Using Adams Explore with Adams Car
1. Start Adams Car
2. From the welcome screen click “Standard Interface”
3. Open the assembly "sedan_FWD.asy" from the acar_concept database
The model will be displayed as shown below:
4. Since a pothole event will be run the tires should be switched to a more suitable model than the handling tires used by default.
a. Modify the front tires to use a 3D enveloping contact model by right-clicking a front wheel, selecting Modify and setting Property File = mdids://acar_shared/tires.tbl/pac2002_235_60R16_3d_contact.tir by searching for it in "<acar_shared>/tires.tbl"
b. Modify the rear tires in the same way
5. From the "Tools" menu select "Explore → Export to Workbook"
6. Specify the name of the workbook to be exported as "pothole_study.xlsx"
7. From the tabs below various modeling parameters can be chosen for inclusion in the exported spreadsheets. Begin with the Hardpoints tab and click the select-all button for the front and rear suspension subsystems ("rear_multi_link_susp" and "front_macpherson_strut_susp"), to include all their hardpoints (do not click OK yet, you still need to fill more tabs)
8. From the Mass Properties tab click the select all button for the body subsystem, "body_sedan" to include it's mass properties in the exported sheet (do not click OK yet, you still need to fill more tabs):
9. From the Parameter Variables tab select all for the front and rear suspensions (do not click OK yet, you still need to fill more tabs):
10. Complete the User-Defined Elements (UDEs) tab as shown below to select the ride springs and dampers in both suspensions (do not click OK yet, you still need to fill more tabs). Note that you can right-click Browse or Pick items and that selecting any one item (left or right) from a symmetric pair will include the parameters for both items in the exported spreadsheet workbook.
11. Complete the Splines tab as shown below to select the ride springs and dampers in both suspensions (do not click OK yet, you still need to fill more tabs).
12. From the Property Files tab, click the select all button to select the front and rear tire property files (do not click OK yet, you still need to fill more tabs):
13. From the Objectives tab, select the pitch-related design objectives, min and max pitch angle and max pitch rate, present in the testrig; you may need to click the right arrow on the right side of the tab bar to scroll to this tab. (do not click OK yet, you still need to fill more tabs):
14. On the Analyses tab
a. Opt to "Include Analyses"
b. If you intend to use your local machine as the analysis machine on which spreadsheet-launched runs are to be performed, then click "Use Default" for the "Analysis Machine Name" and "Port" fields; otherwise, enter the name and port of the machine you intent to setup to accept spreadsheet-launched runs
c. For "ACar Launch Command" click "Use Default" or enter it directly if the command Adams senses for this installation does not match what you want to use.
d. For "Output Prefix" enter "pothole_at_20kph"
e. On the File-Driven Event tab click Append. Then, define Analysis #1 for a straight-line maintain event at 20kph that goes over a pothole and produces a set of plots of the vehicle pitch angle and forces from the springs and dampers. The three files needed are shown below and all located in the shared car database.
Hint: | Use right-click → Search → <acar_shared> to browse for these. |
15. Click OK to export the spreadsheet workbook to your current working directory. You will get a message indicating this has been done.
16. From the machine you specified as "Analysis Machine" you need to start the Explore job server and web server so that analyses launched from the spreadsheet workbook can be built (that is, models modified) and executed:
a. Logon to the analysis machine and launch Adams Car (of course, if you're hosting jobs this from the same machine from which you just exported the spreadsheet you have already done this)
b. From the "Tools" menu select "Explore → Server → Start Jobserver"
c. From the "Tools" menu select "Explore → Server → Start Webserver"
d. You will notice some command prompt windows open up logging status of the job server and web server
Notes: | ■Keep these windows open. Closing them will stop the servers. ■Alternatively these servers can be started from the Adams Command Prompt. ■Launch the Adams Command Prompt. For example, from the Start Menu on Windows machines under Adams 20XX click Command Prompt ■Enter the Adams start command (shown at the top of the window, for example, adams20XX), followed by the arguments "aexplore" and "ru-jobserver" like so:  ■This will launch a separate window for the job server as shown earlier in this example ■Enter the Adams start command (shown at the top of the window, for example, "adams20XX"), followed by the arguments "aexplore" and "ru-webserver" like so:  ■This will launch a separate window for the web server as shown earlier. |
17. Navigate to your Adams Car working directory and open the exported workbook file "pothole_study.xlsx". Browse through the tabs to see the information you exported. General model information is presented on the "Model" tab and the other tabs reflect the information you, from the dialog box in Adams Car, requested be exported.
18. Go to the "Analyses" tab and click on the hyperlink next to "Analysis Machine"
19. This will open the Adams Explore Job Monitor in your default web browser:
20. From here click File Upload, browse for "pothole_study.xlsx" and click Submit File
21. The spreadsheet is now uploaded to the analysis machine where the simulations will be setup and executed. You can follow the status on this webpage which will automatically update. You can also manually refresh the page.
22. Once the analysis is completed you can optionally inspect or save the Adams message files if you like. For this exercise, click on the file "pothole_out.xlsx" and download it from the analysis machine to your local machine.
23. Browse through the result tabs showing the design objective values and all the plots defined in the plot configuration files that were specified for each analysis.
Note: | If you scroll down below each plot you will find columns containing the data points for each curve |
24. Now try to reduce the pitching of the vehicle through the pothole by increasing the damper rates. While direct access to the damper spline data is available, we also have access to scaling factors them on the component design parameters tab. On the "Component Design Parameters" tab change the value of "scale_factor_compression" and "scale_factor_rebound" for both the front and rear suspensions' dampers to "2". Note that, throughout the spreadsheet editable cells are green and turn tuirquoise when modified:
25. Save the workbook under a new name, "pothole_study_damper2.xlsx"
26. Return to the Adams Explore Job Monitor webpage and upload the newly saved workbook:
27. Once the job is completed, click on and download the updated workbook, "pothole_study_damper2_out.xlsx"
28. Now inspect the new results. Since you supplied a workbook with results from the first run present, a second set of design objective tables have been added. The plots are simply overwritten; in the future, cross-plotting and/or appended plot tabs will be provided. Notice that the maximum pitch rate and the minimum and maximum pitch angles reduced.
29. Optionally save this workbook locally to your exercise directory as "pothole_study_damper2_out.xlsx"
Note: | Adams Explore also allows one to edit an Adams model based on the values of an .xlsx file previously exported against the same model. So, in the above example, the Adams analyst could update the assembly with the stiffer bushings from the engineer's .xlsx file using "Tools → Explore → Import from Workbook"  |