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Let's consider that we have large number of boxes being transported in a truck. These boxes contain certain number of vials which in turn contain some other products. Now one would like to simulate the impact of truck vibration during the transport on the vials. An impact such as the shock and other mechanical constraints on the boxes due to the vibration of the truck and the transmission of such impact from the box to the vials that might cause damage to the vials.

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How should I proceed to such simulation? Ansys and NX Siemens offer such computations? What about python libraries?

Is there any tutorial you can suggest on this topic for a better understanding of theory behind it?

PS:

at this point let's not get involved with the details such as what is the product in the vials or what is the number of boxes or the speed of the truck. Just consider this as a general problem to be addressed.

Dude
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  • This seems like a problem where building a physical prototype and using a camera and some data loggers to get actual data is a much faster route to increasing understanding. Even if you had a model it'd need to be run for a particular road: the exogenous aspects of the system, which you can't easily model, likely dominate the dynamics. – Richard Jan 06 '22 at 01:05
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    What is your goal? To "simulate the impact" might mean doing so on atomic scale to one person if they are interested in figuring out where a vial might break, or might be a one-analog-node-per-vial simulation to another person if they are just interested in the linear and rotational moments of inertia of the whole box. You will have to first determine what it is you want before deciding on how to solve for it. – Wolfgang Bangerth Jan 06 '22 at 11:24
  • @WolfgangBangerth thanks for your comment, the reason for which I stated the problem in a general form is that the problem of "road vehicle vibration simulation for packaging" is inherently general and at this point I am looking for special cases of this problem. So why not let's say that I wanna know the impact of the shock on the vials to see at what point the break. From what I see online this problem is only simulated physically using sensors and cameras and I don't see any numerical simulation. At least I didn't find any for the moment. – Dude Jan 06 '22 at 12:30
  • @Richard it seems you are right about this, up to now I didn't find any numerical simulation for studying the vibration impact for such problem – Dude Jan 06 '22 at 12:32
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    This problem is not solvable from the first principles; there is too much scale separation for a direct simulation, and a lot depends on unknown details like imperfections in the glass. The best you can do is to do a vibrostand experiment with those vials, collecting statistics on what fraction of the vials breaks after a certain time, as a function of the vibration parameters. With that statistics you can make predictions for a particular transportation route, for given road quality, packaging, speed of the truck etc. – Maxim Umansky Jan 07 '22 at 00:43
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    But impact simulations are nothing new. Every car manufacturer does them. – Wolfgang Bangerth Jan 08 '22 at 04:47

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You could model the problem using lumped parameters and avoid FEA. This approach will give you a transfer function that you can exercise to see if the forces/accelerations from typical transportation shock and vibe exceed the threshold for damaging your vials.

user7257
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  • Thanks for the answer but your answer remains very vague and incomprehensible, would you elaborate on it a bit and if possible suggest some references? – Dude Jan 05 '22 at 19:39
  • @Dude Are you familiar with the concept of a transfer function? I suggest you review the basics. Here's a chapter from spring on An Introduction to Vibrations of Lumped-Parameters Systems. With lumped parameters you use mass, stiffness, damping to make your transfer function. Then you can apply an arbitrary, wideband vibration source and see how much of that force/acceleration makes its way to the vials. – user7257 Jan 06 '22 at 15:27
  • No I am actually not familiar with such concept, that's why I asked for references and more details. Thanks for the resources. – Dude Jan 06 '22 at 15:46
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    @Dude you should also read up on "Green's function", which is the same thing as transfer function. Regardless of what you call it, it is very handy to have and removes the need to run a new simulation for a new forcing function. – user7257 Jan 07 '22 at 15:25