which has a strong focus on research and practical design work, was receiving feedback from the industry that students lacked knowledge of fundamental tools such as finite element analysis (FEA). Although FEA was included in the curriculum, it was only an elective course in the final year, taken by a small number of students, and completed after all work terms. The university recognized the need to expose every mechanical engineering student to the basics of FEA at an earlier stage. Furthermore, the university needed to identify state-of-the-art engineering tools and provide support for their implementation in a large-scale program, while managing budgetary constraints.

Texas Instruments (TI) was faced with the challenge of characterizing their FAST™ observer, a part of their InstaSPIN™ technology. This technology enables designers to identify, tune, and fully control any type of three-phase, variable speed, sensorless, synchronous or asynchronous motor control system. The task was assigned to Dave Wilson, Senior Motor Systems Engineer with the C2000 group. Wilson attempted to characterize the FAST™ observer by setting up a dynamometer (dyno) system with a circuit board to control it. However, this process was slow, tedious, and required constant recalibration due to output variances over time and temperature changes. Furthermore, the electromagnetic torque could not be measured on the dyno, only the shaft torque could. This was a problem since the software could not be properly tested as the hardware he was using was not adequately equipped to test it.

Wilson Sporting Goods Co., a leading manufacturer of high-performance sports equipment, was looking to reduce design cycle time and enhance product value in the development of their tennis racquet designs. The company wanted to take advantage of simulation, automation, and optimization technologies to achieve this goal. Wilson Labs, the innovation hub at Wilson, was particularly interested in exploring developments in Finite Element Analysis (FEA) for laminated composites that could be applied to their composite tennis racquet lines. They aimed to accomplish something unique or organic looking in terms of geometry. Until this point, FEA for composites had been almost non-existent in the racquet industry. Recognizing its potential as a better tool for lay-up design and optimization for weight, strength, stiffness, and simplicity, Wilson decided to take a leading role in employing this technology in the industry.

Hyundai MOBIS, a leading producer of core automotive components, was facing challenges in improving the efficiency and reducing the time taken in the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) analysis process. The company uses shielding enclosures to protect against external fields and electromagnetic (EM) leakage from electronic products. However, the integrity of these enclosures was often compromised by apertures and slots used for visibility, ventilation, or access to interior components. These openings allowed exterior electric and magnetic fields to penetrate into the interior space, where they could couple to Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs), inducing currents and voltages on interior conductors. Therefore, it was crucial for Hyundai MOBIS to understand the EM shielding effectiveness of shielding enclosures in the presence of these apertures.

Airbus Helicopters' Weight & Balance (W&B) team was faced with the challenge of collecting and analyzing data to predict the weight of a product during the conceptualization phase. The team had to gather relevant and current data from a broad range of stakeholders in a standardized manner. However, this process was proving to be a hurdle, slowing down both the data interrogation and the subsequent decision-making process. The manual data upload system did not allow for the creation of a standardized report that could be updated in real time, either internally by the different product development departments or externally by suppliers. Altair was tasked with creating a solution to these problems.

The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China, Ltd. (COMAC) was faced with the challenge of designing the country’s first homegrown large passenger aircraft. With the rapid development of science and technology, more airborne radio equipment was being installed in aircrafts, leading to a lot of antennas with a very wide frequency range. However, due to the limited length of the aircraft itself, there was not much space for antenna placement. Antenna pattern distortion caused by the aircraft body and inter-antenna electromagnetic compatibility were the highlighted concerns. During take-off, landing or flight, an aircraft may be irradiated by highpower radio transceiver from ground, air or ships at sea, causing electromagnetic environmental problems. These electromagnetic waves, called high-intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF), can induce electromagnetic fields around airborne equipment or induce high-frequency current on interconnected cables, resulting in function disorder or loss of key/critical equipment, endangering the aircraft’s ability to fly safely and land. Another problem was electromagnetic compatibility (EMC), an interdisciplinary gradually built with the growing complexity of electronic equipments and systems. A comprehensive electromagnetic simulation and analysis tool was urgently needed to eliminate the personnel and equipment hazards caused by electromagnetic radiation fields and to improve the safety and reliability for aircrafts in complex electromagnetic environments.

Ford's battery core team was faced with a challenge when working in tandem with vehicle development. The vehicle electrification engineering teams required a highly detailed CAE model of the battery arrays, including each cell and various packaging configurations considered in the design. This detailed model was necessary to predict the robustness of the battery structure using CAE simulation. However, the detailed model, which could grow to several million elements, needed to be significantly simplified when data was passed to full vehicle teams. The combination of a detailed battery model with the complexity of a full vehicle model significantly slowed the cycle time and hindered the ability to run optimization and design exploration for both teams.

Thales Alenia Space, a European aerospace manufacturer, was keen to explore the potential of additive manufacturing (AM) for its space satellite development programs. The company wanted to investigate the weight-saving potential of AM when combined with design optimization techniques. The challenge was to find a way to use these techniques in conjunction with new manufacturing technology. Thales Alenia Space chose a satellite’s aluminium filter bracket as a test case for the study. The bracket required a unique combination of both structural loads from the components that it supports, as well as thermal loads from the airflow through the filters and the temperature extremes of travelling to space. The primary objective of the study was to use design optimization techniques to reduce the thermal compliance of the bracket, while also optimizing the component for weight and readying the final design for the additive manufacturing process.

Bremar Automotion, an engineering design company based in Melbourne, Australia, was faced with the challenge of confirming the accuracy of their computer modeling with physical testing of a full-size roll cage. This was a prerequisite to gain accreditation by the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) and the Federation Internationale de’l Automobile (FIA). The roll cage, a crucial safety feature in any racecar, is designed to protect the driver in the event of an accident, particularly one that involves rollover of the vehicle. In many vehicles, the roll cage also forms the main structure of the chassis and they can often be a complex compromise between stiffness, safety, weight, and cost. As part of their accreditation process, Bremar Automotion was required to construct and test a full-size roll cage by applying the FIA’s specified roll cage loads to the structure. Destructive testing was required to confirm the accuracy of their computer modeling and to demonstrate competency to the FIA.

The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) was faced with the challenge of reducing energy consumption while maintaining performance in their new Supercomputer Unit 4, a Cray® XC40™ system. This system, equipped with over a hundred thousand computing cores, runs quadrillions of computing jobs every second, which consumes a great deal of energy and causes high heat. To balance operations, it was essential to keep the National Center for Meteorological Supercomputer (NCMS) at a cool and constant temperature. However, the increased energy consumption required for Supercomputer Unit 4 put a significant burden on the air conditioning (A/C) system operations. KMA needed to determine the requirements for dealing with the additional energy consumption and cooling needs.

The C2000 MCU group at Texas Instruments (TI), a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company, was faced with the challenge of characterizing their new software product, InstaSPIN™. This software enables designers to identify, tune, and fully control any type of three-phase, variable speed, sensorless, synchronous or asynchronous motor control system. It uses TI’s new software encoder, a sensorless observer called FAST™ (Flux, Angle, Speed and Torque), which is embedded in the read-only-memory (ROM) of Piccolo devices. Dave Wilson, Senior Motor Systems Engineer with The C2000 Group, was tasked with characterizing the FAST™ observer and developing a datasheet for it. However, the process was slow and tedious due to output variances over time and temperature changes, and it required constant recalibration. Moreover, the hardware he was using was not adequately equipped to test the FAST software.

The École de Technologie Supérieure (ÉTS) Team Rafale, a group of aerospace engineers, faculty members, and students, faced the challenge of designing, building, and racing a C-Class catamaran for the 'Little America’s Cup'. The rules of the competition stipulated that the catamaran had to be less than 25ft long, with a maximum width of 14ft, and less than 300sq ft. sail area. This presented a significant challenge as the catamaran needed to be built in less than 18 months. The hydrofoils, despite being less than two square feet in surface area, needed to be able to lift the entire boat and its two-man crew out of the water. The 30ft mast at the heart of the rigid wingsail carries almost 4000 lb. of compression while weighing less than 30lbs. The team needed to drive innovation and use the best materials possible to meet these requirements.

The Cal Poly Pomona Formula SAE (CPPFSAE) team, a student-run team participating in the Formula SAE® contests, faced a significant challenge in their quest to be among the best in the competition. Each year, the team sought to apply new materials and technologies to improve their race cars. However, the introduction of new materials such as composites created new requirements and design and development challenges. The team's goal was to leverage the advantages of each material, such as lightweight design or stiffness potential, but each material had to be designed individually. A specific challenge arose when the team decided to design and optimize a new wheel shell. They needed a software tool that would allow them to create a composite laminate design. They encountered difficulties in getting the carbon fiber laminate prepreg to conform to their mold, which they attempted to solve by increasing the number of debulking cycles and switching to hot debulk. A post machining process on the wheel was also necessary.

The architecture industry is witnessing a trend of taller and more elaborate buildings, with the world’s tallest skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, standing at 828 meters. This height brings unique challenges, particularly in transporting people from the ground floor to the top efficiently. Traditional elevator systems, which operate via cable systems located at the top floor of the building, offer a maximum ride height of up to 400 meters, just half the distance of the world’s tallest building. This necessitates passengers to ride two or more elevators to reach the top level. ThyssenKrupp Elevator, a leading elevator company, developed an elevator that uses electro-magnetic drives attached to the cabin frame, eliminating the need for roof-mounted cables and allowing the elevator to travel the full 800-meter distance. However, this new system could not carry as much weight as a traditional elevator. The challenge was to ensure the new design was as lightweight as possible to maximize the loading capacity of the cabins.

Sigma Connectivity, a leading development service organization based in Sweden, was faced with the challenge of handling various simulation disciplines such as bending, torsion, connector stability impact, and thermal heating. The development of connectivity solutions required a diverse set of application areas to be investigated. Products such as mobile phones had to pass certain tests regarding these factors. Instead of building expensive prototypes for physical testing, Sigma Connectivity aimed to save time and costs by creating a virtual prototype and using simulation early in the product development process. However, to address all needed simulation disciplines, the company had to invest in software solutions, which often came from different software vendors. This led to increased licensing efforts and costs. Sigma Connectivity sought to decrease the number of software vendors while at least keeping or ideally increasing their ability to address the needed simulation disciplines.