Altair today announced that the Tongji University ZEAL EcoPower Racing Team won the 2014 championship of the Honda China Energy-Saving Sports Tournament using HyperWorks®, Altair's comprehensive computer-aided engineering (CAE) suite. The team, which hails from the Automotive Institute of Tongji University, achieved an impressive speed of 1807.653 kilometers per liter. The event was titled "Fun, Challenge and ECO", and took place in Guangdong, China on Oct. 18-19.
At the beginning of the design process, ZEAL engineers sought an excellent simulation technology partner to support the team's ambitious lightweight design goals. With significant automotive engineering consulting expertise as well as a broad software solution containing pre- and post processing tools and multiple CAE solvers, Altair was a natural choice. Focus areas for the team include lightweight design, composite material design and optimization, crash and safety, and computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for aerodynamics, fuel efficiency, and flow analysis, all of which are included in HyperWorks.
During the design process, engineers used pre-processing tool HyperMesh® for modeling and solver OptiStruct® for static analysis, modal analysis, topology optimization, and composite material optimization. This upfront work enabled the team to design the most optimal structure without sacrificing vehicle performance.
"Winning this championship would not have been possible without Altair's support. HyperWorks plays a crucial role in performance vehicle engineering," commented Wang Yangming, an engineer on the team. "Also, Altair's technical support engineers have been very helpful, creating detailed technical training courses based upon our requirements as well as providing consulting expertise to improve vehicle design and performance. We hope to continue our strong collaboration with Altair in the future."
