Page 10 - April 2023 Track N Times

DEPARTMENT UPDATES

Engineering Tools of the Trade By David L. Huebner, Director Research & Development

The tools engineering uses in the development of product is constantly evolving. Long gone are the days of the
drawing boards where we had to visualize complex 3D assemblies and convert them to a 2D representation on
paper.

Photo: Larry Racette retiring this year after
40 years of service showing some old school
talent.

Computer Aided Design (Solid Modeling)

Solid modeling allows us to design in 3D space. This is much more intuitive than previous 2D methods. We can
investigate many different configurations in the CAD environment with less time and effort. A large rail grinder has
over 25,000 Bill of Material lines, over 5,000 unique parts, and nearly 150,000 total part count. It is difficult to find
more complex mobile equipment in the industry.

Example: Loram Track Vac (LTV) General
Arrangement

Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

Finite Element Analysis (ANSYS) allows us to perform structural analysis on our Solid Models. FEA breaks complex
shapes into thousands of small elements which can be represented by simple equations. These equations are then
solved simultaneously to determine the stress and deflection of the structure.

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