WMU Magazine
Vehicle design partnership plays to WMU history of industry engagement
A history of connecting with industry and the desire to extend research skills into the automobile industry has led to the creation of a research consortium at Western Michigan University that will result in greener, safer and lower-cost vehicles in the future.
CAViDS, the Center for Advanced Vehicle Design and Simulation, in WMU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, came into being in 2006 when a group of faculty in the college saw an opportunity to offer the automobile industry a more complete set of skills.
“The overall goal of the Center,” says Dr. William Liou, founding director of CAViDS and WMU professor of mechanical and aeronautical engineering, “is to bring WMU, industry and government together to develop applied research which focuses on ground vehicle simulation.”
This collaborative effort allows for risk-sharing and benefit-sharing between the University and industry. It was natural for this center to evolve at WMU Liou says, given the number of faculty who have worked with the auto industry in the past and given the University’s geographic proximity to the auto industry.
CAViDS is the first of its kind in west Michigan, even though the concept has been adopted in other places. Focusing on applied research, CAViDS was founded to provide for breakthrough computer simulation for industry to help develop and maintain more efficient and reliable vehicles in the field.
“The University of Michigan has an Automotive Research Center,” explains Liou, “and other institutions in other states have similar programs. But what sets CAViDS apart from the others is its focus on more applied research.”
Applied research looks at how and if it will work—that is, can it be made into a product? So, based on computer simulation, changes to vehicle design and repair/replacement issues are implemented in response to the vehicle design simulation program.
To facilitate the integration of faculty expertise with industry needs, the consortium was formed with major industry players signing on to be members. Consortium members include Dana Corp., Eaton Corp., L-3 Communications and MANN + HUMMEL USA. Also involved in the consortium as an affiliate is the U.S. Army Tank-Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center of the Department of Defense—known as TARDEC—and the National Transportation Research Center at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Each industry player pays a membership fee (in 2007, each industry member payed $34,125) that goes for the development of breakthrough applied computer simulation. TARDEC, as an affiliate in the consortium, does not pay a membership fee.
For 2007-08, TARDEC awarded $788,000 to CAViDS as a center to conduct applied research for military applications. One Department of Defense project that CAViDS is developing involves the design of a computer simulation technology which can be used to assess the reliability of a ground vehicle in battlefield conditions. By altering the vehicle in simulations and testing its performance upon impact, data will indicate if the addition of protective armor can withstand the impact of a roadside bomb—something that has direct implications for wartime applications. The application of such data has the potential to impact military decision-making and equipment specifications and, ultimately, can help save lives and money.
“Once validated, computer simulation is more cost-effective versus field testing and experimentation,” says Liou. “What we have already learned from our computer simulation technology has yielded changes in auto design and has had military applications. Industry members have seen value and have seen the results of working together with the consortium. Long term, we hope to see even more commercial applications and military applications.”
If CAViDS can impact the industry through this research, the results will include better products and better prices for commercial users, says Liou. This means greener cars and safer military vehicles.
The benefits for WMU are huge. CAViDS serves as an avenue by which to bring industry needs to University faculty and invigorate, promote and augment the research of faculty and students. Because WMU is an educational institution, housing CAViDS at the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences affords students opportunities to become involved in applied vehicle research.
“This generation today,” observes Liou, “has grown up in the computer age and thus they are more receptive to things on the screen. In short, they can relate easily to computer simulation.”
Long term, offering students access to learn and participate in this research can serve to recruit and retain graduate and undergraduate students at WMU.
WMU historically has been involved in community efforts to improve the quality of life and economic vitality of Michigan’s citizens. The WMU Parkview campus, home to the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the University’s Business Technology and Research Park, celebrates its fifth anniversary this year. Part of the BTR Park’s success rests in its ability to connect community and industry needs with the resources available from faculty research and expertise.
Reflecting long-term about CAViDS’ future, Liou thinks that the Center will help to keep engineering and knowledge-based jobs here in Michigan.
“The Center’s activities can help keep work here instead of outshoring (outsourcing) it to China and other up-and-coming industrial countries,” says Liou.
These are worthy outcomes given the need in Michigan to transition its workforce from manufacturing to a technologically based economy, he notes.