VMAP, combined with our expert engineering services team, can offer complete NVH solutions for new product development. Some services we offer include:

• Experimental Modal Testing
• FE Modal analysis
• FE-Test Correlation

Wind Turbines

Today, wind power is one of the world’s fastest growing energy sources. Technologies used in harnessing wind energy are continuing to expand and must deal with big challenges of leading to more reliable and energy efficient wind turbines.

Turbine blades are large, flexible structures subjected to transient aerodynamic excitations of large magnitude. Dynamic loads lead to dramatic failures of gear-pinions and bearings due to fatigue. As a result there are significant challenges in designing the power train and gearbox in particular. Frequently there are large load amplifications within the gearbox than what are predicted at the rotor shaft. Due to increasing power output requirements, the increases in rotor shaft diameters pose greater constraints arising out of size and weight. There is a compelling need for simulation tools capable of modeling and predicting dynamic behavior of wind turbines.

Inaccuracies in modeling arising from neglecting the flexibility of components and joints can lead to missing out key medium and high vibration modes. Simulation models of the dynamic characteristics of an assembled wind turbine are extremely complex to generate. Accounting for structural and aero-elastic properties of a wind turbine properly in such complex models is necessary. Operation deflection modes can affect alignment of power train and lead to fatigue. Correlation studies are necessary for events like load reversals, emergency stops, turbulent conditions.

Global airline passenger traffic is expected to grow dramatically. This rise in passenger traffic brings about challenges that need to be addressed in shorter time frames such as designing lighter and quieter aircrafts for increased passenger comfort. Challenges in numerical modeling of flexible components in an aircraft can be reduced by testing and validation.

• Aircraft landing gears - Component fatigue is a top priority in aircraft design especially for critical systems such as landing gears, which are constantly subjected to large loads during touch down as well as repeated loads during braking and taxiing.
• Ground vibration testing – These tests help in identification of critical vibration modes for increased aircraft safety. Flutter analysis – Flutter is a phenomenon of aerodynamic instability where wings and other aircraft surfaces vibrate excessively above certain speeds and is therefore a priority item in aircraft development. By comparing predicted results from analysis models with physical test results, simulation models can be verified and tuned to accurately arrive at flutter airspeed. Critical stiffness attributes can be obtained from model updating to create flexible body representations of individual components.

Applications

There is an emerging need in the civil engineering community to detect bridge failures before it happens. Recent advancements in Modal Analysis when combined with right sensor selection, large and accurate data acquisition systems yield an optimal solution to prevent catastrophic bridge failures. Working with our technology partners, we offer a complete solution to instrument bridges for structural health monitoring.

Applications

As you are striving to develop products to meet requirements on durability, acoustics, comfort, warranty and time and money constraints, VMAP and our services can help you in the design and development of:

• - Exhaust System
• - Suspensions
• - Pumps
• - Transmissions
• - Steering Wheels
• - Bearings

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