Ambulance manufacturer Crestline Coach is developing a new, larger vehicle to serve the 2026 FIFA World Cup events in Canada. As a company known for highly customized ambulances, Crestline faces a recurring challenge: interior changes can alter cabin airflow, heat distribution, and structural strength. To address this, Crestline used SimScale’s cloud-based platform, combining fluid dynamics (CFD) and structural (FEA) analysis, across separate engineering challenges.
- For one ambulance model built for extreme winter, multi-casualty operations, engineers developed a compact, vortex-based air mixer that blends hot air from an auxiliary heater with colder air, drawing on aerospace-inspired mixing principles and aiming to provide suitable cabin temperatures without moving components.
- For the World Cup vehicle specifically, the larger size required a heavier HVAC condenser, prompting engineers to redesign its mounting bracket and use vibration simulation, supported by real-world vehicle data, to assess structural performance under expected operating conditions.
Crestline says it also now uses simulation to evaluate design changes on the factory floor, and plans to extend it to external aerodynamics, HVAC noise, and battery-powered climate systems.
Image generated by: ChatGPT