Leuven, Belgium/Darmstadt, Germany – April 17, 2009 – LMS, the engineering innovation company, and the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability, Fraunhofer LBF, have signed a strategic partnership agreement to accelerate the development of advanced tire simulation solutions. These solutions extend the functionality and applicability of the CDTire software to accurately predict road inputs for vehicle development across car, truck, motorcycle and off-road applications. Combined with LMS’ 3D and 1D system modeling and simulation software, LMS Virtual.Lab and LMS Imagine.Lab respectively, CDTire users will be able to frontload realistic performance simulations of their new vehicle designs to master critical brand attributes like comfort, NVH and durability – months before the first prototypes are available.

“We are confident that our combined knowledge and experience, together with Fraunhofer’s proven capability to develop fundamental technology improvements in mechanical system simulation, will allow us to further accelerate the development of tire simulation solutions and obtain even more realistic road load input data to support all stages of vehicle engineering,” commented Prof. Holger Hanselka, Managing Director of Fraunhofer LBF in Darmstadt, Germany.

“The automotive industry is looking for advanced solutions in tire modeling and simulation to frontload road input predictions into new car designs. Our partnership with Fraunhofer LBF will allow us to further expand the CDTire software. Together with our complete portfolio of functional performance simulation applications, this solution will enable the automotive industry to optimize new vehicle structures, including the optimization of controller settings in active vehicle systems,” added Dr. Jan Leuridan, CTO, LMS International.

The new solutions for tire modeling and simulation will be based on LMS’ CDTire product. As part of the agreement, Fraunhofer has taken over the rights and responsibility for CDTire and will further develop and enhance this industry-proven technology. This includes extensions to accurately simulate innovations in recent tire technology, like the introduction of run-flat tires and extremely low-aspect-ratio tires, as well as breakthrough technology for real-time tire simulation to support Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) engineering. Additionally, the tire modeling and simulation technology will be expanded to include motorcycle, agricultural, construction and commercial vehicle tires. Using the latest tire testing techniques as well as underlying parameterization algorithms, Fraunhofer LBF will develop new methods to increase productivity in regards to the necessary tire parameter identification and model validation. LMS International will continue to globally market and offer the next-generation CDTire solutions, embedded in its LMS Virtual.Lab and LMS Imagine.Lab product suites.

About Fraunhofer LBF

Fraunhofer LBF can look back on more than 70 years of experience and tradition in structural durability as one of 56 operating institutes of the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. Structural durability, system reliability and adaptronics are the designated core competencies. A strong 230-member team including scientists from the associated Competence Center for System Reliability and Machine Acoustics SzM at the Technical University of Darmstadt, the engineers evaluate and realize tailored solutions for all safety components – from the material to the system and from the idea to the product.

With the close interlocking of experimental and numerical methods, Fraunhofer engineers are able to create particularly reliable tools. In addition to 13,000 square meters of multifunctional, experimental test and laboratory sites, the engineers also apply virtual test environments to reduce development time. The Fraunhofer LBF test laboratory is accredited according to DIN EN ISO-IEC 17025:2005 and applies a management system certified according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2001. The service offering includes design and construction, safety strategies, reliability concepts, noise and vibration reduction and LBF® products. The results of Fraunhofer LBF research increase the product lifecycle and serviceability, and enhance operational safety. Fraunhofer customers come from a variety of industries from automobile and commercial vehicle construction, track vehicle technology, shipbuilding, aerospace, mechanical and plant engineering, energy technology as well as environmental and healthcare.


About LMS International

LMS is an engineering innovation partner for companies in the automotive, aerospace and other advanced manufacturing industries. With approximately 30 years of experience, LMS helps customers get better products to market faster and turn superior process efficiency into key competitive advantages. With a unique combination of 1D and 3D simulation software, testing systems and engineering services, LMS tunes into mission critical engineering attributes, ranging from system dynamics, structural integrity and sound quality to durability, safety and power consumption. With multi-domain solutions for thermal, fluid dynamics, electrical and mechanical system behavior, LMS can address the complex engineering challenges associated with intelligent system design. Thanks to our technology and dedicated people, LMS has become the partner of choice of more than 5,000 manufacturing companies worldwide. LMS, a Dassault Systèmes SIMULIA partner, is certified to ISO9001:2000 quality standards and operates through a network of subsidiaries and representatives in key locations around the world. For more information on LMS, visit www.lmsintl.com