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Komatsu Hanomag simulates construction work

Komatsu Germany GmbH

Excavators have to withstand a great deal on the construction site, which requires precise component analysis during the design process. Komatsu Hanomag uses CADFEM simulation solutions for precisely this purpose.

Komatsu Hanomag simulates construction work

Hanomag was established in 1835 in Hanover. In 1989, Komatsu, the world’s second-largest manufacturer of construction machinery, acquired shares in the stock corporation. Since 2002, Komatsu Hanomag GmbH has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the internationally successful company. Wheel loaders from 54 hp to 353 hp and, since 2005, mobile excavators weighing between 14 t and 22 t have been produced on factory premises spanning 200,000 m² in Hanover. Around 1,700 machines leave the factory every year. In product development, FEM calculations are playing an increasingly important role – to simulate the loads on the machines on the construction site, for example.

Komatsu Hanomag and CADFEM

Calculation tasks are becoming ever more complex and the software requirements are also growing as a result, which is why the Hanover-based construction machinery engineers turned to the simulation specialists at CADFEM. “CADFEM was able to demonstrate to us quickly and comprehensibly how to use Ansys Workbench, using our own tasks as a basis,” explains Jörg Hermanns, Head of Komatsu Hanomag’s European Development Center (EUTC). Komatsu Hanomag now relies on Ansys simulation technology and CADFEM’s support in the development of its wheel loaders and mobile excavators to increase reliability and safety on the construction site.

Simulating means spending less time and money

Komatsu Hanomag was particularly impressed by Ansys’s modular structure, the support of a clearly structured procedure and the many easy-to-implement options for customizing the simulation model to its own tasks: “The main benefit is obvious, because we examine different concepts to find out their advantages and disadvantages during the early design phase and thus shorten the time and cut the costs needed for testing.” Another advantage that the Komatsu Hanomag engineers have come to appreciate is the ability to investigate superimposed component stresses. The CAE software is now used consistently for all components created by the designers in the EUTC.

Quality management with CADFEM

“Next, we want to improve the quality management of the simulations,” states Alexander Spies, a simulation engineer. “We are currently defining a procedure with CADFEM so that its experienced simulation engineers can check my working methods and results and offer me targeted assistance if necessary. As I’m very satisfied with CADFEM’s support and particularly appreciate the quick response times and the comprehensive answers to my questions, I am also extremely confident about the quality management support.”
The increasing number of simulation jobs, sometimes involving FEM meshes with several million mesh nodes, also called for much faster processing. An HP Z820 with 16 computation cores and a Tesla GPU from Nvidia was purchased for this purpose. This combination is capable of computing the jobs at 7 to 13 times the speed of the design workstation that was previously used.


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