GM's Road to Virtual Product Development
GM has always been a leader in the use of simulation and computers in vehicle development. During my career at GM (1970-2002), I was very much involved in the development and application of this evolving technology. In this article some of the highlights of GM’s "road to math" as it was called around the turn of the 21st century will be presented. My hope is that others will add to this article so we can “flesh” this wonderful history in!
One of the first computers to be used at GM was an analog computer used at the Milford Proving Grounds in the fifties. These computers were used to do vehicle dynamics calculations. Analog and then hybrid computers continued to be used into the seventies when they were also used to do solve complex chemical rate equations associated with catalytic converters.
In 1956 one of the first digital computers was installed at GM Research (GMR), an IBM 704. This vacuum tube computer had far less power than today’s hand calculator but took up an entire room!
This computer formed the basis for the pioneering development of the first computer graphics system in GM between 1958 and 1967. That graphics system was called Design Augmented by Computer (DAC 1) – CAD backwards!
Several early CAD/CAM milestones were attributed to GM: • 1959 – Began research on interactive graphics for design • 1964 – Announced Design Augmented by Computer (DAC) • Early 70’s developed CADANCE, the successor to DAC • 1974 – Developed B spline curves & surfaces for CAD • Late 70’s developed GMSOLID – an early solid modeling program
In the sixties use of simulation grew – particularly in the aircraft industry. GM quickly adopted these methods in the late sixties and early seventies that were enabled by GM’s leading edge computer systems.
In 1970 researchers at GMR pioneered the use of simple lumped parameter methods for crash and occupant protection. This was before we had supercomputers, and these simple mathematical (semi-empirical) models gave great insight into crash events.
About this time finite element programs began to be used in the automotive industry. GM was a leader here and in the early seventies developed one of the first finite element modelers, SMUG. SMUG was totally integrated with GM’s internally developed CAD system at that time, CGS (the successor to CADANCE).
GM also had a leadership position in the mathematical modeling of vehicles, subsystems, and components.
GM’s analytical capabilities continued to grow throughout the eighties. As computers became more powerful, and internally and externally developed software became available, more areas of an automotive vehicle could be investigated and aided in the development process by math-based (as this technology became known) tools.
GM was one of the first users of supercomputers. A Cray was brought into GM in the early 1980’s followed by a Cray XMP in 1984, and a YMP in 1988. These machines made higher fidelity crash simulation possible.
In another activity, Project Trilby, GM engineers began to develop high level vehicle models, an activity that continued in GM’s Systems Engineering Organization. In fact, Systems Engineering subsequently provided the framework for many of GM’s subsequent math-based capabilities.
In the late seventies and early eighties there was such an appetite within GM for computer based methods, that a proliferation of hardware and software resulted. To address this and other related issues, GM formed the C4 Program in 1986.
Video of Ray Khan at GMR describing the C4 Program, ca. 1988
The C4 Program made great strides in de-proliferating GM’s hardware and software, and, probably more importantly, scrutinizing how math-based tools can most effectively fit into the vehicle development process.
Video of Ian McEwan at GMR describing the architecture that the C4 Program developed, 1993
In 1994 GM established a follow-on program to C4 – the Synchronous Math-Based Process or SMBP. The SMBP team converged on Unigraphics as GM’s core CAD system in 1995. The following 1999 commercial gives the flavor of what SMBP had accomplished by 1999.
Besides CAD, the components of SMBP included : • Advanced solid modeling • Virtual reality (VR) • Knowledge based engineering (including parametrics) • Math-based synthesis and analysis
The present author was intimately involved with the development and application of math-based synthesis and analysis. In fact, a Global Synthesis and Analysis Process Center was formed in 1995 to advance, apply, and standardize this technology and tools globally. The organization and capability development spanned the entire vehicle including the powertrain.
To enable this global organization, GM’s supercomputing capability grew in the 1990’s with a CRAY C90 in 1992, a J9 in 1994, and a T3E and T90 in 1995.
Much progress was made in the late nineties and early 21st century. This video, that was given to the press in 2001, captured the use of math-based capabilities on the GMT360 program.
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