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Simulation Software

RBF Morph speeds real-time design-data feedback

October 25, 2019 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

As engineers in industry and research look to develop Digital Twins of their physical products—with the longer-term goal of integration with the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)—the pivotal importance of up-front, accurate, real-time modeling and simulation to optimize both manufacturing and product performance is clear.

Enabling the development of this function is RBF Morph, a technology embedded within ANSYS’ newly released R3 version of its advanced engineering software suite, in particular the ANSYS Twin Builder systems-design tool. Also available as a standalone product, RBF Morph provides advanced mesh-morphing capabilities that enable rapid prediction of the outcomes of design changes. Based on radial basis functions (RBF) the software is used to drive mesh-smoothing (morphing) from source points and their displacements.

Mesh morphing is needed for reduced-order modeling (ROM), which allows physics-based analysis of product performance and durability to be carried out more accurately and in much less time than traditional methods. “Developing ROM within ANSYS has been a priority for us,” says Michel Rochette, Director of Research at ANSYS. “Merging physics-based understanding with manufacturing analytics delivers the insights that unlock the value of the Digital Twin. The mathematical techniques behind ROM require that everything has the same mesh topology for all the geometrical parameters in your model—and RBF Morph provides that.”

RBF Morph has been offered within ANSYS Mechanical and ANSYS Fluent CFD capabilities for several years. The new coupling with Twin Builder underscores the value of the technology to Digital-Twin functionality, which optimizes control of a company’s product and/or equipment assets. “If you want to include real-time 3D simulation in your Digital-Twin approach it is mandatory to have the approximation that a reduced-order model can provide,” says Rochette. “The future of the IIoT is being built on that, thanks to ROM and RBF Morph.”

Industrial application with RBF Morph – RINA

RINA, a leading global provider of engineering consulting for industrial services and advanced technology, has an ongoing partnership with RBF Morph to offer Digital-Twin-based workflows for product development. (RINA, ANSYS, RBF Morph and others are currently partnering in a 4-million Euros project on medical digital twins: meditate-project.eu).

RINA uses RBF Morph design technology to explore a turbine blade’s design space quickly and determine the effects of design changes.

For a turbine-blade project, RINA was looking for a methodology to quickly predict how any redesigns would affect the blade’s structural response and aerodynamics. The goal was to modify the curved fillet region at the root of the blade to reduce the stress concentration and increase service life by limiting fatigue.

Rather than create a new geometry, mesh and simulation for each design iteration, RINA used RBF Morph, in conjunction with ANSYS Mechanical, to explore the blade’s design space efficiently and determine the effects of design changes.

Meshing the original blade design and using finite element analysis (FEA), the engineers calculated a maximum principal stress of about 195 MPa; the stress peak occurred close to the point where the cross section of the blade had an important geometrical variation. The engineers were looking to smooth out the force and reduce peak stress by adopting a larger radius at the root of the fillet.

The RBF Morph process RINA used involved varying the positions of two curves that controlled the shape of the fillet. First the mesh’s nodes were extracted to follow the new shape of the fillet; the engineers specified how the nodes could move as the mesh’s volume morphed along the new curves. They were also able to define nodes that stayed fixed during the morph. With the right inputs, the engineers were able to control the morphing process so the volume and surfaces deformed smoothly and properly. Ultimately 125,000 nodes were updated in just 15 seconds to accommodate the deformation without excessively degrading the quality of the mesh.

SPINNER uses RBF Morph technology to asses the geometry of different sizes of vertebral screws.

With their RBF Morph procedure established, RINA’s engineers then carried out a two-parameter optimization of the fillet control points using response surface methods, design of experiments (DoE) and parallel plots. These tools allowed the engineers to identify the optimal blade design where the stress was spread out and had a smaller peak. The result: a substantial stress reduction of 22.5 percent in the optimal blade design.

“We found that using RBF Morph was intuitive, effective, and fast,” says Emiliano Costa, Senior Engineering Specialist for Industrial Design & CAE at RINA. “We now include RBF Morph in our design processes to help us more quickly develop better solutions for our customers.”

“This RBF Morph/ROM shape-parametrization methodology used by RINA to optimize turbine blade designs enables the ‘squeezing’ of high-fidelity CAE simulations into real-time Digital Twins,” says RBF Morph founder and CTO Marco Evangelos Biancolini. “When integrated via the IIoT, the technology is ultimately intended to support field-equipment maintenance—tracking performance and predicting or detecting worn parts in need of repair or redesign.”

Medical application with RBF Morph – SPINNER

SPINNER is a European Community-funded doctoral training program aimed at early-stage bioengineering researchers, with the goal of training them to design the next generation of repair materials and techniques for spine surgery. A recent project focused on the planning of surgeries to treat vertebral fractures, which are often repaired by means of rods and screws implanted directly into a patient’s individual vertebral bodies. SPINNER Ph.D. candidate Marco Sensale carried out a sensitivity analysis supported by RBF Morph to estimate the influence of the size of the screw on the amount of stress in the screw and strain in the vertebra.

“The two parameters that determine the size of commercial medical screws are the length and the diameter, which have to be chosen during the planning for each individual patient,” Sensale says. “This choice is often based on anatomic measures as well as the experience of the surgeon. By modeling Digital Twins of individual vertebras and screws that have different geometries we can rapidly perform simulations to identify which relationships between different parameters will lead to surgical success for a particular patient.”

Sensale used RBF technology to update only the nodal positions of his models, instead of remeshing the geometry every time as he changed the length of the screw. This provided results more quickly with each iteration. He also modelled an offset to the lateral surface of the screw in a similar fashion in order to explore the stress resulting from different screw diameters (Image B2). Preliminary results of this ongoing study show the least amount of overall stress (MPa) within those screws that are slightly longer and wider in diameter.

A second arm of the research examined peak minimum principal strain in the vertebra itself (Image B3) after implantation of a screw. Preliminary results indicate the least percentage of strain in the bone when a slightly wider, longer screw is used.

With research ongoing, Sensale says, “We are working to provide quantitative information to support surgeons in their decision-making and RBF Morph tool is providing us with a valuable tool for this project.” Adds RBF’s Biancolini, “Thanks to medical Digital Twins like those being created for this SPINNER project, surgeons will be able to plan for, practice, and achieve the best outcomes for each patient they treat.”

Availability for both commercial and student applications

Biancolini, Associate Professor of Machine Design at the University of Rome, appreciates the broad reach of applications for which his software is being used. “Digital Twins are the future of enterprises of all sizes,” he says. “Now that large solver capacity and high-performance computing are available and considered standard resources for product design, a wide range of industry users can take advantage of our technology to help them optimize their designs at lightening speeds.”

RBF Morph technology is offered to ANSYS users in two products: an ACT Extension for ANSYS Mechanical and an add-on for ANSYS Fluent. The ACT Extension is available on the ANSYS App Store both as a commercial version and both as a no-cost version as a companion to the Free Academic software of ANSYS.

RBF Morph
Rbf-morph.com

Filed Under: Ansys, Simulation Software Tagged With: rbfmorph

Electrical-Thermal Co-Simulation for system analysis

September 18, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. introduced Cadence Celsius Thermal Solver, an electrical-thermal co-simulation solution for the full hierarchy of electronic systems from ICs to physical enclosures. Based on a production-proven, massively parallel architecture that delivers up to 10X faster performance than legacy solutions without sacrificing accuracy, the Celsius Thermal Solver seamlessly integrates with Cadence IC, package and PCB implementation platforms. This enables new system analysis and design insights and empowers electrical design teams to detect and mitigate thermal issues early in the design process—reducing electronic system development iterations.

As the electronics industry moves toward smaller, faster, smarter and more complex products with greater power density, time-consuming thermal transient analysis techniques must be deployed together with traditional steady-state analysis to address multiple power profiles and increased heat dissipation. Further complicating the process, traditional simulators require the electronics and enclosures being modeled to be substantially simplified, resulting in reduced accuracy.

The Celsius Thermal Solver uses multi-physics technology to address these challenges. By combining finite element analysis (FEA) for solid structures with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) for fluids, the Celsius Thermal Solver provides system analysis in one tool. When using the Celsius Thermal Solver in conjunction with the Clarity 3D Solver, Voltus IC Power Integrity and Sigrity technology for PCB and IC packaging, engineering teams can combine electrical and thermal analysis and simulate the flow of both electricity and heat for a more accurate system-level thermal simulation than legacy tools. In addition, the Celsius Thermal Solver performs both static (steady-state) and dynamic (transient) electrical-thermal co-simulations based on the actual flow of electrical power in advanced 3D structures, providing visibility into real-world system behavior.

By empowering electronics design teams to analyze thermal issues early and share ownership of thermal analysis, the Celsius Thermal Solver reduces design re-spins and enables new analysis and design insights not possible with legacy solutions. In addition, the Celsius Thermal Solver accurately simulates large systems with detailed granularity for any object of interest and is the first solution capable of modeling structures as small as the IC and its power distribution together with structures as large as the chassis.

The Celsius Thermal Solver supports Cadence’s Intelligent System Design strategy. It is built on matrix solver technology that is production proven in the recently announced Clarity 3D Solver and the Voltus IC Power Integrity Solution. Optimized for cloud environments, the Celsius Thermal Solver’s massively parallel architecture delivers up to 10X cycle time improvements compared to legacy solutions with high accuracy and unlimited scalability.

Cadence
www.cadence.com

www.cadence.com/go/celsiusthermalsolver

Filed Under: Cadence, Simulation Software Tagged With: cadence

xNURBS releases NURBS software

August 31, 2019 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

xNURBS announces the release of xn kernel and its Rhino/SolidWorks V2.0 applications.

xNURBS’s NURBS technique has unlimited capacities for solving NURBS and generating high-quality surfaces based on energy-minimization method. By playing xNURBS demo videos, e.g., the bottom surface of Jet Ski Hull, and the side surfaces of a mouse, users can judge for themselves.

Blending dozens of edges with one watertight G2 NURBS surface.

 

Key Features:

  • Unlimited capacities for solving NURBS: Its optimization algorithm can solve nearly any NURBS surface in a matter of milliseconds (regardless of how complex the constraints are).
  • High-quality surfaces: Its optimization algorithm uses energy-minimization method to generate smooth NURBS surfaces that satisfy all the constraints.
  • Easy-to-use: it uses one simple UI for all kinds of NURBS modeling.
  • Native CAD surfaces: xNURBS generates native CAD surfaces, i.e., trimmed/untrimmed NURBS surfaces, which can be directly used for any CAD modeling operations.

Watertight Jet Ski Hull: All surfaces are generated by XNurbs with G2 continuity. Image Courtesy of Vladimir Aleksic.

Patching Y Pipeline: Blending the surrounding geometries with one watertight G2 surface.

Car fender: For a demonstration purpose, one edge is set to G1 and all others are set to G0.

For more information, visit www.xnurbs.com

Filed Under: Simulation Software Tagged With: xnurbs

Simcenter 3D accelerates electromagnetics simulation processes

July 10, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

The latest version of Simcenter 3D software includes enhancements for low- and high-frequency electromagnetic solutions to help accelerate electromagnetics simulation processes. This version advances simulation capabilities with increased multidisciplinary integration capabilities, faster CAE process, increased openness and scalability, and enhanced capabilities to integrate with the digital thread.

Including electromagnetic simulation into Simcenter 3D enables engineers to perform electromagnetic simulation faster than with traditional simulation tools and streamline multiphysics workflows between electromagnetic and other physical simulations.

Additional enhancements to Simcenter 3D include:
• Faster CAE Processes: A new immersed boundary method helps engineers spend less time modeling for computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis. Engineers can also instantaneously compute new configurations for flexible hoses and pipes after a design configuration change.
• Open and Scalable Environment: Engineers can use calculated vibrations from common third-party finite element (FE) solvers, ANSYS and Abaqus, and apply those vibrations as loading in a structural or vibro-acoustic solution in Simcenter 3D, which can lead to a better understanding of how vibrations will impact perceived sound by end-customers.
• Tied to the Digital Thread: An enhanced interface between Simcenter 3D and Simcenter Testlab software helps engineers better collaborate with colleagues in the test group. New capabilities available in Teamcenter Simulation help engineers quickly identify which simulations are impacted after a design change.

Siemens Digital Industries Software
new.siemens.com/global/en/

Filed Under: Siemens PLM, Simulation Software Tagged With: Siemensdigitalindustriessoftware

More features for Solid Edge 2020, including augmented reality

June 10, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

The latest version of Solid Edge software has many enhancements, including augmented reality, expanded validation tools, model-based definition and 2D Nesting. Solid Edge 2020 provides next generation technologies to enhance collaboration and fully digitalize the design-to-manufacturing process.

Solid Edge 2020 delivers augmented reality capabilities that enable users to visualize design intent in new ways, enabling enhanced collaboration internally, as well as with suppliers and customers during the design process. New validation tools have been integrated for conducting motion and vibration simulation, which can help customers reduce costly prototypes. The addition of Model Based Definition enables users to completely define parts, assemblies and manufacturing instruction digitally from their 3D model. 2D Nesting capabilities have also been added to optimize cutting patterns, reduce waste and costs, and accelerate manufacturing processes. Solid Edge 2020 also delivers hundreds of core CAD enhancements such as new sheet metal capabilities, 3-10x faster large assembly performance, new data migration tools, and others across the portfolio.

Siemens Digital Industries Software
www.siemens.com/plm

Filed Under: Simulation Software Tagged With: Siemensdigitalindustriessoftware

Altair releases HyperWorks 2019, unifying design, engineering, and manufacturing

June 10, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Altair, a global technology company providing solutions in product development, high-performance computing and data intelligence, announced the release of Altair HyperWorks 2019, the latest version of its simulation- and AI-driven product development platform. The release expands on the number of solutions available for designers and engineers, under a single, open-architecture platform, to speed decision-making and time to market.
“We want to help our customers explore more ideas, better understand their designs, and improve profitability,” said James Scapa, Altair’s chief executive officer and founder. “Our development focus for HyperWorks 2019 was to increase the solve speed and functionality across our solutions for every stage of product development with optimization and multi-physics workflows for all manufacturing methods.”

Highlights of this release include:

Fast simulation of complex assemblies
Altair SimSolid makes designers and engineers more productive by performing structural analysis on original, un-simplified CAD assemblies in seconds to minutes. SimSolid can analyze complex parts and large assemblies that would take hours or days using traditional structural simulation tools.

Easy-to-learn fatigue life prediction
Altair HyperLife enables customers to quickly understand potential durability issues through an easy-to-learn solution for fatigue life under static, transient and vibrational loading. The intuitive user experience enables test engineers to perform simulations with little or no training. HyperLife helps customers to confidently predict product durability in hours, complementing physical testing, which can take months.

Efficient workflows for multi-physics
Altair SimLab is an intuitive workflow platform for simulating multi-physics problems. Automatic feature and part recognition can make simulation cycles more than five times faster. Design exploration is easier with synching to popular CAD tools. The multi-physics workflows feature deeply embedded solvers; including statics, dynamics, heat transfer, fluid flow, electromagnetics analysis, fluid-structure interaction, and electromagnetic-thermal coupling.

Superior high-fidelity modeling
HyperWorks 2019 includes the most robust Altair HyperMesh version yet. New features enable the generation of the largest, most complex finite element models. The model build and assembly tools in HyperMesh make managing large, complex assemblies easier than ever. This allows CAE to keep pace with design changes by rapidly swapping new parts and assemblies into existing models, managing multiple configurations, mesh variants and part instances. The direct mid-mesh generation makes it possible to create shell meshes straight from solid geometry of complex castings and injection molded parts.

Enhanced user experience for fast concept modeling
The HyperWorks platform already includes Altair Inspire, Altair Activate and SimLab delivering class-leading solutions with intuitive and consistent user-interfaces. In this release Altair HyperWorks X is included with a new set of workflows for geometry creation, editing, morphing and meshing employing this same user experience. The easy-to-learn mesh morphing features of HyperWorks X will bring efficiency to teams working on simulation models early in product development. These workflows enable concept level changes to be made directly on an existing FEA model bypassing CAD generation and accelerating decision-making.

Expanded non-linear solver functionality
Analysis with Altair OptiStruct is increasing at companies performing stiffness, strength and fatigue-life simulations; fueled by the significant process improvement it provides. The single-model, multi-attribute workflow enabled by OptiStruct delivers time and cost savings. Design decisions can be made faster by engineers performing linear, non-linear, and durability analysis – using one optimization-ready model.

Altair
www.altair.com
altair.com/HW2019

Filed Under: Simulation Software Tagged With: Altair

MapleSim 2019 improves performance, increases modeling scope

May 23, 2019 By WTWH Editor Leave a Comment

Maplesoft announced a new release of MapleSim, the advanced system-level modeling tool. From digital twins for virtual commissioning to system-level models for complex engineering design projects, MapleSim helps organizations reduce development risk, lower costs, and enable innovation. The latest release provides improved performance, increased modeling scope, and more ways to connect to an existing toolchain.

Simulation is faster for all customers in MapleSim 2019 due to more efficient handling of constraints when preparing the model, resulting in more compact, faster simulation code without any loss of fidelity. These results mean that MapleSim’s industry-leading speeds have gotten even better, saving time and enabling more real-time applications. In addition, models developed in MapleSim and then exported for use in other tools also run faster in the target applications.

New built-in and add-on components and expanded support for external libraries means that engineers can create more models, faster, in MapleSim 2019. The new release expands the scope of models that can be created using pre-existing components, with additions to hydraulics, electrical, multibody, and more. As well, the MapleSim Engine Dynamics Library from Modelon is a new add-on library that provides specialized tools for modeling, simulating, and analyzing the performance of combustion engines. This component library is especially useful for representing transient engine responses, and can be used for analyzing engine performance, performing emission studies, controls development, hardware-in-the-loop verification of vehicle electronic control units, and more.

Toolchain connectivity is essential to many MapleSim customers, and MapleSim 2019 offers important advances in toolchain integration. Improvements include additional options for FMI connectivity, including support for variable-step solvers, as well as fixed-step, for running imported models in MapleSim and exporting models to other tools. In addition, the new B&R MapleSim Connector add-on gives automation projects a powerful, model-based ability to test and visualize control strategies from within B&R Automation Studio, and to export simulation data for motor, servo, and gearbox sizing within SERVOsoft®.

“System level modeling has proven to be an invaluable tool for companies embarking on challenging engineering design projects, especially in the areas of automation and the creation of digital twins. Models can be used to both verify a design, as well as act as a virtual test bench for the machine’s control software – all before prototypes are built,” said Chad Schmitke, Senior Director, Product Development, Maplesoft. “Whether an organization wishes to develop their own models or work in partnership with the Maplesoft Engineering Solutions team, the improvements in performance, scope, and connectivity in MapleSim 2019 offer benefits to everyone.”

MapleSim is available in English, Japanese, and French.

Maplesoft
www.maplesoft.com

Filed Under: Simulation Software Tagged With: Maplesoft

Simulation On-The-Go with COMSOL Client for Android

April 25, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

COMSOL announces that COMSOL Client for Android is  available. Researchers, engineers, and students can perform simulation tasks from their Android devices, such as phones, tablets, and Chromebooks simply by connecting to the COMSOL Server software which runs the computations remotely.

COMSOL Client for Android expands on the capabilities of the Application Builder and COMSOL Server by enabling you to take your simulation applications on the road, without being limited by your device hardware. Providing field technicians or sales representatives with the power of COMSOL Multiphysics directly on their Android devices allows them to bring the R&D work on site or to the sales pitch.

“COMSOL Server allows users to run simulations through web browsers or desktop-installed clients,” explains Daniel Ericsson, Applications Product Manager, COMSOL. “COMSOL Client for Android expands on those capabilities by introducing a more seamless user experience on Android devices.”

“Using COMSOL Multiphysics and its Application Builder I can create models and build apps based on them. This allows other departments to test different configurations for their particular requirements and pick the best design,” comments Sam Parler, Research Director at Cornell Dubilier.

The Application Builder and COMSOL Server were developed to make multiphysics modeling more accessible to a wider audience. The Application Builder allows simulation specialists to create custom-made applications based on their multiphysics models. With COMSOL Server, organizations have been able to deploy industry-specific analysis tools in a streamlined and quick to implement format that can be scaled for global benefit. COMSOL Client for Android has made the convenience of running simulation applications as easy as ordering a rideshare.

Just like COMSOL Client for Windows, the simulations are run on remote servers, so you are not limited by your device hardware. Administrators continue to have full control over who can access and run the apps by using COMSOL Server. Android users will have the latest version of a simulation application each time they open the app.

COMSOL
play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.comsol.androidclient

Filed Under: Simulation Software Tagged With: COMSOL

ANSYS Cloud: Direct cloud HPC access through ANSYS Mechanical, ANSYS Fluent

April 17, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

Bruce Jenkins | Ora Research

“Engineering simulation has long been constrained by fixed computing resources available on a desktop or cluster,” observes industry leader ANSYS. “Today, however, cloud computing can deliver the on-demand, high-performance computing (HPC) capacity required for faster high-fidelity results offering greater performance insight. To leverage the combined benefits of cloud computing and best-in-class engineering simulation, ANSYS is partnering with Microsoft Azure to create a secure cloud solution: ANSYS Cloud.”

Within ANSYS Mechanical and ANSYS Fluent, the company says its users can “easily access HPC in the cloud directly—without the need for any additional setup. Access the hardware and software you need, when you need it—pay only for what you use.”

Capabilities

Built-in cloud HPC access—ANSYS Cloud delivers easy access to on-demand HPC resources from within your ANSYS environment. Using your ANSYS tools, prepare your simulation models on your desktop. Simply select a pre-configured hardware, then submit your jobs directly to the cloud. You won’t have to wait in HPC cluster queues or reduce your model size to fit desktop constraints. Job progress may be monitored from your desktop or through a web-based cloud portal.

The ANSYS Cloud is optimized for ANSYS solvers. Choose from a set of pre-defined hardware configurations depending on the needs of your model.

Ready-to-use cloud service—Mechanical and Fluent users can “easily access ANSYS Cloud without involving their information technology (IT) teams. Without the need for complex software installations or cloud-side setups, users are free to focus on solving their engineering problems. And, without having to build in-house solutions or rely on third-party vendors, businesses can avoid costly upfront investment and delays.” ANSYS Cloud is a “ready-to-use solution that is ANSYS-tested and certified, and fully-supported by ANSYS HPC and solver experts.”

“Completely secure workflows”—ANSYS Cloud provides a “highly robust and completely secure environment for running simulations in the cloud. At the Azure data centers, where simulations are run and data are stored, access is strictly controlled. The solution combines Microsoft Azure’s best practices with custom encryption for added security.” Both data at rest and in motion are encrypted.

Leveraging Azure Virtual Networks, ANSYS Cloud offers a “separate, secure network architecture for each customer: only you can access your data.”

The complete system architecture has undergone comprehensive testing, including detailed penetration testing, ANSYS says. Because new security threats continuously emerge, the solution’s security is regularly audited by a third party.

“Economical on-demand pricing”—Pay-per-use access to both cloud hardware and ANSYS software is available on Microsoft Azure and enabled through ANSYS Elastic Licensing. Rather than locking into a longer-term lease, users purchase a pool of ANSYS Elastic Units (AEU) based on their short-term cloud-computing needs.

How this works: “Using your existing licenses, prepare your model using your on-premise hardware. When you submit your simulation job for analysis in the cloud, use your pool of AEUs.”

AEUs are consumed at a specified hourly rate that varies with the choice of hardware configuration and solver type (i.e., Mechanical or Fluent). For example, a Mechanical simulation on a small hardware configuration (1 node, 12 cores) will consume 13 AEUs/hour, whereas the same simulation on a medium configuration (3 nodes, 36 cores) will consume 18 AEUs/hour.

Your pool of AEUs (shared with other users in your organization) is charged based on your cloud runtime (in fractions of an hour). Consumption of AEUs may be tracked using the cloud portal, which is accessed via a desktop or mobile web browser.

“With this combination of traditional licensing (leased and paid-up for steady workflows) and pay-per-use licensing (for in-cloud, flexible capacity),” ANSYS says, “you can optimize your company’s investment in simulation.”

Remote job monitoring

Easily monitor the progress of your simulation from within the desktop installation of Mechanical and Fluent or from a web-based cloud portal. Job monitoring tools provide full access to the solver transcript, a graphical view of convergence parameters and real-time access to debug information when help is needed.

You can also view a summary of your simulation jobs via a web-based cloud portal, which can be accessed from your desktop or mobile device. Using the cloud portal, you can track total consumption of AEUs and even share your simulation jobs with your peers and ANSYS support.

Cloud-based 3D results visualization

With ANSYS Cloud, users can review and validate the results of their simulations while their data are in the cloud. “Innovative post-processing technology leaves the heavy data in the cloud, transferring only requested information to you for 3D rendering in your web browser,” ANSYS says. This approach “avoids heavy network usage and eliminates the latency typical of virtual desktop approaches. The performance is unmatched for all-size models.”

Users can plot scalar and vector fields and visualize results on existing parts, planes, isosurfaces and isovolumes. When needed, “download the data to your desktop for detailed post-processing using your familiar desktop applications.”

ANSYS, Inc.

Microsoft Azure

Filed Under: Simulation Software Tagged With: ANSYS

Democratizing Simulation: delivering measurable results

April 11, 2019 By Leslie Langnau Leave a Comment

By Robert Farrell

Through the process of “democratization” organizations can safely put the power of engineering simulation into the hands of those who are not experts in using CAE software, including product designers, new engineers and even those in technical sales and customer support. This resulting Democratizing of Simulation accelerates design validation, which in turn shortens time to market with more innovative products. But what are the challenges, benefits, and enabling technologies of this democratization movement; and what results are companies actually seeing today?

Product development leverages intelligent Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models. This is no great revelation; it’s been this way since the early 1980s. About that same time the engineering world began to investigate ways to analyze these models to simulate performance. This created a need that was filled by a new breed of engineer who would develop expertise in the domain of numerical simulation – the CAE Analyst.

“Portfolio of simulation apps displayed in an e-handbook browser. (Courtesy of ESRD, Inc.)”

Software tools quickly emerged enabling these experts to painstakingly create elaborate mathematical finite element models for replicating real-world conditions and helped reduce the number of required physical prototypes. The process came to be known as “simulation;” and the results were measurable improvements in time-to-market, quality and costs. Since that time industry has embraced simulation and continued to invest in the tools and resources to support its on-going use and development.

The expert dilemma
The ability to apply advanced training, software tools, methods, expertise, and experience is as much an art as it is a science. Consequently there remains a relatively small fraternity of CAE experts – many early pioneers, or direct disciples thereof. These are the custodians of a level of expertise and experience relied upon to perform key analysis. It has been estimated there are an order of magnitude more product designers and engineers who consume the results of simulation than those who perform the simulation.

The problem is twofold. Limited expert resources create unnecessarily long analysis processes. This reduces the number of design alternatives that may be evaluated thereby stifling innovation. Second, as this generation exits the workforce there is concern that much of their knowledge will retire with them. The truth is that analysis/simulation is a critical competitive advantage for those who possess it. So what’s the answer?

Democratizing simulation
Today, there are a limited number of simulation experts and a sharply growing demand for simulation. Consequently, the resident expert is often a bottleneck. But what if a way existed to capture and reuse such knowledge and engineering judgment throughout the product development team? Democratizing Simulation is the term that is used for the techniques and approaches that allow product designers and engineers, without expertise in the use of simulation tools, to safely perform even advanced simulations and leverage the results in the design process.

Expanding the number of those capable of performing simulations safely and robustly reduces experts’ workload and allows designs to be validated more quickly while exponentially expanding the number of design alternatives that can be evaluated. Also, the simulation automation techniques that are used make the experts themselves more efficient and accurate. The results are measurable improvements in product quality, time to market, and product innovation. Additionally spreading the workload allows CAE experts to focus on more sophisticated or critical simulations. This further elevates the role and value of the expert in the organization while allowing their expertise to be leveraged by many others.

Gaining traction
More than five hundred engineers, designers and business professionals gathered in Cleveland last summer at the NAFEMS Conference on Advancing Analysis & Simulation in Engineering. The event included a growing number of sessions on Democratizing Simulation including fourteen presentations, two workshops, and a roundtable.

“It’s clear that it is no longer a question of whether democratized simulation will occur; or if it’s worthwhile to implement. Instead, the focus is on when it will become the industry norm,” said NAFEMS Americas Vice President, Matt Ladzinski. “Most presentations were real-world success stories detailing the challenges and ROI of implementation. It’s noteworthy that while none concluded that democratization is an easy process, all felt that the ROI is well worth the effort and intend to expand democratization within their organizations. These companies are the forerunners of the next generation of simulation users, when complex simulation technology vanishes behind a façade that will allow huge numbers of non-experts to safely leverage its power.”

Challenges
The vision and promise sound great; but admittedly, there are a few challenges.

Implementation
The biggest obstacle to widespread implementation is a general lack of understanding as to how or where to begin. Until now engineers were forced to scour the Internet and similar resources for bits of disjointed information. Too many web sites are all about selling something rather than educating their visitors. At the same time success stories were not well documented or readily available.

Quantifying the ROI
Often, the higher the business value, the harder it is to quantify. This is true of any business activity as it shifts from tactical to strategic importance. Quantifying the value of an expected reduction in cost or schedule can be challenging, but it is much easier than quantifying the value for increasing such things as quality, performance, or innovation.

Threat to the Status Quo
Democratizing anything represents a paradigm shift for organizations. And so Democratizing Simulation is often viewed as a direct threat by the CAE experts. Knowing the complexities of their job and unsure of how to accurately and completely replicate that knowledge for use by non-experts is understandably concerning. Consequently, CAE experts may be hesitant to endorse such an initiative. Still others may see it as diminishing their value in the eyes of the company. In no way is the role of the senior analyst diminished; nor are they being asked to relinquish control. To the contrary, through democratization techniques such as simulation applications, senior CAE analysts are taking on a more visible and important role as their expertise is now being leveraged throughout the company. Something in common amongst many of the Democratizing Simulation successes is the willingness of the CAE experts to champion the cause.

Democratization of 3D CAE Models + Results + Product Performance Information to improve data insights and fasten the design decisions. (Image courtesy of VCollab)

How it works: implementation
For those interested in taking a next step; or just want to learn more, there are multiple starting points for implementation. The most common include:
Intelligent automation templates

Template-based Simulation Automation has been used by many organizations to significantly improve the accuracy, consistency, repeatability, and efficiency of performing complex simulations. These intelligent automation templates embed the expertise of the experts in the form of rules that are automatically enforced when a template is executed. Templates not only allow non-experts to safely and robustly run simulations, but often also provide enterprise-wide standardization while making the experts more efficient and accurate.

Simulation apps
Equally important is the speed and ease of creating these templates. Specialty tools and Low-Code Development Platforms (LCDP) allow Simulation Applications (Sim Apps) to be created with little or no manual coding. This in turn allows those closest to the design process to build the Apps rather than relying on IT developers. Increasingly, Sim Apps are browser-based, and with authorized access into a corporate network one has access to the Apps without any need to have locally installed software, eliminating yet another historical constraint of simulation and modeling.

Simulation governance and standardization
All major industrial organizations employ numerical simulation in support of their engineering and business decision-making. Therefore using numerical simulation is no longer a differentiator. The differentiator is related to how safely and reliably numerical simulation is being used? Depending on the answer, numerical simulation can be a significant corporate asset or a potential liability. Whenever engineering or business decisions are based on the results of numerical simulation there is an implied expectation of reliability. Without such expectation it would not be possible to justify the time and cost of a simulation project. In fact, if simulation produces misleading information then it has a negative economic value.

System simulation
System simulation incorporates the end effects of all sub-systems and components in determining overall product performance. Throughout engineering design and simulation circles, system-level simulation has been synonymous to Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), which the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) defines as a “formalized application of modeling to support system requirements, design, analysis, verification and validation activities beginning in the conceptual design phase and continuing throughout development and later life cycle phases.”

Simulation Process & Data Management (SPDM) and the enterprise digital thread
Traditionally, simulation data, processes and experts have operated within various silos in the organization. Hence, this valuable expertise and data has not been an integrated part of enterprise engineering processes. Furthermore, organizations are now striving to manage their engineering data and processes in a more consistent manner, connecting these into what is being called a Digital Thread. Any engineering data that exists within silos is, by definition, left out of the Digital Thread – simulation data is such an example.

Aras Corp. believes that effective, enterprise-wide SPDM must be implemented within an open, vendor-agnostic PLM platform with a systems-centric approach and must be “invisible” to the simulation analysts.

High performance / cloud computing
From product prototyping to process design, High Performance Computing (HPC) can save businesses both time and money, while improving products and streamlining operations. Regardless of one’s experience level with HPC, in order to fully utilize it, you need access to three main components: hardware, software, and expertise.

HPC Hardware can consist of cloud-based resources, small departmental level clusters, or even powerful workstations. These are available from a variety of vendors, ranging from online ‘pay-as-you-go’ access, to large systems custom designed and installed in dedicated data centers.

CAE software can comprise of things such as solvers, meshers, visualization, and workflow managers, and so on. This software can range from very specialized, open-source packages available at no cost, to more generic commercial packages that can run across a wide scale of domains and resources.

Expertise that is available includes domains such as Computational Fluid Dynamics, Finite Structural Analysis, Bioinformatics, and so on. Companies needing expertise often start with external consulting “engineering service providers” who can assist with a specific project, before eventually directly hiring domain experts versed in a variety of technical skills.

Success stories surrounding Democratizing Simulation are plentiful and growing. Forward-thinking companies are taking advantage of available tools and resources to supercharge innovation, quality and productivity with effective use of simulation. Here are some documented examples:
GKN Driveline implementation results:
–Removes the bulk of routine analysis work and tedious report creation from the CAE Expert role, freeing them to work on more complex problems
–Allows a non-expert user to investigate many iterations and establish design-intent before expert involvement
–Data interrogation remains available for expert users, but is not required to execute the process
–Automation activity drives process refinement and structure, creating a globally consistent methodology

American Axle & Manufacturing implementation results:
–Average 75% time reduction for each analysis iteration
–Approximately $130,000 in annual cost savings at a single engineering site
–Improved quality through globally enforced standards and practices which remove human error
–Ability to run many more Noise Vibration & Harshness (NVH) analysis iterations, leading to more design decisions, earlier
–Ability to redeploy resources as less experienced engineers are now able to safely run simulations

Where to learn more
A new on-line resource community was launched in June, 2018 to support industry’s growing interest in the Democratization of Simulation. The Revolution in Simulation (www.Rev-Sim.Org) initiative is a collaborative effort among subject matter experts, industry end-users, professional associations, and solution providers. They all share a common mission to educate, advocate, innovate and collaborate through an open, non-commercial community to further advance engineering simulation for experts and non-experts alike to help ensure a significant, exponential increase in the use of simulation and simulation data.

“Rev-Sim provides access to the largest collection of educational materials including success stories, industry news, whitepapers, blogs, presentations, videos, webinars, best practices and technical reference materials to help individual professionals and their companies fully exploit the latest advances in simulation,” said Rev-Sim co-founder Rich McFall. “Perhaps most exciting is that the initiative is a true collaboration among topic experts, end users, thought leaders and solution providers including ANSYS, Aras, ASSESS, Beyond CAE, EASA, ESRD, ESTECO, Front End Analytics, Kinetic Vision, Modelon, NAFEMS, Ohio Supercomputer Center, PLM Alliances, UberCloud and VCollab. These innovative organizations are providing the expertise and funding to support this growing industry-wide movement to make engineering simulation more accessible, efficient, and reliable.”

Smart Engineering Simulation Apps: Ply-by-ply modeling and automatic lamination using 3D-solid elements enable the creation and deployment of this App in a Desktop CAE-Handbook.

Get on board
Democratizing Simulation isn’t some futuristic vision. It’s here and now and it’s delivering measurable and sustained results. Design and product development organizations, manufacturers, suppliers, software vendors and other solution-providers should begin taking steps to learn more and to join this revolution, this next generation of simulation methodologies and usage.

The confluence of simulation methodologies, software, automation templates and processes, and affordable high performance computing platforms, aided by the advent of mobile devices with ubiquitous high-bandwidth access to the Internet, has the potential to increase the number of users of simulation by an order of magnitude, over the next five to ten years.

Filed Under: Simulation Software

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