Overview
The activities of the SYNCOMECS project were based on pre-existing software technologies owned by the partners, and on the results of the 5th Framework Programme project SYNAMEC (focused on synthesis of aeronautical mechanisms, from a rigid kinematic point of view). This was to guarantee a stable foundation and reduce the risk in R&D activities.
The objective of SYNCOMECS was to build an integrated software suite, using inverse methods, for the design of aeronautical compliant mechanical systems from industrial specifications of functional requirements. The design of these innovative systems posed unique challenges and necessitated the support of advanced prediction software tools, since they should have adequate flexibility to undergo desired deformations under the action of applied forces and adequate stiffness to withstand external loading.
The main focus was on generating the topology and dimensions of a compliant mechanical system, starting from input/output force/displacement functional requirements and design constraints. This is a non-linear optimisation problem of a non-linear mechanical system, which may involve one or several flexible components. It involved Optimisation, Multi-Body Simulation and Non-linear Finite Element Analysis. The solution may be non-existent and, if it exists, not necessarily unique. The software that was developed was destined to be applied to aeronautical industrial problems.
R&D activities were executed in four steps. Firstly, a full specification of the system was made. The results of this step were presented in Milestone 1. The second step was the development of separate modules and the simultaneous preparation of benchmarking models. The results, as standalone software tools and associated benchmarks, were validated in Milestone 2. The third step was the integration of the separate modules within the SYNCOMECS system.
The results were validated in Milestone 3. The fourth step was the integration of the outcome of evaluations from the end-users. At this level, Milestone 4, the interaction between developers and end-users led to the final validation of an integrated environment for synthesis and analysis of compliant mechanical systems.
Funding
Results
SYNCOMECS has delivered a specialised methodology, which is compliant mechanisms synthesis (concurrent use of optimisation/AI techniques and mechanism/structure modelling techniques). SYNCOMECS also delivered a new design tool, which supports the compliant mechanical systems design. This specialised methodology and design tool can be exploited in the future by the whole European industry and also by the European education system.
Technical Implications
Using the latest versions of the SYNCOMECS project we have achieved an impressive flexible model: critical components were meshed with volume elements in order to take into account the deformation, flexibility was introduced in bodies in some components in order to reduce the size of the model by using super element techniques, while other components are assumed rigid to maintain calculation cost at a reasonable level. The final model contains about 500 components and the size of model is at the upper limit of our know-how. This Impressive model has been successfully performed. Such a model will be useful for the future systems, but it is important to improve the performance of the pre-post processor if we want to generalise such a model in the future.