Case Study

+ AGCO GmbH
AGCO is a leading manufacturer of agricultural equipment designed to work reliably
under normal, challenging operating conditions — and even when operator error or
exceptional use occurs. Employing ANSYS software as a standard part of our design
process gives us the confidence to quickly and cost effectively develop highly robust
equipment that works in the wide range of conditions demanded by the market.
Eberhard Würtele
Stress Engineer
AGCO GmbH
 AGCO

ANSYS helps AGCO to reduce development

Contact sliding distance

Tractors, harvesters and other agricultural • Evaluate nonlinear contact behavior in critical
equipment are used in rough terrain and under contact regions of flanges.
tough conditions. Immense forces are created • Compare simulation results with test data.
when the heavy equipment is in operation.
Beyond withstanding these forces, the machinery Benefits
must endure loads from operator errors and use • ANSYS Workbench allows a direct transfer of
outside of normal operating conditions. Although CAD data from CAD system to the simulation
agricultural equipment is very robust, the market model.
is highly competitive, so manufacturers need to • Automatic contact and meshing generation in
reduce development times and decrease their Workbench reduce model preparation times
costs. AGCO relies on simulation with ANSYS significantly. The model contained 26 non-
Stress distribution within software to maintain quality and its global linear contact regions and 10 million degrees
casing leadership. of freedom.
• Defining bolt pretension in ANSYS Professional
Business Challenges for 146 pretension bolts in the assembly is
Engineers at AGCO must evaluate loading simple and intuitive.
conditions from day-to-day equipment operation • Bolt issues were solved successfully using
and from use outside of normal operations. The ANSYS simulation.
process becomes more complex as models grow • Simulation results showed perfect agreement
more detailed and the number of simulations with test results in forces, contact sliding and
increases. Assemblies include hundreds structural stresses.
of pretension bolts, nonlinear con-
tact and large meshes. Engineers Company Description
need to reduce solver and model As a leading global manufacturer of agricultural
Automatic contact genera- preparation times to decrease equipment, AGCO offers a full line of tractors,
tion in ANSYS Professional of development times. Also, more combines, hay tools, sprayers, forage and tillage
the chassis of a Fendt 939 Vario efficient results evaluation and design study equipment, which are distributed through 2,600
(front axle housing, engine
housing, middle housing)
processes allow engineers to focus more on independent dealers and distributors in more
engineering their products. than 140 countries worldwide. AGCO products
are sold through four core brands: Challenger®,
Technology Used Fendt®, Massey Ferguson® and Valtra®. The
ANSYS® Professional NLS™, ANSYS Workbench™ diverse product line, global reach and techno-
logical solutions help AGCO customers not only
Engineering Solution survive today’s changing landscape, but to also
• Use bidirectional CAD interfaces in ANSYS prosper.
Workbench to transfer data from CAD systems.
• Employ automatic contact and mesh Simulation at AGCO is supported by CADFEM
generation to prepare simulation models. GmbH.
• Define bolt pretensions loads within ANSYS
Professional.
ANSYS, Inc.
www.ansys.com
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