Knorr-Bremse Group Broadens Use of Altair HyperWorks to Enhance Development Processes

Altair's HyperWorks suite offers German-based leading manufacturer of braking systems flexible and cost efficient access to CAE tools.

Altair Engineering, Inc announced today that Knorr-Bremse, a leading German manufacturer of braking systems for rail and commercial vehicles, has widened its use of Altair’s HyperWorks suite of computer-aided engineering (CAE) tools. As a long-term customer, the company has recognized the benefits of HyperWorks and recently acquired additional HyperWorks license units to broaden its software use from HyperMesh and HyperView to also include RADIOSS, OptiStruct, and other tools.

Knorr-Bremse engineers will use the additional software tools in its CAE centers in Munich, Germany; Budapest, Hungary; and Faridabad, India to simulate and analyze braking systems and components. These include brake control systems such as those for high speed trains, truck ESP (electronic stability program) and ABS (antilock brakes), disc brakes, and systems for compressed air production.

The primary reason for extending its pool of HyperWorks license units is the need to use RADIOSS as an explicit solver for finite element (FE) calculations, especially when handling large models that include many contacts. Additionally, Knorr-Bremse has started to access OptiStruct for topology optimization during the development process.

“What we like about HyperWorks is that we have a tool at hand to solve most, if not all, of our development tasks with only one licence agreement and one software family,” said Dr. Frank Günther, manager of technical analysis/simulation at Knorr-Bremse Systems for Rail Vehicles. “Thanks to the flexible HyperWorks licensing system, we can use the units we bought companywide for every HyperWorks tool included in the suite, which is especially helpful for an international company of our size. This helps us to consolidate software costs, to be flexible in the use of our software, and to intensify collaboration of our different CAE locations. HyperWorks offers some of the best CAE tools available. We are very pleased with the performance of HyperMesh. Additionally, we have also always been very satisfied with the support by Altair. The hotline support is very competent, quick and responsive.”

“We are very glad that Knorr-Bremse has extended its use of Altair HyperWorks,” said Dr. Detlef Schneider, managing director for Altair Germany. “This decision shows us that our offering helps manufacturers and tier one suppliers, such as Knorr-Bremse, to develop their products faster and more efficiently, while consolidating software costs. We know that our customers need a broad range of products - some every day, some only once in a while - and our flexible units-based licensing system allows Knorr-Bremse to address those needs. HyperMesh and HyperView are industry standards for pre- and post-processing. With RADIOSS, they have a best-in-class solver at hand to do their calculations; and with the same licensing agreement, they are also able to handle optimization tasks with OptiStruct, whenever needed.”