PITTSBURGH, PA – ALGOR, Inc. announced that the Chinese Mechanical Engineering Society (CMES) has chosen to formally incorporate ALGOR finite element analysis (FEA) software into its national Mechanical Design Engineer (MDE) qualification examination. Students who successfully complete the exam receive certification as a qualified mechanical design engineer, having demonstrated proficiency in using popular computer-aided engineering (CAE) software – such as ALGOR FEA – to solve engineering problems.

Headquartered in Beijing, China, CMES is a professional society engaged in promoting the art and science of mechanical engineering. CMES sponsors MDE qualification examinations at test centers in provinces throughout China. Earning MDE certification can help engineering students qualify for internships as well as increase career opportunities.

www.algor.com

www.cmes.org

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SANTA ANA, Calif. – MSC.Software (NASDAQ: MSCS) announced that Bell Helicopter Textron (NYSE: TXT) has selected its enterprise simulation management solution, SimManager to drive innovation and accelerate new product development.

SimManager, a component of SimEnterprise, is MSC.Software’s enterprise simulation data and process management solution, and has been selected as a key component to support Bell Helicopter’s initiative for accelerated new product development. The deployment of SimManager across Bell Helicopter’s engineering organization is strategic to harnessing simulation data management and process automation, establishing a standardized simulation and testing knowledge database, and helping to rationalize in-house and legacy technology onto a common integrated environment.

www.textron.com

www.mscsoftware.com

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NATICK, Mass. – The MathWorks announced that its “Crossover to Model-Based Design” Award for the final year of Challenge X has been presented to a team of student engineers from The Ohio State University. The students were honored for their exceptional achievements in creating, simulating, and analyzing models for vehicle design and subsystem control using Model-Based Design with MathWorks tools.

Challenge X, a four-year student engineering competition that explored vehicle solutions aimed at reducing energy consumption and carbon emissions, involved 17 student teams, each representing a North American university or college. The teams reengineered a General Motors (GM) Chevrolet Equinox to minimize energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions while maintaining the vehicle’s utility and performance. During the first year of the challenge, the teams focused on modeling, simulating, and testing the vehicle powertrain and subsystems selected by each school. Over the next three years teams focused on the development and integration of advanced powertrain and subsystems. Using Model-Based Design with MathWorks tools was an essential component of each team’s strategy to meet the challenge.

Last year’s award winner, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terre Haute, IN ), won second place; University of Waterloo (Waterloo, Ontario, Canada ) placed third.

“We decided to use year four of the competition to take a hard look at what we could improve upon from last year,” said Giorgio Rizzoni, team advisor for Ohio State. “Using MATLAB, Simulink, and Model-Based Design, the team was able to refine its control strategy and improve the overall performance of the vehicle.”

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and GM recently announced the successor to Challenge X—EcoCAR: The NeXt Challenge. This three-year competition kicks off in the summer with 16 student teams working to design vehicles that reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and demonstrate real-world performance of a range of technology options. The technologies explored in EcoCAR mirror those being investigated by the automotive industry.

www.mathworks.com

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Westminster, CA – Noran Engineering, Inc. will demonstrate new software at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Conference (AUVSI) in San Diego, CA June 10-12. NEi’s software portfolio allows engineers to virtually test air, land, and maritime vehicles and components for mechanical stress, deformation, vibration, thermal and other technical parameters at the design stage before prototypes or parts are fabricated. Engineering simulation benefits the overall design process by giving developers the tools to explore design alternatives, identify problems, optimize component function, and save time and resources in prototypes and test.

Screenshot of NEi Nastran Finite Element Analysis (FEA) software used to investigate distribution of stresses on an innovative aircraft platform of carbon composite using crossflow fans for thrust and flow in place of a conventional propeller.  Courtesy of Propulsive Wing LLC and Allred & Associates.  www.NEiNastran.com

Examples of new virtual test technology from NEi includes Automated Impact Analysis (AIA™), composite material modeling and Progressive Ply Failure Analysis (PPFA™), Automated Surface Contact Generation (ASCG™), and Design Optimization. AIA is used for a variety of impact scenarios from military projectiles to drop testing of electronics like cellphones and laptops. PPFA provides insight into composite damage mechanisms so engineers can get the maximum benefit from this class of material. Composites are a frequent material choice in unmanned systems because of their exceptional performance characteristics like high strength to weight ratio and stealth. ASCG makes realistic simulation of contact in assemblies practical and affordable because it eliminates the tedious time consuming aspects in this task. Design Optimization finds solutions to problems that have competing parameters, for example, structures that must be both strong and light.

NEi is at Booth # 135 and invites attendees with an interest in virtual test software to sign up prior to the show at www.NENastran.com/AUVSI2008 so material may be prepared that can address your specific application.

www.NEiNastran.com

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FIELDVIEW 11.1, from Intelligent Light, delivers scalable post-processing to users of multi-core workstations, large shared memory systems, and cluster computing environments. As the size of data needing analysis has grown by 25 times, programs have increased the speeds of their processors. Fieldview offers a five times speed increase on 8 CPUs, necessary when post-processing realistic, multigrid CFD simulations on systems using AMD Opteron processors.

www.ilight.com

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One hundred years ago, Alberto Santos-Dumont flew one of the first heavier-than-air
machines in Europe. Recently, a team of Brazilian students used the ANSYS ICEM CFD
and CFX software to analyze and understand airflow around that plane’s surface.

For the CAD model of the 14-Bis students meshed surfaces using hexahedral elements
and represented volumes with a tetra/prism mesh. ANSYS ICEM CFD software created
both high-quality surface and volumetric meshes.

Santos-Dumont was an aircraft pioneer. On October 23, 1906, he flew his aircraft, named
the 14-Bis, almost 200 feet at Bagatelli Field in Paris, France, witnessed by officials from
what would become the Federation Aeronautique Internationale. The 14-Bis consisted of
a long neck at the front of the craft with wings in the rear. The pilot maneuvered the
plane from a standing position.

The students used modern engineering simulation to demonstrate the 14-Bis’ ability to
fly. By analyzing drag and lift as well as engine thrust, the team simulated the flight
speed of the aircraft, nearly matching the recorded values.

Qualitative analysis of the pressure field was provided through the ANSYS CFX
computational fluid dynamics software.

The plane model was developed using historic pictures, plans and discussion. Due to
complex geometry, the team used ICEM CFD software to create both high-quality
surface and volumetric meshes. CFX computational fluid dynamics tools simulated the
airflow around the aircraft.

The students also studied the influence of engine power on flight performance.

Santos-Dumont first flight attempt failed, but in his second attempt, he increased nominal
power to 50 hp. With simulated drag, lift, and engine thrust data, the students estimated
possible angle-of-attack of around 5 degrees and flight speed ranging from 12 to 14 mps.
The value of 11 mps is generally quoted as the ground-related speed. The discrepancy
could be due to the presence of wind or ground effects during the centennial flight, which
were not taken into account in the simulation.

“The CFD 14-Bis project was very much a forensic analysis for ANSYS, arming
engineers and designers with a better understanding of cause and effect of equipment
performance,” said Chris Reid, vice president, marketing at ANSYS, Inc. “It is
fascinating to see the validation of flight designs from 100 years ago with the cutting
edge simulation and modeling tools of today.”

Ansys, Inc.­
www.ansys.com

 

A normal active childhood can elude small children and infants with defective heart valves. Soon, however, that may change thanks to LaunchPoint Technologies, a venture-engineering firm specializing in incubating startups and developing new technology. This company is researching a Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device (Pediatric VAD) that, if successful, will aid infants and small children with congenital or acquired cardiac disease. Children receiving this device will be able to run and play like other children, yet obtain the ventricular assist they need. This device would be the first designed specifically to provide long-term cardiac support to these special patients.

 
This prototype of the Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device was developed using CFD software from Ansys Corp.

Thorough computational fluid analysis plays a critical role in the design of the PediaFlow. The researchers must analyze the complex blood flow field and find the right blood flow path through the pump that will maximize hydrodynamic performance while minimizing any induced damage to the blood.  

Each component was modeled to ensure maximum blood flow through the tiny heart valves with as little damage as possible.

The CFD program the researchers chose is ANSYS CFX. They have integrated it with their own internally developed design tools — geometric models, automatic mesh generators, and mathematical blood damage models.

When
implanted, this device, which is a little larger than a 25-cent coin
will help infants and small children lead more normal lives.

The CFX program is intuitive to set up and delivers quick and accurate results, which are a few of the reasons why LaunchPoint chose the software for its Pediatric VAD.   

Ansys Corp.
www.ansys.com

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SANTA ANA, Calif. – MSC.Software Corp., a leading global provider of enterprise simulation solutions and services announced that Brunel GmbH, a Germany-based provider of technology and management consulting, has selected SimXpert to deliver faster, more accurate, cost-efficient results to customers within the automotive and aerospace industry. With SimXpert, Brunel can leverage a fully integrated, multidisciplinary mechanical simulation environment for its automotive and aerospace customers.

Auto manufacturing is one of the most significant industries to the German economy, and German automakers face fierce global competition, making technical innovation and cost efficiency critical. To reduce development time and enable its engineers to test multiple variables simultaneously in a collaborative environment, Brunel selected SimXpert.

“Brunel has a long history of providing the most innovative technical consulting in the industry. We selected SimXpert because we want to bring our customers the greatest value and most advanced technology on the market,” said Carsten Siebeneich, general manager of Brunel in Germany. “MSC. Software is the leader in the multidiscipline simulation space, so choosing them made perfect sense for our growing practice.”

“The partnership between Brunel’s world-class domain expertise and MSC.Software’s multidiscipline simulation technology is the ultimate win for customers,” said Amir Mobayen, Senior Vice President, EMEA for MSC.Software. “We are proud to work with Brunel to deliver the best-of-breed solutions to customers within the German automotive industry.”

About SimXpert accelerates the speed and accuracy of simulation; automates simulation processes and tasks; captures knowledge; and radically improves the analysis process.  SimXpert provides the tools needed to extend global engineering processes to the enterprise and supply chain level through SimXpert’s Template Studio, SimTemplate.  Once created, SimTemplate can be managed by SimManager and be shared with a variety of role-based users.

About Brunel
Brunel specializes in the support of development and innovation projects for the industry, with an interdisciplinary team of engineering and management experts. One of the focal points of the globally active company is the processing of technology and management issues as a project. Depending on the customer’s requirements, the corresponding Brunel specialists become active and supplement the existing project team within the customer’s company with their expertise.

In Germany, Brunel offers engineering and management expertise of 1,650 experienced engineers from 50 locations. In so doing, the company is primarily active in the automotive, IT, electronics, telecommunications, aerospace, mechanical engineering and plant constructions, railway technology and shipbuilding sectors.

For more information, visit www.brunel.de/english.

About MSC.Software Corporation
MSC.Software is the global leader of enterprise simulation solutions, that help companies make money, save time and reduce costs associated with designing and testing manufactured products.  MSC.Software works with thousands of companies in hundreds of industries to develop better products faster by utilizing information technology, software, services and systems.  MSC.Software employs more than 1200 people in 23 countries.  

MSC Software Corporation
2 MacArthur Place
Santa Ana, CA 92707
USA Tel: (714) 540-8900
Fax: (714) 784-4056
For more information, visit www.mscsoftware.com.

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