Reducing truck load body costs by conducting repeatable tests at a fraction of prototyping and testing costs

About the customer

VR Group designs, builds and repairs fabricated mining equipment attachments, including truck load bodies.

With Simcenter™ EDEM™ software virtual prototypes, VR Group can test new design options and custom designs for specific uses, build fewer physical prototypes, shorten the design cycle and increase customers’ productivity.

Their challenge

Reduce the mass of a truck load body while maintaining structural integrity and increasing performance. VR Group wanted a simulation tool to help streamline the design process and reduce prototyping costs. Their customers wanted proof that the new design would:

• Unload more quickly
• Lower operating costs
• Hold up under heavy use

Our solution

With standard Simcenter EDEM tools, which are part of the Siemens Xcelerator business platform of software, hardware and services, VR Group engineers imported 3D computer-aided design (CAD) models of the new load body design and generated Simcenter EDEM material models of various media to use in testing.

Using Simcenter EDEM simulations as virtual prototypes, VR Group was able to simulate the loading and unloading patterns of both the conventional load body and their new, lighter design. Using Simcenter EDEM provided a virtual environment for conducting 100 percent repeatable tests with a variety of materials at a fraction of traditional physical prototyping and testing costs.

VR Group used Simcenter EDEM simulations as virtual prototypes for new, lighter truck load body designs.

Results

Using Simcenter EDEM helped VR Group demonstrate that their new load body design:

• Reduced unloading time
• Reduced body mass 20 percent
• Reduced fuel consumption 11 percent
• Fuel savings: ~70,000 liters per year (L/yr) per truck (~$55,000)

Using Simcenter EDEM gave VR Group the ability to perform virtual repetitive testing under the same conditions every time. Evaluation of design options in a virtual environment reduced the need for physical prototypes. Using Simcenter EDEM also gave VR Group a distinct market advantage with the ability to quickly design and test a new load body that outperforms competitor designs.

“Simcenter EDEM made it possible to evaluate and prove our product’s loading and unloading patterns and establish the impact it would have on operation efficiency,” says Bertus Haasbroek, chief design engineer, VR Group.

VR Group used Simcenter EDEM simulations as virtual prototypes for new, lighter truck load body designs.