MODELLING AND SIMULATION


Simulation driven design in Paris


Robert Roe reports on developments in multiphysics simulation at the Global Altair Technology Conference


As the modelling and simulation industry arrived in Paris for the Global Altair Technology Conference at the end of October, attendees were treated to three days of conference content focusing on innovation and new technologies based on simulation-driven design. This year’s event focused on sharing


applications of simulation-driven innovation from technology leaders and industry executives from all over the world, including keynotes from Ferrari, Jaguar Land Rover and Zaha Hadid Architects. The keynotes were complemented


by a host of technical sessions and presentations on the latest technology trends such as IoT and the digital twin, e-mobility, electric vehicle design – and the impact of IoT, AI and machine learning on influencing the future of design. ‘Simulation, optimisation, cloud-


based HPC, and the Internet of Things are coming together to transform how innovative products are brought to market,’ commented James Scapa, Altair’s founder, chairman, and CEO. ‘As we move forward into an era of machine learning and artificial intelligence, opportunities will grow for the convergence of technology and emotion into great designs.’ This year’s ATC in Paris had more than 800 participants and offered more than 140 presentations. The keynotes from Harvard Business School, Columbia University, JLR, Ferrari, Volvo Cars, LG, ClassNK, and Team Tao featured topics such as simulation-driven innovation in marine, electronics, artificial intelligence, e-mobility, autonomous drones (for


14 Scientific Computing World December 2018/January 2019


deep sea applications), NVH and vehicle architecture (C123). One of the highlights, Jim Scapa announced in his keynote presentation, was the acquisition of Simsolid.


Altair acquires Simsolid Simsolid works on full-fidelity CAD assemblies to provide fast, accurate, and robust structural simulation without requiring geometry simplification, cleanup, or meshing. Its underlying technology is based largely on the work of Dr Victor Apanovitch, a former professor at Belarus Polytechnic University and the cofounder of Simsolid Corporation. ‘We believe Simsolid is a revolutionary


technological breakthrough which will have a profound impact for product design,’ said Scapa. ‘It’s incredibly fast, accurate, and robust and we believe a game changer for our industry.’ The Simsolid computational engine is


a commercial implementation of novel and unpublished mathematics based on extensions to the theory of external approximations. The software controls solution accuracy using multi-pass adaptive analysis. Large and complex assemblies can be solved rapidly even on laptop computers.


”As we move forward into an era of machine learning and artificial intelligence, opportunities will grow for the convergence of technology and emotion into great designs”


Dr Uwe Schramm, Altair’s chief technical


officer, noted that: ‘We are very serious about solution accuracy. Others have tried to accelerate the interface between CAD and simulation by degrading the mathematical robustness. It is our feeling that by rapidly moving forward with the methods in Simsolid and expanding them across applications we can have a real effect on how design gets done while maintaining our high standards for computational excellence.’


Simulation-driven design The first day of the three-day conference featured in-depth industry seminars with customer presentations from BMW, OHB, Alstom Transport, Protiq, Renishaw, Valeo, Scania, EOS, VibroTech Engineering, and alongside these presentations Altair experts provided insights into topics such as design for manufacturing, lead time reduction, fatigue simulation, design for AM, e-mobility, system simulation, digital twins and IoT.


@scwmagazine | www.scientific-computing.com


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