VIRTUAL POWERTRAIN DEVELOPMENT

Simulation is critical for efficient product development, but proper tool selection and efficient data management are keys to success.

Powertrain engineers have various tools at their disposal to develop new technologies - empirical modeling, component simulation, multi-system environments and physical testing chief among them. Determining which to employ often involves balancing tradeoffs between key criteria: speed, accuracy, flexibility, insight and repeatability.

“We've got all these different techniques. How do we change the paradigm? How do we make it better, so we aren't having to cope with these different tradeoffs to the same extent?” asked Thomas Howell, segment lead, conventional powertrain at AVL in the U.S., during an SAE COMVEC 2022 session.