Cleveland Golf uses simulation software from Altair to optimize the design of its golf clubs. Through simulation, Cleveland Golf has dramatically reduced development times while improving product performance. Simulation allows the company to evaluate many design iterations virtually before building prototypes. This enables Cleveland Golf to introduce new, precisely engineered clubs that meet regulations.

1. Success Story
A Platform for Innovation TM
Cleveland Golf Drives Product
Innovation Through Simulation
and Optimization Using HyperWorks
Designing the Next Golf Club Calif., is a pioneer in the design and
Much more goes into a golf club than simply production of advanced clubs and
wood, iron and graphite. To shape the the developer of the number-one wedge
Key Highlights performance, the distinctive appearance, in the golf industry. The company’s
the personalized feel and even the sound engineering research team uses simulation
Industry to virtually assess and tune the performance
of the club striking the ball, manufacturers
Sporting Goods
must precisely engineer every aspect of of forward-looking designs to develop
Challenge the design. market-leading woods, irons, wedges
Meet changing regulations for golf club and putters.
design and consistently introduce new
products that are precisely engineered Once, this was a very painstaking
for shape, feel, balance, sound and process, entailing months of prototype “Design engineers come to us with projects,
performance. building and evaluation. Today, however, and we run analyses on everything from wall
simulation-driven design has dramatically thickness to the center of gravity location,”
Altair Solution
Employ the HyperWorks suite of software reduced development time for new golf says Brian Schielke, a mechanical engineer
for CAE design simulation clubs while allowing them to meet strict with Cleveland Golf. “We work to tweak the
regulations more efficiently. original shape provided by the designer.
Benefits
•Time savings An extreme new shape might take months
•Design optimization Market–leading golf club manufacturer to develop, but a shape that is not as severe
•Increased rate of development Cleveland Golf, based in Huntington Beach, may require just a couple weeks.”
Keywords: Sporting Goods, Cleveland Golf, HyperWorks, HyperMesh, OptiStruct, HyperStudy, RADIOSS, AcuSolve

2. Cleveland Golf Success Story
“With simulation software like HyperWorks, we have been able
to dramatically increase our rate of development. This not only
allows us to produce better products but also it frees up our
time and allows us to look into the future for the next great
technology in golf.”
John Rae,
Research Manager
Cleveland Golf
Regulatory and clubs without going beyond the limits.” Shaping and Balancing
Business Obstacles Adding to the challenge, the USGA recently with HyperWorks
Cleveland Golf continues to expand its changed the rules specifying groove size, Using Altair HyperWorks computer-aided
impacting how future clubs will be designed.
use of simulation because it operates in a engineering (CAE) suite of software to
difficult regulatory and business environment. conduct simulations, the Cleveland Golf
From the standpoint of the economic
The United States Golf Association (USGA) research team balances a variety of design
obstacles, consumers are carefully
imposes limitations on golf club heads. variables, including:
examining their expenditures and are not
It mandates, for example, the size of • Materials
buying as many clubs as they did in the past;
the grooves in wedges and irons and • Size
so Cleveland Golf needs to create more new
constrains the dimensions of the head. • Shape
and innovative products, not just variations
It also determines the permitted coefficient on existing clubs. • Weight placement
of restitution (COR) — or springiness — that • Thickness patterns
is allowed in clubs. “Increasingly in this economy, it can be • Placement of internal ribs for durability,
challenging for manufacturers to differentiate sound and feel
“When the USGA made these rules, themselves from their competitors,” Timmons
no company was designing clubs that observes, “Using simulation is Cleveland To carry out their work and to simplify
approached the size or COR limits,” says Golf’s greatest asset. It allows us to test the process of manipulating these
Scheilke’s engineering colleague, Alex multiple iterations of a club design in ways factors, team members rely heavily
Timmons. “But as clubs have improved, we couldn’t try without simulation. Just a tiny on HyperWorks applications.
we’ve reached those limits and have the amount of measurable improvement makes
capability to go beyond them. Now we need a big difference, and simulation helps us “HyperMesh allows us to clean up the
to figure out how to continue to improve get there.” geometry and trim surfaces easily,” notes
Modal analysis using RADIOSS shows the location and frequency Cleveland Golf uses AcuSolve™ by ACUSIM Software, Inc., a CFD
of the clubs vibrations, leading to how the club will sound and feel. application available through the HyperWorks Partner Alliance,
to evaluate the club’s aerodynamics.

3. Running impacts using RADIOSS shows the launch characteristics of the ball as well as stresses on the head.
Timmons. “Geometry mapping is a really nice that the club head makes when striking increase spin. Using HyperMesh and shape
function, too. We can bring in a new shape the ball, employing modal analysis using optimization to examine a variety of club
from CAD and mesh the whole club head in the HyperWorks RADIOSS solver. "We look shapes, as well as thickness locations
five minutes and run it again. With OptiStruct, at sound as much as performance,” to keep the center of gravity lower,
we can set design variables and objectives; Timmons says. “The club must sound and Schielke and Timmons were able to
and it tells us where to put thicknesses in the feel good. We can change the shapes, grid maintain the high crown and still achieve
club as well as the center of gravity location.” the performance parameters.
configurations, and thicknesses to dial in
the sound.”
The team members also use HyperStudy,
which allows them to optimize material Simulation Saves Months of
properties, along with AcuSolve™ The engineers know the sound golfers like Design Time
by ACUSIM Software, Inc., one of the in existing clubs. So, they compare new club Cleveland Golf Research Manager John
Computational Fluid Dynamics solutions designs with previous parts in running their Rae noted, “With simulation software
available under the HyperWorks Partner sound analyses. They also use a robot that like HyperWorks, we have been able
Alliance, to explore the club’s aerodynamics. strikes golf balls consistently, enabling the to dramatically increase our rate of
engineers to test different design iterations development. This not only allows us to
Simulation-Driven Design with and to measure the sound coming from produce better products but also it frees up
the club. Additionally, engineers rely to a our time and allows us to look into the future
Blue-Sky Concepts
considerable extent on player testing for for the next great technology in golf.”
Creatively factoring these variables into
simulations has helped Cleveland Golf grow feedback on sound and feel and to
to become an iconic and innovative leader compare Cleveland Golf clubs with others In fact, simulation both slashes design
in club design. in the market. times and improves the final design.
“With simulation we’ve saved months of
“We do a lot of research on abstract A Crowning Achievement design time and might never have come to
products,” Schielke says. “We not only Through Simulation the right design without it,” Schielke says.
research what the market wants today Throughout the club design process,
but also drive the market with blue-sky HyperWorks has helped Cleveland Golf both Looking forward, Schielke predicts engineers
concepts that the market may want five
accelerate its time to market and improve will use simulation to cut the weight of
years from now. Simulation is the easiest
the quality of its clubs. clubs even further, while maintaining their
and most cost-effective way for us to carry
traditional look. “Simulation will play a huge
out this kind of innovation. We’re really using
For example, to create a distinctive role in weight reduction,” he anticipates,
simulation to drive design, to determine the
attributes of the club to correspond with appearance, engineers wanted one club to “and we increasingly will be simulating the
what we want to achieve.” have a higher, more bulbous crown than the shaft, the grip, the whole club, not just
traditional club and to feel and sound softer the head. Our focus is shifting from the
In addition to evaluating the structural than the previous model. The club also club head to the entire club and the swing.
performance of prototypes, Cleveland Golf needed to deliver a lower spin, but raising We’re trying to bring the best engineering
uses simulation to predict the sound club weight with a heavier crown would that we can to golf clubs.”

4. About Altair
Altair empowers client innovation and decision-making through
technology that optimizes the analysis, management and visualization
of business and engineering information. Privately held with more
than 1,300 employees, Altair has offices throughout North America,
South America, Europe and Asia/Pacific. With a 25-year-plus track
record for innovative product design and development, advanced
engineering software and grid computing technologies, Altair has more
than 3,500 corporate clients representing the automotive, aerospace,
government and defense, and consumer products verticals. Altair also
has a growing client presence in the life sciences, financial services
Visit the HyperWorks library of and energy markets.
Success Stories
at www.altairhyperworks.com
A Platform for Innovation TM
Performance Simulation Technology
HyperWorks is an enterprise simulation solution for rapid design
exploration and decision-making. As one of the most comprehensive,
open-architecture CAE solutions in the industry, HyperWorks includes
best-in-class modeling, analysis, visualization and data management
solutions for linear, nonlinear, structural optimization, fluid-structure
interaction, and multi-body dynamics applications.
www.altairhyperworks.com
One Platform. One License. One Source. All Access.
Altair’s HyperWorks platform for enterprise analytics has been opened
to third-party applications, all of which are available to customers
under one license using the revolutionary on-demand software
licensing system. Altair extends the HyperWorks Platform from 28
internally developed solutions to over 50 applications with the addition
of new partner applications. Customers can invoke these third party
applications with little or no incremental cost utilizing their existing
HyperWorks licenses.
www.hyperworksalliance.com
Altair Engineering, Inc., World Headquarters: 1820 E. Big Beaver Rd., Troy, MI 48083-2031 USA
Phone: +1.248.614.2400 • Fax: +1.248.614.2411 • www.altair.com • info@altair.com
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