Virtual Prototyping & Simulation

TSI's Simulation History

TSI has a long history in advanced simulation.  For over 20 years we’ve provided structural, thermal, fluid, vibration, crash, electomagnetics and other simulations to world-leading companies across many industries.

Recognized as industry leaders we acquired Metal Forming Analysis Corporation (www.mfac.com) in 2021 as LS-DYNA distributors, and have now expanded to become an official Canadian Channel Partner of Ansys.

Structure Mechanics

TSI provides industry-leading expertise in structural mechanics, delivering cutting-edge simulation and analysis solutions tailored to complex engineering challenges. With a strong focus on innovation and precision, TSI helps industries optimize structural performance, enhance product reliability, and accelerate development cycles.

 

 

TSI provides advanced static structural simulation solutions to analyze stress, strain, deformation, and stability under static loads. These simulations help optimize designs for strength, safety, and durability, ensuring performance before physical testing.

  • Stress & strain prediction
  • Deformation & stability evaluation
  • Thermal stress analysis
  • Contact and load analysis
  • Optimized design validation

TSI has extensive expertise in applying linear and nonlinear modeling techniques to both static and dynamic systems, ensuring accurate simulations for a wide range of engineering applications. Our solutions help predict structural behavior under various loading conditions, enhancing performance and reliability.

  • Point and Distributed Loads
  • Gravity and Body Acceleration
  • Pressure
  • Inertia Relief
  • Rotational Dynamics
  • Large Deformation / Metal Forming
  • Implicit & explicit solutions

 

Modern CAE problems often involve nonlinearity, with contact mechanics playing a crucial role in simulations, including body impacts, bolt preloading, and surface stabilization. TSI specializes in advanced nonlinear analysis to ensure accurate and reliable structural performance predictions.

  • High deformation problems
  • Sliding surfaces such as cams
  • Bolt loading and joint dynamics
  • Metal forming
  • Impact
  • Thermal conductivity

 

Impact simulation is one of the most complex applications of FEA, requiring deep expertise, computational power, and validated methodologies. TSI was founded on advanced impact simulation, particularly in automotive safety, and has decades of experience conducting high deformation and high strain rate simulations across multiple industries. Using LS-DYNA as our core explicit solver, we have successfully executed full vehicle crash simulations, drop tests, and mechanical impact studies for various products and industrial applications.

  • Advanced explicit solutions
  • Vehicle barrier and dummy models
  • Test correlation expertise
  • Nonlinear material modeling in metals, nonmetals and composites
  • Applications : Helmet impacts, drop testing, ballistics, blast effects, and virtual crash testing.

 

 

Durability and fatigue analysis are critical for assessing the long-term performance and lifespan of components subjected to repetitive loads and stress cycles.TSI specializes in durability and fatigue simulations to predict material failure due to cyclical loading, enabling design optimization for extended service life and safety. Using advanced FEA techniques, we offer comprehensive solutions for industries ranging from automotive to aerospace and consumer products, ensuring reliable performance under real-world conditions.

  • Fatigue life prediction
  • Durability analysis
  • Material S-N curve analysis
  • Comprehensive Multiaxial Fatigue Solutions
  • Test correlation and validation

Vibration analysis is crucial for understanding and mitigating dynamic responses in systems exposed to fluctuating forces. TSI specializes in comprehensive vibration response simulations that help characterize the dynamic behavior of components, ensuring they perform optimally under real-world conditions. Our expertise spans various techniques used to predict and manage vibrations, ensuring reliability, durability, and comfort in engineering designs.

  • Natural frequency analysis
  • Forced response, random response (PSD), sine sweep
  • Modal dynamics
  • Transient shock response
  • Noise, Vibration and Harness (NVH)

Accurate prediction of structural behavior depends on using reliable material models that reflect the true performance of materials under various conditions. TSI has vast experience with a wide range of materials, from traditional metals and plastics to advanced composites and high-performance materials. Our expertise includes in-house testing as well as collaboration with partner labs and universities to develop accurate material models tailored to specific applications.

  • Metals – elastic, plastic, strain-rate dependance and failure
  • Plastics and polymers
  • Rubber and high Poisson’s Ratio materials (adhesives)
  • Foams
  • Visco/hyperelastic materials
  • Tissues
  • Composites – FRPs (carbon, Kevlar, glass fibers), epoxies, and thermoplastic

TSI has developed a range of standardized and validated modeling techniques to simulate both standard and complex joints, enabling effective analysis of large assemblies under various loading conditions. Our extensive experience covers critical joint types such as bolted, adhesive, and welded joints, ensuring reliable predictions of performance and durability.

  • Bolted Joint Calculations and Procedure Development
  • BoltCalc software for advanced bolted joint analysis
  • Adhesives – thick and thin bond lines with low and high Poisson’s ratio materials
  • Welded Joints

 

Multibody Dynamics

Multibody Dynamics (MBD) plays a crucial role throughout the product development lifecycle. At TSI, we leverage MBD to analyze and understand the behavior of complex mechanical systems and mechanisms across various event durations. These simulations provide valuable insights into system performance and loading data, aiding in design optimization and structural analysis.

We use MBD to model and simulate mechanical systems with multiple interconnected parts, allowing us to analyze their motion, behavior, and interactions. This helps in optimizing design and functionality, ensuring reliable performance in real-world conditions.

Shaker table simulations are crucial for evaluating the dynamic response of products to vibrations. By applying these simulations, we can predict how mechanical systems behave under real-world vibrational environments, which is key in ensuring durability and safety.

MBD allows us to study human interactions with complex mechanical systems. By simulating human motion and ergonomics, we can optimize product designs for user comfort, safety, and overall experience, ensuring better user-interface integration.

Flexible body dynamics simulations allow us to analyze how structures and components deform under various loads. This is particularly important for assessing the impact of dynamic forces on flexible materials and ensuring the structural integrity of products.

MBD provides valuable insights into contact interactions and impact events, helping us simulate real-world collisions and forces. This is vital for designing systems that can withstand extreme conditions and for optimizing safety features.

Thermodynamics & Heat Transfer

Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer simulations are vital for analyzing and optimizing thermal performance in mechanical systems. At TSI, our simulation capabilities enable us to model complex heat transfer phenomena, from thermal conduction to fluid flow, ensuring that products perform efficiently across a wide range of operating environments.

We simulate both steady-state and transient heat transfer scenarios to evaluate how systems behave under constant or fluctuating temperatures. This helps in understanding thermal equilibrium and predicting temperature changes over time.

By coupling thermal and structural simulations, we can analyze how temperature variations affect material deformation and stress. This integrated approach ensures that the mechanical integrity of systems is maintained under varying thermal conditions.

Our simulations account for multiple phases (solid, liquid, and gas) and their interactions during heat transfer. This capability is essential for applications like boiling, condensation, and phase change, where heat transfer involves complex fluid dynamics.

We use simulations to optimize thermal management strategies, such as heat sinks, cooling channels, and insulation materials. This helps in improving energy efficiency and ensuring that systems maintain optimal operating temperatures while reducing energy consumption.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a powerful tool for simulating fluid flow and heat transfer in complex systems. At TSI, we use CFD to analyze airflow, pressure distributions, and thermal behavior, enabling us to optimize designs for improved efficiency, performance, and safety across a wide range of applications.

 

We simulate fluid dynamics to understand how fluids move within systems, analyzing velocity, pressure, and flow patterns. This helps in optimizing system performance, such as reducing drag or improving fluid distribution for cooling systems.

Our CFD simulations include advanced turbulence models to predict and manage chaotic fluid flow behaviors. This is crucial for applications like engine exhaust, HVAC systems, or any design where turbulent flow impacts efficiency and performance.

 

We integrate heat transfer analysis within CFD models to assess how heat is exchanged between fluids and surfaces. This allows us to optimize thermal performance, especially in systems requiring precise temperature control, such as in cooling or energy recovery systems.

Our CFD capabilities extend to modeling the interactions between multiple phases (liquid, gas, solid) in dynamic systems. This is vital for applications like chemical reactors, boilers, and engines, where phase change and multiphase interactions play a key role in performance.

CFD simulations are used to study airflow around vehicles, structures, and other designs to optimize aerodynamics and reduce drag. Additionally, CFD helps in designing efficient ventilation systems by analyzing airflow patterns to ensure adequate air circulation and thermal comfort.

Multiphysics

Multiphysics simulations integrate multiple physical phenomena into a unified framework, allowing for comprehensive analysis and optimization of complex systems. At TSI, we leverage multiphysics approaches to model interactions between different physical domains, such as mechanical, thermal, and electrical systems, providing deeper insights and improving design decisions across a wide range of applications.

 

Leveraging system modeling techniques to represent the interactions between different subsystems, we analyze complex system behavior and optimize performance. This approach helps in identifying key variables and assessing the impact of changes across multiple domains, ensuring that all aspects of the system work together effectively.

Multibody Dynamics (MBD) and dynamical simulations allow us to study the motion and interaction of rigid and flexible bodies under dynamic conditions. These simulations help in optimizing mechanical system behavior, predicting response to external forces, and ensuring that products perform reliably in real-world scenarios.

Digital twin technology enables the creation of virtual replicas of physical systems, providing real-time monitoring and performance analysis. This allows for predictive maintenance, performance optimization, and rapid prototyping, ensuring that designs can be tested and refined without physical prototypes, reducing time and cost in the development process.

Human Factors & Ergonomics

At TSI, we focus on reducing repetitive strain injuries, enhancing human performance, and creating comfortable operational environments through human-machine interfaces. In partnership with TSI-Labs, we prioritize human factors in our simulations and product development. Digital human modeling, ergonomics, and product optimization are key to our approach. From neck strain reduction devices to vehicle user interfaces and workplace assessments, we integrate human-factors analysis to optimize designs for better user comfort and safety.

Using detailed human body models to simulate interactions with mechanical systems, we optimize the fit and functionality of products. This helps ensure that designs accommodate diverse user profiles and promote safe, efficient use.

 

Our simulations analyze user posture and movement during tasks, helping to design systems that minimize fatigue and discomfort. This is crucial in applications like vehicle interiors, workstations, and machinery where prolonged use is common.

We simulate human interactions with interfaces to assess usability, ensuring that controls and displays are intuitive and accessible. This enhances the user experience by making complex systems easier to operate and reducing the risk of user error.

Using ergonomic principles, we assess how users interact with systems to minimize strain and discomfort. This analysis helps in designing products that reduce the risk of repetitive strain injuries and improve long-term user satisfaction.

We model how users interact with their environment, including factors like temperature, lighting, and noise, to ensure that products are comfortable and safe to use. This is particularly important for designing environments like control rooms, transportation systems, and consumer electronics.

Optimization

TSI specializes in optimization of engineering designs through advanced methods such as topology, shape, and topography optimization. Our approach begins with functional constraints like force vectors and generates the most efficient shape possible to meet performance goals such as minimizing mass and material. We also apply topographical optimization to refine designs based on manufacturing constraints, ensuring efficient production and performance. Automation in optimization reduces design iterations, enhancing design efficiency and reliability.

TSI offers advanced topology optimization services to design structures that maximize efficiency while adhering to functional constraints. Our approach optimizes material usage, reduces weight, and ensures structural integrity, delivering high-performance results for complex design challenges.

  • Minimize material usage while maintaining structural integrity.
  • Optimize load paths for enhanced performance.
  • Reduce design time and material costs through automation.

 

TSI provides shape and topography optimization solutions to ensure components fit within specific spatial constraints. Our services are designed to improve component efficiency while meeting tight space limitations, allowing for better manufacturability and integration into larger systems.

  • Fit components within complex geometries or predefined boundaries.
  • Maximize efficiency and performance within spatial limits.
  • Improve manufacturability and integration capabilities.

TSI leverages Design of Experiments (DOE) to systematically explore the impact of design variables on performance. Our DOE services ensure a structured and efficient approach to identifying optimal configurations, saving time and resources while enhancing design quality.

  • Structured approach to exploring the design space.
  • Identify key variables influencing performance.
  • Reduce experimental time and cost by focusing on critical factors.

TSI’s Design Sensitivity Analysis (DSA) evaluates how sensitive a design is to variations in parameters, helping to assess its adaptability to different manufacturing techniques. Our services ensure that designs are optimized for flexibility, robustness, and manufacturability.

  • Assess design robustness and adaptability for manufacturing.
  • Identify critical design variables that impact performance.
  • Optimize designs for cost-effective, scalable production.

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