Simulation is increasingly being used outside the realms of initial product design ➤ Normand said: ‘I think that the earlier it is
used within the design cycle, the larger the impact on things like programme expenditure and cost savings’. Christenson had a similar view: ‘Simulation happens in a lot of different locations, and I think it is evolving into something that is much more of an initial product design and initial product development. Tat’s what we see in our space.’ Normand went on to give an example of how
this could be used within an automotive design challenge: ‘A designer or an architect may want to do some kind of conceptual analysis, like some quick aerodynamic studies in the design studio of some automotive company. Where before they would be making some clay models and putting them in a wind tunnel, they can quickly take their Alias surface model, do the conceptual CFD study in a few seconds, get some figures for liſt and drag and things like
that. Ten they input that back into the model, and make some changes and move forward with that design, until they are ready to commit to that full-blown, CFD which can sometimes take several hours or several days to complete.’ It is this freedom to make small iterative
changes, modifying the design, which produces an efficient feedback loop based on complex graphical visualisations that can deliver large amounts of technical information quickly to engineers and designers. Improvements in computer hardware in
recent years have been critical to this process. While the most complex models are run on HPC clusters, there are powerful multi-GPU workstations specifically designed for use with simulation soſtware and capable of producing complex visualisations. ‘When problems were one thousandth the size that they are now, because compute hardware was extremely small – this is back in the 80’s – it was only when things broke that they would use simulation to try and figure out what went wrong. It was always aſter the design was done, but now there are a lot of technologies that allow users to do simulation much earlier in the design process – even before you initiate the CAD process,’ said Christenson. According to Christenson, new soſtware
Software can be used early in the process to modify designs quickly
42 SCIENTIFIC COMPUTING WORLD
acquired by Ansys can be used early in the design process to modify designs quickly. ‘As an example, last week we acquired a company called SpaceClaim that allows you to read in all these different kinds of models, like geometry models, STL models, Parasol models – things that are non-parametric – but it allows us to easily go in, and morph and modify the design.’ Simulation soſtware can be used
retrospectively, whether evaluating your own designs or competitors, as Christenson explains: ‘You could take previous designs, or even competitors’ designs that you have scanned in, so you can modify or evaluate those products. As you’re able to modify those, you are able to go right into simulation: you can observe what would happen to those modified designs under different conditions, before you even go through with the investment of performing a detailed CAD design.’
IMPROVEMENTS IN COMPUTER HARDWARE IN RECENT YEARS HAVE BEEN CRITICAL TO THE PROCESS
Christenson went on to explain his own
experiences working in the automotive industry, explaining how visualisation can be used to save time and money: ‘We saved a lot of money by putting all of that effort into the design process. You are talking hundreds of designers working on detailing out a new car design, and that is a huge investment. If you can design the car that you want in detail before you even start that process – wow: huge savings in both cost and time.’ Te ability to derive information quickly from
visualisations and then modify products early in the design process can drive innovation. It allows engineers the time to be creative, while also saving money on expensive prototyping and reducing the time to market. ‘Tat is how the front and the back end
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