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MODELLING & ENGINEERING
Analyses of molecules in motion strengthened
said Smith, who directs ORNL’s Center for Molecular Biophysics and holds a Governor’s Chair at the University of Tennessee. ‘In contrast, data from a supercomputer simulation are complex and diffi cult to analyse, as the atoms move around in the simulation in a multitude of jumps, wiggles and jiggles. How to reconcile these different views of the same phenomenon has been a long- standing problem.’
A theoretical technique developed at the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is bringing supercomputer simulations and experimental results closer together by identifying common ‘fi ngerprints’. ORNL’s Jeremy Smith collaborated on devising a method – dynamical fi ngerprints – that reconciles the different signals between experiments and computer simulations to strengthen analyses of molecules in motion. The research will be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. ‘Experiments tend to produce relatively simple and smooth- looking signals, as they only “see” a molecule’s motions at low resolution,’
The new method solves the problem by calculating peaks within the simulated and experimental data, creating distinct ‘dynamical fi ngerprints’. The technique, conceived by Smith’s former graduate student Frank Noe, now at the Free University of Berlin, can then link the two datasets. Supercomputer simulations and modelling capabilities can add a layer of complexity missing from many types of molecular experiments. The collaborative work included researchers from L’Aquila, Italy, Wuerzburg and Bielefeld, Germany, and the University of California at Berkeley. The research was funded in part by a ‘Scientifi c Discovery through Advanced Computing’ grant from the DOE Offi ce of Science.
FIRST 3D PRINTED CAR
Engineering group KOR EcoLogic has used Autodesk’s software solution for digital prototyping to design the fi rst prototype car with a body created using a 3D printer. Using Autodesk partner Stratasys’ digital manufacturing service, the entire body was 3D printed with an additive process that involves printing layers of material on top of each other until a fi nished product appears. The team behind the car, dubbed
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Urbee, used Autodesk Inventor software to design a 3D digital prototype of the body and subject it to simulated road and wind conditions. Different body designs were tested to minimise drag and reduce overall weight by eliminating excess parts. Photorealistic renderings of the Urbee were also created for marketing to potential investors, partners and the general public by using Autodesk Showcase 3D visualisation software.
Doctors train with surgical simulation program
A virtual temporal bone surgery simulation system developed at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University (OSU), in conjunction with the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), has been used to train local doctors and students in Nicaragua. D. Richard Kang and Gregory
Wiet, paediatric otolaryngologists from Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University (OSU), visited Escuela Hospital Antonio Lenin Fonseca in Managua, Nicaragua, to treat children with serious ear, nose and throat conditions. As part of their visit, the two surgeons presented a ‘virtual temporal bone dissection’ course using the simulations. Without a virtual simulation environment, medical residents would learn this surgery by
working on cadavers and through apprenticeships in an operating room. Through multi-institution validation studies, Stredney and Wiet believe that this simulation technology will increase the effi ciency of a resident’s training while also raising his or her profi ciency. Ultimately, they assert, this innovation could provide a safe, cost-effective way to provide students with experience in the early stages of developing surgical technique.
Software aids development
of T.25 city car UK-based Gordon Murray Design has used Altair Engineering’s HyperWorks product suite to develop its T.25 city car. The suite’s pre-processor HyperMesh was used to build and assemble the T.25 CAE model, which was subsequently analysed for a variety of load cases and performance measures using the suite’s Radioss solver. The results were then post-processed and visualised in Altair HyperView.
The combined use of the
HyperWorks tools helped the engineering team design a lighter car in a signifi cantly reduced timescale. OptiStruct, Altair’s optimisation tool,
will be used by Gordon Murray Design in the future to help further refi ne primary structures. In the meantime, Radioss is being used to analyse the torsion stiffness, bending stiffness, frontal offset loading and normal mode characteristics of the vehicle. ‘The team needed the tests to be as close to reality as possible and achieved correlation within two per cent for the torsion and bending stiffness load cases. Less than fi ve per cent is a good result, less than two per cent is excellent,’ said Simon Maher, senior stress and materials engineer responsible for CAE and test correlation at Gordon Murray Design.
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Secrets of dinosaur footprints revealed
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APRIL/MAY 2011 33
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