Yokohama has developed a simulation technology for multi-objective design exploration of rubber materials. Tire performance is greatly affected by complex morphology in the rubber material, for instance, the dispersion and quantity of polymer (rubber) and filler (carbon black and silica, etc.). This technology differs from the previous simulation methods that assumed the use of actual rubber materials. Instead, it creates rubber material models based on virtual morphologies, thus enabling simulations of various morphologies.
By changing the morphological parameters, the new simulation technology enables users to create huge-scale simulation models consisting of approximately one billion elements of different morphologies. A performance evaluation run on the TSUBAME2.5 supercomputer in the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan, confirmed that the new simulation technology can complete huge-scale computations consisting of one billion elements in just 75 minutes, a feat previously unheard of when using the finite element method.
Challenges in creating this tool related to the modeling technology that enables complete control of the morphology and the large-scale viscoelastic simulation technology needed to calculate the mechanical properties of rubber material. These problems were solved by the efforts of a joint research project led by Professor Dominique Jeulin of MINES ParisTech’s Centre de Morphologie Mathematique (CMM) in France. Through this, a modeling technology was developed, the random morphological model, and a new computational scheme for large-scale viscoelastic simulations. The establishment and combination of these two key technologies provided the finishing touches to Yokohama Rubber’s simulation technology for multi-objective design exploration of rubber materials.
December 8, 2015
