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Market for CAE / Simulation software will reach $6.1 bn in 2020

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Cambashi, a leading global industry analyst and market consulting firm, together with partner intrinSIM announced its latest COVID-adjusted CAE/Simulation market data & forecast, which indicates the CAE (computer-aided engineering) market has been growing in double-digit figures and will continue on that path excluding 2020.

“These growth rates illustrate the beginning of the Simulation Revolution, which will continue to grow as more organizations realize that Engineering Simulation is a Key Driver to the Business Drivers that enable increased competitiveness,” said Joe Walsh, intrinSIM. “While 2020 will present lower growth rates, and Cambashi expects negative growth from e.g. the automotive industy, growth overall is still expected to be positive,” said Petra Gartzen, Senior Consultant, Cambashi.

Going forward, the trends that were driving adoption of simulation have not gone away because of COVID-19. The need to develop new, greener versions of any kind of product will accelerate, especially in industries generating vapor trails. And COVID-19 is also opening up new opportunities especially around modeling air flow, people movement, and space organization in any kind of building – be that a factory, a museum, an office, transport, etc. – where people spend significant amounts of time in close proximity. The need to provide a safe working environment to get industries back to some kind of normal situation could also result in new linkages between CAE and BIM vendors and CAE and IIoT/Connected Application technology providers.

Cambashi
www.cambashi.com/CAE

How the requirements of the cars of the future change component design

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Andreas Minatti, Head of Business Development, Dr. Rudolf Randler, Head of Simulation and Dr. Norbert Haberland, Head of Business Development and Cooperation AT at Datwyler, take a closer look at how safe, sustainable and more intelligent mobility is being enabled by the evolution of components in the cars of the future.

As the automotive industry continues to evolve, so too does the intelligence of vehicles on the world’s roads. From those operating the internal combustion engine (ICE) to hybrid and fully electric alternatives, elements such as advanced driver assistance systems – such as self-parking or the ability to follow other vehicles in traffic, for example – require new and ever more complex components. The flexibility to develop new solutions for emerging automotive systems is critical, and therefore the way in which vehicle manufacturers are working with component suppliers is also evolving.

At any level, these systems require a high degree of sensor functionality, whether it be in the form of cameras, radars, lidars or lasers, and how these components are secured, housed and sealed is a critical element to ensure their optimal performance. This is extremely important as, given the roles of these technologies, their reliability is directly connected to the safety of the vehicles they are embedded within, and ultimately the safety of the global road-using public. To put this into perspective in terms of numbers, sensor technology supporting advanced driver assistance systems with the final goal of full autonomous driving is projected to be worth some $60bn by 2030, with one in 10 vehicles on the road relying on the technology in that same year.

Here, we will highlight three examples of evolving approaches to mobility components, covering the integration of advanced functionalities, the advantages of simulation where material properties are concerned, and the integration of vibration damping in control electronics circuit boards. We will also take a closer look at the simulation process and how smart sealing solutions can play a positive role where sustainability is concerned.

Advanced autonomous vehicle technology requires component innovation and integration of functionalities
Given the need for the extensive use of measuring (sensing) and regulation (control) electronics and technology in the so-called cars of the future, sealing components for such applications must not only fulfil the classic sealing function, but also a wide range of additional requirements and needs. Human machine interaction and machine-to-machine interaction require fundamental changes to be implemented in the products we deliver in the future, and many elements need to be taken into consideration.

In the field of autonomous driving, these include:

• The integration of functionalities
• Miniaturization
• Material combinations for multi-component parts
• New materials that combine different physical properties
• Multi-component manufacturing processes

To highlight how these additional requirements can be integrated, consider housings for control electronics as an example. Such housings are often manufactured using a thermoplastic material, that forms a stable shell to protect the sensitive interior from environmental influences. In order to fulfil this function permanently, the material must have a sufficiently high impact resistance and dimensional stability, in particular a high heat resistance and excellent resistance to any occurring media – such as spray water, salt water, greases, mineral oils, fuels and cleaning agents.

Depending on the area of application, other requirements can also play a role, such as good thermal conductivity, high electrical conductivity for shielding electromagnetic fields, or low specific gravity for lightweight construction applications. Since such housings are often a part of larger components, they must have integrated connection points for installation in the surrounding assemblies. Overmoulded metal bushings are a good solution for mounting housings on larger components in the engine compartment, for example, as they form stable connection points for fastening the housing to larger components in the engine compartment, prevent local plastic deformation of the housing and ensure that the assembly forces that occur are transferred and distributed evenly into the housing.

Another key component of the housing is the elastomeric seal, the functions of which go far beyond classic sealing. The elastomer forms a complex three-dimensional flexible and elastic structure, often based on Liquid Silicon Rubber (LSR), which covers the entire interior of the control electronics’ housing. In addition to ensuring the static seal between the housing base and cover and protecting the interior, the seal or the sealing material’s elastic structure keeps electronic components in place via buffer elements. This dampens damaging mechanical vibrations and significantly improves heat dissipation from active electronic components to the environment.

Figure 1: Electronic Housings: Functionality Integration by Tailored Material Combination

 

Using early stage simulation of material properties for new applications to minimize development costs
The most important applications for elastomer materials, especially in terms of their use for sealing purposes, are based on their hyperelastic mechanical properties. In the case of housings for electronics or sensors, the elasticity of elastomers ensures the maintenance of a sealing pressure over long periods of time and across a wide temperature range, providing the flexibility necessary where compensation of design tolerances is concerned, thus saving production costs. In many modern applications, for example in autonomous driving, the integration of functions via the combination of different physical material properties is of crucial importance. In addition to their elasticity, these elastomer materials must provide further physical properties:

• Hyperelasticity
• Flexibility
• Viscoelasticity
• Mechanical damping properties
• Optical transparency in defined frequency bands (or wavelength ranges)
• Electrical conductivity
• Heat conductivity
• Dielectric or magnetic properties.

Such combinations of properties can be achieved with the help of new polymer materials specially synthesized to meet specific requirements. However, the development of such materials is very time consuming and expensive, requires specialist knowledge and synthesis equipment, and the resulting performance may still be very limited.

The desired additional material properties can often be achieved in a more efficient and successful way by incorporating special fillers into the base elastomers – a well-known method to elastomer manufacturers. Depending on the type of filler, its particle size distribution, particle shapes and particle concentrations, the desired material properties can be tailored to customer needs, at the same time streamlining an often labor-intensive process.

Simulation can support the development of such materials with novel properties and offers an excellent opportunity to calculate and predict the effects of fillers in the polymer matrix. This accelerates the development of such multi-phase or hierarchical materials. Based on an existing material or on an idea for a new material, a model for the material structure is created. Based on this so-called representative volume element (RVE) and the intrinsic properties of the components (matrix and filler), the desired properties, such as the thermal conductivity or the elastic behavior, can be calculated using finite element analysis. Thus, the composition of the new material can be optimized at an early stage and subsequent laboratory work can be significantly reduced.

Figure 2: Simulation supports the development of hierarchical materials with novel properties.

Ensuring vibration damping in control electronics circuit boards
Additionally, for specific applications, the viscoelastic material properties of elastomers play an important role, especially the damping properties. Certain damping properties of the material may be desirable to prevent components from vibrating too much during driving and under resonance conditions. An example of such an application is the integration of damping elements into the printed circuit boards of electronic circuits. In the example below, the circuit board is geometrically structured to provide the necessary flexibility within the overall design of the specific application. An integrated LSR structure supports the necessary flexibility and at the same time has a damping function to prevent damage caused by extended oscillations in case of resonance. The sensing and/or control electronics is mounted within a housing, and to fulfil its function reliably, it is necessary to mechanically decouple it from the housing and hence the vehicle vibrations.

Figure 3: Influence of the geometric design and material properties on the resonance characteristics (simulation results for a sensor electronics circuit).

Considering simulation early in the product development process to create optimal solutions
The development of new components and parts for next generation mobility applications has the potential to be a costly and often time-consuming process. Here, to eliminate the need for multiple prototypes, associated testing and analysis, working with a specialist components supplier with in-house expertise in the field of simulation can drastically accelerate speed to market, at the same time reducing capital expenditure in the development phase and beyond.

If we look at the simulation process itself and how it facilitates the development of new parts and their components, the ultimate aim is to design, visualize and optimize a virtual concept and then to support its transfer into real products and processes. By combining CAD tools to provide the geometries with simulation tools to create virtual models of specific parts, it is possible to calculate their functionality accurately before they even exist.

Following the CAD and as a part of the modelling stage, we have to assign specific material properties to the different parts of a component. Therefore, it is essential to perform a series of tests and then to model the necessary materials. This is an important prerequisite that can usually only be offered via specialist component manufacturers.

For many applications and products, experienced suppliers use their own tailor-made materials, so that customers do not have access to detailed material information from external sources. Therefore, suppliers need internal teams that are well equipped and have the skills to undertake all of the testing and mathematical modelling of these materials for simulations. In turn, these teams can also provide testing and modeling services for their customers, which adds an extra layer to the support offered throughout the process.

Turning to the functionality and design of parts, structural-mechanical calculations based on the finite element method enable the fine-tuning of the characteristics of a sealing element and the  optimization of its performance and design, thus allowing rapid progress from an initial draft to a convincing design proposal. There are many things and impact factors to consider – starting with the given mounting space, the influence of the applied loads such as displacements, pressures or temperatures, and the properties of the materials to be used. Top priority is to ensure functionality and seal integrity over a temperature range of often -40 °C (-40 °F) to +150 °C (302 °F), taking into account all design tolerances.

It is also necessary to look closely at how materials will behave in the production process, and here it is highly recommended that flow simulation is carried out. Everything from mold filling to optimizing the tools used for thermoplastic and elastomer molding processes can be analyzed, effectively simulating the entire manufacturing process, including the thermal management of the tools used and details such as temperature distribution over the mold to ensure consistency of quality.

The advantages for the customer of carrying out a product development within a co-engineering partnership with the supplier are clear, particularly where sealing applications are concerned. Sealing is very often the last element considered within a design, and the issues that can arise as a result of this element being carried out so late are many and varied, often requiring a solution that is not optimal for the design. All these dimensioning issues can be easily solved in the development phase with the corresponding design freedom, but are much more difficult to address in later phases after the design of some components or important parts of the system has already been frozen. By involving the supplier and using their specific knowledge at an early point in the development process, it is possible to optimize the design from the outset to ensure a global optimum as opposed to a local one.

Embedding sustainability in the mobility solutions of the future
One of the main focuses of electric vehicles (EVs) is to have a positive environmental impact, and here the processes involved in component development can help to bolster these goals. Sustainability starts with materials and can then continue to evolve as the process of component development progresses. Through optimizing the processes outlined above and the designs they are intended to produce, development teams can, in some instances, actually reduce the amount of materials required to deliver optimal performance.

From a design perspective, engineers specializing in sealing components are constantly looking at ways to incorporate bio-based materials and should have the capabilities in-house to develop materials from scratch that are tailor made to meet customers’ specific requirements. Ideally, they will also have in-house compliance experts, who in collaboration with material experts work to remove critical substances and identify those that may become obsolete under requirements such as Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). If they see that a material may be critical in the future, they do not use it for the development of materials. The right supplier should be your partner to stay ahead of the curve – designing to fulfil future legislative requirements as well as those currently in place.

Smart sealing solutions can also have a positive impact where environmental sustainability is concerned. Sensor active layers within elastomers can detect force, touch or even leakage, and in some instances can detect the presence of media on the surface of the seal, leading to higher levels of capability in terms of predictive maintenance. This is a highly desirable capability within battery packs, for example, where any form of leakage can lead to reduced functionality or even overheating.

Electronic components such as chips and sensors can also detect elements such as temperature and pressure when integrated into sealing solutions. If we take the battery pack as an example once more, monitoring thermal conditions is a critical element as optimal functionality is only achieved within a specific temperature window. The ability to monitor the status of components, not just for the driver of the vehicle, but also for the entire system, allows service or maintenance to be scheduled when it is actually required, rather than at intervals determined by best guesswork.

Ultimately, the cars of the future will be markedly different to those ICE vehicles we are so familiar with today. Perhaps on the surface the consumer will still see a means of travelling from A to B, but beneath the surface a world of changes is taking place as the technologies evolve ever further toward fully autonomous vehicles. The way manufacturers and their suppliers work together must change as a result, and with an approach that is focused on co-engineering, together these futuristic visions will be realized far more quickly and far more efficiently than was ever thought possible.

Datwyler
datawyler.com

 

Volume Graphics version 3.4 CT-Software includes Scan-to-CAD reverse engineering capabilities

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Digital analysis and physical testing are increasingly integrated with the pursuit of optimized product design and development across a wide swath of industries. With the release of its VGSTUDIO MAX version 3.4 software, Volume Graphics has added and augmented important functions that help designers and manufacturers capture and interrogate product data to improve final quality.

When there’s no 3D CAD model of an object available, VGSTUDIO MAX 3.4’s Reverse Engineering Module provides a suite of capabilities in one automated package. The Module can generate surfaces from a CT scan, or any voxel model converted from a closed mesh/point cloud scan, using an auto-surface function that is fast and accurate. This new function allows manually generated design models to be available digitally—without the need for a CAD designer or reverse-engineering specialist.

The new Reverse Engineering Module in VGSTUDIO MAX 3.4 makes it easy to convert CT scans into CAD models that can be used in any CAD system without the need for a CAD designer or reverse engineering specialist.

An important benefit is the ability to generate and archive 3D CAD models of legacy parts, as well as update those models in which the actual part or tool deviates from the master CAD model. This automates the creation of digital twins of individual parts and allows for validation of the model-to-part relationship. The recreated or newly validated CAD model can be exported as a STEP file to any CAD system. The software also enables CAM systems to mill on CAD instead of meshes.

Compare components or samples over time to detect damage and calculate strains with DVC
Measuring strain and quantifying and visualizing defects in material samples due to external loads are key tasks for materials scientists. The new Digital Volume Correlation (DVC) Module in VGSTUDIO MAX 3.4 helps users to quantify displacements and strains simply and intuitively between multiple states over time. It enables a precise insight into the material at hand, e.g., to detect cracks and to measure the local strain.

Displacement between two datasets acquired during an in-situ test on a fiber-reinforced polymer, as visualized in VGSTUDIO MAX 3.4 software. Data provided by the Institute of Applied Materials at Karlsruhe Institute for Technology (KIT) in Germany.

This is particularly useful for gaining a deeper understanding of foams, fiber composite materials, or additively manufactured (AM, aka 3D-printed) porous samples or components. Voxel-based, three-dimensional volumes are automatically correlated by the software, allowing for before-and-after comparisons of in-situ experiments. Results are visualized in extreme detail, making it easy to pinpoint exactly where defects or damage have occurred.

The user can quantify and visualize problems like cracks and pores, which can be missed by the naked eye, by comparing datasets at different states over time with the initial undamaged data. Results are visualized via color overlay, vector fields or strain lines. The equivalent strain or single components of the strain tensor can be shown as a color overlay and mapped directly on a volume mesh to validate the results of FEA simulations.

VGSTUDIO MAX also allows for mapping microstructure information such as fiber orientation, fiber-volume content, or matrix porosity on the same mesh that is used for the FEA. This allows the user to consider all significant microstructure information within a mechanical model and validate it by comparing FEA and DVC results.

VGSTUDIO MAX 3.4 provides stunning visualizations that show a spatial impression of the displacement field.

DVC is not only helpful in the laboratory—it is also a powerful tool to detect internal damage for maintenance of composite materials, like those in a helicopter blade, by comparing a scan acquired after manufacturing with another scan of the same part after several years of use.

Other enhancements to version 3.4
In addition to the new reverse engineering and volume comparison enhancements, VGSTUDIO MAX 3.4 also includes:

–New visualization options for deviations of geometric tolerances to answer questions such as: Where exactly are the highest deviations located? How are the deviations distributed on a surface? Which areas of the surface were actually evaluated?
–Subvoxel-accurate defect detection with VGEasyPore to differentiate between gas pores and shrinkage cavities.
–Stress tensor export in a .csv file of stress fields calculated using the VGSTUDIO MAX Structural –Mechanics Simulation Module, e.g., for fatigue analysis.
–New, more intuitive Tool Dock that reduces mouse travel needed to navigate.
–Support of 4K displays for a crisper, sharper, and scalable graphical user interface.

Volume Graphics software provides a visual, comprehensive, and easily understandable representation of a part’s geometrical deviations. Depending on the toleranced element, certain methods for visualizing the actual deviations can be activated, e.g., a colored and scaled deviation vector for position tolerances (above), while simultaneously showing entire patterns of position tolerances.

Many of the enhanced capabilities released in this latest version of Volume Graphics’ software have been developed with direct input from customers. The result is a high-performance, automated package of CT-scan data analysis and visualization tools that supports design and development engineers, and manufacturers, in producing the highest-quality, most-competitive products possible.

Volume Graphics
www.volumegraphics.com

Generative Design tool ‘thinks like an engineer’ enabling designers to explore ideas

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MSC Software Corporation (MSC), a global leader in Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) simulation software and services and part of Hexagon’s Manufacturing Intelligence division, released MSC Apex Generative Design 2020, a tool that enables engineers to explore new approaches and optimize any part of their design in one step to develop innovative products up to 80% faster than conventional approaches.

MSC Apex Generative Design generates lightweight and smoothed preliminary component concepts based on just the engineering goals. It does away with the iterative process of eliminating unsuitable candidates, freeing up the engineer’s time to explore the design space and find more optimal and novel solutions by fine tuning pre-vetted, manufacturing-ready designs.

With MSC Apex Generative Design:

–A surgeon can create a smarter, latticed implant design that’s pre-validated for additive manufacturing and the same weight as the bone it replaced, improving biocompatibility to encourage muscle attachment and patient comfort.

–The aerospace engineer can redesign a product part-by-part for lightweighting, confident in maintaining the same performance and safety while improving efficiency.

–An automotive designer can build a motorcycle chassis that is 56% lighter than previous iterations, improving range while saving on fuel consumption.

–Manufacturers can exploit the capabilities of additive manufacturing and optimize their designs to enable first-time-right part production for entirely new products.

MSC Apex Generative Design can run on a normal laptop to generate initial candidates within an hour, and produce a final design within a matter of hours. Adding to its accessibility, the tool is also now equipped with an intuitive interface, opening its capabilities up to designers and engineers without specialized knowledge of computer aided engineering. Design goals can be set up directly, or set against an existing design from Computer Aided Design (CAD) or directly from CAE models.

MSC Apex Generative Design performs topology optimization and intelligent smoothing in a single step, producing parts with low distortion risk and ‘bionic’ printable geometries. The resulting parts are automatically designed for performance, balancing the material use with strength requirements and stress distribution.

Users can link MSC Apex Generative Design with industry-leading manufacturing simulation tools Simufact Additive for metals and Digimat AM for polymers to reduce build failures and make optimal use of materials at every step.

The new tool was first announced in November 2019. This first major release introduces new controls that make it easier for designers to adjust the complexity of the generated designs and how much the fixation points can be reduced. It also exploits many productivity benefits of the underlying MSC Apex platform, for example direct export of engineered models (mesh) to Computer Aided Design (CAD) formats so that generative design optimisation can be used within common CAD/CAM manufacturing workflows.

Hexagon | MSC Software
www.mscsoftware.com/product/msc-apex-generative-design

 

Siemens delivers Artificial Intelligence-powered CAD sketching technology

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Siemens Digital Industries Software announced a new solution for capturing concepts in 2D. The NX Sketch software tool enhances sketching in CAD. By changing the underlying technology, users are  able to sketch without pre-defining parameters, design intent, and relationships. Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to infer relationships on the fly, users can move away from a paper hand sketch and truly create concept designs within NX software. This technology offers flexibility in concept design sketching, and makes it easy to work with imported data, allowing rapid design iteration on legacy data, and to work with tens of thousands of curves within a single sketch. With these latest enhancements to NX, Siemens’ Xcelerator portfolio continues to bring together advanced technology, even within the core of modeling techniques, helping remove the traditional barriers users have experienced to dramatically improve productivity.

Analysis has shown that in an average day or workflow, around 10% of a typical user’s day is spent sketching. In addition, within current design environments most concept sketching is happening outside of the CAD software due to the level of rules and relationships that must be decided on and built into the sketch by the user up front. Often designers in concept design stage do not necessarily know what the final product may be, which requires a sketching environment that is flexible and can evolve with the design. NX offers the flexibility of 2D paper concept design within the 3D CAD environment, as the first in the industry to eliminate upfront constraints on the design. Instead of defining and being limited by constraints such as size or relationships, NX can recognize tangents and other design relationships to adjust on the fly.

“Sketching is at the heart of CAD and is critical to capturing the intent of the digital twin,” said Bob Haubrock, Senior Vice President, Product Engineering Software at Siemens Digital Industries Software. “Even though this is an essential part of the process, sketching hasn’t changed much in the last 40 years. Using technology and innovations from multiple past acquisitions, Siemens is able to take a fresh look at this crucial design step and modernize it in a way that will help our customers achieve significant gains in productivity and innovation.”

Siemens Digital Industries Software
www.sw.siemens.com
www.plm.automation.siemens.com/global/en/products/mechanical-design/2d-and-3d-cad-modeling.html

 

OnScale and Lexma launch Moebius LBM CFD Solver for advanced fluid dynamics simulations

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OnScale, a global leader in Cloud Engineering Simulation, announces the availability of the Moebius Lattice-Boltzmann Method (LBM) Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) solver on the OnScale Cloud Engineering Simulation platform.

“Moebius represents a step-change in CFD speed, power, and democratization for digital prototyping of devices involving fluid flows,” says David Freed, CTO of OnScale and a Digital Physicist with a 25-year track record of advancing LBM CFD technology at MIT, Exa Corporation, and Dassault Systѐmes. “Moebius running on the massively scalable OnScale Cloud Engineering Simulation platform will break barriers to innovation for a variety of applications such as lab-on-a-chip, MEMS, and medical diagnostic and treatment devices like next-generation ventilators and respirators.”

Airflow simulation in a UV sterilization chamber of an iPAP ventilator for COVID-19 patients.

Unlike Navier-Stokes CFD methods which simulate bulk fluid flow, LBM takes a kinetic theory approach to simulating fluid flows, which enables the simulation of complex biomedical and engineering problems, including multiphase flows (e.g. simulating control and management of multi-species droplets in microfluidic devices), particle transport (e.g. simulating sorting of blood and cancer tumor cells), and fluid-structure interaction (e.g. simulating efficient micro-scale actuators in MEMS applications). The resulting simulations provide unique insight and design guidance for engineers advancing new technologies.

Combining the power of the Moebius solver with the massive scalability of OnScale in the cloud enables both huge simulations and parallel execution of large numbers of simulations on cloud supercomputers.

“Integrating Moebius with the OnScale Cloud Engineering Simulation platform allows our team to focus on our mission – creating the world’s best LBM CFD solutions – while leveraging OnScale’s cloud supercomputer scalability and SimAPI for CAD import, model setup, data management, and viewing simulation results,” says Franck Pérot, CEO of Lexma Technologies. “We also get OnScale’s account management, billing, customer support, and marketing and sales automation features built-in.”

Fighting COVID-19 in Low-Income Countries: How Digital Prototyping Empowers Engineers to Advance the Design of Medical Devices

“With Moebius running on OnScale, we were able to optimize the design of our Intelligent Positive Air Pressure (iPAP) machine with UV disinfecting chamber,” says Shashi Buluswar, CEO of the Institute for Transformative Technology (ITT). “Using OnScale and Moebius to create Digital Prototypes of our device dramatically shortened our physical prototyping cost and time and allowed us to accelerate our goal of delivering critical iPAP devices to low-income countries to save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Left to right: Simulation iterations from a suboptimal design to an optimized configuration of the iPAP UV sterilizer chamber.

A critical design and engineering aspect of the iPAP device is the UV disinfecting chamber, which is intended to disinfect up to 99.9% of the air exhaled from a COVID-19 patient’s lungs. The ITT team needed to minimize size, cost, and heat generated by the chamber while maximizing the amount of time air spends in it. The team used Moebius running on OnScale to simulate many “Digital Prototypes” of the disinfecting chamber and process until converging on a winning, manufacturable design.

OnScale
ww.OnScale.com

Lexma Technology
www.lexma-tech.com

2020 & beyond: 6 more megatrends to watch in engineering modeling & simulation

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Bruce Jenkins | Ora Research

Early last year we reviewed in this blog post eight megatrends in engineering modeling and simulation that dominate the thinking and decision-making of engineering organizations and their technology providers today, and that we believe will continue to do so well into the years ahead. We wrote then:

This second decade of the twenty-first century is witnessing an explosion of invention and innovation in digital engineering technologies unrivaled since the 1980s, when so many foundational tools and methods were either created or brought to practical fruition. Here are eight megatrends that we believe will drive generational leaps forward in engineering modeling and simulation technologies, methods and work processes through 2020 and well beyond:

  • Simulation-led, systems-driven product development.
  • Democratization of engineering modeling and simulation.
  • Simulation app revolution.
  • Design space exploration.
  • Topology, materials and process optimization for additive manufacturing.
  • Simulation for the Industrial IoT and Industry 4.0.
  • Big-data analytics in simulation.
  • Cloud HPC for simulation.

Now, here are six more large-scale trends that we think are already beginning to drive major technology developments and end-user investments aimed at fostering cost, schedule, quality, performance and innovation improvements in the engineering and production of discretely manufactured products (many will benefit process manufacturers and other AEC industry participants as well):

  • 21st– century data management: Separate the data from the data model (Aras, Onshape, Frustum…).
  • From PIDO to fully automated design space exploration: 20+ years of evolution—then a revolution.
  • New requirements-management technologies that automatically link—via new systems-level engineering technologies—requirements fulfillment during the course of system-level product design (MapleSIM, Simulink…) back to digitally captured system requirements definitions (SysML, Rational Rhapsody…), and automatically track and report divergences and convergences between the two as the design evolves.
  • Generative design design space exploration: What’s alike? What’s different? When is each appropriate?
  • AI and ML (machine learning) in engineering modeling and simulation—the next steps beyond big-data analytics for simulation.
  • Further breakthroughs in co-simulation: Simultaneous instead of step-wise simulation of multiple physical domains, and at multiple (mixed) fidelities—0D, 1D, 2D, 3D; also 4D and 5D in AEC.

Previews

21st– century data management

Aras’s insight to separate the data from the data model makes them, a bit ironically, the technology vendor that will relieve legacy PLM vendors of the prohibitive burden of somehow hoisting their SQL-based PDM offerings into the cloud, yet still link them into today’s truly “open” world. Because Aras’s technology architecture has already done it for them, before them.

And without charging a penny for the technology. Aras makes its software available as freeware. Users can download, evaluate, and implement it in production usage—all for zero dollars. If users then need customization and integration to link into their unique multi-application environments, Aras is available to do this, for fair and reasonable service fees. An extraordinarily apt 21st-century business model, we think.

From PIDO to fully automated design space exploration: 20+ years of evolution—then a revolution

This breakthrough was sparked by HEEDS from Red Cedar Technology, a paradigm-disrupting startup that commercialized university-developed technology under the leadership of Bob Ryan, and was subsequently acquired by Siemens PLM. HEEDS has set a new direction now being pursued by almost every major DSE technology provider.

Generative design vs. contemporary design space exploration

When early adopters of generative design technology discover what fully automated design space exploration technology can do, will they feel underserved by their generative-design technology providers putting forth tools that still require, today, an arguably unnecessary exertion of effort by engineers and designers in making decisions that the software should be making for them?

Or, instead, is generative design an entirely appropriate technology for disciplines and end-user markets where not all problems and sought-for outcomes can be expressed in an entirely determinative manner? The jury is still out on this one, we believe. After users gain more experience with both approaches—and with continuing maturation of both technology classes—time will tell.

Looking forward

Watching the answers to all these questions take shape is going to be fascinating. We greatly look forward to following and reporting here on these and many more game-changing technologies and trends as they unfold in the quarters and years to come. Stay tuned!

Selected background reading

Aras acquires Comet Solutions

HEEDS MDO

MapleMBSE from Maplesoft radically expands accessibility of model-based systems engineering

CosiMate from Chiastek: Co-simulation conduit for multifidelity systems modeling

Cloud-native CAD will disrupt the PLM platform paradigm

Altair announces major updates to its software

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Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in product development, high-performance computing (HPC), and data analytics, announced a significant software update. All of Altair’s software products have been updated with new features, including intuitive workflows that empower users to streamline product development, allowing customers to get to market faster.

The software update release expands on the number of solutions available for designers, engineers, and others to drive better decisions and accelerate the pace of innovation. It broadens the scope of the new user experience, enables access to more physics, data analytics, and machine learning, and makes the Altair software delivery method more flexible and accessible.

Some of the highlights:
• Structures
–Altair HyperWorks – new interface to Altair’s solution for high-fidelity computer-aided engineering (CAE) modeling and visualization, making learning easy and productivity high
–New subsystem entity for modular model configuration
–Altair SimLab – fatigue optimization
–Altair OptiStruct ¬– includes the addition of new explicit solution and expanded implicit non-linear solutions including 2D axisymmetry
–Altair SimSolid – includes advanced 3D seam weld connections to further improve speed
–Altair Radioss – employs a dramatic reduction in runtimes for virtual drop testing of electronics devices

• Fluids and Thermal
–HyperWorks CFD – provides engineers and experienced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) specialists with the most productive CFD pre- and post-processing capabilities to-date
–Altair AcuSolve – GPU acceleration yields 3-4 times increased speed while also supporting nucleate boiling, radiation, condensation/evaporation and multiphase fluid-structure interaction (FSI)
–Altair ultraFluidX – includes a new, more accurate wall model and overset grid technique
–Altair nanoFluidX – is three times faster than the previous version

• Industrial Design and Structures
–Altair Inspire integration of Altair SimSolid solver includes support and connector reaction forces, instantaneous reaction time modeling large PolyNURBS models, and improved geometry generation from optimization
–Inspire Studio – advanced morphing of any geometry type

• Manufacturing
–3D printing simulation available in Inspire with new unit cell lattice generation

• Electromagnetics and Multiphysics
–SimLab – electric motor modeling and coupling with AcuSolve and Altair Flux; accommodates ECAD file import (ODB++)
–Altair Feko – provides a component library tightly integrated with CADFEKO
–Altair FluxMotor now includes thermal and acoustics evaluation
–Flux includes several enhancements including those for modeling iron losses and skew type motors

• Systems Modeling
–Altair Activate – performs multi-physics system modeling with hardware-in-the-loop and Internet of Things (IoT) for digital twin development
–Integration of EDEM bulk material modeling with multibody dynamics simulation and hydraulics ideal for heavy equipment and agricultural applications
–Altair MotionView – has a two-wheeler vehicle dynamics library for motorcycles and scooters
–Altair Compose – OpenMatrix Language available in Jupyter Notebook
–Altair Embed – supports three additional target and two additional target families from ST Micro, VRTOS code modifications for MISRA compliance, and OpenCV DNN (Deep Neural Network) module integration

• Data Analytics
–Recent release of Altair Panopticon – platform for user-driven monitoring of real-time data – includes major update of cloud-based deployment, enabling users to build, modify, and share custom-designed functions and content easily via standard web browsers; hotfix to enable deployment at Nomura
–Altair Knowledge Hub – improved messages for troubleshooting and robustness; security hardening; more flexible Windows deployment; deployment on Azure; transformations including continuous binning and lookup join (refactoring for performance) and more
–Altair Monarch – complex Excel input support – “Excel Trapping”; PDF extraction improvements; user experience and UI improvements; enhanced column list and more
–Altair Knowledge Studio – new features including Keras model, model stacking, and pivot table; variable transformations node improvements with dataset and variable preview and re-ordering

• Smart Product Development
–Altair SmartWorks – major re-architecture of the edge orchestration and augmentation; ability to validate the edge application in real-time environments and deploy at scale

• HPC and Cloud
–Altair Access – updated “work from home” features; more responsive 3D remote visualization; internationalization; better job resource charts; two-factor authentication and single sign-on; share support on mobile
–Altair Accelerator – EDA workload support on AWS (with Rapid Scaling), Microsoft Azure, and GCP; 10x faster for dynamic workloads; container improvements; REST query API; IPv6
–Altair PBS Professional – scalability improvements towards exascale; Cray Shasta support; container enhancements for converged AI+HPC workloads; better system maintenance support

All products are available through the Altair licensing model, making access to all Altair’s software broader and more flexible.

Altair
www.altair.com/2020

Update for IRONCAD 2020 improves productivity and manufacturing workflows

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IronCAD introduces the first update for IRONCAD 2020, the latest release from a leader in design productivity of 3D CAD programs and preferred software of machine designers and engineers globally. The IRONCAD 2020 Product Update #1 (PU1) features enhancements and capabilities that enable IronCAD users to accelerate productivity and improve product development, from conceptual design to manufactured products, and create value for their organizations.

Designed with a focus on performance, quality improvements, and design productivity, IronCAD’s research and development team delivered IRONCAD 2020 PU1 in response to enhancement requests from the IronCAD community around the world. With the many new capabilities and enhancements in PU1, users can benefit from an array of options and opportunities to improve system performance in their daily operations, streamline workflows and seek new levels of collaboration and agility to more quickly and cost-effectively deliver products to their customers.

Among the many new improvements and capabilities in IRONCAD 2020 Product Update #1 are:

–Open/Save/Import Performance: Continued improvements have been performed in this area to reduce the load/save times of extremely large assembly data sets to improve the overall performance when designing with large assembly files.

–IronCAD Drawing (ICD) View Creation/Update – Improvements have been made to improve the view creation and view update speed in the drawing environment, especially with large assembly files.

–IronCAD Drawing (ICD) View Camera Performance – New options to control functions additional performance settings have been added to aid in the overall camera interaction performance when interacting and detailing drawings.

Further improvements within Product Update #1 also include enhanced general quality improvements to the 2D Technical Drawing Area. Aligned with IronCAD’s position as a productivity leader for CAD software, PU1 also boasts improvements to the Bulk View Creation for automated drawing creation, including new search capabilities and creation from a selected set of parts/assemblies. Additional productivity improvements in PU1 improve the Sheet metal capabilities for Out/In Bend Automatic alignment to the angled stock, Quick Access commands added to right-click menus to improve speed and visibility in accessing commands as well as improvements to now create singled drawing sheets quickly from the selected elements in the scene.

IronCAD
www.ironcad.com/whatsnew
www.ironcad.com/free-online-trial

Online COMSOL Conference 2020 is announced for October 7-8

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COMSOL-53-release-3-croppedCOMSOL has announced that the COMSOL Conference 2020 North America will be held on October 7–8, 2020 in a virtual format. The annual Conference, a meeting focusing on advancing skills and furthering collaboration among engineers and scientists in the area of multiphysics simulation, will for the first time run online. Participants, from the comfort of their own workstations, will be able to experience event highlights, including:

• Invited speakers from industry and academia sharing their experiences using multiphysics modeling and simulation apps
• COMSOL keynotes featuring news and software product announcements
• User presentations showcasing research achievements and innovative design projects
• Panel discussions on simulation apps, heat transfer modeling, and electromagnetics simulation
• Tech Cafés, interactive sessions where software developers and technical product managers take modeling questions directly form COMSOL users
• Minicourses offering learning opportunities for any level of simulation expertise, from introductory to advanced
• Virtual exhibition and poster session

“With recent travel restrictions and social distancing in mind, moving the conference online this year is clearly the best option,” said Lauren Sansone, marketing and events director at COMSOL Inc. “The COMSOL Conference North America will be easy to join online, without travel time or time away from home. We believe that the online conference will be attractive to many, as it will also be easier to fit with a busy schedule and other obligations. As we will miss out on in-person meetings, we will be placing extra emphasis on providing interactive, small group sessions, and one-on-one discussions. An added benefit is that we will also have access to COMSOL’s global pool of engineers, as it will be equally easy for them to join the conversations, from anywhere.”

For event details and registration, please visit: COMSOL Conference 2020 North America.

Abstract Submission for Posters and Papers
The Program Committee for the COMSOL Conference 2020 North America is now inviting abstract submissions for posters and papers on simulation work and applications from users of COMSOL Multiphysics to present at the conference.

The papers and posters accepted for presentation will later be shared with the community through the open-access Technical Papers and Presentations database Technical Papers and Presentations database, with a global reach.

The abstract submission deadlines for the COMSOL Conference 2020 North America are: Early Bird submission by July 17th; Final Abstract submission by August 21st. For information and guidelines for abstract submission, please visit: Call for Papers and Posters.

The conference presentations have a broad scope, and the call for papers includes topics such as:

• AC/DC electromagnetics
• Acoustics and vibrations
• Batteries, fuel cells, and electrochemical processes
• Bioscience and bioengineering
• Chemical reaction engineering
• Computational fluid dynamics
• Electromagnetic heating
• Geophysics and geomechanics
• Heat transfer and phase change
• MEMS and nanotechnology
• Metal Processing
• Microfluidics
• Multiphysics
• Optics, photonics, and semiconductors
• Optimization and inverse methods
• Particle tracing
• Piezoelectric devices
• Plasma physics
• Porous Media Flow
• RF and microwave engineering
• Simulation methods and teaching
• Structural mechanics and thermal stresses
• Transport phenomena

COMSOL
www.comsol.com