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Robust Design
Reliability-driven product development focus is what we call robust design. Some has coined the term design for variation, while other industry leaders reference design for six sigma. Whatever name it takes, design for product integrity is a pressing engineering imperative today, spanning every industry, product and engineering discipline. This article will highlight what we define as robust design, and how a robust design could be achieved by the usage of built in features in ANSYS Workbench. Regardless of how carefully we engineer, there will always be uncertainties and variations that affects the product outcome. There will always be variations in the surrounding environment and in the materials used in the product. Although manufacturing has become highly automated, there will always be uncertainties associated with manufacturing, delivering and installation. And the variation from the human factor will never be ruled out. By the usage of simulation we could strengthen our understanding of how products will actually performed under a broad spectrum of real scenarios and hence reduce the design uncertainty and the risk of failure based on these variations leading to a much higher probability that product promises can be kept. Robust design is reliability-driven product development with the main focus of designing product with integrity. In other words: design a product that meets customer expectations,

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throughout its lifecycle, despite variations and uncertainties. The financial cost of product failure can have a major impact on a companys bottom line both in a short and a long-term perspective. Great and admired companies, known for their good products, have lately found themself in deep troubles because a lack of product integrity. Despite our engineering sophistication, U.S.-based manufacturers spent, according to Warranty Week, $24.7 billion on claims in 2011. And these claims are only representing the short term costs of product failure. The long term costs like lost customers, negative publicity and bad product reviews can be even more devastating. Unhappy customers could always find a product alternative as well as share their dissatisfaction quickly through internet and social media. Failing in this extremely competitive, ultra connected and highly scrutinized environment could have devastating results.

If variability and uncertainty represent undeniable realities, how can engineers hope to manage these risks? The answer lies in considering, from the earliest design stage, the widest possible range of material properties, manufacturing processes, real-world operating conditions, and end-user behaviors. By bringing many sources of variation and uncertainty into the product development process, engineers can produce the most robust design. The vision is to cost-effectively design a product, constantly demonstrating the best performance for a wide range of applications despite variations and uncertainties, in a robust way throughout its entire lifecycle. The difference between optimization and robust design could be described as follows. Optimization is getting the best possible performance, which in many cases is a somewhat easy process. Identifying key parameters influencing the product performance is more difficult. Robust design is all about identifying these parameters and minimizing sensitivity of performance to variation, scattering and uncertainties. We strongly believe that the best way of working is combine optimization with robust design to get the best compromise between optimizing performance and maximizing stability of the solution. One example could be a commercial airplane: The target is best performances, stable across the widest range of flying conditions for a long time. Another aspect is the costs, if the key parameters are identified, compromises between opposing goals could be met based on knowledge from simulations.

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Path to robust design with ANSYS Workbench

The path to robust design starts with a single physics simulation. This single physics approach could contribute to valuable information, but is often not enough. Virtual Prototyping typically requires looking at multiple physics.

A single multiphysics solution will contribute to improved understanding. However, questions like how can performance be improved?, and is it possible to reduce weight or costs? will still be unanswered without further investigation.

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The next step towards robust design is a What if study where parametric updates could be implemented to see response of changes.

A sophisticated, scientific and highly automated way to run a parametric study and to decide which points to solve without any scripting is provided by Design Exploration. ANSYS has made a sustained investment in developing a parametric, persistent computer-aided engineering (CAE) platform to support customers robust design initiatives. The parametric simulation capabilities of ANSYS software allow engineers to easily vary a wide range of parameters including geometry, material properties, model controls and operating conditions to identify those few critical areas that could jeopardize product integrity. ANSYS has also committed to making it easier and more straightforward to integrate multiple physics in this parametric approach, which is essential because design failures often come as a result of physical interactions that would be missed in a single-physics design approach. Information and

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demonstration of parametric simulations could be found if you click here. From the parameter set in Workbench, DesignXplorer allows the user to conduct sensitivity and correlation studies, DOE and response surface technology, mesh morphing, charting and reporting.

By the usage of DesignXplorer, the results from a parametric what if study could be organized and by interpolation a response surface could be conducted. A correlation study could be conducted from the response surface. The correlation matrix generated in ANSYS workbench could contribute to valuable information about how parameters are correlated and influenced by other parameters.

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Correlation Study highlights how parameters correlate/influences each other. Additional to the correlation study, a sensitivity study could easily be conducted from the results of the parameter study. A sensitivity study will contribute to the understanding of which parameters the design is most sensitive to.

An additional article about DesignXplorer could be found if you click here. The next step towards robust design is optimization. From the response surface, the designer could search for optimal candidates, given user-defined goals and priorities.

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Possible disadvantages of these optimum design points could be reviled by looking at the sensitivity to input variability. This is the core of robust design taking the variation of inputs into account and seeking a design with a probabilistic goal. Robust design optimizes design variables to achieve a particular probabilistic level such as Six Sigma. A prediction of how many parts that is likely to fail is hence made available along with the understanding of which inputs require the greatest control and how performance will vary with the design tolerances.

With the latest release, ANSYS have innovated the HPC licensing to enable parametric analyses to be performed simultaneously and more affordably using parametric HPC job scheduling. A sophisticated and jet achievable tool is hence made available. An article that explains and demonstrates how to do so is provided if you click here. While robust design is growing as a strategic imperative, many engineering teams still express doubts about their ability to adopt this far-reaching, yet highly targeted, method of product development. The good news is that simulation software improvements are making it easier, faster and more cost-efficient than ever for every engineer to embrace the concept of robust design.

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