December 2013 / deskeng.

com

Automate CAD to CAE P. 58

Change Engineering
Culture P.26

Fight Data Overload

TECHNOLOGY FOR DESIGN ENGINEERING with FEA P.54

Optimization
Leadership
Profiles
P.29

One Shot at
Perfection United Launch Alliance
optimizes analysis data and
processes to decrease its
rocket design cycle without
sacrificing quality. P.22

VIRTUALIZATION OPTIMIZES IT P.70

CYBER-PHYSICAL SYSTEMS P.66
SIMULATION CAPTAINS AMERICA’S CUP RACE P.49
 Ferrari Takes a Victory Lap
With ANSYS

Victories by Ferrari. Simulation by ANSYS.

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Sounds like Ferrari is in the driver’s seat.

Visit ANSYS.COM/Ferrari to learn how simulation software can help you realize your product promise.
Degrees of Freedom by Jamie J. Gooch

Optimize the Design Cycle

A
s Desktop Engineering looks forward to its 19th year have to be trained to use them and managers have to ensure new
of covering the hardware and software that design technology is actually being used effectively.
engineers need, we see some amazing trends con- Millions of dollars of engineering technology investments
verging that are changing the way you work, and too often never meet their full potential to shorten the design
the way we cover the industry. cycle because people either don’t understand the benefit to
The primary driver of this change is evident: electronics, the company as a whole, or are simply too comfortable doing
software and embedded systems are increasingly needed in things the way they’ve always been done.
more products, which in turn increases design complexity. De- “There’s always resistance to change. Always,” Rod Mach,
spite the need for engineers to conceptualize, simulate and test president of IT service provider TotalCAE tells Contributing
more complicated products, time-to-market deadlines continue Editor Mark Clarkson in a feature article that begins on page
to shrink. To meet the demands of consumers, regulators, and 26. “Even if the change is better, people naturally resist change.”
manufacturing in less time, engineers from different disciplines
must collaborate with colleagues from different departments. Innovation Inertia
Fortunately, the design, analysis, prototyping, computing and Resistance to change is increasingly encountered when compa-
testing technologies Desktop Engineering has traditionally covered nies try to make sense of the massive amounts of data — from
provide part of the answer. However, that’s not enough. consumer preferences to regulatory specifications to simulation
and analysis — that is part of the design cycle. To understand
that data and make decisions based on it, company leaders need
People change much more to see a complete picture. One way to paint that picture is for
slowly than technology does. everyone involved to add to it via a centralized system, such as
a product lifecycle management platform. This is often where
human nature thwarts process innovation.
Cultivate a Culture of Collaboration People accustomed to doing things the way they always
Not enough? How can the ridiculous advancements in engi- have, the way they are sure will work, are reluctant to change
neering computing speeds, coupled with the ability to design their workflow to give someone in another department, pos-
and accurately simulate entire systems not be enough? Because sibly on another continent, some additional information that
people make processes that efficiently integrate technologies, may or may not help them make a decision. Because design
and people change much more slowly than technology does. engineers are the creators and keepers of so much information
Perhaps no one sees the people and process challenges as that is crucial for making smart business decisions, any such
clearly as engineering service providers who work with mul- reluctance on their part can magnify workflow inefficiencies.
tiple companies, and so have the opportunity to familiarize On the other hand, it’s easy to see why design engineers would
themselves with the details of various engineering workflows. be reluctant to take on additional responsibilities. You’re already
“The current workflow is so bad. While it’s very common, it’s being asked to do more complicated work in less time. Efficient
horribly wasteful — and I fought for the last 20 years for compa- collaboration can help decrease time-to-market, but inefficient
nies to realize it,” laments ATA Engineering Inc.’s H. Clark Briggs collaboration takes precious time away from the design engineer.
to Senior Editor Kenneth Wong on page 58. “I spend most of my Desktop Engineering’s goal in 2014 is to bring you the in-
process consulting time trying to get organizations to realize it.” formation you need to break that chain, optimize your work-
Why, after 20 years, with all of the technological advance- flow, and integrate the best-in-class technologies using best
ments that have been introduced over that time, does Briggs practices. We’ll do that by expanding our coverage of process
still battle against inefficient workflows? Because the techno- and data management tools, introducing engineering services
logical tools are not the most significant hurdle. that can help alleviate roadblocks, and explaining ways to
“Tools only provide a link between your expertise and your overcome cultural barriers to optimization.
ideas for the product you design,” Stefano Picinich, founder of You can help. If you have success stories or lessons learned to
space and defense contractor Airworks, tells Contributing Editor share on design cycle optimization, we’d love to hear them. DE
Beth Stackpole in her page 64 feature. To make use of those tools,
people up and down the corporate ladder have to accept them. Jamie Gooch is the managing editor of Desktop Engineering.
C-level executives have to authorize their purchase, engineers Contact him at de-editors@deskeng.com.

2 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Smarter Embedded Designs,
Faster Deployment

The combination of NI LabVIEW system design software and reconfigurable I/O

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©2013 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments.
Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 12118
 December 2013 VOLUME 19/ISSUE 4

SPECIAL ISSUE: OPTIMIZATION SIMULATE

49 Extreme Hydrofoiling, Powered by Simulation
Winning the Hearts ANSYS CFD analysis software helped Emirates Team New Zealand
bring new speed to the world’s oldest trophy event.
By Pamela J. Waterman

and Minds of 53 America’s Cup: The Winning Edge

Rocket Scientists CFD Software helps guide Oracle Team USA Hydrofoil to victory.
By DE Editors

54 Big Data: Don’t Panic

22 Fight the data explosion with smart FEA.
By Tony Abbey

ULA set out to 61 Pulling Double Duty

consolidate analysis COMSOL Multiphysics Software offers
simulation and modeling for Sharp Corp.’s
data and processes research and product development.
in Siemens By Jim Romeo
PLM Software’s
Teamcenter 64 Making Optimization a Shared Experience
By Kenneth Wong ESTECO’s Enterprise Suite allows teams to build the multidisciplinary
optimization workflows that are critical to complex system design.
By Beth Stackpole

DESIGN
58 The Cleanup Headache
CAD geometry cleanup stirs workflow questions
in quest to quell CAD-to-CAE issues.
By Kenneth Wong

ENGINEERING COMPUTING 66 The Impact of CPS Design

What is the future for design methodology in
70 Speed Up Engineering IT the face of technology?
Virtualization promises a solution to the budget con- By Randy Frank
straints and challenges associated with deploying new
engineering computing hardware.
By Frank Ohlhorst SERVICES
72 Review: Lenovo ThinkPad Helix 26 Overcoming Corporate
The new Lenovo ThinkPad Helix ultrabook is nimble Culture to Make a Change
enough to run mainstream CAD applications. Looking to change things for the
By David Cohn better? Don’t be surprised to find all
manner of obstacles in your path.
OPTIMIZATION LEADERS By Mark Clarkson

29 Optimization Leader Profiles

PROTOTYPE
In this special sponsored section, 20 industry experts
share their solutions for optimizing design engineering. 75 Additive Manufacturing’s New Design Paradigm
3D printing allows companies to rethink previously impossible to
manufacture designs, optimize their products, and support new
business models.
ON THE COVER: A rocket prepares for liftoff. By Jamie J. Gooch
Image courtesy of United Launch Alliance.

4 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 REACTOR OPTIMIZATION: In this model the total reaction rate
for a given total pressure difference across the bed is maximized
by finding an optimal catalyst distribution.

Verify and optimize your designs

with COMSOL Multiphysics. ®

Multiphysics tools let you build simulations that accurately replicate the
important characteristics of your designs. The key is the ability to include
all physical effects that exist in the real world. To learn more about
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Product Suite
COMSOL Multiphysics
ELECTRICAL FLUID MULTIPURPOSE INTERFACING
AC/DC Module CFD Module Optimization Module LiveLink™ for MATLAB®
RF Module Microfluidics Module Material Library LiveLink™ for Excel®
Wave Optics Module Subsurface Flow Module Particle Tracing Module CAD Import Module
MEMS Module Pipe Flow Module ECAD Import Module
Plasma Module Molecular Flow Module LiveLink™ for SolidWorks®
Semiconductor Module LiveLink™ for SpaceClaim®
CHEMICAL LiveLink™ for Inventor®
MECHANICAL Chemical Reaction Engineering Module LiveLink™ for AutoCAD®
Heat Transfer Module Batteries & Fuel Cells Module LiveLink™ for Creo™ Parametric
Structural Mechanics Module Electrodeposition Module LiveLink™ for Pro/ENGINEER®
Nonlinear Structural Materials Module Corrosion Module LiveLink™ for Solid Edge®
Geomechanics Module Electrochemistry Module File Import for CATIA® V5
Fatigue Module
Multibody Dynamics Module
Acoustics Module

© Copyright 2013 COMSOL. COMSOL, COMSOL Multiphysics, Capture the Concept, COMSOL Desktop, and LiveLink are either registered trademarks or trademarks of COMSOL AB. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners, and COMSOL AB and its
subsidiaries and products are not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by those trademark owners. For a list of such trademark owners, see http://www.comsol.com/tm
December 2013 VOLUME 19/ISSUE 4

DEPARTMENTS 18 Engineering on the Edge

A bionic man in DC, next-gen helicopters,
solar challenge winner, electricity via
2 Degrees of Freedom condensation, and a wave-stabilizing ship.
Optimize the design cycle.
By Jamie J. Gooch 20 Rapid Ready Tech EDITORIAL
Microsoft, additive manufacturing, and Jamie J. Gooch | Managing Editor
10 Virtual Desktop the Internet of Things; EnvisionTEC’s Kenneth Wong | Senior Editor
Anthony J. Lockwood | Editor at Large
Cloud-based PLM, COMSOL multiphysics, new Digital Light Processing 3D printers; Heather Pittinger | Copy Editor
RTT buys Bunkspeed and Siemens tries Arburg’s new freeformer 3D; Lockheed
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
out SaaS. Martin’s digital manufacturing plans; and Tony Abbey, Brian Albright, Mark Clarkson,
By Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole HP plans to enter the 3D printer market. David S. Cohn, Randy Frank, John Newman,
Frank Ohlhorst, Jim Romeo, Beth Stackpole,
Peter Varhol, Pamela J. Waterman
21 Editor’s Picks PUBLISHER
Products that have Steve Robbins | Publisher
grabbed the
ADVERTISING SALES
editors’ attention. 603-563-1631 • Fax 603-563-8192
By Anthony J. Lockwood
16 Conference Recaps Erich Herbert | Sales Executive (x263)
Jeanne DuVal | Sales Executive (x274)
Siemens PLM Software’s NX CAE 52 Spotlight ART & PRODUCTION
Symposium, The Product Directing your search to the companies Darlene Sweeney | Director (x257)
Innovation Congress that have what you need.
A LEVEL 5 COMMUNICATIONS PUBLICATION
featuring PLM Roadmap, Steve Robbins | Chief Executive Officer
and Stratasys’ 77 Advertising Index Thomas Conlon | President
Manufacturing the ADVERTISING, BUSINESS, & EDITORIAL OFFICES
Future Summit. 78 Fast Apps Desktop Engineering ® magazine
Level 5 Communications, Inc.
By Jamie J. Gooch Engineering case studies. 1283D Main St., PO Box 1039 • Dublin, NH 03444
603-563-1631 • Fax 603-563-8192
E-mail: DE-Editors@deskeng.com

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6 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

THREE AIRCRAFT, A SINGLE MODEL,
AND 80% COMMON CODE.

THAT’S MODEL-BASED DESIGN.

To develop the unprecedented

three-version F-35, engineers
at Lockheed Martin created a
common system model to
simulate the avionics, propulsion,
and other systems, and
to automatically generate
final flight code.
The result: reusable designs,
rapid implementation, and
global teamwork. To learn more,
visit mathworks.com/mbd

©2012 The MathWorks, Inc.

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Virtual Desktop by Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole

Sunny Forecast for Cloud-based PLM

O
n-premise deployments
and traditional-style prod-
uct lifecycle management
(PLM) still comprise the
lion’s share of the market and user im-
plementations, and likely will for some
time. However, interest in cloud-based
PLM is definitely picking up.
In addition to the splash made by
Autodesk with its expanding family of
cloud-based engineering tools, a slew
of new cloud-based engineering col-
laboration platforms and refinements
to existing platforms have entered the
market. According to research by Tech-
Navio, the PLM market is expected Solair PLM easily integrates with a range of common business systems,
to achieve a 9.7% compound annual including CAD systems and Microsoft Office. Image courtesy of Solair.
growth rate between 2011 and 2015.
Cloud-based PLM, in particular, are may not be totally custom, but it solves plans to actively jump into the U.S. mar-
expected to drive much of this growth. their problems.” ket by the first quarter of 2014.
One of the companies expecting to Solair PLM was designed as a multi-
capitalize on this anticipated growth New Arena Applications Released tenant, cloud-based system with a pay-as-
spurt is Arena, which introduced one of In its fall 2013 release, Arena added you-go licensing model. It’s also designed
the earliest cloud PLM platforms (they three new applications designed to give to be scalable and easy to implement:
were referred to as “hosted” or “on- its customers (mostly from outsourced According to Founder and CEO Tom
demand software” back then) more than manufacturing) the tools to help trans- Davis, the firm has a patent-pending
a decade ago, and has been at it ever form their manufacturing operations technology that automatically configures
since. Arena settled on what at the time and maximize business results: the system in the cloud, so users don’t
was a disruptive software delivery model • Arena Demand helps OEMs calculate have to do any heavy lifting around cod-
because it targeted companies in the aggregated materials needs across all of ing or integration.
electronics sector, which typically rely their product lines so they can better Solair PLM covers the usual PLM
on contract manufacturers and extended negotiate with suppliers. workflows, from full document manage-
global supply chains while dealing with • Arena Projects connects the project ment and revisioning to bill of material
extremely short product delivery cycles schedule directly to the product record, (BOM) management and integration/vi-
and highly accelerated rates of change. increasing visibility so engineering and sualization of CAD data. Baldi, a Floren-
“The outsourced manufacturing manufacturing groups can better facili- tine company that makes furniture and
world works well with cloud applica- tate new product introductions and new accessories for the luxury market, plans to
tions,” says Steve Chalgren, Arena’s vice quality processes, among other processes. move from a small traditional-style PLM
president of product management and • Arena Exchange is a collaboration envi- program to Solair PLM in the cloud spe-
strategy. “If you have on-premise PLM, ronment designed to look and feel more cifically because of its ease of use.
everything is behind the firewall, which like a social media platform — connect- “Solair PLM allows us to open up
requires a lot of user provisioning on ing multiple users at different supplier our PLM platform to all our suppliers
enterprise applications to give suppliers levels throughout a global supply chain. and colleagues that aren’t into CAD
access. It’s a huge IT cost for OEMs.” or technical software,” notes Leonardo
Instead of spending millions of dol- A New Contender Boni, Baldi’s head of product and R&D.
lars on an enterprise PLM deployment, Upstart Solair is also upping the ante The end game, Boni says, is improved
electronics original equipment manu- for cloud-based PLM. The Italy-based collaboration across dispersed partners,
facturers (OEMs) can take a couple of newcomer has just released Solair PLM, ultimately leading to shorter product
hundred thousand dollars annually and its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) PLM development cycles.
get the same capabilities, he explains: “It offering, to the European market. It has — B. Stackpole

10 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

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Virtual Desktop by Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole

Diverse Multiphysics Modules Help

COMSOL Achieve Real-world Accuracy
W
hat do Moore’s Law, modeling, Woytowitz set out to explore Qidwai said the comprehensive mod-
structural corrosion, and how computational modeling, in turn, eling of corrosion requires the coupling
magnetostrictive trans- enables Moore’s Law — helping to of electrochemical relations and balance
ducers have in common? promote progressively higher transis- of mass involving multiple species; con-
Seemingly, not much. Yet at the recent tor densities, better architectures, and stitutive descriptions of reaction rates
COMSOL 2013 Conference in Boston, increased reliability and speed. Using and species diffusion mechanisms in
they were showcased as three real-world COMSOL Multiphysics, he explored the electrolyte; and conditions govern-
examples of open-ended design chal- wafer fabrication equipment modeling, ing the movement of metal-electrolyte
lenges being effectively explored in the IC device-level modeling, and eventu- interface. Using COMSOL Multiphys-
virtual world using COMSOL multi- ally molecular dynamics, all in an effort ics, Qidwai’s team takes a gradual ap-
physics (MP). to see how modeling can advance semi- proach to this highly complex modeling
While the three keynote speakers are conductor design. agenda, going from simpler to complex
pursuing design problems that appear phenomena, to investigate the effect of
to be worlds apart, they are indicative When to Stay with Single Physics microstructure on corrosion pit growth
of two big goals among COMSOL’s As part of her presentation on how MP and the subsequent effect on mechanical
growing user base: an obsession with models are used in magnetostrictive performance.
accuracy and the aspiration to skip or transducer design, Julie Slaughter, Ph.D.,
cut back on physical testing, which is far a senior engineer at Extrema Products COMSOL 4.4 Debuts
more time-consuming and expensive Inc., provided some insight into where While the upgrade adds some user-
than virtual prototyping, according to different domain models and physics requested capabilities across many
Valerio Marra, Ph.D., COMSOL’s tech- couplings come into play as part of the of its modules, there are a couple of
nical marketing manager. design process. For example, Slaughter major highlights. One is the revamped
If there is any common thread among says the team uses single physics model- user interface that delivers a Windows
COMSOL’s user base, “it’s a desire for ing during the detailed design stage, but look and feel, including the addition
real-world accuracy and a chance to then turns to coupled models as part of of the Microsoft ribbon for easier and
mimic real-world results,” Marra says. the design validation process. faster access to functionality — and to
“How many cool ideas don’t see the light “We don’t like to do coupled models keep users versed in Microsoft Office
of day because there is no good tool to during detailed design, because it adds a products working in a familiar way.
test them? This is why we invest in multi- lot of complexity to the system that you COMSOL is retaining its traditional
physics — because our customers want to don’t need at that point,” she explained model builder interface for existing
reduce the number of prototypes, and are during her presentation. users who might be more comfortable
obsessed with getting good results.” with that approach.
Corrosion Modeling The other major addition is the Mixer
Modeling Enables Moore’s Law The third COMSOL user presenter Module, an add-on to the Computational
Peter Woytowitz, Ph.D., who leads the was Siddiq Qidwai, Ph.D., a mechanical Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Module designed
Computational Modeling and Reliability engineer at the Multifunctional Materi- to help users understand and design the
group in Central Engineering at Lam als Branch of the U.S. Naval Research operation of mixers in the pharmaceuti-
Research Corp., a supplier of wafer fab- Laboratory. Qidwai’s research was all cal, fine chemical, and food industries.
rication equipment and services, was first about leveraging COMSOL to explore This new module, one of many highly
up. He presented on using COMSOL structural corrosion, which he character- vertical add-ons COMSOL has an-
to explore the symbiotic relationship be- ized as a formidable problem for both the nounced in the last few years, provides
tween Moore’s Law, which dictates that naval and maritime industries. As part of full-moving mesh technology, free sur-
the number of transistors on integrated his presentation, Qidwai said that the cost face modeling, and a number of ready-
circuits (ICs) doubles every 18 months, of corrosion to the general populace con- made applications to help engineers
and computational modeling. stitutes about 2% to 4% of the U.S. gross explore laminar and turbulent reacting
While it’s known that Moore’s Law national product — an astounding figure flows in rotating machinery.
is a driver for the use of computational and a hard one to ignore. — B. Stackpole

12 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

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Virtual Desktop by Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole

RTT Buys Bunkspeed, Reaches New Markets

I
n October, RTT snatched up Los pabilities to our customers,” says Peter
Angeles-based Bunkspeed, a fel- Stevenson, CEO of RTT USA.
low rendering software developer. Although they cater to different au-
So why is the company, already diences, both companies share a dedica-
well known among automotive manu- tion to the parallel processing potential
facturers for its DeltaGen 3D visualiza- of graphics processing units (GPUs).
tion software, buying another renderer? When GPU maker NVIDIA began High-end rendering and visualization
The answer lies with the different mar- promoting its Maximus technology — software developer RTT snatches
kets the products target. a setup that lets you deploy more than up Bunkspeed, another rendering
RTT’s DeltaGen is a high-end one GPU in a workstation — RTT software maker.
product, by the company’s own descrip- DeltaGen was one of the featured ap-
tion. By contrast, Bunkspeed SHOT plications. Bunkspeed SHOT was built over the upcoming months. During the
is an easy-to-use rendering program, for GPU acceleration using NVIDIA’s interim period, clients will receive con-
targeting CAD users with little or no compute unified device architecture tinued support and the same advanced
training in the use of complex render- (CUDA) programming platform. quality product that they have come
ing applications. RTT’s purchase of According to RTT’s press an- to expect from both RTT and Bunk-
Bunkspeed gives the company a robust nouncement of the acquisition, “Bunk- speed.” The company also revealed that
product to sell downmarket. speed will continue to operate under Steven Madge, RTT’s managing direc-
“The addition of Bunkspeed’s spe- the same name and is now a wholly tor of the Pasadena office, has been
cialty services and footprint will allow owned subsidiary of RTT. The incor- named CEO of Bunkspeed.
RTT to provide a broader range of ca- poration of Bunkspeed will take place — K. Wong

Siemens Dips Its Toe into SaaS with IntoSite

T
he launch of IntoSite, an addi- to digitize and simulate
tion to Siemens’ Tecnomatix every aspect of their work-
suite, marks the company’s first flow. Siemens laid the
steps toward a territory it has groundwork for IntoSite
so far sidestepped: the public cloud. when it introduced a Tec-
Tecnomatix IntoSite, according to the nomatix plant simulation
company, is “a cloud-based web applica- solution a year ago. But the
tion that maintains a 3D representation latest product, IntoSite, is
of a production facility, presents it in its augmented with location
geographical context, and allows you to intelligence.
navigate through the facility in the simple “The system allows any- 3D representation of a production facility shown
and familiar way you navigate Google one in the organization to in Siemens’ Tecnomatix IntoSite software. Image
Earth. IntoSite supports cooperation and add and contribute material, courtesy of Siemens PLM Software.
collaboration on the shared information tips and tricks, best practices,
in your enterprise, and harnesses the ‘wis- etc., that will immediately be immense value to automotive manu-
dom of the crowd’ by enabling the shar- displayed in the appropriate 3D/Geo facturers, oil and gas businesses, and
ing of best practices, tips and tricks.” context,” Segall explains. This social energy producers. With such a solu-
Tali Segall, a senior product manager media-inspired feature is expected to tion, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)
at Siemens, clarifies that “the server is offer organizations to harvest the collec- deployment makes the most sense, as
hosted and maintained by Siemens.” tive wisdom of its staff, possibly even the it’s most effective when field workers
The solution is expected to launch in public, she adds. can remotely access it from a browser.
monthly subscriptions at less than $100 The product targets facility owners Segall says the current version of In-
per user per month. and operators. The ability to main- toSite has no mobile device support,
Virtual factory and plant designs tain an accurate, up-to-date virtual but “it’s definitely on the road map.”
stemmed from manufacturers’ moves representation of a plant could be of — K. Wong

14 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

Conference Recaps by Jamie J. Gooch

Toward the Goal of Simulation Data Stratasys Defines

Complete System Management is an Itself and the 3D
Simulation On-ramp to PLM Printing Market
This year’s Siemens PLM Software Product Innovation Chicago featuring A year after
NX CAE Symposium 2013 was held PLM Roadmap was hosted by industry the merger of
at the University of Cincinnati last consultants CIMdata and MarketKey Ltd. Stratasys and
month. It featured more than two dozen in October. They assembled experts from Objet, and
presentations, roundtables, and panel engineering, research and development, just months
discussions, as well as two workshop and information technology to share after its
tracks. Siemens PLM Software NX their experiences implementing product acquisition of
customers explained how they used the lifecycle management (PLM) solutions. MakerBot, the
software to simulate everything from tiny The Commissioner and CIO of Chicago, company was
0.015mm cardiovascular stents to huge, Brenna Berman, and Adrian Micu, vice ready for its
ship-based cranes and heavy-lift rockets. president of Engineering at CES Corp. close-up. In October, Stratasys hosted
While the simulation projects were varied, kicked things off with keynotes in the the Manufacturing the Future Summit
there was a common theme running PI Congress and PLM Roadmap tracks, at its headquarters in Eden Prairie, MN.
throughout the symposium: the need to respectively. Other speakers represented About a dozen journalists were on hand,
reduce cycle times via collaboration and the likes of Boeing, Dow Chemical, Rolls- and more dialed in, to hear Stratasys
system-level engineering. Royce and Whirlpool. executives and customers explain how
Keith Meintjes, practice manager, 3D printing is not only saving them time
Simulation & Analysis for CIMdata, and money, but enabling new business
explained how simulation can be models and new ways to design products.
incorporated into a PLM system to The summit kicked off Tuesday
help drive business decisions. He said night with a dinner and then resumed
simulation and analysis was a $4 bil- early yesterday morning with a series
lion industry in 2012, and is projected of speakers and a tour of RedEye by
to grow 15-20% over next few years. Stratasys (formerly known as RedEye On
But he cautioned companies to look Demand). First up was Stratasys CEO
“The rate of innovation and the beyond just the technology aspect of David Reis, who answered a question he
rate of development … and bringing building a collaborative system. is routinely asked: Why, after 27 years, is
(products) to market is speeding along As if to illustrate that point, other 3D printing suddenly so popular?
at a rate that most of the people in presenters shared their challenges in “One of the reasons has to do with
this room can only imagine,” said the implementing PLM. Whirlpool’s Senior the improved accessibility and ease
opening presenter Dave Shook, senior Engineering Manager, Ken Rashe, of use of the technology that makes it
vice president and managing director, said the company is still fighting an possible for anyone – children, students,
Americas, for Siemens PLM Software. engineering culture of working locally, and hobbyists or professionals – to use
“You can’t take weeks or months to go rather than using the PLM system. 3D printing for whatever their needs,”
do this. It needs to be done in hours, And, Dow Chemical Senior Asset man- he said, “whether it’s for fun, education,
not days to bring together the mechan- ager Mike Williams explained how the design or manufacturing.”
ics and the software … It’s the whole company’s Manufacturing department Reis predicted today’s students will
closed-loop process.” formed an alliance with Finance and graduate expecting 3D printing to be
That vision of a closed-loop process R&D to propose a PLM process to used in the workplace, underscoring
— one platform for the entire design upper management. why education is such a valuable market
cycle, including testing — is what drove Next year’s European congress will be for the company. Outside of education,
the $750 million acquisition of LMS by held in Berlin, and the U.S. conference Stratasys breaks down the markets it
Siemens that we reported on last year. will be held in San Diego. now serves into personal, augmented
and alternative manufacturing sectors.
MORE ➜ deskeng.com/ MORE ➜ picongress.com and
virtual_desktop/?p=7839 us.picongress.com MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/ ?p=5693

➜ For more coverage, visit deskeng.com and follow DE on Twitter @DEeditor

16 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com
 Design Optimization Sponsored Report /// Intel® Corporation

Can You Afford NOT To Do

Simulation Based Design
Design
Shorter design Optimization
cycles Sponsored Report
and multiple / Intel®
Corporation
iterations are within reach via simulation
and professional workstations.

Y
ou’ve heard all the talk about simulation-based design.
You’ve listened to colleagues—maybe even some of your
competitors—wax on about how doing robust simula-
tion studies early on in the design cycle leads to more and better
product ideas while also optimizing use of materials. In fact,
you’re sold on the need to embrace advanced analysis, but you
just don’t see how it’s feasible given the complexity and high
cost of the simulation software — not to mention, the high-
powered workstation gear.
It’s time to put those preconceptions aside and look at
the reality of just how accessible and affordable both high- Image courtesy of ANSYS, Inc.
powered workstations and advanced analysis software have
become. Today, any design and engineering professional can opment process, they can also ensure design robustness and
easily trade up a mid- or even high-end desktop computer ultimate product integrity, Aberdeen analysts say.
for an Intel Xeon-based workstation that fits within the Putting an affordable simulation-based design engine within
parameters of the average budget. In fact, a dual processor close reach will also empower engineers to embrace new kinds
Intel Xeon-based workstation with up to 24 cores is far more of innovation workflows. For example, such a setup would allow
affordable than ever before and it can deliver the desktop for the iteration of more ideas and testing of coarse-grain mod-
computing power necessary for running the robust parametric els on the local workstation, utilizing the more expensive local
design studies and advanced analysis so crucial to modern-day or scalable cloud-based HPC resources more cost-effectively
product development. for higher fidelity modeling of the optimized model at a critical
point in the design cycle. In addition, a research project con-
The Right-Sized System ducted by Sandia National Laboratories showcases how the new
Why is it so important to invest in a system that is right-sized wave of affordable Intel Xeon-based workstations and HPC
for parametric design studies and analysis? As business pressures clusters can be used to enable stochastic modeling, enabling
continue to mount, studies show companies taking a simula- simulations to be used not just for single-point predictions, but
tion-driven design approach are far more likely to be leaders in also for automated determination of system performance im-
their markets. Not only can simulation-based design replace or provements throughout a product life cycle.
reduce physical prototyping as a cost-saving measure, the ap- Before closing the door on simulation-based design
proach can also inspire a completely new style of experimen- because it’s too costly or complex, consider how the world
tation designed to spark innovation and spur development of of high-powered computing has changed. Thanks to the ac-
best-in-class products, experts say. cessibility of affordable analysis software
Consider research from Aberdeen Group. The firm found and workstations based on Intel Xeon
that the top 20% best-in-class companies pursuing a robust processors, professional-grade simula-
design approach, including widespread use of simulation, were tion capabilities are well within reach of
more likely to meet product launch dates, hit product revenue, engineering organizations, both large
cost, and quality targets, and reduce development cycles. Not and small. To find out more about Intel’s
only do Intel Xeon processor-based workstations and HPC Xeon-based workstation products, go to
clusters help drive significant time and cost out of the devel- www.intel.com/workstation

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 17

Engineering on the Edge Future Focus

Bionic Man Shows Off Army Looking for a Few Team Wins Solar Challenge
Advanced Prosthetics Good Helicopter Designs
The U.S. Army has signed technology
investment agreements with Bell and
Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Sikorsky,
Karem Aircraft and AVX Aviation to
develop prototypes for next-generation
light- and medium-sized helicopters.
The four teams will compete for the
Delft University of Technology in The
business as part of the Joint Multi-Role
Netherlands won the 2013 World Solar
(JMR) Technology Demonstrator Phase 1
Challenge, making a 1,864-mile trip across
program. Two prototypes will be chosen
the Australian outback in about 33 hours,
to be built by 2018, with full deployment
with an average speed of about 56 mph.
A “bionic man” developed at the University by 2030.
The Nuna7 vehicle’s shell was made
of Zurich paid a visit to the U.S. capital
using DSM’s Daron resins, optimized for
in October, displaying some of the most
use with TeXtreme carbon fiber. The team
advanced prosthetics technology available.
used DSM’s Somos stereolithography
The international team that built the
materials for prototyping. Nuon also used
robot has recreated more than 50% of
a lightweight version of Semprius’ high-
the human body — including limbs and
concentration solar photovoltaic modules
a complete circulatory system — in the
(NCPV) to power the vehicle. The modules
remote-controlled humanoid contraption.
were less than 2.75 in. thick, and were
Shadow Robot Co. spearheaded the
able to deliver about 13.6 watts per lb.
assembly using donated components,
including a Touch Bionics i-limb prosthetic
MORE ➜ deskeng.com/edge/?p=5688
hand, a device also worn by Bertolt Meyer, The helicopters must be able to
Ph.D., who designed the robot. The bionic travel at 265 mph (double current
man includes 200 processors and nearly speeds); be able to hover at altitudes ‘Jumping’ Water Droplets
1 million sensors, along with 26 individual
motors and 70 circuit boards.
of 6,000 ft.; and must be quieter than
current models.
Could Produce Electricity
Researchers at MIT have stumbled across
MORE ➜ deskeng.com/edge/?p=5714 MORE ➜ deskeng.com/edge/?p=5669 a potential source of energy: condensation
in the air. While investigating how water
droplets interact with superhydrophobic
Ship Uses Internal surfaces, they discovered that the repelled

Waves for Stability droplets produce a net positive electrical

charge as they jump from the surface.

D esigners and researchers at

Marintek (a division of SINTEF) are
testing a ship design that can generate
These jumping droplets enhance the
efficiency of heat transfer on condensers,
potentially improving power plant efficiency.
waves inside its own hull to stabilize the By applying a charge to a nearby metal
vessel while docked next to an oil rig. plate, the droplets can be pulled away from
The Offshore Accommodation Vessel has water tanks in its hull formed into the surface, reducing the likelihood of their
the shape of a U. Air valves control the direction of the water as it moves in the being pushed back onto the condenser.
tanks. By counteracting the motion of the external waves with artificially generated The findings also suggest that power could
internal waves, the designers believe they can reduce the motion of the ship. The be generated via condensation in the
ship will also have azimuth thrusters that will be used to hold the ship’s position air. By placing two water-repellent metal
next to the rig. The crew will be able to move from the vessel to the drilling rig via plates outside, energy could theoretically
a telescoping 182-ft. gangway. Ship owner Østensjø contracted design company be produced by the water droplets jumping
SALT to develop the ship. Hoppe Marine came up with the internal wave system, from one to the other.
which has been modeled and tested by Marintek.
MORE ➜ deskeng.com/edge/?p=5656
MORE ➜ ddeskeng.com/edge/?p=5636

➜ For more coverage of the future of engineering technology, visit deskeng.com/edge

18 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com
13th LS-DYNA®U.S. &
International Users Conference
June 8th -10th, 2014
Dearborn, MI
Welcome and Call for Papers
Livermore Software Technology Corporation (LSTC) and DYNAmore Germany
are pleased to bring engineers, professors, students, consultants, industry leaders
and interested parties together at the 13th International LS-DYNA® Users
Conference to be held at the Adoba Hotel (formerly the Hyatt Regency) Dearborn, MI.

Important Dates:
Abstract Deadline: Nov 30, 2013
Email Your Abstract to: papers@lstc.com
Notification: No later than Dec 15, 2013
Paper Deadline: Mar 5, 2014.
Papers are being reviewed upon receipt, with immediate notifiction of acceptance.

The presenter of each accepted paper will receive free admission to the conference,
provided that the presenter registers for a room at the Adoba Hotel under the LSTC
Conference registration.

Application Areas Being Accepted for Paper Submission:

• Aerospace • Electromagnetics • Nuclear Applications
• Automotive Crashworthiness • Heat Transfer • Occupant Safety
• Ballistic and Penetration • Impace and Drop Testing • Seismic Engineering
• Biomechanics • Manufacturying Processes • Ship Building
• Civil Engineering • Metal Forming • Transportation
• Compressible Fluid Dynamics • Modeling Techniques • Virtual Proving Ground

Upcoming International Users Conferences

10th LS-DYNA® European &
International Users Conference
June 16-17, 2015
Wurzburg, Germany

For More Information on Call for Papers, Sponsorships and Exhibits

papers@lstc.com
Rapid Ready Tech Making Digital Designs Physical

Microsoft Prepares
HP Indicates Plans to Enter AM Market by 2014
AM for Internet of Things
Microsoft Research is just as interested
in the Internet of Things (IoT) as
W ith the rapid growth of additive manufacturing (AM),
it’s easy to forget the market is still relatively small
when compared to big business. Even the largest AM
other tech companies, and has been manufacturers, 3D Systems and Stratasys, aren’t large when
quietly working on ways to include the compared to giants of industry like Apple or GE.
technology in a number of objects via a At the Canalys Channels Forum in Bangkok, HP CEO Meg
variety of different sensor types. Most Whitman announced the company’s intention to build 3D
of this research uses radio frequency printers, entering the market in 2014.
identification (RFID) chips for tracking “We are excited about 3D printing,” said Whitman. “We want to lead this business.
purposes, but new research has HP Labs is looking at it. 3D printing is in its infancy. It is a big opportunity and we are all
developed a method of using terahertz over it. We will have something by the middle of next year.”
(THz) imaging to read specially designed Whitman added that HP’s main concerns with the technology at its current state
structures within objects built with are build speeds and the cost associated with buying a top-of-the-line AM system.
additive manufacturing (AM). She also insisted that when HP launches a product, it will be something new. That
The system is called InfraStructs, likely means HP won’t be partnering with existing manufacturers the way it did with
and is the brainchild of Karl Willis, Ph.D., Stratasys in the past.
from Carnegie Mellon University, and MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=5647
Andrew Wilson, Ph.D., from Microsoft.
The basic premise of InfraStructs is to
use the capability of AM to build complex Arburg Unveils Lockheed Martin Steps
internal geometries to self-embed three-
dimensional codes into objects that freeformer System Up Digital Manufacturing
have been wholly or partially built using Arburg represents Lockheed Martin envisions a “digital
a 3D printer. These codes are then read one of the first tapestry” of production in which every
by a THz scanning device and used for established step of the process of creating new
everything from simple identification to businesses to wade goods is a single strand. Its tool of
actual programming code that allows into the additive choice is model-based engineering
objects to connect with outside systems. manufacturing (MBE), an integrated toolset that
(AM) fray with its updates and maintains digital data
MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=5356
freeformer 3D from start to finish.
printer. Lockheed Martin’s Collaborative
Latest DLP Systems: the Arburg’s AM Human Immersive Laboratory (CHIL) is a

ULTRA 3SP and 3SP HD process is based on plastic, but differs

from the material extrusion printers that
part of the MBE. CHIL is a virtual reality
(VR) design and simulation laboratory
EnvisionTEC’s Digital have become generally available. In that can be used to optimize designs
Light Processing place of plastic filament, the freeformer and help ensure a finished product will
(DLP) uses a vat of uses plastic beads, which are melted meet optimal specifications. The VR
photocurable resin inside the system. The melted plastic lab can also identify potential problems
and a DLP projector to is forced out the nozzle in the form in the flow of production before they
produce a 3D object. of plastic droplets, which build up become an issue.
The object is built in an object over time. According to the On the AM front, the company
chunks, called voxels, company, its process doesn’t require has stepped away from traditional
which means no strata support materials, and uses less manufacturing techniques for the
lines. EnvisionTEC’s materials overall. construction of parts with complex
latest offerings using DLP are the ULTRA Another difference is the printhead. internal geometries, or that must be
3SP and 3SP HD. Instead of the nozzle moving over the built from expensive materials, such
The main difference between the two surface of the build area, the build area as titanium. AM not only reduces the
products is resolution. The 3SP offers 100µ, moves around the nozzle utilizing 5-axis production time of these items, but
while the 3SP HD is capable of up to 50µ. movement to complete a build. offers substantial savings.
MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=5427 MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=5604 MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=5595

➜ For more coverage of rapid technologies, visit RapidReadyTech.com

20 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com
 by Anthony J. Lockwood Editor’s Picks
Each week, Tony Lockwood combs through dozens of new products to bring you the ones he thinks will
help you do your job better, smarter and faster. Here are Lockwood’s most recent musings about the
products that have really grabbed his attention.

Maple IDE Reduces Development Time

New development environment can manage projects in Maple language.
Maplesoft’s Maple technical computing and extensions. With the recent introduction
and documentation environment is one of of Maple IDE, making your own Maple code
the handful of engineering, scientific, and sounds like it just got a lot easier
research tool suites that resides on a different Maple IDE is a new integrated develop-
plane than the rest. Part of the reason for this ment environment for the Maple program-
is its great depth and breadth, and part of it is ming language. So, what does Maple IDE
because you can access the Maple language have in it for you?
and develop your own algorithms, scripts, MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabman.htm

Altium, Desktop EDA Partner for ECAD, MCAD Integration

Integration synchronizes capabilities between applications.
We’re living in an electro-mechanical world. working together to bring top-end ECAD and
The mechanisms get their smarts from top-end MCAD together grabbed my attention.
embedded electronics and the electronics The Altium and Desktop EDA announce-
need the mechanism and hardware to have ment really is a two-part affair, but both
a reason for being. Yet sometimes you’d think parts target greater productivity in the
that ECAD and MCAD have nothing to do with ECAD and MCAD design environments by
each other. This is why the announcement making them work together more tightly.
from Altium and Desktop EDA about their MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabmar.htm

HP Unveils New Z Workstations

Also introduces new Z-series displays optimized for professional use.
HP’s recent announcement of its new Z230 x 13.3 x 15.0 in. Both workstations pack a
Workstation caught my eye because they say lot of punch: quad core Intel CPUs running
flat out that it’s engineered for professional 3.20GHz Core i5 processors with 6MB
use 24/7/365. of cache up to 3.60GHz Xeon processors
The Z230 comes in traditional tower with 8MB of cache. They can house up to
and small form factor (SFF) versions. The 32GB memory, and storage options will
tower unit measures 15.7 x 6.7 x 17.4 in. take you well into terabyte territory.
(H x W x D) and the SFF comes in at 3.95 MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabmdw.htm

Simulate On-Demand
Browser-based online platform provides access to on-demand computing for simulation.
The SimScale Platform is an online, on- mechanics simulation capabilities include
demand, and scalable system for engineer- laminar and turbulent modeling and mass
ing simulation. Specific CAE (computer-aided transport within fluid flows. You can use
engineering) tools target structural mechan- SimScale Platform’s thermodynamic analy-
ics, fluid dynamics, and thermodynamics sis tools to conjugate heat flows or use its
analyses. For structural mechanics, you can steady state and transient solvers with time-
do things like modal/frequency analysis and dependent processes.
nonlinear and dynamic simulations. Fluid MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabmew.htm

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 21

Optimize Analysis /// PLM

Winning the Hearts and

Minds of Rocket Scientists
ULA set out to consolidate analysis data and processes
in Siemens PLM Software’s Teamcenter.
BY KENNETH WONG
United Launch Alliance’s engineering

W
hen Michael Gass, president workflow is designed to minimize human
and CEO of United Launch error via automation.
Alliance (ULA), sat down for
an on-camera interview with Siemens
Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)
Software’s public relations department,
he revealed something about engineers
that might seem counterintuitive to
many. “Engineers are not the most flex-
ible people, especially when they have a
process that works,” he observed. “In our
culture, we kind of resist change … Any-
time you introduce a new process, there’s
a bit of resistance.”
That culture is bound to test the mas-
sive data-and-process consolidation ini-
tiative at ULA.
As the science of rocket building gets
more sophisticated, the types of analysis
and simulation possible to predict and
perfect the rocket’s performance also related to “mass, moments of inertia, To keep product development from dif-
grow. “What is necessary to [analyze a control dynamics, and angle of attack, ferent disciplines in sync, the staff re-
rocket] evolved over time,” says Marc for example.” These are, he says, “non- sorted to labor-intensive data re-entry.
Solomon, ULA’s PLM chief engineer geometric analysis parameters that affect “How we melded data was mea-
and engineering systems architect. “We the basic plan of flight.” sured in meetings and meeting time,”
kept saying, ‘Let’s go try this’ or ‘Let’s ULA’s ambitious plan is to bring Gass explains. “It was brute force to
make sure this doesn’t happen.’ We’re hundreds of simulation tools — a mix get everyone to share information
constantly learning. So we end up where of homegrown, commercial and hybrid and check through the data to verify
we are today — hundreds of tools, and a codes — under a single environment. As an analysis translated to a physical de-
chain of analysis in multiple steps, each its data-management hub, ULA chose sign. To have the most up-to-date data,
one feeding into the next.” Siemens PLM Software’s Teamcenter. we relied on manual processes — and
It wouldn’t surprise anyone that Solomon predicts that the team will obviously that led to errors.”
ULA relies on digital simulation using “probably learn more about ourselves than The data syncing difficulty was made
industry-accepted CAE software to ver- we do about Teamcenter” in the process. more complex by ULA’s use of multi-
ify the integrity of its product concepts. disciplinary optimization (MDO), an ap-
But what’s lesser known is its reliance on The Data Mound proach in which various simulation and
non-geometric analysis. Solomon de- In the past, ULA had to cope with dis- analysis tasks undertaken by different
scribes them as large-scale calculations connected systems and manual processes. departments must come together.

22 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 NEW VERSION

“Our designs are essentially larger

than their parts,” explains Solomon. “In
most cases, we’re analyzing a large chunk Data Analysis and Graphing Software
of the system or the whole thing. It seems
the rest of the world is focused on design
management. That’s not enough for us.
We must manage our design, but the
world we work in demands a compre-
hensive engineering approach.”
Because ULA is one of a handful of
companies building rockets, the com-
pany had to develop in-house tools to
tackle the tasks commercial software
couldn’t address.
“In the rocket world, there aren’t too
many things you can buy off the shelf,”
Solomon quips. “We use lots of commer-
cial tools, tools we’ve developed in-house,
and hybrid tools that have home-devel-
oped extensions on commercial tools. A
big part of our Teamcenter integration
is looking at how to integrate our non-
commercial software tools.”

Big Bang Not Recommended

Like any large institution, ULA has
built up the equivalent of muscle mem-
ory in its processes over the years. To
persuade its staff to abandon the fa-
miliar routines, even for more efficient
ones, wouldn’t be easy.
“I knew it was going to be hard, and it
continues to be hard from the social per-
spective,” Solomon admits.
If the current system isn’t broken,
why fix it? “We also wanted to break the
mold of being tied to our roots to go on
to doing something new,” Gass says, add-
ing that he also recognized change is not
ULA’s forte. Thus, he hedged on an in-
◾ Point-and-Click GUI plus Over 500,000 registered users
cremental deployment strategy: Instead
Programming Capability worldwide in:
of the all-at-once Big Bang approach,
◾ 2D, 3D, Contour, Statistical, ◾ 6,000+ Companies including
which would have likely been disrup- Specialized Graphs 120+ Fortune Global 500
tive and resistance-prone, the company ◾ Import Data from 3rd Party Files ◾ 6,500+ Colleges & Universities
launched a pilot program that would or Database ◾ 3,000+ Government Agencies
serve as a template. ◾ Curve Fitting, Peak Analysis, Signal & Research Labs
As its first priority, ULA singled Processing, Statistics
out requirements and analytical sys- ◾ Batch Plotting and Analysis
tems, the sectors that involve a high ◾ Publication-Quality Reports
number of homegrown tools with dif-
ferent characters.
OVER 200 NEW fEatuRES & 20+ years serving the scientific
ImpROVEmENtS IN ORIgIN 9.1! & engineering community
“Every [launch] mission has its own www.OriginLab.com/91
series of analyses,” Gass says. “Not only (800) 969-7720
sales@originlab.com

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 23

Optimize Analysis /// PLM
LEFT: ULA measures launch
success by its analysis work, even
more so than its design work.
BELOW: ULA is integrating its
simulation tools via Siemens
PLM Software’s Teamcenter.

do we manufacture the rocket, but we also manufacture the mis-

sion design, and our ability to predict and model the mission, ULA runs two distinct rocket product lines, dubbed Atlas V
and deliver it to customers so they can use it, is critical.” and Delta IV. Each system, according to Solomon, has its own
Gass had another reason for starting with analysis: Simula- rich history and enterprise knowledge.
tion analysts comprised the biggest skeptics who believed they “In the process of integrating the two businesses, with lots of
could do everything themselves. At the same time, he also rec- different ideas from each, we have to make sure we incorporate
ognized they had the skills to embrace a project of this magni- everything we know about each, and not lose any knowledge,”
tude. Getting early buy-in from this group, then, would set the he explains. With Teamcenter as its consolidated data and pro-
tone for the rest of the enterprise. cess hub, he says, ULA hopes to retain its institutional wisdom.
“We’re at the beginning stage. We’ve done all the home- ULA engineers are used to relying on a rigorous checklist of
work. We’ve built the railroad tracks [for integration],” he says. questions to conduct their analyses. The data from the check-
“So as we move from group to group, we don’t need to start lists will now be mapped into Teamcenter, so most handoffs are
all over. We pick a solution of ours, figure out the manner in automated, with a series of dashboards that reveal hiccups.
which we’d like to integrate it, capture that very quickly, and The most immediate benefit from the project so far, Solo-
then move on to the next group. It’s important to do this on an mon observes, is a “reduction in overhead of documenting anal-
incremental basis, because we cannot destabilize the business as ysis assumptions, processes and outputs. These tasks used to be
we move [our tools] into Teamcenter.” repetitive manual data-entry tasks; today, they’re to be captured
by the system.” As a consequence, Solomon points out, “some-
Laying Down the Tracks for the Future one downstream should be able to follow a chain of analysis all
When fully implemented, ULA’s Teamcenter deployment will the way back to the start, so he or she can confirm or challenge
oversee a mix of intertwining analysis activities, spanning from the assumptions.”
stability calculations in MathWorks MATLAB to structural Another advantage introduced by Teamcenter is easier
analyses in Siemens’ NX CAE. The success of the implementa- change management in the analysis chain.
tion might be difficult to quantify, but Solomon has a specific “[Engineering] assumptions cascade through one group to
yardstick in mind: “We want to see radical improvement in our the next,” Solomon says. “If there’s a change, new assumptions
ability to move information through the business.” move downstream. So whenever there’s a change injected into
There is also the issue of the retiring workforce. ULA’s cur- the process, the groups have to reassess the assumptions.”
rent simulation expertise is confined to a small group, a “special With manual data entry, there was always a risk that altered
tribe.” Therefore, in Gass’ words, “the transfer of tribal knowl- assumptions might not properly be communicated to the rest
edge to the next generation and [to] do so as fast as possible of the analysis tree. The automated process ensures changes are
using tools that appeal to the next-generation’s skill set” has flagged with alerts, along with dashboards providing a transpar-
taken on new urgency. ent view of how the change affects the rest of the operations.

24 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Sponsored Report /// MSI

“We tend to be overly cautious, because our mistakes are

highly visible,” Solomon notes. “If we don’t truly understand a MSI Mobile Workstations –
change’s impact, we might possibly — and certainly have in the
past — redo the work we’ve done, just to be sure. If we under- Built for Engineers
stand the changes, we save cycles by reducing — in classic Lean
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ready for compute-intensive engineering.
Hands-free Flight

A
Even among devout fans of rocket science, there may be a s an engineer, you know
common misconception that unmanned rockets launched that sometimes you
into space are meticulously shepherded by a team at Mis- have to take work home
sion Control, perhaps using a sophisticated steering device or to the client. You dread it
to drive them through asteroid fields like you might do in a because your home system and
video game. But that is not the case, Solomon says. your business notebook are not
“The launch vehicles are truly autonomous,” he explains. up for the job. Introducing the
“When we designed them, we gave them structure, capability all-new MSI GT70 and GT60
and power. We also gave them autopilot. We tell them, ‘Your Mobile Workstations from MSI Computer Corp. With the
job is to get from here to there. Whatever you may encoun- power and flexibility to serve as a multi-monitor desktop
ter in space, your job is to get this [payload] to this point and workstation running compute-intensive engineering appli-
drop it off without breaking it.’ At a certain point, we say cations, the GT70 and GT60 Mobile Workstations are built
goodbye to them; they’re on their own. There’s nobody with and designed so that you can take your engineering worksta-
a joystick driving them.” tion with you wherever you need to go.
To be able to travel through space autonomously, the Based on the award-winning GT Series notebooks, the GT70
rocket’s internal infrastructure must facilitate automatic and GT60 next generation workstations are fueled by NVIDIA
flight data assessment, with no manual intervention from Quadro K3100M and K2100M mobile graphics cards and Intel
Mission Control. There’s a certain parallel to this hands-free Core i7-4700MQ processors. Fully certified and optimized for
approach to be found in what ULA has set out to accomplish such industry-leading applications as Autodesk, SolidWorks, and
with Teamcenter. Adobe, the GT70 and GT60 leverage NVIDIA Quadro tech-
“We’re not research scientists tackling open-ended ques- nology empowering you to run design and rendering, structural
tions. We’re trying to solve engineering problems within set analysis, or fluid analysis without any downtime or delays.
schedules and costs,” Solomon concludes. “We want to let The GT70 and GT60’s Matrix Display technology lets
our engineers be part of an integrated system that stays in you switch from a mobile workstation to a multi-monitor
lockstep with the business, but we don’t want to tell them desktop workstation easily and efficiently. Matrix Display
how to do analysis.” supports up to 3 external independent displays simultane-
Gass echoed the sentiment while talking about the ously, enabling you to render 3D images, design, and check
project at Siemens’ analyst event in September: “It’s all your reference files at the same time.
about winning the hearts and minds of people. Introducing Engineers and designers looking for a mobile worksta-
Teamcenter is more about people change management than tion with higher resolutions, sharper images, and an precisely
about IT connectivity.” DE calibrated display will appreciate the 3K monitor versions of
the GT60. The GT60’s maximum 2880 by 1620 display out-
Kenneth Wong is Desktop Engineering’s resident blogger and put ensures that your designs are represented the way they
senior editor. Email him at kennethwong@deskeng.com or share your were meant to be.
thoughts on this article at deskeng.com/facebook. Additional reporting The GT70 and GT60 Mobile Workstations are also designed
by Desktop Engineering Contributing Editor Beth Stackpole. with exclusive networking optimizations – the Killer DoubleShot
high-performance Ethernet and Wi-Fi networking solution from
Qualcomm Atheros. Offering up to 5x better latency than similar
INFO ➜ MathWorks: MathWorks.com solutions, Killer DoubleShot gives you the horsepower to handle
➜ S iemens PLM Software’s interview with ULA CEO multiple in-coming and out-going data streams at once. For su-
Michael Gass: youtu.be/RUX6pSB941A perior bandwidth control, Killer DoubleShot’s Visual Bandwidth
Control lets you see and manage your data streams in real-time.
➜ Siemens PLM Software: PLM.automation.siemens.com/en_us To learn more about the MSI GT70 and GT60 Mobile
➜ United Launch Alliance: ULALaunch.com Workstations for engineers, go to:
For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com. www.msimobile.com/workstation.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 25

Optimize Change /// The Human Element

Overcoming
Corporate
Culture to
Make a Change
Looking to change things for the
better? Don’t be surprised to find all
manner of obstacles in your path.
BY MARK CLARKSON
Image courtesy of iStock.com

“ About 15 years ago, we developed a product called

Virtual Proving Ground,” recalls Abe Keisoglou, president
of Engineering Technology Associates (ETA). “It was a
unique product, and we really thought that the auto in-
and the road surfaces. You can get results within 10% to
15% of experimental results up front, without building a
million-dollar prototype. You save six to nine months in
your design cycle up front.”
dustry would accept it.” Keisoglou and his team completed several successful
Virtual Proving Ground, however, was not a success. projects with Ford, GM and Chrysler. Top management
At the time, says Keisoglou, a rigid body kinematics was excited, each time enthusing “This is a great idea.
program called Adams (now owned by MSC) was the Let’s do it!”
predominant product in the auto industry for doing load So how, exactly, did Virtual Proving Ground fail? Top
simulations. “A whole car was about 60 points,” he says. management.
“It’s a very simple model to build, and runs very quickly.” “They didn’t want to make enemies of middle manage-
But to create that model, you first had to build an ac- ment by forcing things down their throat,” Keisoglou ex-
tual car. “You’d build a prototype,” says Keisoglou. “It plains. “So they would say, ‘You need to talk to so-and-so
costs $1 million, and takes six to nine months. Then you middle manager. He needs to implement this himself, so
instrument that car, and run through different road condi- he needs to feel comfortable with it.’ This middle man-
tions at the proving grounds while you capture data on all ager’s career is based on a legacy of success with [Adams].
the loads. You take those loads and build an Adams model, They had a lot of money invested in the software and the
and tune it to match the experimental data from the car. training. They would do everything possible to kill the
Then you’ve got a model you can use to start making de- implementation of our new process. And politically, it
sign changes for the car.” became impossible to break through and implement our
“You can’t do any design for at least a year,” he adds. technology. This was almost across the board in the U.S.
“So we came up with Virtual Proving Ground. You build auto industry.”
a finite element (FE) model of the whole car — instead It’s not just management who’s resistant to change, of
of having 60 points, you have millions of elements: ele- course. Bill Zavadil, senior vice president at IMAGINiT
ments that describe the body, the suspension, the chassis Technologies, recalls a project with a major equipment

26 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

manufacturer who had spent millions of dollars to migrate will happen when you change things? I can’t tell you how
from CADAM to Autodesk. many companies we’ve walked into that have changed
“Two years later, we walked into the place and the guys something in their product and now it didn’t work any-
were still using CADAM,” he says. “It’s what they were more. They didn’t know what to do.”
used to. They were getting the job done. One day, [the Veikos recalls one such company whose business was
company] took that desktop away, and forced them to making foam mattresses. “They had a very old process that
make the change. had developed over time,” he says. “It worked just fine,
“You’re always going to have people who aren’t going and then something forced them to make a change and it
to buy into change,” Zavadil continues. “But the company stopped working. The one guy who knew how to tweak
didn’t try to understand where these guys were coming the thing was long gone and retired. All the company
from. They didn’t explain the logic behind the change, did was make these mattresses, and they had no insight
didn’t articulate the objectives behind it. That has to come into what was going on. They thought they knew how it
from the top.” worked, but that wasn’t how it worked at all.”

Until Now, Everything Was Fine Segregation

Sometimes, the problem lies in convincing management “Sometimes,” notes Rod Mach, president of TotalCAE,
that potential problems even exist when everything seems “the company is segmented in a way that creates these
to be going swimmingly. Companies often make the mis- islands of engineering. There’s a CAE group and an FEA
take of assuming that, since they have created a process group. Or they’ll segment groups by product. That might
that consistently produces good quality products, they look good on an org chart, but groups don’t speak to each
understand how that process works. other and aren’t learning from each other. They each only
Nicholas Veikos, Ph.D., president of CAE Associates, have a small pool of money. They can’t pool licensing or
poses some key questions: “Do you really understand hardware or brains.”
how your product works? Do you really understand what For example, Mach continues, he was consulting on a

SIMULATING SYSTEMS
FLOW − THERMAL − STRESS − EMAG − ELECTROCHEMISTRY − CASTING − OPTIMIZATION
REACTING CHEMISTRY − VIBRO-ACOUSTICS − MULTIDISCIPLINARY CO-SIMULATION

info@cd-adapco.com
www.cd-adapco.com

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 27

Optimize Change /// The Human Element
project that several different groups within one company Be a Champion
were trying to do independently: “They were all going to “There’s always resistance to change,” says Mach. “Al-
the same vendors and getting quotes they couldn’t afford. ways. Even if the change is better, people naturally resist
We said, ‘Did you know there are other people at your change.”
company doing the same thing? Why don’t you all work Mach adds that for big companies especially, it’s not
together and pool the money to get the tools you all need?’ usually one person’s decision to adopt something new. If
They were all starving, whereas if they’d pooled their you can’t find a champion, somebody who’s really going
money together, they could have gotten a steak dinner.” to lead, then it takes just one person to negate the idea for
it to completely disappear.
You Want What? “You need someone with enough political capital to
Another big impediment, says Mach, is that management take a few bruises. Without that champion, without having
views engineering technology the same way they view a someone who’s really invested and can make other peo-
file print resource. They don’t understand why engineers ple believe in the change, it’s very different to get things
need so many expensive resources: “Engineers just want changed internally,” he says.
better toys. Why can’t they run on their laptops like ev- To get management buy-in, says CAE Associates’ Vei-
erybody else does?” kos, you have to be able to quantify the benefits. “There’s
“In most companies, IT will try to shoehorn you into no better way than some kind of pilot project,” he says.

“
[hardware] they’ve already picked,” he “Find something that’s not going
continues. “But these are scientific in- There’s always resistance to take the company down if it goes
struments that take special skills and to change. Always. Even if wrong, so nobody gets nervous, and
are solving special problems. Your IT the change is better, people then go through the process. Develop

”
department might not be your best naturally resist change. metrics for what success is, before you
leader to decide what your engineers start, and then measure everything. At
need to get their job done.” — Rod Mach, president of the end of the day, you’ll have a very
In addition, management may not TotalCAE good comparison: Here are the quan-
always recognize expenses. “A lot of the tifiable benefits that you’ve achieved,
focus at companies is on the spending side,” says Mach. how much money you saved in the design process, how
“The ROI calculations often don’t consider labor and time much time you’ve saved. Many times, that’s sufficient to
to market.” change the mindset.”
Take simulation run times, for example. “People get ac- “You have to stick your neck out and be proactive,” agrees
customed to engineers sitting around for a week waiting for ETA’s Abe Keisoglou. “You’ve got to take the lead. You have
an answer,” says Mach. “They see the capital expenditure to take chances. Find out what the new technology is, and
of getting a better resource in place — a cluster or what- how to bring it into the organization with the intent of help-
have-you — as an immediate expense, but they don’t see the ing the company be more efficient and more profitable.
value of getting the results faster, of the engineers not sit- “Be a visionary. If you see something that needs to be
ting around waiting. If you’re paying 10 engineers $100,000 done, go out there and make it happen.” DE
each, you’re paying $1 million to have those engineers idle
in order to avoid a $100,000 capital expenditure.” Contributing Editor Mark Clarkson is DE’s expert in visu-
To get management’s attention, says Mach, you need to alization, computer animation, and graphics. His newest book
quantify the improvement. Maybe the engineer won’t be is Photoshop Elements by Example. Visit him on the web at
sitting and waiting for results as often, but what are you MarkClarkson.com or send e-mail about this article to DE-
going to do with the time that you freed up? What are the Editors@deskeng.com.
benefits? Because the costs — the software, the hardware,
the process, the consultants — are all too visible.
“Engineer-speak doesn’t always translate up the food INFO ➜ CAE Associates: CAEai.com
chain to the people who sign the checks to fund these
initiatives,” says Mach. “Don’t say, ‘I can do 1,000 runs.’
➜ Dassault Systèmes CADAM: CADAM.com
Say, ‘We can make our product X percent lighter than the ➜ Engineering Technology Associates: ETA.com
competition if we have this tool,’ or ‘We’ll get the answer ➜ IMAGINiT Technologies: IMAGINiT.com
10 times faster, which will impact design and save money
➜ MSC Software: MSCSoftware.com/product/adams
on testing.’ That seems to be a better understood metric.”
That can be hard to do, he admits: “You’re setting ➜ TotalCAE: TotalCAE.com
yourself up for more work.” For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

28 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

Siemens PLM Software /// Optimization Leader

Rocket Scientists Unite

Simulation Data to Go Beyond
Teamcenter Simulation Process Management from
Siemens PLM Software gives United Launch Alliance
truly integrated simulation data.

U
nited Launch Alliance (ULA) to speed launch timeframes
is the leader in designing and and ensure quality.
building vehicles to launch criti-
cal spacecraft for the U.S. Government, Teamcenter – a
including the Department of Defense, powerful solution to a
NASA, the National Reconnaissance complex problem
Office, and other commercial custom- Teamcenter Simulation Pro-
ers. As the science of rocket building cess Management was devel-
becomes more sophisticated, the need oped for exactly these types
for more complex, comprehensive sim- of challenges that need to
ulation models evolves. With this evo- integrate and leverage com-
lution comes a need to unify and inte- plex simulation data from a
grate data from a wide range of sources multitude of sources across the enterprise. try where mistakes are highly visible.
and align it to mission objectives. Teamcenter Simulation Process Man- ULA management knew it needed
agement provides data, workflow, and to demonstrate early advantages
It IS rocket science process management across departments on a controlled scale to fuel adop-
To achieve its goal of 100 percent mis- and functions to streamline collaboration. tion. Teamcenter Simulation Process
sion success, ULA has come to rely on ULA, a longtime user of Siemens PLM Management enables exactly the in-
a vast array of simulation solutions – Software’s NX CAE and Teamcenter cremental roll-out they wanted. ULA
both off-the-shelf and custom – and products, saw the potential of extending could select a process to optimize,
a chain of analysis in which one step its use of Teamcenter to address the simu- configure Teamcenter to address the
feeds the next. This de mands labor lation data management challenge. challenge, and then move on to the
intensive repetitive manual data man- next group. Although ULA is only
agement. The result? An overwhelm- A rational implementation path beginning to implement this new ap-
ing mountain of data. ULA needed a Engineers are an inherently conser- proach, the early results are already
better way to harness simulation data vative group, especially in an indus- paying dividends.

About Siemens PLM Software

Siemens PLM Software is a leading global provider of product life-
cycle management (PLM) software and services with seven million
licensed seats and more than 71,000 customers worldwide. Head-
quartered in Plano, Texas, Siemens PLM Software works collabora-
tively with companies to deliver open solutions to help them make
smarter decisions that result in better products. For more informa-
tion on Siemens PLM Software simulation products, please visit:
www.siemens.com/plm/nxcae.

Contact Information:
For more information visit:
5800 Granite Parkway, Suite 600, Plano TX 75024
www.siemens.com/plm/nxcae Phone: 1-800-498-5351 • Email: info.plm@siemens.com

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 29

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// Altair

Innovative Design
Can Make Anything Lighter
Altair’s technologies and expertise change
the way organizations design products.

A
ltair develops and imple- Over the last two decades, Altair
ments intelligent simulation has pioneered simulation-driven de-
technologies that allow you sign to generate innovative design
to significantly reduce the weight of solutions for its clients. This has re-
your products, saving cost, fuel and sulted in products that exhibit mini-
CO2 emissions, but how do we do it? mum weight and outstanding perfor-
Instead of taking a product that’s mance in industry leading timescales.
already been designed and just try to Altair’s software solutions enable
shave off material, we take a different users to design high performance,
approach, which we call ‘simulation- weight efficient structures, starting in a multi-disciplinary product design
driven design’ where CAD and CAE the concept design phase. Designers cycle even for the most complex
are deployed in parallel. and architects can use solidThinking structures.
Using our optimization technolo- Inspire to generate and explore struc- But we’re not just another soft-
gies our clients can define a design turally efficient concepts in a friendly ware developer. Altair began life as
space, an area where the component and intuitive environment. a product design services company
must fit in the structure, including data Moving to product engineers and and the knowledge of real world
of any holes or access points required. analysts, HyperWorks offers opti- product development and under-
Loads are applied to the design space mization solutions for both concept standing of manufacturing processes
along with manufacturing constraints studies and design fine-tuning stages. and constraints has never been lost.
and other variables, allowing our tech- OptiStruct, Altair’s award-winning Our team works across industries, al-
nology to suggest the best possible ma- integrated analysis and optimization lowing us to use processes and tech-
terial layout, which meets the predeter- tool, along with HyperStudy, Altair’s niques from one industry and apply
mined performance targets. design exploration software, enable them to another.

About Altair
A Culture of Innovation
Our vision is to radically change the way organizations design products
and make decisions, developing and applying simulation technology to
synthesize and optimize designs, processes and decisions for improved
business performance. Privately held, with offices in 20 countries, Altair
provides Innovation Intelligence® to thousands of customers worldwide.

Contact Information:
World Headquarters
1820 East Big Beaver Rd., Troy, MI 48083
For more information visit:
Phone: (248) 614-2400 • Fax: (248) 614-2411
www.altair.com e-mail: info@altair.com

30 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

Aras /// Optimization Leader

Replace Legacy PLM to Optimize and Accelerate

Performance for Large-Scale Multi-CAD Management
Independent Testing Verifies Aras Next Generation PLM
Outperforms Leading Legacy PLM and Loads CATIA 81% Faster.

I
f you’re looking to optimize perfor- acute when a business has complex pro-
mance across the enterprise, there’s cesses and is using a legacy PLM system
no better place to focus than PLM for CAD data management, as the total
starting with CAD file management. size of files and metadata continue to in-
And if you are a CATIA user, you’ve crease exponentially.
likely experienced the frustration of A recent independent report by T-
slow performance when managing these Systems International documents the
large, complex files on a daily basis. You actual, validated performance improve-
are not alone. ments achieved when a legacy PLM sys-
Performance is a very real chal- tem for managing CATIA was replaced
lenge that global companies face with with Aras.
legacy PLM systems. Organizations During a client project, a series of
are frequently forced to spend valuable different real world assembly structures
resources and time to improve PLM were identified, analyzed and used as
performance, and are often unable to reference cases. The file size of the CAD
achieve meaningful improvements. Per- data varied between 50 and 450 MB —
formance issues become particularly depending on the volume and complex-

“
ity of the CAD structure — including
Global companies should test scenarios focused on the loading Read the full report at
consider the performance procedure of large assembly structures www.aras.com/OPTIMIZE
characteristics of Aras (with over 1000 CAD objects) into the BOOSTING PERFORMANCE USING
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comparable or better than by T-Systems International
Aras Innovator outperformed the
other PLM software solu-
legacy PLM system in every test.
tions currently available on Aras’s speed ranged from 41% to
the market, particularly for 81% faster, performing better on larger Aras loaded the assemblies quickly.
large complex CAD data

”
assemblies. On the two largest assem- What’s more, Aras achieved these results
management workloads. bles, the legacy system failed to load the with 1/3 the IT hardware resources of
T-Systems International files even after several attempts while the legacy PLM system.

About Aras
Aras provides powerful PLM technology to leading companies
around the world. Only Aras offers a highly scalable, flexible and
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Discover your next PLM solution at www.aras.com

Contact Information:
300 Brickstone Square, Suite 700
For more information visit:
Andover, MA 01810
www.aras.com Phone: 978-691-8940

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 31

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// CAE Associates, Inc.

Pervasive Simulation is the Key

to Optimized Products
CAE Associates helps companies succeed
through automation of CAE processes.

I
n today’s competitive business en- real-time. Also, to be truly predictive
vironment, the traditional product of product behavior in the field, and to
development paradigm cannot pro- ensure that the optimal design is cho-
duce designs with enough speed or ro- sen, hundreds, perhaps thousands of
bustness to ensure market dominance. variations must be investigated. This sis software. The complexity of the
Multiple iterations of design-build-test is not feasible without an integrated, project is not important; we remain
are not acceptable from a time and cost automated process. To be successful, focused on the benefits to our clients.
perspective. As a result, market leaders optimization first requires automation. Past projects include:
in all major industries, having adopted For over 30 years, CAE Associates • Process to automatically predict fa-
engineering simulation a long time ago, has been helping technology leaders tigue life in ball grid arrays.
are at the next stage and employ simu- integrate automated, customized, FEA • Automated procedures to configure
lation as an inherent part of all phases and CFD solutions into their process. and optimize medical stents.
of the product development process. We work closely with clients to under- • CFD-based electric motor optimiza-
From preliminary design through stand how they design products, make tion to minimize windage losses.
manufacturing, simulation plays a key recommendations for how they can • Automated spline-coupling modeling
role in how they develop better qual- most benefit from simulation at vari- system for gas turbine engines.
ity, lower cost products and get them ous stages, and implement the resulting • Comprehensive customization pro-
to market first. plan. The result is a streamlined simu- cess for optimization of air condition-
The infusion of computer modeling lation workflow which can be leveraged ing compressors.
and simulation throughout the design to produce an optimal design. All of these examples began with
process cannot be successful without Automation and customization simulations that required many man-
development of automated analysis projects at CAE Associates range from weeks or months to complete manually,
methods which are scalable and persis- the development of simple scripts for and reduced the process to a few simple
tent throughout. There is insufficient automating a repetitive task, to creat- mouse-clicks. We enabled our clients to
time for manual creation and rework ing entire simulation processes, driven move from using simulation as a last re-
of FEA and CFD models as the design from beginning to end with no user sort to the new paradigm of using it in
progresses from concept to production. intervention, or even any knowledge a systematic, predictive fashion for the
This must happen automatically and in of how to use the underlying analy- development of optimized products.

About CAE Associates, Inc.

As an engineering consulting firm founded in 1981, CAE Associates
guides leading organizations through simulation solutions for structural,
thermal and fluid design challenges. We offer straight advice and expert
consulting to help both large and small companies maximize the value

A S SOC I AT E S
E N G I N E E R I N G A D V A N T A G E
from engineering simulation. Our solutions are tailored to the unique
needs of each client, helping to quickly meet near-term requirements,
while positioning for long-term success.

Contact Information:
1579 Straits Turnpike, Suite 2B, Middlebury, CT 06762
For more information visit:
Phone: 203-758-2914
www.caeai.com Email: info@caeai.com

32 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

CD-adapco /// Optimization Leader

Breaking Down the Barriers of Design

Exploration and Optimization
Bringing High Fidelity Engineering Simulation
into the Design Loop

A
s organizations realize the value parallel optimization
of design optimization studies algorithms are a practi-
to gain competitive advantage, cal must-have for auto-
it is a natural desire to have the pro- mated design studies.
cess driven by the most accurate simu- Historically this would
lations possible. Otherwise there is a have meant purchasing
significant risk that the design space many expensive soft-
established will be a false “virtual de- ware licenses.
sign space” that does not correspond But with the new
to the “actual design space”, leading Power Token license
to designs that do not meet expecta- system, engineers have
tions when they are put to the test in full access to affordable license tokens CD-adapco employs an army of software
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high fidelity CAE simulations into the the cost of their optimization process for from around the globe with a singular
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Traditionally, however, there have accurate, robust, and efficient CAE soft-
been several significant challenges that Accuracy, Robustness and ware on the market.
have kept high-end CAE technology Efficiency
from being implemented within design Accuracy, robustness and efficiency are State-of-the-art Optimization
optimization: commercial licensing, ac- fundamental requirements for point Technology
curacy, robustness, efficiency, and cou- evaluations in a design study. A simula- Finally, the simulation software must be
pling with optimization technology. tion code must be valid for the entire coupled with design optimization tech-
design space otherwise the optimization nology such as with STAR-CCM+ and
Power Token Licensing algorithm will be lost. It is akin to the the SHERPA algorithm from Red Cedar
One of the most common barriers to old adage “garbage in — garbage out.” Technology. The Optimate+ add-on for
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About CD-adapco
CD-adapco is the world’s largest independent CFD-focused CAE
provider. Our singular purpose is to inspire innovation with our
customers while reducing their costs through the application of
engineering simulation. A key to achieving this purpose is pro-
viding access to advanced physics models during conceptual and
preliminary design phases, and innovative licensing models for
design exploration and optimization.

60 Broadhollow Road, Melville

For more information visit: NY 11747 USA
www.cd-adapco.com Phone: (+1) 631 549 2300

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 33

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// Collier Research Corporation

Optimization of Sophisticated
Materials Made Simpler
HyperSizer V7 from Collier Research has been fundamentally
reconfigured for ease of use by the skilled non-expert.

C
omposite materials have ligence,” along with
reached the engineering main- quick, detailed sizing
stream. They are in wide use that increases analysis
in aerospace, windpower, transporta- speeds up to 1000X, al-
tion and a variety of other industries. lows for design decisions
In most of these settings, optimization to be made in real time
traditionally has been the domain of throughout the design/
technical specialists. analysis workflow. A Hy-
But now there is a sophisticated, perSizer optimization
easy-to-use composites (and metal) typically yields weight
optimization tool that simplifies the savings from 20-40%.
process and can be trusted in the hands Automatically iter-
of the general engineer. The V7 release ating in a continuous loop with finite Originally developed at NASA,
of HyperSizer® structural sizing and element analysis (FEA) solvers, Hyper- HyperSizer was the first software al-
analysis software has a new interface Sizer software can optimize millions lowed to be commercialized and ha
and other enhanced usability features. of design candidates while visualizing seen ongoing use at the agency on
These empower the engineers respon- composite details to the ply, even ele- high-profile, zero-failure-tolerance
sible for primary design and analysis of ment, level. The tool defines laminate programs. It is also employed by lead-
structures in their day-to-day work by zones and provides precise details about ing companies involved in commer-
delivering consistent, reliable and ro- ply coverage and ply drops, improving cial aircraft, UAV, space launch, and
bust solutions. manufacturability. Serving as an inde- wind energy projects.
To identify optimal lightweight pendent and neutral hub for industry- With its new ease-of-use capabili-
and fuel-efficient designs, HyperSizer accepted CAD, FEA, and composites ties, HyperSizer V7 puts the power of
V7 self-configures for different load- software, HyperSizer automates project optimization within the reach of the
ing scenarios, requiring less input data flow from early conceptual design everyday engineer—and every engi-
from engineers. This added “intel- through final certification. neering organization.

About Collier Research Corporation

One of the early leaders in product optimization software, Collier
Research Corporation is the developer of the NASA-originated
HyperSizer® structural sizing and design optimization tool for
composites and metallic materials. Since 1996, our company provides
the engineering community with robust and easy to use software for
designing the lightest weight producible structure.

Contact Information:
760 Pilot House Dr. Suite A, Newport News, VA 23606
Phone: (757) 825-0000
For more information visit:
Fax: (757) 282-5853
www.hypersizer.com ivonne@hypersizer.com

34 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

Convergent Science, Inc. /// Optimization Leader

Convergent Science
Optimizes CFD by Automating
the Meshing Process
Never make a mesh again.

A
s organizations sprint at a the addition of Adaptive Mesh
breakneck pace toward product Refinement (AMR). AMR adds
innovation and improvement, increased meshing resolution
they often run into a hurdle in their where and when it is needed
CAE toolchain…Meshing. Meshing automatically. This new and in-
can be one of the most time consuming novative approach uses a com-
processes in the entire CAE procedure. pletely stationary orthogonal
With inconsistencies between different Cartesian mesh. The ability
meshes, diffusion due to mesh stretch- to simulate complex moving
ing, and trying to guess where to put geometries is handled just as
more mesh for increased accuracy, the easily as stationary geometries.
list of meshing issues is long. Add to
that a complicated or moving geometry Optimized Detailed Chemistry Optimized Designs
and the complexity of the mesh can in- The automated meshing in CON- CONVERGE™ comes fully equipped
crease exponentially. VERGE™ not only optimizes your with a genetic algorithm optimiza-
CFD lifecycle, it also allows engineers tion model. To put it simply, CON-
Optimized Meshing to accurately solve combustion analyses VERGE™ takes a “survival of the
Convergent Science, Inc. has opti- with detailed chemistry. Solving detailed fittest” approach to design optimiza-
mized the CFD lifecycle by remov- chemistry with CONVERGE™’s AMR tion and automatically initiates CON-
ing the user defined meshing process technology will reduce runtimes and in- VERGE™ CFD simulations in search
with CONVERGE™ CFD Software. crease accuracy by dynamically adding of an optimum product design. Utiliz-
CONVERGE™ automates the entire mesh resolution at runtime when and ing this approach, the manual user in-
meshing process at runtime. The mesh where it is needed, effectively optimizing teraction inherent in traditional design
is re-created for each time step with the mesh for combustion during runtime. optimization is effectively removed.

About Convergent Science, Inc.

Convergent Science, Inc. is a world leader in Computational Fluid
Dynamics (CFD) software. Our flagship product, CONVERGE™, is
CONVERGENT a CFD software package that is revolutionizing how fluid dynamics
SCIENCE modeling is being used by engineers, researchers and designers. With
CONVERGE™, traditional CFD bottlenecks (namely grid generation)
have been removed from the modeling process, allowing users to spend
more time analyzing their simulations and no time generating grids.

Contact Information:
For more information visit:
info@convergecfd.com
www.convergecfd.com 830.625.5005

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 35

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// CPFD

Optimize Refinery and Chemical Plant

Processes with Accurate CPFD Models
Models help operators to improve plant reliability,
reduce costs, and minimize emissions.

C
PFD Software is revolutioniz- even further, though units can be
ing the design and operation limited by erosion and its impact on
of fluidized catalytic cracking mechanical reliability. Emissions
(FCC) units, chemical-plant fluid- standards are increasing year-by-
ized reactors, power plants, gasifiers, year and new ways of meeting these
cyclones and other fluidized systems regulatory requirements cost effec-
by providing a means to “see inside” tively are needed.
reacting fluidized systems. CPFD’s
solutions are built on their Com- Reactor Models Enable Solutions
putational Particle Fluid Dynamics CPFD has become a leader in this
(CPFD®) method, which is specifi- field by offering an enabling tech-
cally designed for modeling reacting nology, Barracuda Virtual Reac-
gas-particle systems. tor®, now available in a massively
parallel version designed to run on
Plant Operators Face low-cost GPU cards, giving every
Challenges user the option of a “desk-side su-
Refinery and CPI plant operators percomputer.” Barracuda VR helps
face numerous challenges. Plants meet these important challenges
range in age from a few years to de- by enabling process engineers and helping engineers right now to op-
cades. Building new plants is dif- equipment designers to model even timize their processes while mini-
ficult and expensive, so operators the most complex, 3D reacting flu- mizing capital expenditures, outage
are looking to uprate and improve idized systems accurately, predicting time, and business risk.
their existing plants wherever pos- both the hydrodynamic behavior and By providing both detailed mod-
sible. Feedstock prices are volatile, the chemical kinetics. Models allow els and the software to run them,
so feed flexibility improves profit- users to view their mixing, tempera- CPFD has become a leader in the ef-
ability. Operating cycles have been ture distribution, conversion, oxygen fort to make refinery, chemical and
extended to 5 years or more but op- usage, emissions, catalyst carryover, power plant processes both greener
erators would like to extend them and more. The insights gained are and more profitable at the same time.

About CPFD
Optimizing Fluidized Reactor Processes Worldwide
CPFD Software provides models and modeling technology for the
international fluidization industry across many applications with their
unique Barracuda Virtual Reactor®, which can be used to optimize
processes for economy, reliability, extended operating cycles, higher
® yields, and lower emissions. We help enable emerging processes that
are critical to clean technology.

Contact Information:
U.S. Corporate Headquarters
For more information visit:
10899 Montgomery Blvd NE, Albuquerque NM 87111 USA
www.cpfd-software.com/de T: 505-275-3849 | F: 505-275-3346 | E: info@cpfd-software.com

36 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

CST of America, Inc. /// Optimization Leader

Optimization in
Electromagnetic Design
By integrating optimizers in its EM
simulation tools, CST streamlines the
development process.

T
he potential applications for embedded both local
optimization in electrical en- and global optimization
gineering are plentiful. Tuning tools into the founda-
filters and antennas, placing decou- tions of their software.
pling capacitors, maximizing shield- Local optimizers are
ing efficiency, improving connector suitable for problems
performance, calculating useful input where the initial values
signals, increasing manufacturing are reasonably close to the optimum, across a cluster means that these opti-
yield; these are all tasks in which op- and offer quick performance at the mizations can be sped up significantly.
timization is invaluable. risk of finding only a local optimum. CST offers Genetic, Particle Swarm
CST knows that engineers want a pal- The local optimizers provided by CST and CMA-ES global optimizers, each
ette of powerful, versatile optimization include Interpolated Quasi Newton, well suited for certain applications.
tools at their disposal, but equally impor- Nelder-Mead Simplex Algorithm, and Because these tools are a funda-
tantly, they want to be able to use these Trust Region Framework. The latter mental part of CST STUDIO SUITE,
tools as part of their familiar workflow. can use sensitivity information — an they are compatible with all solver
CST STUDIO SUITE ® , CST’s estimation of how the structure will types and there is no need to set up
flagship product, comprises a range of behave under small geometric changes complex links between simulation tool
electromagnetic solver technologies, — to speed up the optimization pro- and optimizer. Geometries, material
variously suitable for high-frequency, cess further. properties and waveforms can all be
low-frequency, static, transient, Global optimizers on the other optimized according to goals drawn
charged particle and multiphysics hand search the entire parameter from numerous different types of re-
problems. To make it easier for de- space to find the optimum. This is a sult data, allowing engineers to design,
signers to supplement the simula- somewhat slower process, although simulate and tune their devices in a
tion process with optimization, CST the ability to distribute simulations single workspace.

About CST
CST develops and markets high-performance software for the simu-
lation of electromagnetic fields in all frequency bands. Our advanced
simulation solutions help companies increase profitability and engineers
to minimize costs by reducing the design risk and improving the overall
performance of devices, especially for new or cutting-edge products.

CST – Computer Simulation CST of America, Inc.

Technology AG HQ: US Headquarters:
Darmstadt, Germany Framingham, MA 01701
For more information visit:
For other locations in the Americas, Asia and Europe, please
www.cst.com/optimization check the CST website at www.cst.com/Locations

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 37

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// Dassault Systèmes SIMULIA

The Quest for the ‘Best’

3DEXPERIENCE is about optimizing a company’s business and products.

Q uickly creating the best design

for performance, weight, cost
and other mission-critical factors
is increasingly important in launching
market-winning products. Finding the
best option requires a multidisciplinary
approach with multiple trade-off studies.
To reduce physical testing, companies are
expanding the use of virtual testing and Image courtesy of GF Automotive
design optimization technology.
Dassault Systèmes, the world-leader sign optimization. Its SIMULIA realistic a defined optimization task. Innovative de-
in developing 3D software applications, is simulation applications provide the most sign proposals can be optimized earlier in
delivering on a long-term strategy to pro- complete, open and robust toolset avail- the design process, reducing the number
vide the most powerful solutions for de- able on the market. of physical tests.

“
The business value of these applica-
The 3DEXPERIENCE plat- Leading Technology: tions is significant and will increase dra-
form is all about optimizing a SIMULIA Isight is used to integrate matically as capabilities within Dassault
company’s business and the multiple cross-disciplinary models and Systèmes’ 3DEXPERIENCE platform.
products it offers. Is it what applications together in a simulation pro- This will provide easier access to these
customers want? Can we cess flow, automate their execution across powerful capabilities for users of CAD,
produce it quickly? Is it right distributed compute resources, explore FEA, and CFD technologies—not only
for a sustainable future? the resulting design space, and identify from Dassault Systèmes, but also from its
optimal designs based on user-defined software partners. This openness ensures
These are the questions
parameters. that manufacturing companies can lever-
industry must ask to harmo-
SIMULIA Tosca is the leading tech- age their current design and engineering
nize products, nature and nology for non-parametric structural and software investments.
life. And these are the ques- fluid flow optimization. It delivers power- When applied as an integral part of the

”
tions our 3DEXPERIENCE ful optimization technology for design of product development process, Dassault
platform answers. lightweight, stiff, and durable parts and as- Systèmes’ optimization technology will
Bernard Charlès, President and semblies. With Tosca, product designs are further enable companies to accelerate
CEO, Dassault Systèmes. created solely on a given design space and and achieve their quest for the best.

About Dassault Systèmes SIMULIA

As an integral part of the Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE
platform, SIMULIA applications, including Abaqus, fe-safe, Isight,
Tosca and Simulation Lifecycle Management, enable users to lever-
age physics-based simulation and high-performance computing to
accelerate the evaluation and optimization of product performance,
reliability and safety—before committing to costly and time-con-
suming physical prototypes.

Contact Information:
166 Valley St.
For more information visit:
Providence, RI 02909
www.3ds.com/simulia Phone: +1 401-276-4400

38 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

ETA /// Optimization Leader

Following Nature’s Lead for

Ultimate Design Efficiency
Optimization-led Engineering Service
Enables Over 40% Mass Reduction.

T
he shapes and configurations of ponent, sub-system and/or full-
nature are wildly complicated, system level in a wide variety of
non-intuitive and completely industries.
amazing. The shapes and forms found in ACP is a performance-driven
nature in the structure of a tree, a human product design development engine
skeleton, insects and animals are truly based on design optimization and incor-
the most efficient designs imaginable. By porates the use of multiple CAD, CAE
mimicking the flawless balance between and CAO tools in a systematic approach
structure and strength of nature’s most to find the optimal design solution. This
efficient shapes, ETA engineers incorpo- methodology provides solutions, which rials; facilitates significant mass reduc-
rate similar balance to product structural address the conflicting challenges facing tion (40% or more) for the final design,
design for any complex structure, such as the modern product development envi- while realizing and even exceeding per-
automobiles, aircraft and other systems. ronment. It achieves this by synchroniz- formance requirements.
The Accelerated Concept to Product® ing the individual facets of the product The ACP Process has been applied
(ACP) Process is a holistic cost reduc- development process, resulting in an to many structural systems in its entirety,
tion methodology which enables the overall cost reduction (material, manu- including World Auto Steel’s FutureSteel-
structure of a product, such as the vehi- facturing, tools and design time), in de- Vehicle (FSV) Program, which was com-
cle’s body-in-white, to mimic “Nature’s velopment costs and time to market. pleted last year. During the final phase of
Way”. Doing so creates the ultimate Material selection and utilization, program, FSV achieved 39% mass reduc-
design efficiency, where structure, stiff- product performance, manufacturing tion and the new mass target was achieved
ness and strength are perfectly balanced requirements and assembly processes in the design. The program incorporated
for the intended multidisciplinary func- are all considered as early as possible in weight reduction, from vehicle baseline to
tion. As a Product Design Engineering the design cycle. The resulting design detailing the steel body structure concepts
Consultant, ETA provides this service offers a robust and highly efficient so- for the vehicles to meet aggressive mass
to companies looking to improve ef- lution; which when combined with the targets of 177.6 kg, while meeting 2015-
ficiency and performance at the com- strength and design flexibility of mate- 2020 performance objectives.

ETA
ETA is committed to the delivery of processes, tools and services
of consistently high quality and to continual improvement. ETA
strives to be innovative and excels at providing new technology and
multi-disciplinary expertise by developing new processes to help
reduce cost and increase quality.

Contact Information:
Email: etainfo@eta.com
1133 E. Maple Rd, Suite 200
For more information visit:
Troy, MI 48083 USA
www.eta.com +1.248.729-3010

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 39

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// ESTECO

Modularity
to Master
Complexity
ESTECO technology evolves to a new paradigm, extending
modeFRONTIER capabilities to a collaborative and flexible environment.

W
ith an accelerating pace of ing problems, and once again nature EES combines the advanced capabili-
request for innovation and provides the inspiration to resolve ties of the optimization platform mo-
steady increase in competi- the complexity of modern products deFRONTIER 4.5 with SOMO, the
tion, companies today face product manufacturing. new distributed execution framework,
complexity as the next challenge. In nature, organisms’ complexity for managing collaborative design pro-
Time to market and effective life grows with the natural selection, and cesses. The solution empowers design
cycle management are the drivers to so does the modularity and specializa- teams with a sharing platform for mod-
leverage for higher levels of profit- tion of biological systems and units, els, workflows, simulations, optimiza-
ability, inducing, however, a further which in turn increases the organism’s tions and results analisys. EES, inspired
increase in complexity. All along the efficiency and chances of survival. Take by modularity, is capable of efficiently
value chain, from concept design to the human brain as an example: dealing handling all stages of the product de-
manufacturing and maintenance, spe- with an immense number of complex sign process, with the SOMO frame-
cialists from different disciplines are tasks, the brain has different modules work. Domain experts, optimization
summoned to make critical decisions specialized in individual cognitive and integration specialists and decision
with paramount impact on product functions, but highly interconnected makers join forces and build advanced
quality. And quality, with speed of de- and collaborative, allowing the human multidisciplinary optimization (MDO)
cision, often determines the market being to achieve sophisticated tasks. frameworks and workflows, reaching a
success of a product. With this in mind ESTECO better control over the design of com-
Engineers and designers need to has developed the software package plex systems. Just like the brain drives
master such complexity, and technol- ESTECO Enterprise Suite (EES) the body, EES drives product develop-
ogy comes in aid. Software companies extending its established mode- ment by enabling engineers to under-
have often looked to nature to get in- FRONTIER desktop paradigm to a stand the complexity behind it and turn
spiration for solutions to engineer- web-based collaborative environment. it into innovation.

About ESTECO
ESTECO is a pioneer in numerical optimization solutions, specialized
in the research and development of engineering software. Perfecting
engineering and reducing complexity in the design process is our vision.
Our aim is to decrease the tedium and increase creativity by develop-
ing and maintaining cutting-edge software for integration, optimization
and advanced data analysis.

Contact Information:
ESTECO North America
1221 Brickell Ave. Suite 900 Miami, FL 33131 U.S.A.
For more information visit:
ESTECO SpA
www.esteco.com AREA Science Park, Padriciano 99, 34149 TRIEST ITALY

40 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

HBM-nCode /// Optimization Leader

Reduce Product
Development Time with nCode
Achieve new standards through finite element based analysis.

A
dvanced technologies developed prior to physical proto-
over the past decade have enabled typing will increase.
automotive engineers to design
products to meet current and future fuel Flexible, Powerful,
economy standards. As new fuel economy Up-front Design
standards have been set, automakers must Up-front design tools
now meet a federal Corporate Average such as nCode Design-
Fuel Economy (CAFE) of 54.5 mpg by Life™ enables engi-
2025. This means that engineers are now neers to gain insight
faced with one of the biggest engineering into new material per-
challenges in decades, a 5 percent increase formance and reduce
in fuel economy per year. These new fuel product development
economy demands require automakers to time. With this CAE-
reshape their engineering process without based tool, fatigue and
compromising the reliability and durabil- durability may be cal-
ity of their designs. culated from FEA re-
New materials such as ultra-high- sults, identifying critical
strength steels are being used in body locations and calculating fatigue lives for are being used to improve simulation
structures, as are aluminum and magne- both metals and composites. DesignLife throughput. The largest computa-
sium alloys for structural components. users also benefit from advanced tech- tional problems can be broken down
The use of lightweight material such nology for virtual shaker testing simula- and solved many times quicker, but
as composites also presents significant tion, welds, vibration, crack growth, and hardware is not the only requirement.
benefits for some automotive compo- thermo-mechanical fatigue analysis. DesignLife can take advantage of exist-
nents. As these new materials and in- ing hardware scalability by distributing
creasingly radical solutions are required Rapidly Improve Designs fatigue analysis tasks to open up the
in more engineering applications, the As finite element models increase in possibility of more robust, up-front de-
need to simulate and optimize designs size and fidelity, HPC environments sign through simulation.

About HBM-nCode
With over 30 years of expertise in durability and data analysis solu-
tions, nCode enables customers to understand product performance,
accelerate product development and improve design. The power and
scalability of nCode software is a direct result of its expertise and
in-depth experience in a broad range of industries.

Sales, Training, and Support

HBM-nCode sales and support is
available through local offices in
For more information visit: Europe, North America and Asia.

www.ncode.com Contact: info@hbmncode.com to reach an office near you.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 41

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// IronCAD

Minimize Risks in the

Transition From 2D to 3D Design
Using innovative new technology, designers can safely transition to
3D by reducing training and learning times while leveraging 2D in
the Design and Communication Processes.

D
esigning in 3D can improve Here’s how we mini-
design accuracy, efficiency, mize the risks in transi-
and make it easier to col- tioning from 2D to 3D
laborate through manufacturing pro- design:
cesses. However, most people famil-
iar with 2D are reluctant to make this Quickly Learn
move and here’s why: D u e t o I r o n C A D ’s
• It requires a commitment to unique drag & drop cata-
learning 3D. logs, push & pull handle
• Designers fear rules and restric- design, patented TriBall
tions imposed on them from 3D. positioning tool, and its
• Compatibility with their legacy 2D flexible design environ-
data needs to be maintained. ment, you can quickly become pro- Leverage and Use Legacy 2D
• Communication with both 2D and ductive in 3D. In addition, the inte- The integrated, DWG compatible, 2D en-
3D is still required. gration of a familiar 2D mechanical vironment allows you to maintain and reuse
I r o n C A D ’s D e s i g n S o l u t i o n s design interface avoids learning a your legacy 2D data in 3D Design. Thus,
minimizes these risks by providing a new 2D. it preserves your previous investment.
flexible and easy to use 3D design so-
lution allowing you to become profi- Design the Way You Want in 3D Collaboration
cient in 3D within a matter of days. IronCAD’s innovative design tech- Easily import and edit 3D data from
Its integrated 2D Mechanical design nology allows you to design in 3D all major CAD formats. Automatically
environment enables reuse of legacy freely with or without design rules. update changes in the 2D through the
2D data and allows design modifica- Consequently, you can make both associative 2D/3D. Share the updated
tions to be updated and easily shared planned and unexpected changes at 2D and 3D design data throughout the
in both 3D and 2D formats. any stage of the design. collaboration process.

About IronCAD
IronCAD is a leading provider of 3D Design Productivity Solutions
that deliver the highest levels of customer satisfaction and produc-

IronCAD tivity. Individual components of this solution can be used standalone,

complementary within an existing design environment, or can be
used together to collaborate effectively throughout the enterprise
to extend productivity.

Contact Information:
IronCAD Corporate Headquarters
2000 RiverEdge Parkway Suite 745
For more information visit:
Atlanta, GA 30328
www.ironcad.com T: 800-339-7304 | E: Sales@ironcad.com

42 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

Noesis Solutions /// Optimization Leader

Top Brands Secure

Competitive Edge
Optimus from Noesis Solutions helps
manufacturers design benchmark products.

P
remium manufacturers rely on At the latest Optimus World Confer-
high quality and clear differentia- ence, Audi, BMW, Snecma, Thales Ale-
tion to ensure new products excel nia Space, Tyco Electronics, Volkswagen,
in today’s competitive market. They must among others, presented how they use
do this in a lean environment with intense Optimus to stay ahead of competition.
pressure to reduce time to market and de-
velopment costs. Noesis Solutions’ flag- Combining faster development with
ship software Optimus empowers compa- superior design performance?
nies to explore the design space and adopt On average, Optimus users achieve
an ‘Engineer by Objective’ development 10% or more design performance im- technical support team enable tailor-
strategy. This enables them to design provements and over 30% design time ing, when needed, to match the user’s
benchmark products ‘right first time’. reduction. Optimus frees users from design process, software, and IT.
repetitive manual model changes and Ease and speed of use are often cited as
A solution for today’s lean staffed data processing, while efficiently iden- major factors in the adoption of Optimus,
engineering design teams tifying design space regions contain- along with capabilities including:
Optimus today helps numerous leading ing leading candidate designs. These • Process integration and automation
companies in engineering-intense indus- designs meet a combination of objec- • Integration with the vast majority
tries worldwide tives set by multiple (often competing) of CAE and mathematical model-
• Automate simulation processes performance targets as well as design ing software
• Increase simulation throughput constraints imposed by manufacturing • Design of experiments (DOE)
• Simplify the decision process realities, stringent regulatory and stan- • Surrogate modeling (or response
• Consolidate corporate simulation dardization requirements. surface modeling)
knowledge Implementation is key, and Opti- • Single and multiple objective optimization
• Deliver optimized, robust product mus’ unique customization capability • Statistical data mining and analysis
designs coupled with an exceptionally skilled • Robust design

About Noesis Solutions

Noesis Solutions is a simulation innovation partner to manu-
facturers in engineering-intense industries. Its process inte-
gration and design optimization (PIDO) software Optimus
helps manufacturers resolve their toughest multi-disciplinary
engineering challenges. Optimus automates the traditional
‘trial-and-error’ simulation based design process, and with
powerful optimization algorithms efficiently directs simula-
tions toward the best designs.

North America: Europe:

For more information visit: Gaston Geenslaan 11B4
35 E. Main Street, Suite 300
www.noesissolutions.com Carmel, IN 46032 3001 Leuven, Belgium

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 43

 Special Sponsored Section

Optimization Leader /// Professional Systems Associates

Are Your Business Processes

Helping or Hurting You?
In order to gain efficiencies through product lifecycle
management, your business processes must be defined.

B
usiness processes play a major tronic workflow
role in how efficiently and ef- enabled forms in-
fectively products can be engi- side CMPRO pro-
neered, manufactured, delivered, and vide a framework
maintained. According to CMII for to document busi-
Business Process Infrastructure, “Deficient ness processes.
requirements are a by-product of defi- Once the pro-
cient processes.”[1] cesses are defined,
In order to gain efficiency through you can use the
product lifecycle management, your CMPRO Process
business processes must be well de- Workflow Engine
fined and continuously maintained as (PWE) to help
your business evolves. CMPRO is the flush out the details • What are the requirements?
product lifecycle management soft- and make sure all of the steps are clearly • Are there fields that need to be updated
ware with a Process Workflow Engine established. Some items to consider are: automatically based on other values?
(PWE) that helps you optimize your • What is going on at each point in • Are there things that need to be done
business processes. the process? before we move forward in the process?
• Who is responsible for this? CMPRO empowers businesses to con-
How does CMPRO Help • Who has the ability to authorize activity trol processes by offering polls, check-
Organizations Optimize Processes? and assure that the work is completed? lists, and discussions that can be added
CMPRO helps organizations optimize The CMPRO PWE also allows you to to each step of the process based on the
productivity by providing a vehicle to identify the kind of information that needs business requirements.
record internal processes. Often times, to be captured at each point in a process.
Source [1]: Guess, V. C. (2006). CMII for
people go through daily activities • Who supplies this information? Business Process Infrastructure. Pheonix, AZ:
without defined processes. The elec- • Where does it come from? CMII Research Institute.

About Professional Systems Associates

Gain Control Over Processes and Product Information
Professional Systems Associates, Inc. helps organizations gain con-
trol over their processes and product information. PSA believes in
creating long-term relationships with its customers by constantly
adapting CMPRO to their needs and providing exceptional support.

Contact Information:
1308 Florida Avenue
For more information visit:
Panama City, FL 32401
www.psasys.com Phone: 1-800-373-3453

44 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Special Sponsored Section

Proto Labs /// Optimization Leader

A Company
Bred for Speed
Proto Labs accelerates innovation with its quick-turn manufacturing
services for prototypes.

P
roto Labs, through its Firstcut Through a sub-
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deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 45

 Special Sponsored Section

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48 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Case Study /// Optimize CFD

Extreme Hydrofoiling,
Powered by Simulation
ANSYS CFD analysis software helped Emirates Team New Zealand bring new
speed to the world’s oldest trophy event.
BY PAMELA J. WATERMAN

I
f the America’s Cup races make Wing sail and mast structure being
you envision the (so-called) 12- mounted between the dual hulls of the
meter craft that rode the waves ETNZ trimaran America’s Cup 2013 boat. A
from 1958 to 1987, or even the glori- central pivot structure allows added control
ous J-boats of the 1930s, you need a in a manner similar to the ailerons of an
radical mind-shift to appreciate the aircraft wing. Images courtesy of ANSYS.
current look and feel. Lift, drag and
thrust — the vocabulary of aircraft,
not boats — most aptly describe the
performance of the 2013 America’s
Cup racers. Yet for Emirates Team
New Zealand (ETNZ), ANSYS
computational fluid dynamics (CFD)
simulation software handled the
transition with grace and speed.
The sailing competition, begun in
1851, has seen periodic rule changes
that push each new generation to
sail faster than before. The latest rules gave way to increased spirit of which is “as long as it fits inside the box, it can race.” All
speed and spectator excitement at this past September’s un- designs were catamaran-based; hulls became 72 ft. long by 48 ft.
precedented series of 19 races over two-and-a-half weeks. wide, and the massive wing sails rose to 134 ft. tall.
For all its copious details, the updated Class Rule, known as
From Wind Tunnels to Workstations the AC72, contained a loophole permitting the use of movable,
ETNZ’s experience with ANSYS goes way back, with the team shaped “daggerboards” or foils that protrude into the water from
initially using FLUENT CFD software in 1998 and then ex- each hull. Such a feature effectively converts a catamaran into a
panding to tap ANSYS CFD software for the boat design of both hydrofoil — elevating the hull out of the water so that the craft
the 2007 and 2010 cup races. “flies” on upwind and downwind parts of the racing route. Sup-
The 2007 boats were a more traditional yacht design; the ported only by the foils and rudders, and without the drag of
2010 Volvo Cup (America’s Cup Challenger face-off) trimaran water on the hulls, it achieved speeds approaching 51 mph.
boats were a completely different design, notes Gilles Eggen- With the design crew free to capitalize on the maximum air-
spieler, Ph.D., ANSYS senior fluids product line manager: “And flow past its sails, both foil and wing design became critical design
now the 2013 versions are yet a third.” elements for successful tacking, foiling or rounding of racecourse
The trimarans and “hard” (non-fabric) wing sails that first de- marks. From the moment this was acknowledged, ETNZ knew
buted in the 2010 America’s Cup races had hardly been hauled their catchphrase would be “controlled flying.”
out of the water when the rules were being modified yet again
to set the tone for the 2013 competition. Past rules had been Design Versatility with ANSYS
formula-based — resulting, for example, in the 12-meter boats, The 38-member ETNZ started working on the design of a
where 12 meters is the maximum value of a formula that com- scaled-down prototype boat in October 2010, in preparation for
bines such design specifications as load, waterline length and area the July 2013 Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger elimination series.
of the sails. This time, the committee opted for a Box Rule, the “The first six months of the project were totally simula-

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 49

Optimize CFD /// Case Study
tion-driven and all our initial concepts were evaluated through ANSYS CFD simulation of
ANSYS CFD,” recalls Steve Collie, Ph.D., ETNZ design team ETNZ’s Cup 2013 boat sailing
member for aerodynamic CFD (sail design). “At that stage, we downwind, showing wind
built small 33-ft. catamarans — the largest prototype allowed pressure on the structure.
under the rules — through which we tested concepts. By October
2011, we launched two identical scale wings for these test yachts,
very similar in shape and design to the full-scale AC72 wings we
ended up with.”
“Wings” are the best way to describe the curved, carbon-fiber-
ribbed 3D sail-structures that are skinned with conformal, nearly
plastic sheeting. Think of an airplane wing turned vertical and
pivoting about a mast, with the added sophistication of a full-
length controllable aileron.
To evaluate hundreds of variables determining the possible
wing shape, the design team looked at a wide range of wind con-
ditions. Critical to boat speed is minimizing the drag of the air ANSYS CFD simulation of ETNZ
coming off the headsail (the more-traditional fabric sail in the for- America’s Cup 2013 boat sailing
ward section) as well as from the mast. In addition, when the craft into upwind conditions; colors
is sailing at a large angle to the wind, stalling is a real possibility. indicate wind pressure on the
Modeling all the variations of wing geometry vs. operational con- structure. Analyses must take
ditions presented a big challenge in itself, yet Collie knew that into account the effects of the
this would still only include part of the problem. airflow coming off the front
“There is no point in analyzing the wing by itself,” he notes, (head) sail as well as from the
“as its aerodynamic performance is dramatically influenced by mast. Accurate turbulence
the headsail and the hulls, crossbeams and fairings. With ANSYS, modeling is critical.
we’ve modeled the aerodynamics of the yacht, in its entirety,
through a massive range of situations that we call the aeromet-
rics. This involves up to 750 different simulations per design of
the wing and sails.”
ANSYS CFD software was up to the task of evaluating design
improvements with short turnarounds, generally two to three
weeks. Inputs included trim parameters for the wing and sails and
apparent wind angle. For each iteration, the meshing was 100% Diagram of primary structural
automated — which was absolutely key to getting fast results. elements important for ANSYS
“After a matrix of new geometries is transferred to the cluster, CFD simulation and optimization
a Perl script would automatically mesh, solve and post-process of ETNZ boat design.
the results,” Collie says. “The output was a text file describing the

Rules and the Need for Speed

S
tarting with the 1907 race, America’s Cup rules
were developed to ensure both safety and compet-
itive racing. They governed boat size and shape,
plus the materials and approaches allowed in support of
perfecting a design. They have actually been revised for
every one of the 34 Cup races, with just two exceptions.
From the moment the U.S. entered a catamaran model
(not expressly forbidden), the face of the race changed
dramatically. From the trimarans of the 2010 competition
to the “flying boats” of this past September’s race, it’s
clear that engineering-based ingenuity, including soft-
ware simulation such as powered by ANSYS CFD analy-
ses, will continue to help Cup sailors rule the waves.
— PJW

50 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Case Study /// Optimize CFD

ENTERPRISE

View of the “hard” wing, 134-ft.-tall sail of the ETNZ trimaran

SUITE
boat from the 2013 America’s Cup race, fully simulated with
ANSYS CFD simulation software prior to building. The wing is
split in two vertical sections, each of which can be trimmed
on the fly. Note steps to right for scale.

relevant forces and moments for each point of the matrix. Images
were also automatically generated.”
Simulations showed when the flow was attached to the wing,
and where there was a great deal of interaction with the headsail
and the hull, notes Nick Hutchins, ETNZ CFD engineer (wing
design). “ANSYS is easy software to use quickly,” he adds. “It’s
easy to get good, reliable answers, and from an aerodynamics per-
spective, the really key technical thing we’re looking for is good
turbulence modeling.”
With the earlier, 33-ft. simulated design concepts proven on
the water (netting ETNZ the single Cup challenger slot), the
design team had the confidence to use 100% simulation for the
full 72-ft. craft design. Simulations began Aug. 5, and the boat was
built within a month. Further hardware modifications were made
in just two days based on additional performance testing, and the
craft was ready for racing on Sept. 7.
ETNZ Technical Director Nick Holroyd sums up the power
of simulation: “In 16 years, we’ve seen the transition from physi-
AUTOMATE
cal testing, where almost everything we did was done in the wind INTEGRATE
tunnel or the towing tank, through to this Cup cycle, where we’ve
finally managed to get to 100% numerical analysis and digital
prototyping. The productivity gains and the extra insight it’s of- RUN
fering us are extremely valuable.”
In spite of this year’s Cup being won by Oracle Team USA in
a come from behind victory (see “The Winning Edge,” page 53)
that was ultimately based on a combination of many factors in
addition to boat design, ETNZ say they will stay the course on
using ANSYS CFD analysis in the future. DE DECIDE
Contributing Editor Pamela Waterman, DE’s simulation expert, is
an electrical engineer and freelance technical writer based in Arizona.
You can send her e-mail to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
OPTIMIZE

INFO ➜ ANSYS: ANSYS.com

➜ Emirates Team New Zealand: Emirates-team-new-zealand.
americascup.com www.esteco.com
For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 51

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ARTICLE REPRINTS
Simulation & Analysis /// Composites

Options for Composites

Analysis and Simulation
Find your comfort zone with
today’s software tools.
BY PAMELA J. WATERMAN
Expand Your Industry Exposure
F
iber-reinforced technology is seeing extensive use for
its low weight-to-strength ratios—as well as other
benefits. But working with composites is rarely a
1-2-3 process. If ever there was a need for close coopera-
tion among designers, structural analysts and manufactur-
ing engineers, this is the time, and optimization plays a key
role across the board. With dozens of software packages
Modal analyses (left) of carbon-fiber sounding board
for a dulcimer musical instrument (right), are performed
with NEi Nastran software by consultants at ALLRed &
Associates. Image courtesy of ALLRed & Associates.

are high compared to ‘traditional materials,’” explains

with Article Reprints!
addressing these challenges, DE takes a look at what’s new, Markku Palantera, general manager at Componeering.

Printed reprints, as well as locked and unlocked PDFs

what’s critical and what challenges remain. “Therefore, the superior performance of the end product
must be achieved by careful design, which eventually in-
Composites: Why now? volves software.”
Simulation
Defining&
The term composite covers material compositions ranging
from glass-filled liquid resins to “fabric” sheets with em YourAnalysis
em- Role
/// Composites
bedded carbon fibers. (See “The Life of Composite MateriMateri- Componeering, which markets ESAComp, is one of a num-
als,” DE May 2007.) Just that difference helps explain the ber of companies focused on composites-specific software.
variety of software packages targeted to the field. How these firms can help you depends partly on your spe-
Depending on the exact formulation, composite materials cific project, partly on your existing CAD and CAE soft-
Seamless workflows be-

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display such positive attributes as easy formability, strength ware, and partly just on your preferred approach to working
with light weight, excellent long-term weathering and resis
resis- with these materials. tween VISTAGY’s FiberSIM
tance to corrosion and chemicals. These advantages, in turn, Not surprisingly, opinions run strong and deep insoftware
this and MSC.Soft-
may make it easier to integrate multiple parts. Plus, proper
proper- ware’s SimXpert move a
corner of the design world. Dr. John Klintworth, Simulayt’s
ties such as good thermal stability and high thermal conduc
conduc- design from preliminary siz-
founder and managing director, points out the major source
tivity are increasingly useful in special applications. for differences in perspective is whether you operateinginto
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However, achieving these desirable properties is a chalchal- CAD environment or an analysis environment. The parallel process helps
lenge at every step—from initial design to hand-done or designers and analysts
“Any conventional [finite element analysis, or FEA]
automated part creation. package cannot do design and manufacture, and cannot optimize the part based
“The material and manufacturing costs of composites even create a decent composites model,” he continues. on weight, performance,

company name and logo for better branding.

design specifications, and
manufacturing costs.
1 DESKTOP ENGINEERING May 2011 /// deskeng.com Image courtesy of VISTAGY.

ing the export plybook with flat patterns of the plies to be manu- are deeply embedded in CATIA V5, Abaqus/CAE, SolidWorks
factured. All partners involved in this process can exchange data. and Femap, and allow users to define plys on individual finite ele-
In addition, as a pre- and post-processor, Laminate Tools in- ments, reflecting the actual manufacturing process.
terfaces with standard CAD and FEA applications to produce As an example of its power, you could define a part with 200
composite-specific results. It also offers an embedded interface plies, then with the push of a button automatically generate 2,000
with Solidworks, Nastran and ANSYS, as well as with Anaglyph’s laminate properties—a task impossible to do by hand.
hand layup ply-placement software, PlyMatch. 
STRAND7 is a general-purpose FEA package with an op- Multi-layered Challenges
tional laminated composite module tightly integrated with the A metal is a metal, but composites are a whole ’nother ballgame.
rest of the system. Users can easily combine traditional plate/shell As Firehole Composites’ Shrader puts it, “The biggest software
composite elements with 1D prismatic beam elements, as well challenge in working with composites is simultaneously captur-
as 3D brick elements. The company notes that its price/perfor- ing all of the physics involved, while also maintaining reasonable
mance ratio in the FEA software arena is particularly appealing computational time and resources.”
for small organizations because it supports the full spectrum of You definitely need specialized tools to achieve this balance.
design concept evaluation, detailed analysis and the production The good news is, as users realize there’s a good return on invest-
of layup schedules. ment in specifying these materials, the software developers are

Contact Jeanne DuVal

Simulayt’s solutions for the composites field have been in right there, expanding their support. DE
continuous development for 20 years. As the developer of Layup
Technology, which incorporates advanced fiber simulation and Contributing Editor Pamela Waterman, DE’s simulation expert, is
ply modeling capabilities, the company is positioned to offer soft- an electrical engineer and freelance technical writer based in Arizona.
ware tools running in both CAD and CAE systems. The products You can send her e-mail to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.

6
Reprinted from May 2011 Desktop Engineering with adaptations.
Copyright© by Level 5 Communications, Inc., 1283 Main St., Dublin, NH 03444, All Rights Reserved.
For more information on this topic, please visit deskeng.com.

DESKTOP ENGINEERING May 2011 /// deskeng.com

603.563.1631 x274 • jduval@deskeng.com

52 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Case Study /// Optimize CFD

The Winning Edge

STAR-CCM+ CFD Software helps guide
Oracle Team USA Hydrofoil to victory.
BY DE EDITORS

O
racle Team USA won the 2013 Cup by combining ele-
ments of its winning 2010 trimaran design with insight
gained from simulations done in CD-adapco’s STAR-
CCM+ computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis software.
Mario Caponnetto, Oracle Team USA’s design executive for
wing sail design and head of CFD analyses, points out that, from
the beginning, the 34th America’s Cup competitors worked with
extreme parameters — the brand-new AC72 class rule defining a CFD-simulated airflow across structure and crew. Analysis
high-performance, 72-ft. catamaran running under a semi-rigid done with CD-adapco STAR CCM+ software. (Image
wing sail. From a performance optimization point of view, every courtesy Oracle Team USA and CD-adapco)
part of a high-speed catamaran boat (below or above the water)
is equally important. But the 131-ft.-tall wing sail was a particular to increase the load on the lowest flap, pushing the safety mar-
challenge: “Although water is 800 times denser than air, there is a gin. Increased aerodynamic efficiency — plus reduced overall
lot more yacht surface moving in the wind than in the sea, espe- hydrodynamic drag — was the positive result.
cially for a foiling AC72 catamaran,” Caponnetto explains. The second improvement produced a faster maneuver when
Knowing that aerodynamic drag would be critical to operat- making the upwind transition between low-speed (hull in the
ing speed (expected to reach more than 53mph), the team applied water) sailing to high-speed (hydrofoiling) mode. According
STAR-CCM+ from the beginning to evaluate and optimize hy- to Caponnetto, the stern “wasn’t producing enough lift, so we
drodynamic and aerodynamic performance. Caponnetto’s ana- decided to modify it with a device we have CFD-tested many
lysts used Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equations times. A small fixed wedge glued below the transom greatly in-
to obtain time-averaged behavior during turbulent flow; they also creased the local pressure and lift with only minor drag.”
applied large eddy simulations (LES) to some detailed areas. Third, the design team worked with the cavitation module
“Most of the simulations were pure CFD analysis, steady or of STAR-CCM+ through the final race day, confident enough
unsteady, with multiple degrees of freedom and fluids, capturing in the CFD simulation results to physically modify the rudder/
the air/water interface and cavitation effects,” he says. “Some- elevator junction, reducing cavitation over these appendages and
times we had to test each candidate geometry for hundreds of increasing the top speed for the first leg of each race.
different combinations of speed and trim.” Oracle Team USA also investigated fluid-structure interac-
The only way to avoid mistakes in comparing so many tiny tions (FSI) on the appendages and the wing sail by using the
differences among shapes was to maintain the consistency of the STAR CCM+ built-in finite volume stress solver as well as
mesh and the physical model as much as possible. The STAR- performing co-simulation with Dassault Systèmes SIMULIA
CCM+ solution was to automate the simulation process. Abaqus finite element analysis software.
During the previous America’s Cup, the team used structured Caponnetto was in on the ground floor betting on CFD vs.
meshes for most of the computations, Caponnetto explains. This physical experiments for boat design. “Now I can say for the first
time, they switched to automatically trimmed, polyhedral cells. time all fluid dynamic design during America’s Cup has been car-
ried out with the use of CFD only,” he says. “Some of the insights
CFD on the Fly we obtained were unthinkable even 10 years ago, such as the
Anyone watching the 2013 America’s Cup races saw the drama modification of boat features during the last week of races. It is
unfold as Oracle Team USA worked to come back at the 1-8 fascinating to think what will happen in the future.” DE
point in the event. Caponnetto describes three ways that CFD
calculations were involved even then, supporting decisions for
INFO ➜ CD-adapco: CD-adapco.com
critical modifications to the boat’s structure and operation.
The first step involved reducing the safety margin when ➜ Dassault Systèmes: 3ds.com
trimming the wing sail; simulations convinced the sailing crew ➜ Oracle Team USA: Oracle-team-usa.americascup.com

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 53

Optimize Data /// Finite Element Analysis

Big Data:
DON’ T
PANIC
Fight the data explosion with smart FEA.
BY TONY ABBEY

Editor’s Note: Tony Abbey teaches live NAFEMS FEA classes in

the US, Europe and Asia. He also teaches NAFEMS e-learning
classes globally. Contact tony.abbey@nafems.org for details.

M
any simulation technologies have been restricted
until now by the granularity of the solution that
can be employed. For example, in computational
fluid dynamics (CFD), desired accuracy has been compro-
mised by the physical size of the mesh and the time steps
achievable.
To capture phenomena such as chaotic vortex patterns in
highly turbulent flow demands a very high level of fidelity.
Computing power has been a limiting factor in achieving the
Not to spoil it for you, but the ultimate answer to the
extreme level of simulation required in this case. It may be
Great Question of Life, the Universe and Everything is 42,
several years before sufficiently powerful computing is avail-
according to Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
able to achieve the required granularity for the average user.
Galaxy. The answer is a great illustration of the need to
The important point is that the baseline we are seeking is an
frame the right questions to get the answers you need from
accurate high-fidelity representation of the physics involved.
the deluge of engineering data. Image courtesy of Del Rey.
Other simulation areas in a similar position are combus-
tion technology and climate modeling. Indeed, it could be
argued that climate modeling is so chaotic that there will computing resource. However, this discussion relates to the
never be adequate fidelity in the simulation process. Many more mundane, but vital categories of analysis that most of
claim that weather forecasting will always be at least one day us are involved with from day-to-day.
out of date! Over the past five years, I’ve watched with great interest
Structural analysis at a macro level, however, is not usually as basic structural finite element analysis (FEA) has moved
that chaotic. We are able to predict the response of com- to an ever-greater element count for quite simple models.
ponents to many loading phenomena very accurately with a Much of this is premature, given the state of FEA pre- and
modest mesh density. In other words, we’ve reached the ideal post-processing technology. My fundamental questions are:
point where we have sufficient model fidelity easily achiev- What is driving analysts to this “big data” trend, and how can
able with average computing resource. we avoid it until we are really ready for it?
Most static, dynamic and mildly nonlinear analyses fall
into this category. If we move beyond this into impact, low Making Big Data
cycle fatigue and micro-mechanical response of composites, There is an enormous excitement in many areas over the
then we have not reached that required fidelity using typical concept and promise of big data. Many feel that there is a

54 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

virtual explosion of big data about to hit us. The essence 3. Increasing the granularity of research or simulation
of the paradigm is that dramatically increasing the fidel- data will improve the modeling by allowing greater ac-
ity, scope and interchangeability of data will allow higher curacy and better targeting. This includes anything from
levels of productivity and competitiveness in industry as FEA to consumer marketing.
we understand better what that data is telling us. 4. Replacing and/or supporting human decision-making
Mainstream examples of data captured at ever-faster by automated risk engines will improve product perfor-
rates include: mance, as is done in financial and insurance circles now.
• Indirect and direct tracking of human opinions, habits 5. New business or operational models will emerge, such as
and responses on the Internet; assessing driver insurance risk by monitoring actual behavior.
• GPS information linked to activities on smartphones Now some of these sound downright scary, but with a
and other mobile devices; and bit of imagination we can see many of these points reso-
• Sensor information fed to the central computer on nating in a design, analysis and production environment.
modern cars. I will talk about some FEA areas where I think we can see
The McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) paper 1 on big real benefits.
data predicts that we will all be immersed its creation and
influence over the next few years. The researchers cite five The Caveat
main areas where industries will benefit: For this explosion of data to mean anything, of course, we
1. Creating exhaustive data sets will mean that all data is need technologies that can actually deal with its volume
readily available and less time will be wasted in searching and interpretation. How and where do we store it? How
for it. The data will be more naturally integrated between do we retrieve it, and how do we figure out what it is tell-
R&D and manufacturing, for example. ing us?
2. Increased experimentation and variability in simulation The MGI paper has a very important section on this.
models, combined with efficient data mining, will allow It emphasizes that disciplines such as ours that consist of
increases in product performance. a large amount of legacy data and disparate systems will

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Optimize Data /// Finite Element Analysis
need the development of new and innovative systems to will be involved with Big Data, and whose skills will be
deal with big data. increasingly needed:
That really is the basis of my argument: I feel we are • Deep Analytical
nowhere near having these types of systems in place in • Big Data Savvy
a general sense. There is a strong growth in the areas • Supporting Technology
of simulation data management (SDM) and simulation After looking carefully at the MGI data matrix that
process data management (SPDM), and that is bringing supports this, I came to the conclusion that most of us
big benefits. However, that is not the full story, as it is fit into the appropriate “Big Data Savvy” occupation de-
essentially managing the data flow. What is missing is the scribed there as “engineer.” That requires us to have some
technology to be able to interpret what that data means knowledge of data technology, but the vital ingredient is
— or as the MGI paper puts it, the ability to “integrate, the ability to “define key questions data can answer.” If
analyze, visualize and consume the growing torrent of you remember The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, the an-
big data.” swer to the Question of the Universe is given2:
Without additional interpretation of the results, what “All right,” said Deep Thought. “The Answer to the Great Question...”
is the point of increasing the fidelity of an FEA mesh? We “Yes..!”
converge to an accurate stress solution at a very specific “Of Life, the Universe and Everything...” said Deep Thought.
mesh density; beyond that, we are just wasting comput- “Yes...!”
ing power and our own time. If the increased fidelity can “Is...” said Deep Thought, and paused.
actually tell us something more useful, that’s great. But we “Yes...!”
don’t have tools to enable that as yet. I will discuss later “Is...”
what these tools might be. “Yes...!!!...?”
“Forty-two,” said Deep Thought, with infinite majesty and calm.
Our Future Role with Big Data The quote really sums it up well — how to pose the
The MGI paper defines three categories of people who right question and not to just accept a deluge of data as
being the “answer.”

Terabytes Terrify me and Let’s Go Green

At an FEA conference two years ago, I first heard of the
Petabytes Petrify me!

T
term petabyte in relation to data size. It means 1,000 tera-
o get a handle on the size of data we are discuss- bytes. That was the volume of data being considered for a
ing, the amount of data stored in the US Library fairly average analysis.
of Congress is sometimes used as a yardstick. As I don’t actually know of a post-processor that can han-
of 2007 it was estimated there are 10 Terabytes of data dle output of that quantity. So we have a disconnect —
in the written works collection. The current storage of careless meshing or idealization will generate huge num-
all US Academic research libraries runs at 2 Petabytes. bers of elements (the solvers are now reaching the stage
Storing all the words ever spoken in the world is com- where they can generate huge volumes of result data with
monly assessed at 5 Exabytes. There is no warranty on average computing resource). However, we can’t handle
the accuracy of the numbers, but they are indicative! that amount of data; in many cases, it adds nothing to our
Data Definitions: understanding of the results.
• One Megabyte is 1,000 Kilobytes Let’s keep our model size down. Don’t fill up the com-
• One Gigabyte is 1,000 Megabytes puting resource just because it’s there. Think of the chal-
• One Terabyte is 1,000 Gigabytes lenge as a green element footprint instead of a green car-
• One Petabyte is 1,000 Terabytes bon footprint!
• One Exabyte is 1,000 Petabytes If we keep model size modest for “normal” analyses, it
To remind ourselves: opens up the possibility of running more analyses rather
• The old 3 ½ inch floppy held about 1 Megabyte than bigger analyses. This means we can follow a couple
• A CD-ROM holds 500 to 700 Megabytes of interesting paths:
• A DVD holds 4.7 to 9.4 Gigabytes • Optimization: Modern optimization techniques
• A Blu-Ray disc can hold 50 Gigabytes have an inexhaustible appetite for numbers of analyses.
A 4 Terabyte External Hard drive has a low-end To be most efficient and effective, genetic algorithm, ar-
street price of $200. You can pay much more for faster tificial intelligence (AI) and design of experiment (DOE)
data transfer rate, but it clearly shows the trend in data methods really need analysis counts in the thousands.
storage for the average user. Software that is capable of spawning FEA analysis vari-

56 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

ants, retrieving the data and presenting it in a meaningful ships and aircraft with solid elements, rather than shells
way is quite mature. The best visualization tools enable and beams. This will be an enormous extrapolation of
the engineer to try to understand why a particular con- data, and will require a total rethink of how we store, ma-
figuration has evolved, and what the key drivers are. This nipulate and interrogate structural analysis results. The
enables a direct relationship to be made to practical de- challenge will be to have a process that will add to our
sign insights. This is the best example I see today of the understanding of structural load paths and stress patterns
use of big data in FEA. in complex structures. The danger will be in producing
• Stochastics: The very term of stochastics scares vast quantities of data that defy interrogation as to which
most engineers, including me until a few years ago. But structural responses are critical and why. This will require
all it basically means is throwing some variability into the software developers to push the innovation aspects dis-
modeling. Much traditional focus is on variations in mate- cussed in the MGI paper to the max. DE
rial properties, etc. I am more interested, however, in the
idea of automatically generating a range of mesh densities, Tony Abbey is a consultant analyst with his own company,
boundary conditions and loading conditions to see how FETraining. He also works as training manager for NA-
robust a particular solution is. I think this has tremendous FEMS, responsible for developing and implementing training
potential in supplementing, to some extent, the skill and classes, including a wide range of e-learning classes. Send e-
experience needed in FEA. The ability to assess risk of mail about this article to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
inaccurate analyses dovetails very nicely with some of the
risk assessment models described in the MGI paper. The References
data mining tools to explore this type of analysis results 1 The McKinsey Global Institute 2011. Big data: The next frontier
are quite mature, and this is where I see a place for ex- for innovation, competition, and productivity. James Manyika,
panding big data in FEA right now. Michael Chui, Brad Brown, et al.
At some point in the history of idealization, it will 2 The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Douglas Adams. 1979.
become common to model fabricated structures such as Harmony Publishing.

MULTIDISCIPLINARY DESIGN EXPLORATION – PROCESS AUTOMATION – OPTIMIZATION

DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS – SENSITIVITY STUDIES

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deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 57

Optimize Workflow /// CAD to CAE

The Cleanup Headache

CAD geometry cleanup stirs workflow questions in quest to quell CAD-to-CAE issues.
By Kenneth WOng

C
AD and CAE have existed in parallel for
decades. Even if there were wrinkles in
their data exchange before, by now the
combined will of the software developers and
users has solved the most severe issues, right?
Wrong, according to H. Clark Briggs, Ph.D.,
from ATA Engineering Inc. ATA supplies design
analysis and testing services to major manufac-
turers. Briggs, vice president of aerospace and
defense business development, estimates his staff
spends between 30% and 50% of the project
time repairing their clients’ geometry.
Indrakanti Chakravarthy, Siemens PLM
Software’s director of simulation marketing
for the Americas, has a higher estimate: “Up
to 70% of an analyst’s time is spent searching
for data and preparing a model for analysis.”
But what’s the cure: simulation-led design
or adopting a standardized design toolset for
both CAD and CAE?
With Altair’s software, you can automatically single out
Design-led vs. Analysis-driven Workflow the minor features that fall within a range to decide
“The current workflow is so bad. While it’s very common, it’s whether they should be disregarded in the simulation.
horribly wasteful — and I fought for the last 20 years for com- Image courtesy of Altair.
panies to realize it,” Briggs laments. “I spend most of my pro-
cess consulting time trying to get organizations to realize it.”
In the current product development roadmap, simula- tures too small to make a difference in simulation. Today, the
tion and analysis experts typically receive 3D geometry con- rise of computer-driven optimization adds a new twist.
structed in mechanical design programs by design engineers, Analysis involves subjecting a 3D digital replica of your
often in a finalized, fully detailed form. Because the typical product to simulated loads and stresses to predict how it
design department is less knowledgeable about digital simu- would perform under real-world usage. A typical analysis
lation, CAE software users often have to repair or refine the might be something like simulating the drop of a cellphone
3D model before they can run a simulation. at a specific height and angle to determine whether it can
Some advocate reversing the process: Let simulation and withstand such an accident.
analysis define the initial design’s shape. Briggs, however, is By comparison, topology optimization, a more recent
more cautious. He recommends a workflow in which “the practice made possible by increased computing power, uses
evolving design is regularly and actively shaped by inputs de- sophisticated algorithms to seek the best possible shape or
rived from performance analyses.” He also recommends work- parameters for a product. For example, it might be used to
ing in a toolset that accommodates both design and analysis identify the leanest airplane wing based on manufacturing
— in ATA’s case, NX — to reduce data exchange headaches. material properties and anticipated loads.
In the past, a team of experts would have reviewed the results
Analyze or Optimize? from digital simulations to determine how to refine the original
Previously, the CAE software users’ prep work primarily design. With optimization, the computer steps in to do the lion’s
consisted of identifying and (in most cases) removing fea- share of the job human experts once did. The algorithm-driven

58 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

With Phoenix Integration, users can iteratively run Automating the data exchange between CAD to CAE is
analyses and then automatically upload results into part of Phoenix Integration’s service offerings. Shown
PHX AnalysisLibrary for data capture. Image courtesy of here is the analysis view in PHX ModelCenter. Image
Phoenix Integration. courtesy of Phoenix Integration.

method can also provide designers and engineers with uncon- face-wrapping, a method that’s quickly becoming the stan-
ventional solutions seldom explored if executed manually. dard approach in dealing with pesky features. Another is the
“The key in developing the geometry parameters for automatic detection of features.
optimization is to control the design space,” notes David CD-adapco’s Vaughn says, “The feature that we pio-
Vaughn, simulation software maker CD-adapco’s vice presi- neered for that purpose is surface wrapping.” The tool lets
dent of worldwide marketing. CAE users shrink-wrap imperfect CAD geometry to prevent
For instance, if you plan to run an optimization study on holes, gaps and overlapped surfaces from compromising the
the best possible shape for an airfoil, he says, the key is to limit analysis. “The benefit of that is, you can use the most com-
the shape parameterization to feasible airfoil shapes. If you put plex CAD model you’ve got for optimization and can still
a bunch of non-uniform rational basis spline (NURBS) con- mesh it very quickly — and it’s automated,” he adds.
trol points into the mix, you’ll end up with possibly hundreds Siemens’ Shankar points out that NX also has a surface-
of variables. That’s overdesigning for optimization, Vaughn wrapping tool. “For example, if you’re trying to study the
says, “because the objective is to minimize the number of sim- cooling under the hood of a car, you’ll need to specify the
ulations required to get to the optimal answer.” flow volume,” he says, referring to the enclosed space under
S. Ravi Shankar, Ph.D., Siemens PLM Software’s global the hood with the mechanical components excluded. “We
director of simulation product marketing, agrees: “If you have tools that let you create that volume based on the solid
start out with geometry that’s too detailed, if you were to models you have. In the past, that volume could only be de-
mesh that without any simplification, if would be a large fined in the preset global resolution. In NX 9, you now have
mesh model. Then each iteration would take much longer.” the option to specify a finer resolution in certain regions to
Considering the number of variations the computer capture necessary detail.”
would need to generate before arriving at the answer, the Altair HyperWorks CAE suite takes a similar approach
computing time could increase exponentially, Shankar adds. with its shrink-wrap feature, described as a way “to generate
an enclosed volume or solid mesh, and is typically used to ap-
Defeaturing Makes Way for Shrink-wrapping proximate and simplify an existing model.” With the option
Several direct-editing programs also serve the CAD-to-CAE to specify whether you want a loose or tight wrapping, you
data exchange. Without the restrictions and learning curve can speedily create the general shape of the geometry with
of history-based CAD, these programs were able to capture the desired mesh resolution.
a portion of the analysts looking for an easy way to edit 3D Another alternative comes from Altair’s SimLab (acquired
geometry. (Editor’s Note: For more, read “Direct Modelers as by Altair in 2010). Ulrich Gollwitzer, Altair’s marketing man-
FEA Pre-Processors,” Part I & II, April and May 2012.) But the ager for modeling and visualization products, notes that Sim-
CAE vendors soon struck back, by introducing their own Lab “reads native geometry, along with the CAD parameters.
geometry cleanup functions and tools. It specializes in solid-meshing technology —for example,
“I’m sure [direct modelers] help,” says Simone Bonino, powertrain and [computational fluid dynamics, or CFD] appli-
Altair’s marketing director for HyperWorks. “But the ques- cations. The software can automatically recognize parametric
tion is, do you really need another tool between CAD and features. But in SimLab, instead of simplifying the geometry,
CAE? Now, you can skip that step.” you identify regions and set local or global mesh parameters.”
One of the shortcuts is known as shrink-wrapping or sur- Once the software has identified features that are problem-

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 59

Optimize Workflow /// CAD to CAE

In Altair’s software, you have to option to shrink-wrap a complex model. The dialog box lets you choose a
tight wrap or a loose wrap. Image courtesy of Altair.
prone in simulation, SimLab offers you the choice to disregard tomer, we try to explain to them about these geometry-related
them, or treat them a certain way during meshing. If you have issues and guide them toward simulation-driven design.”
gone through this process, you can save the treatment as a tem- ATA’s Briggs says he’s a “big fan of putting the whole or-
plate, so SimLab knows how to address future CAD geometry ganization on a homogenous toolset. I guarantee that you’ll
that involves the same type of features — for instance, using a make one-and-a-half or two times’ improvement in produc-
specific mesh pattern for holes in-between certain ranges. tivity and in reducing technical errors.”
Gollwitzer asserts that Altair is preaching simulation-led
What’s Important? Who’s Asking? design. “If you start out with optimization, it might even give
As president and CEO of the multi-disciplinary optimization you a completely new idea of how your structure should look
specialist Phoenix Integration, Scott Woyak, Ph.D., has seen like,” he adds. “Then you’re not just replicating similar de-
both sides of the design-simulation division. Phoenix Integra- sign patterns over and over again.”
tion’s expertise is workflow automation, including the common Gollwitzer suggests that it would be “smart to establish a
CAD-to-simulation workflow. Sometimes the project involves workflow where the designers hand over the geometry at the
custom application programming interface (API) development. level of details sufficient for an analysis. Once simulation has
“We’ve seen some customers who develop their own sys- proven that the design works, designers can add additional
tem to clean up CAD geometry for optimization,” Woyak details to that design. It would take a little bit of education.”
says. “Some use specialized tools like Sculptor [from Optimal Either way, the design process is iterative, so CAD to
Solutions Software].” CAE or CAE to CAD will always require communication
Sculptor lets you deform and adjust your mesh models and collaboration. DE
in optimization runs. It uses what the company describes as
“Arbitrary Shape Deformation (ASD) technology and can be Kenneth Wong is Desktop Engineering’s resident blogger and
linked to existing fluid-flow (CFD) and/or structural (FEA) senior editor. Email him at kennethwong@deskeng.com or share your
analysis tools to accelerate CAE design optimization efforts.” thoughts on this article at deskeng.com/facebook.
The key to eliminating the wrinkles in CAD-to-simula-
tion is to figure out “the best way to construct your geometry
so you won’t encounter problems in simulation when you try INFO ➜ Altair HyperWorks: AltairHyperWorks.com
to solve,” says Woyak.
The discussion, therefore, raises a question: Is it fair to
➜ ATA Engineering: ATA-E.com
put the burden on the designer? ➜ CD-adapco: CD-adapco.com
➜ Optimal Solutions Software: GoSculptor.com
Reshuffling the Order ➜ Phoenix Integration: Phoenix-Int.com
“People are beginning to realize that, to lower cost and
shorten cycles, they’ve got to use simulation more, earlier in ➜ Siemens NX CAE: Siemens.com/plm/nxcae
the process,” Woyak observes. “When we work with a cus- For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

60 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Multiphysics /// Optimize Simulation

Pulling Double Duty

COMSOL Multiphysics Software offers simulation and modeling for Sharp Corp.’s
research and product development.
BY JIM ROMEO

O
ptimizing digital engineering design and optimizing
finite attributes of components is the goal of many
global technology companies, particularly at the re-
search and development stages. Today’s electronic products
contain many sophisticated components including processors,
communication chips, analog and passive components, light and
power sources, as well as displays, imagers and micro-electro-
mechanical systems (MEMS). Such component technologies
require complex scientific and engineering demands.
Simulation and modeling software becomes an asset to the
intellectual prowess of researchers as they seek the most accu-
rate prediction of the performance and reliability in a very com-
petitive environment. Such is the case for researchers in Sharp
Corp.’s R&D laboratories.
According to Valerio Marra, Ph.D., technical marketing
manager for COMSOL, Sharp found that COMSOL Multi-
physics software was very helpful to its research efforts. As the
model grew, Sharp became more familiar with various applica-
tions that COMSOL offered in its software.
“You can start with structural mechanics,” says Marra, “and
LCD: Structure of LCD pixel as drawn in ECAD software.
then add heat transfer and other physics in order to accurately
Images courtesy of Sharp Corp.
represent, thanks to multiphysics, the behavior of your appli-
cations. Sharp took advantage of the fact that they can let the
model grow accordingly to their simulation needs.”
Once one department learned the software, regardless of the has about 100 employees engaged in the R&D of electronic
physics used, they were able to train colleagues of other depart- hardware and devices. Chris Brown, Ph.D., is SLE’s research
ments in its use and applications. He explains that Sharp was manager for the Health and Medical Devices Group. According
attracted to COMSOL’s “real-world accuracy” simulation ap- to Brown, the multidisciplinary trend is quite compatible with
proach, meaning they got better and better as they built simula- changes in the type of R&D done in the lab.
tions and models — and at a certain point, they reduced testing “Ten years ago, our main research themes were based on im-
significantly and kept optimizing the designs with the software. proving component technologies — in particular, displays and
optoelectronic devices such as semiconductor lasers,” he says.
Diverse Technology Development “Activities tended to be driven by depth of knowledge in just
Sharp’s global R&D presence includes laboratories in Japan, one technical specialty, such as optics or electronic circuit design.
which is the global headquarters for R&D, as well as in Ox- More recently, though, there has been a shift in focus to systems
ford, England; Camas, WA; and Shanghai, China. The mission or products as a whole, such as health systems and energy sys-
of each laboratory is to develop technology that can be used tems. By their nature, these activities are broader, and the research
in Sharp products, and while each lab works on roughly the is driven by understanding how all the parts fit together,”
same research themes — displays, health, energy and lighting — SLE uses COMSOL Multiphysics in a number of projects
each has its own unique capability to tailor activities to support across the lab, for purposes ranging from early-stage research
Sharp’s regional businesses. to product development in areas such as light-emitting diode
Sharp Laboratories of Europe (SLE), located in Oxford, (LED) devices, displays, labs-on-a-chip, and energy systems.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 61

Optimize Simulation /// Multiphysics
1 2

FIG. 1: Imported LCD pixel geometry in COMSOL. FIG. 2: COMSOL mesh of thin-film high aspect ratio structures.

LED and LCD Development Healthcare Product Development

SLE’s use of COMSOL has grown over the last five years, In the healthcare market, Sharp sought to develop palm-sized
having begun in LED research and expanded to other themes diagnostic tools for doctors, nurses and other healthcare profes-
by way of internal recommendations. SLE supports Sharp’s sionals to allow blood testing in a matter of minutes, compared
LED business by providing technical analysis and design mod- with the hours or days it ordinarily takes. Sharp used COMSOL
ifications to improve the performance of LED devices. Multiphysics to investigate the interactions between the fluid
One example is optimization of LED electrode designs layer and the electronics.
for improved wall-plug efficiency. A major issue with LED “We have modeled fluid flow at the input ports of the array,
devices is that high operating temperatures can cause a enabling us to design fluid-input structures to get the droplets
reduction in efficiency in the conversion of electricity to onto the array in the right place with minimum fluid-input vol-
light. The relationship between optical efficiency and tem- umes,” says Brown. “This modeling ability gives us a more ac-
perature in an LED is not linear; any hot spots in the LED curate starting point for experimental work, hence reducing the
chip will disproportionately reduce the efficiency of the number of design iterations required, which in turn helps us to
entire device. reduce R&D prototyping time and cost compared with simple
Sharp’s goal was to create a uniform temperature distri- hand calculations.”
bution. This is accomplished by designing the LED’s elec- The software also allowed them to model interactions be-
trodes so that no hot spots appeared. The resulting uniform tween the droplets or particles in the fluid, and the electronic
temperature distribution also tends to maximize heat dis- sensors in the array. “In this case, we were interested in inves-
sipation from the LED and lower average temperature. tigating impedance changes as droplets or particles in the fluid
COMSOL software also helps support Sharp’s displays pass between a pair of electrodes,” Brown says. “The simulation
business. Sharp’s objective is to improve image quality while output is a range of likely impedance values, and this can be
reducing liquid-crystal display (LCD) power consumption used as the basis of a specification for designing sensor circuits
in Sharp products, such as smartphones and TVs. A detailed to detect the presence of the droplets or particles.”
understanding of the electrical and optical performance of
the LCD displays — particularly the electrical characteris- Compatibility and Versatility
tics of the LCD pixels — goes a long way toward achieving COMSOL is compatible with other software tools that Sharp
these goals.  uses, such as CAD programs, Brown notes. The versatility of
Overall, Sharp’s design and simulation environment for the software fit nicely in its portfolio, strengthening its overall
electronic circuit design uses the AC/DC Module found toolkit for cutting edge research.
in the COMSOL product suite to extract the parasitic re- According to Brown, Sharp attempted the use of parasitic
sistances and capacitances of the electrical wiring inside extraction tools from several traditional ECAD software pack-
the LCD. Specifically, it capitalizes on the meshing capa- ages, but none were able to successfully cope with the large as-
bilities available in COMSOL Multiphysics to achieve the pect ratio of the thin-film, large-area structures used in LCDs.
desired accuracy. For Sharp, the COMSOL software provided the first opportu-

62 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 Multiphysics /// Optimize Simulation

3 4

FIG. 3: Structure of an LED chip. FIG. 4: COMSOL simulation output of an LED structure showing surface electric potential.

nity to enable versatility and degree of control over the meshing thermal transfer in the solid components.”
procedure. Ultimately, it allowed them to thoroughly explore Besides providing technical support for existing products,
such structures. SLE is also engaged in creating business opportunities for
Brown also says the software’s ECAD Import Module Sharp to enter new markets. Specifically, in the health care
lets researchers transfer layout designs from ECAD software arena, SLE led to the development of so-called lab-on-a-chip
quickly and without error — enabling them to explore the ef- systems. This demonstrated how COMSOL’s value to Sharp
fects of design modifications to a degree not possible otherwise. in one application gave way to similar value in another: Sharp
That’s because the only alternative is to hand-calculate the ca- was able to leverage manufacturing expertise with the thin-film
pacitances between wires using simple linear design equations. transistors traditionally used in the LCD market.
The shape of the wiring in the LCD makes this quite compli- For Sharp, COMSOL software parallels the same rigor-
cated, however. In the past, SLE’s researchers made a number ous approach it uses in R&D explorations. Given the diverse
of simplifications when using this method. “Hand calculations range of projects for which COMSOL Multiphysics is used,
of capacitance are correct to a first order, but aren’t really of any each research group has its own license and add-on products.
use when trying to optimize or improve designs,” Brown says. A member of the research staff in each group is responsible for
the maintenance of that group’s license.
Cross-pollination and Knowledge Transfer Ten research staff members across the lab are now trained
The software’s versatility was key for Sharp, as they used their in its use. Projects and teams are structured to enable flex-
models and simulations in multiple applications across their ibility for several researchers across the lab to use the software
R&D efforts. The key advantage of this “cross-pollination” is simultaneously. As team usage of COMSOL grew, they began
that a technical solution can be transferred from one application to dedicate a stand-alone workstation within each group just
or market area to another, developing solutions that would be for COMSOL.
otherwise hard to find. “The multidisciplinary nature of our research activities
For example, Sharp used COMSOL for its development of at SLE will continue in the future,” Brown says. “As such,
new energy storage systems and sustainable heating and cool- we expect COMSOL Multiphysics to continue to play an
ing. An important R&D target is to optimize the performance important role, both as a research tool and as a product
of heat exchanger components so as to achieve high heat-trans- development tool.” DE
fer efficiency and minimize system size and weight. This work
has involved both the optimization of existing heat exchange Jim Romeo is a freelance writer based in Chesapeake, VA. Send
components and the design of new ones. e-mail about this article to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
“We have simulated the fluid dynamics of cooling fluids in
air-conditioning systems and achieved an efficiency improve-
INFO ➜ COMSOL Multiphysics: COMSOL.com
ment of 30 percent with a new system,” Brown reports. “We use
COMSOL because this is inherently a multiphysics problem, ➜ Sharp Corp.: Sharp-World.com
given the need to link the gas and liquid flows in the system to For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 63

Optimize Workflow /// Collaboration

Making Optimization
a Shared Experience
Enterprise Suite allows teams to build the advanced multidisciplinary optimization
workflows that are critical to complex system design.
By Beth StackpOle

N
o longer an oddity or curious interloper, wind turbines The Power of the Web
are settling in as a familiar part of both urban and rural Key to the pair’s power is a complete redesign that extends the
landscapes. Yet beneath their simple and majestic stature modeFRONTIER desktop paradigm to a Web-based collab-
belies a design complexity that tests even the most technically orative environment. The new approach means that multiple
astute engineering organizations. users, with different competencies and located at different sites,
Just ask Airworks, a contractor for advanced projects in the can more easily participate in the MDO process. They can share
space and defense industries, which is refining a long-term strat- models and optimization strategies via a shared repository that
egy for wind energy with a pilot project for wind turbine rotor can be accessed anywhere, anytime, with only a Web browser.
blade design. To ensure a proper concept for a certified rotor “Today, all companies are working in scenarios where differ-
blade, the Airworks team needs to balance a variety of multidis- ent people work together; there are few instances of single en-
ciplinary optimizations (MDOs) — for example, creating models gineers doing all the work on their own from design to detailed
that couple aero-structural blade properties with wind flows and modeling,” notes Matteo Nicolich, ESTECO’s product manager
possible failure scenarios — in addition to performing stability for SOMO. “Rather, you have different groups with different ex-
analysis and evaluating materials and manufacturing time costs. pertise working together, and they need a tool to integrate the
On top of the sheer complexity of the blade design, there is different levels of knowledge in the same environment. The Web
the collaborative nature of the engineering process. It’s made all provides the classic answer for this type of framework.”
the more challenging given that Airworks’ aerodynamics, load Consider a scenario where an aerodynamics specialist and a
and mold design experts are based in Rome, and the system-level structural expert need to collaborate on the same design, but are
architecture, structure, manufacturing and project management located in different venues. They’re performing their individual
domain experts reside more than 400 miles away in Trieste, Italy. modeling and optimization routines using siloed tools and with
“When a wind energy project launches, we always have prob- very disconnected workflows. Traditionally, these two would have
lems,” admits Stefano Picinich, Airworks’ founder and manag- to manually trade their different model files to work together —
ing director. “Normally, we move three or four key people from raising the risk of one party being saddled with incomplete data if
Rome to Trieste for a couple of months to enable a smooth de- a particular type of simulation or MDO changed along the way.
sign start, but this took engineers away from routine support, Moreover, domain experts unfamiliar with how to create specific
which was far more costly.” design of experiments (DOE) or optimization strategies in mode-
The solution to both the design complexity and collaboration FRONTIER were shut out of the workflow, unable to contribute
problem arrived in the form of Enterprise Suite, a new platform models to the greater cause or to reuse other experts’ MDO work
from ESTECO, which aims to simplify some of the challenges because it was not easily accessible.
around MDO and multi-objective optimization. With Enterprise Suite’s Web-based approach, however,
Launched mid-year, Enterprise Suite combines the advanced project experts can participate in MDOs without knowing the
capabilities of the modeFRONTIER 4.5 multi-objective and details of that other discipline, and without the skills to create
MDO platform, with SOMO, ESTECO’s new framework for the integration and workflows. Moreover, by storing specialists’
distributed execution and collaboration. The duo is designed to optimization and design space exploration strategies in a single,
give engineering groups better control over the design of com- structured database, companies protect their intellectual property,
plex systems by helping them more effectively organize and man- nurture a shared knowledgebase, and promote MDO reuse.
age critical simulation data — all while allowing a dispersed and While the ability to share optimization plans is intriguing,
varied team of domain experts and optimization and integration SOMO’s potential to facilitate collaboration and help multidisci-
specialists to join forces to build advanced MDO workflows. plinary engineering teams easily create and modify optimization

64 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 workflows is its strongest selling point, according to Marc Halpern,
Ph.D., research vice president at Gartner. Workflow is generally dif-
ficult to change in typical product data management (PDM), product
lifecycle management (PLM), and service lifecycle management (SLM)
offerings, Halpern says, so SOMO’s “flexibility of workflow and col-
SOMO’s Dashboard page lets users find information laboration functionality will be key to its acceptance.”
about their work, as well as direct links to the most
recent resources. Images courtesy of ESTECO. Freedom to Innovate
Enterprise Suite also delivers innovations in the areas of distributed
execution and post-processing analysis capabilities. With simulation
and optimization continually hungry for additional compute power,
ESTECO designed SOMO to support high-performance computing
(HPC) systems and cloud environments so engineering groups can eas-
ily add more horsepower when needed.
In addition, SOMO will automatically execute simulations and
optimizations across a number of nodes in a distributed fashion. It’s
a process that is transparent to the user, thereby reducing the burden
on IT, Nicolich says. Users can select where they want their task to be
executed based on their role and privileges, or the software will auto-
Users can organize their work and data inside matically queue up and distribute jobs based on the requirements of the
the SOMO shared repository using projects and software, as well as the availability of computing resources.
workspaces. Users associate projects with one or On the post-processing front, Enterprise Suite is stocked with an
more workspaces to control how project resources array of tools, including new data visualization capabilities and statistical
are shared among other users. analysis reports to help domain experts and other engineering collabo-
rators make sense of the DOE and optimization findings. Because the
Web-based system supports HTML5, users can access the charts and
report capabilities on an array of devices, from laptops to tablets.
While Airworks is still getting its feet wet with Enterprise Suite’s
new capabilities, Picinich says the Web-based interfaces align perfectly
with the firm’s working style and is likely to make the collaboration
process a lot easier. More to the point, though, he sees Enterprise Suite
opening doors to new design innovations, whether related to wind tur-
bine blade design or in Airworks’ other core areas of focus.
“The platform gives our people the freedom to think about how to
improve the product, rather than occupy their minds with issues that
With SOMO, users can create a DOE or optimization have more to do with logistics like relocating from one office to another
plan for a given project, while having direct visibility or checking an FTP for new data,” he explains.
to the most meaningful information from the Nevertheless, even the best engineering tools can’t cover for a lack
generated session. of design expertise and well-defined goals, he cautions. “Sharing opti-
mization data, accessing HPC resources, and having a smarter, faster
platform doesn’t mean people can relax on the engineering side,” he
says. “Tools only provide a link between your expertise and your ideas
for the product you design.” DE

Beth Stackpole is a contributing editor to DE. You can reach her at

beth@deskeng.com.

INFO ➜ Airworks Engineering: Air-Works.eu

➜ ESTECO s.p.a.: ESTECO.com
Visualization and analytical post-processing tools
like this scatter bubble chart help users glean an ➜ Gartner: Gartner.com
understanding of complex datasets. For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 65

Optimize Design /// Cyber-physical Systems

The Coming Impact

of CPS on Design
What does the future hold for design
methodology in the face of technology?
By RanDy FRank

T
he convergence of design meth-
odologies has been an ongoing
work-in-progress for decades. In
1969, Tetsuro Mori of Yaskawa coined
the term mechatronics for combining
the aspects of mechanical and electronic
design. It evolved to include computing,
as well. Today, with technology terms
such as the Internet of Things (IoT),
cloud computing and others, cyber-
physical systems (CPSs) seek to define
the next-generation approach for the
design of complex systems.
Differentiating themselves from pre-
vious design approaches, CPS designs
are coordinated, distributed and con-
nected. Their goals include the ability
to far exceed the systems of today in ca- Fig. 1: The CPS concept map embraces control systems, cyber
pability, adaptability, resiliency, safety, security and advanced design methodologies, including validation and
security and usability. The key to their verification. Image courtesy of CyberPhysicalSystems.org.
success is connectivity between the
cyber-world of computing and communica-
tions with the physical world. in 2011 as a forward-looking project under the Germany
Potential application areas for CPS include a smart government’s “High-Tech Strategy” initiative. A Work-
electric grid, smart transportation, smart buildings, smart ing Group was initiated later that year to draft compre-
medical technologies, and essentially any of the smart- hensive strategic recommendations for implementing
prefixed, next-generation physical systems — including Industry 4.0, which is based on the use of cyber-physical
smart manufacturing and smart factories. (See Fig. 1.) systems to accomplish its goals.
In his keynote presentation at NIWeek 2013 in Au-
Industry 4.0 gust, James Truchard, Ph.D., president, CEO and co-
Smarter factories with increased automation that include founder of National Instruments, discussed CPS, In-
intelligent monitoring and autonomous decision-making dustry 4.0 and the transformation of tools. He provided
processes will require new business models. Recogniz- greater insight into CPS’ impact on the design process
ing that the areas of production and logistics are prime in an exclusive interview with DE.
candidates for optimization, Industry 4.0 was conceived Truchard acknowledges the continuous nature of im-

66 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

Fig. 2: A concise view of CPS shows three Cs for ubiquitous
information. Image courtesy of National Instruments

proved design methodologies, and the relationship of CPS

to well-accepted approaches such as mechatronics, model-
based design and other recent design methodologies.
“Every now and then, another piece of the puzzle
comes together,” he says. “When you step back a few
steps and look at the whole process, things have just
changed.”
National Instruments recognized the value of CPS
more than seven years ago. The iPhone, for example,
shows how the right graphical user interface (GUI),
several sensing technologies and the resulting mea-
surements can significantly change consumer products.
Truchard says he sees the same thing occurring in indus-
trial systems for large-scale physical problems.
“For the first time in history, you can have advanced
measurements in the same platform you have advanced
control,” he explains. “That’s one aspect of the whole. Then
you have this ubiquitous capability that combines measure-
ments — it combines control, it combines advanced analysis
— all being done in real-time, with the ability to interface
the computing world to the physical world.”
In fact, machine-to-machine (M2M) communications
and control, the IoT, cloud computing and just about
everything “smart” can all fall under the CPS design um-
brella, he points out.
“And there is one more sort of consolidating perspec-
tive on it, and that’s the ubiquitous nature of information
or data being converted into information, top to bottom
in the decision process,” adds Truchard. (See Fig. 2.)
Because of CPS, Truchard notes, people are using data
in ways that were not previously imagined. One example
is the Dresden light rail system in Germany. With seven
years of data collection and consolidation, researchers at

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 67

Optimize Design /// Cyber-physical Systems

FIG. 5: E3.eCheck provides a circuit test showing an

active lamp, current flow, voltage and current. Image
courtesy of Zuken.
FIG. 3: Transitioning from prototype to high volume.
Image courtesy of National Instruments.

the university published 19 papers demonstrating several things on their own are isolated facts, but when you pull
ideas they were able to implement to improve the effi- them together in an aggregated way, they change your
ciency of the system, from effective use of electricity to ability to understand use-related information.”
vehicle maintenance. With CPS in mind, NI has implemented advance-
“Another piece of the puzzle is what we call ‘big ana- ments in its tools and software to provide a unified
log data,’” says Truchard. “You have this data that is a platform for designing, prototyping and deploying ap-
variable — accessible across the network, across the ac- plications. Graphical system design allows designers to
tivities and whatever dimension you want to go. These integrate real-world signals sooner in the design process,

FIG. 4: National Instruments’ LabVIEW and other hardware provide solutions for different
application systems, including CPS. Image courtesy of National Instruments.

68 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

for earlier error detection and reuse code for maximum gies. Truchard says he also wants to educate and prepare
efficiency. By taking advantage of the latest advances in designers for the future of engineering.
computing technology, this approach can optimize sys- “You have all these things that are combining, and
tem performance more quickly than traditional design the key is to be a player, to be a part of that ecosystem
methodologies, Truchard says. (See Fig. 3.) in a way that your information and your [technology] —
“What makes that possible for us is we combine the in our case, measurements and systems that are being
processing, distributed processing and the [field-pro- built with our technology — can integrate into this big-
grammable gate array] FPGA that lets us go the last ger picture … with things like the cloud included,” he
mile for the high speed that’s needed in some cases, so concludes. DE
it becomes a software problem in that space,” he contin-
ues. While sensor integration is still a physical system
problem, he says, other design aspects would become a Randy Frank is a contributor to DE. Send e-mail about
software problem where re-use of work plays a critical this article to DE-Editors@deskeng.com
role. (See Fig. 4.)

Additional Tools
INFO ➜ Cyber-physical Systems: CyberPhysicalSystems.org
Other companies have recognized the importance of
CPS thinking, but may not use that terminology. Zuken, ➜ Industry 4.0: BMBF.de/en/19955.php
a software and services company, has tackled design com- ➜ National Instruments: NI.com
plexity system cost reduction with E3.eCheck. As part
of its E3 series of electrical and fluid CAD software,
➜ Practical Software and Systems Measurement: PSMSC.com
E3.eCheck identifies errors at the development stage. ➜ Zuken: Zuken.com/en
Running in real-time, the software automatically ensures For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.
the functional accuracy of a schematic and verifies that
wires and fuses are within acceptable tolerances.
“E3.eCheck represents an advancement in the tools
available for electrical engineering of harnesses and con-
trol systems,” says Steve Chidester, head of international
marketing at Zuken. “The days of prototyping and then
documenting afterward are on their way out. Today, it is
important to engineer products from concept through
manufacturing. E3.eCheck not only makes design analy-
sis faster and more accurate, but it also identifies design
flaws early — saving time and cost by eliminating proto-
type iterations.” (See Fig. 5.)

Evolving Design Methodology

While many of the enhanced capabilities from CPS are
reality, some of the pieces are still falling into place.
“There are some components that depend on some new
standards that are coming out,” says Truchard. “One is
[Practical Software and Systems Measurement, or PSM]
time-synchronized networks, for example, that we’re ac-
tive in committee form, driving the components that are
needed to make this happen.”
The time-synchronized aspect is required to take CPS
to the next level. One of the primary goals of the PSM
project is to transition the issue-drive measurement pro-
cess into everyday practice. With its role in measurement
technology, NI has interest in both of these areas.
To deliver on the vision of cyber-physical systems, NI
is involved in driving the standards and developing tools
needed so that users can implement the latest technolo-

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 69

Optimize Computing /// Virtualization

SPeeD UP Engineering IT
Virtualization promises a solution to the budget constraints and challenges
associated with deploying new engineering computing hardware.
Frank J. OhlhOrst

V
irtualization has been the buzzword in IT circles for
several years now. After all, what’s not to like? Simply
put, virtualization allows IT managers to more effi-
ciently use their existing resources, maximizing CPU utiliza-
tion and abstracting compute, storage and infrastructure from
the physical realm while easing management at the same time.
However, there are those looking to extend the promise of
virtualization, and pushing the envelope, at least when it comes
to high performance computing (HPC), remote computing and
the maximizing of simulation resources.

Virtual, High-Powered Machines

Vendors and developers have come to the realization that vir-
tual representations of HPC systems can be deployed rapidly
and offer remote access, without the need for HPC resources The NVIDIA GRID Visual Computing Appliance (VCA) allows
located at the customer’s site. That has created a boon for high users to create virtual machines called workspaces, which
performance virtualization, where expensive HPC systems can NVIDIA says are effectively dedicated high-performance,
be remotely accessed and custom configured for a short pe- GPU-based systems.
riod of time, making it much more affordable, yet still offering
needed compute resources on demand. and others may push the on-sight ideology. Yet, different solu-
Ultimately, virtualization promises to lower the entry point tions are designed to handle different problems, so the first step
into HPC utilization, bringing the technology to a vast array of on the path to virtualization is to ask what problem needs to be
businesses, which previously did not have the financial resources solved. That fragments the market into three distinct segments,
to invest in the needed hardware. Nowhere in engineering each with its own capabilities, needs and solutions.
will that benefit be realized more than in advanced simulation
chores, where grids of systems were often required to perform 1 Access HPC on Demand
tasks in a timely manner. Take for example companies that need part time access to HPC
However, the benefits offered by virtualization do not end offerings. Those companies will be looking for a pay-as-you-go
with remote HPC, several other use cases prove the technology offering that minimizes costs, yet scales up to meet demands of
offers value for engineering and design firms, where stretching individual projects. Those businesses are best served by cloud/
the performance of systems and doing more with less are the hosted offerings that can offer remote access in to virtualized
orders of the day. Virtualization can be used to maximize CPU infrastructures/compute farms/storage subsystems and so on.
utilization by running several virtual machines on a single high The needs of those businesses may be met by service ven-
performance system. In effect, doing more with less, while uti- dors, such as RackSpace, Amazon, Peer1, and others. For exam-
lizing those normally discarded CPU cycles. ple, RackSpace offers an HPC Cluster in a Cloud Environment,
An entire market segment has become devoted to virtualiza- which incorporates a technology called Open MPI (Message
tion, with dozens of vendors offering hundreds of products and Passing Interface) that supports the threading of HPC appli-
services designed to bring the technology to most any business. cations across a cluster. RackSpace allows their customers to
However, that cornucopia of virtualization variety creates an- self-provision HPC clusters for remote access using multiple
other problem: What technology to use? Virtualized Rackspace Cloud Servers.
Each vendor will tout its own virtualization platforms and Amazon and Peer1 offer similar ideologies, where the vir-
subsequent ecosystems — some will leverage the service/hosted tualization layer becomes basically a transport layer to con-
model, while others will associate virtualization with the cloud, nect physical servers to virtual machines for HPC processing.

70 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

However, there are some other vendors that take a different 3 Boost Performance
approach, aiming to ease the burden on customers by handling The third virtualization scenario often found in the engineer-
the provisioning and maintenance of Virtualized HPC offers. ing space focuses on performance and not so much remote
Cases in Point include companies such as NIMBIX and IBM’s access or cloud enablement. Here, engineering firms are using
SoftLayer, which offer private cloud types of virtualized HPC virtualization (both hardware and software) solutions to maxi-
clusters. Those vendors offer solutions that are somewhat pre- mize performance and minimize wasted CPU cycles.
configured and fully managed, allowing customers to focus on One major player is NVIDIA, with its Grid Series of add-
compute jobs and not ancillary issues. on boards that are designed to allow virtualized systems to
offload graphics processing to a dedicated GPU, improving
2 Maximize Computing ROI performance, responsiveness and usability of virtualized sys-
For many businesses, virtualization is about maximizing the tems working with intensive graphics. Ideally, a GRID board
value of what they already have — in other words, increasing can use a single high performance workstation as a host for
the return on investment on systems already purchased. virtual machines, allowing several users to share the process-
One way to do this is by extending the reach of internal ing power of that system, while not experiencing drops in
HPC resources out to remote workers and satellite offices. By graphics performance.
combining web access with virtual machines, those businesses The key driver of virtualization seems to be the need to
can deliver a full HPC environment to a distant engineer, with- centralize HPC, making it easier to manage, scale and provi-
out having to invest in additional hardware. That scenario also sion based upon project needs and not assumptions. That has
extends to mobile workers as well, where a user can access an led to the adoption of high-end virtualization systems, which
HPC virtual machine on a tablet, notebook computer or even operate by accumulating and assigning multiple cores to a
a smartphone — eliminating the need to bring expensive (and single machine. The single virtual system aggregated from
cumbersome) hardware out into the field. multiple physical machines proves to be a powerful manage-
Those scenarios are typically powered by leading technol- ment tool that helps the IT department increase its efficiency,
ogy vendors such as VMware, Citrix, Microsoft and Parallels, as well as the efficiency of engineering computing. DE
who offer virtualization platforms that abstract the hardware
from the virtual machine. However, most adopters are finding Frank Ohlhorst is chief analyst and freelance writer at Ohlhorst.net.
that those basic platforms are not enough and have to assemble Send e-mail about this article to de-editors@deskeng.com.
ecosystems that support VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructures).
Vendors in that space include LiquidWareLabs, a company
that provides pre-assessment, deployment and management INFO ➜ Amazon: aws.amazon.com
tools for VDI implementations. Other vendors include LU- ➜ Citrix: citrix.com
CIDLOGiX, Syncron, Quest, Ericom and Moka5. However,
➜ Dell: dell.com
remote VDI capabilities doesn’t end with just software vendors,
there are others offering a hybrid solution, which pairs a client ➜ Ericom: ericom.com
device with VDI software. PanoLogic offers its “zero client,” a ➜ IBM’s SoftLayer: softlayer.com
small Ethernet attached device that presents a virtual machine ➜ LiquidWareLabs: liquidwarelabs.com
to users — no local CPU needed. The device simply attaches
the desktop peripherals to the remote virtual machine via an
➜ Microsoft: Microsoft.com
Ethernet connection. ➜ Moka5: moka5.com
Dell’s recent acquisition of Wyse Technologies brings an- ➜ nComputing: ncomputing.com
other solution to play, a terminal device that works much in the
➜ NIMBIX: nimbix.net
same way as Pano’s offering. nComputing is yet another vendor
offering a combination of virtualization and remote desktop ac- ➜ NVIDIA: nvidia.com
cess — the company offers a multiuser card that is installed into ➜ Parallels: parallels.com
a PC and then uses Ethernet to deliver the experience to a small ➜ Peer1: peer1.com
client device that powers a terminal setup.
Other technologies also are available that do a good job of en- ➜ RackSpace: Rackspace.com
abling remote access to virtual systems. Take for example Teradici, ➜ LUCIDLOGiX: lucidlogix.com
a company that offers a card that plugs into a host system and ➜ PanoLogic: panologic.com
then delivers the host’s capabilities to a remote, dumb terminal
➜ Teradici: teradici.com
— while not exactly a virtualization product, it does abstract the
user’s desktop from a high performance system, allowing those ➜ VMware: vmware.com
HPC systems to be accessed remotely. For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 71

Optimize Computing /// Ultrabook Review

Yes It
Can
The new Lenovo ThinkPad Helix
ultrabook is nimble enough to run
mainstream CAD applications.
By DAvID COHN

W
ith the advent of Windows 8, most PC
manufacturers released tablets and
convertible systems combining
touchscreens with small, often detach-
able keyboards. One new category of
systems is the ultrabook. Based on
a specification developed by Intel,
ultrabooks represent a new class of
high-end subnotebooks designed
to feature reduced bulk without
compromising performance and battery life.
Ultrabooks use low-power Intel Core processors and
solid-state drives (SSDs). The big question for DE read-
ers, however, is whether these new ultrabooks are ca-
pable of running mainstream CAD software. We finally
got a chance to find out firsthand when we received the
new Lenovo ThinkPad Helix. INFO ➜ Lenovo: Lenovo.com/thinkstation
The machine consists of two distinct components: Lenovo ThinkPad Helix
an 11.6-in. tablet and a keyboard dock featuring an 83- • Price: $1,609 as tested ($1,477 base price)
key full-sized, spill-resistant keyboard. On its own, the • Size: 11.66x8.90x0.77-in. (DxWxH) notebook
11.7x7.3x0.5-in. (WxDxH) tablet weighs just 1.8 lbs., • Weight: 3.7 lbs. as tested, plus 0.25 lb. for power supply and cords
and features a bright (400 nits) full HD 1920x1080 dis- • CPU: 1.8GHz Intel Core i5-3337U dual-core w/3MB cache
play with a screen protected by Corning Gorilla glass. • Memory: 4GB DDR3 at 1,333MHz
When inserted into the keyboard dock, the Helix resem- • Graphics: integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000
bles a small, 3.7-lb. laptop measuring just 11.66x8.9x0.77 • Display: 11.6 in. full HD (1,920x1,080) IPS (400 nits)
in. You can also insert the tablet into the keyboard dock • Hard disk: 180GB SSD (128GB and 256GB also available)
with the screen facing away from the keyboard for use as • Audio: Dolby Home Theater 4.0 with 3.5mm combo audio jack
a stand — or even fold the entire system flat. • Network: integrated Intel Centrino Advanced-N 6235 Wi-Fi,
Lenovo offers a choice of either the 1.8GHz Intel Gigabit Ethernet via supplied USB dongle, Ericsson C5621 TFF
Core i5-3337U CPU, which came in our evaluation unit, (with GPS), Bluetooth, NFC and optional 3G broadband
or the nearly identical Core i5-3427U processor, which • Other: one USB 2.0, mini DisplayPort, and SIM card in tablet;
has a slightly faster maximum turbo frequency, faster two USB 3.0 and mini DisplayPort in keyboard dock
built-in graphics and adds Intel Clear Video, vPro and • Keyboard: integrated 83-key keyboard
Trusted Execution technologies. The i5-3427U proces- • Pointing device: 10-point multitouch, ThinkPad digitizer pen,
sor adds $80 to the overall system price. Both processors five-button Clickpad
are designed specifically for ultrabooks and feature two • Warranty: one year

72 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

CPU cores for a total of four threads, a 3MB cache, and the fan, which is sometimes audible, the tablet does get
support for up to 32GB of memory, although Lenovo a bit warm — around 86˚F. The digitizer pen has both
only offers the Helix with 4GB of RAM. a tip sensor and a side-mounted button; it enables you
to input text in a natural manner as well as take notes,
Lots of Flexibility annotate PDF files, and draw when used in conjunction
On its own, the Helix tablet is considerably bigger and with compatible software.
a half-pound heavier than an Apple iPad. But its dimen- A combo audio jack, volume controls and a screen
sions result in an industry-standard 16:9 display, com- rotation lock button are located on the left edge. Along
pared to the iPad’s 4:3 ratio. The Helix powers on via a the bottom edge are a power connector, emergency reset
button on the upper-right edge. A digitizer pen fits into hole, keyboard dock connector, subscriber identity module
a storage slot in the upper-left edge, and a fan louver (SIM) card tray, mini DisplayPort connector, and a single
extends along a portion of the upper edge. In spite of USB 2.0 port. A 2 megapixel 1080p front-facing camera

Mobile Lenovo ThinkPad Helix

ultrabook
Eurocom Panther 4.0
mobile workstation
Lenovo ThinkPad W530
mobile workstation
HP EliteBook 8560w
mobile workstation

Workstations (1.8GHz Intel Core

i5-3337U dual-core CPU,
(3.1GHz Intel Xeon
E5-2867W 8-core CPU,
(2.90GHz Intel Core i7-
3920XM quad-core CPU,
(2.30GHz Intel Core
i7-2820QM quad-core

Compared Intel HD Graphics 4000,

4GB RAM)
NVIDIA Quadro K5000M,
16GB RAM)
NVIDIA Quadro K2000M,
16GB RAM)
CPU, NVIDIA Quadro
2000M, 16GB RAM)

Price as tested $1,609 $6,800 $2,592 $4,063

Date tested 9/10/13 4/20/13 12/29/12 5/1/12
Operating System Windows 8 Windows 7 Windows 7 Windows 7
SPECview 11 higher
catia-03 n/a 65.87 34.82 27.49
ensight-04 1.33 61.01 18.40 18.46
lightwave-01 8.68 65.85 62.75 48.21
maya-03 8.78 102.18 62.04 58.12
proe-5 1.00 13.82 15.58 9.77
sw-02 4.90 55.06 39.48 35.85
tcvis-02 1.37 59.28 30.63 23.12
snx-01 0.82 64.62 25.14 19.85
SPECapc SolidWorks 2013 Higher
Graphics Composite n/a 2.26 2.06 n/a
RealView Graphics Composite n/a 2.42 2.18 n/a
Shadows Composite n/a 2.42 2.18 n/a
Ambient Occlusion Composite n/a 5.14 3.76 n/a
Shaded Mode Composite n/a 2.41 2.13 n/a
Shaded With Edges Mode Composite n/a 2.12 2.00 n/a
RealView Disabled Composite n/a 1.72 1.65 n/a
CPU Composite n/a 3.72 3.59 n/a
Autodesk Render Test Lower
Time Seconds 244.16 57.33 62.00 89.83
Battery Test Higher
Time Hours:min 6:18 1:14 6:09 2:37
Numbers in blue indicate best recorded results. Numbers in red indicate worst recorded results. Results are shown
separately for the ultrabook and mobile workstation classes.

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 73

Optimize Computing /// Ultrabook Review
and Windows button are centered above and below the i5 CPU, its graphics performance on the SPECviewperf
screen, respectively. There are also stereo speakers located benchmark pales in comparison to systems equipped
at either corner below the screen, as well as a built-in mi- with discrete graphics. Indeed, the Helix was incapable
crophone and an ambient light sensor. of even completing the Computer Aided Three-dimen-
On the rear of the tablet, an illuminated dot in the sional Interactive Application (CATIA) portion of the
ThinkPad logo glows red to indicate when the tablet SPECviewperf test.
is powered on and in use, and blinks to indicate other Similarly, we were unable to run the SPECapc Solid-
modes. There is also a 5 megapixel 1080p HD webcam Works benchmark because the Intel HD Graphics 4000
with auto focus and a built-in flash. It’s capable of shoot- does not support the SolidWorks RealView feature,
ing video at 30 frames per second, as well as Motion which is an integral part of the test. But the Lenovo
JPEG. ThinkPad Helix ran SolidWorks 2013 just fine — and
The standard tablet houses a 128GB SSD, but Lenovo we had no problem working with parts and assemblies.
included a 180GB drive in our evaluation unit, which We also ran our standard AutoCAD rendering test.
added $100 to the price. A 256GB drive (a $200 option) Again, because this test is multi-threaded and is meant
is also available. to illustrate the benefits of multiple, fast CPU cores, the
In addition to adding an excellent keyboard, the key- results were the slowest we’ve recorded in years — av-
board dock acts like a port replicator and holds the tablet eraging slightly more than four minutes. But we doubt
upright to provide a typing experience similar to that of a anyone would rely on a system like this for rendering
notebook computer. A gesture-sensitive 4x2.5-in. touch- unless they were out in the field and had no other choice.
pad is centered below the keyboard, while a TrackPoint The Lenovo ThinkPad Helix performed fine when doing
pointing stick is nestled above the B key. Again, a red actual work in AutoCAD.
LED within the ThinkPad logo in the lower-right corner Prices for the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix start at $1,477.
of the palm rest functions as a system status indicator, Although the base configuration comes with Windows 8
with a blinking or constant light indicating the current 64-bit, our evaluation unit came with Windows 8 Pro 64,
system status. On the rear of the keyboard dock are a pair which added an additional $50 to the price. Other than
of USB 3.0 connectors, a mini DisplayPort connector, a that and the bigger hard drive, our review unit was pretty
power connector and an emergency reset hole. basic. You can have Lenovo preload Microsoft Office and
One of the most interesting features of the Lenovo various other software, and add a mini DisplayPort/VGA
ThinkPad Helix is that both the tablet and keyboard monitor cable to connect to an external monitor. We
dock include batteries. The tablet itself comes with a hooked the Helix up to an external monitor using a mini
three-cell battery that Lenovo claims to provide up to DisplayPort cable we already had on hand.
six hours of battery life, while the keyboard dock has its Lenovo backs the Helix with a one-year depot/express
own four-cell battery. According to Lenovo, the combi- warranty. The company also gives you a number of cus-
nation provides up to 10 hours of use. On our own bat- tom tools, including Lenovo Quick Launch, which adds
tery run-down test, however, the system ran for just six a Start button that can be used in lieu of the standard
hours before warning that our charge was down to 5%. Windows 8 interface, as well as Evernote, Skype and a
The system shut down completely 18 minutes later. number of other preloaded applications. With built-in
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, near field computing, and optional 3G
Performance Better Than Benchmarks mobile broadband, the Lenovo ThinkPad Helix is a great
So now the big question: Can you run mainstream CAD system for engineering executives on the go. It’s certainly
applications on this ultrabook? We are happy to report not a replacement for a high-end mobile workstation, but
that the answer is yes! We installed AutoCAD, Solid- at just 3.7 lbs. and with a price of $1,609 as tested, the
Works and a host of other applications — as well as all of Lenovo ThinkPad Helix may be just right when you need
our standard benchmarks — and put the Lenovo Think- to travel light and still get some work done. DE
Pad Helix through the exact same paces as any other
workstation. While the Helix certainly didn’t set any re-
cords, and we do not recommend it for daily production, David Cohn is the technical publishing manager at 4D
you can definitely load it up and take it with you for Technologies. He also does consulting and technical writing
extended trips away from the office. from his home in Bellingham, WA, and has been benchmark-
In fact, our benchmark results do not really reflect ing PCs since 1984. He’s a contributing editor to Desktop
our actual experiences using CAD applications on this Engineering and the author of more than a dozen books. You
diminutive device. Because the Helix relies entirely on can contact him via email at david@dscohn.com or visit his
the Intel HD Graphics 4000 integrated into the Core website at www.dscohn.com.

74 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 3D Printing /// Optimize Design to Manufacture

Additive Manufacturing’s
New Design Paradigm
3D printing allows companies to rethink previously impossible to manufacture
designs, optimize their products, and support new business models.
BY JAMIE J. GOOCH

I
n September, a small part that will make a big splash in
the world of manufacturing was successfully tested. It’s a
new fuel nozzle being developed by GE Aviation for the
next-generation LEAP jet engines, which are scheduled to
be in production by 2015. GE says the fuel nozzle is 25%
lighter and as much as five times more durable than the cur-
rent nozzle. It is being 3D printed in one piece, as opposed
to the 20 parts that comprise the current model. Those num-
bers are impressive, and illustrate the weight and process op-
timization benefits of additive manufacturing (AM), but they
are not the most remarkable part of GE’s announcement.
The number that has everyone taking notice is 85,500.
That’s how many of the new 3D printed fuel nozzles GE
Aviation will produce in order to install 19 of the parts in
the 4,500 LEAP jet engines that have already been ordered.
GE calls itself the largest user of additive technologies for
metallic parts, and it has one of the largest fleets of 3D printers
that it regularly uses for prototyping and tooling. While it’s no
longer unusual to use 3D printing to simplify the production of
CFM INTERNATIONAL, a joint venture between Snecma
complicated parts, or to optimize specialized parts for weight
and strength, the volume of fuel nozzles GE plans to make via (Safran) and GE, initiated testing of the first full LEAP engine
its direct laser melting process is unprecedented. In fact, it’s so in September. The engine includes 19 3D printed fuel nozzles.
far forward that it’s not feasible yet.
GE’s Business Development Leader for Additive Manu- Consistent Quality
facturing, Greg Morris, recently told Bloomberg.com that ex- However, Singh seems more concerned with quality. “Mak-
isting additive manufacturing (AM) systems aren’t efficient ing sure every part is made consistently is a top concern mov-
enough to economically meet the demand, so GE is banking ing forward,” he says. “More and more parts are going to pass
on the development of new, more efficient 3D printers. Morris though additive manufacturing machines, and they all will
should know the existing technologies’ limitations. GE Avia- need to be qualified. That’s a big challenge.”
tion acquired the 3D printing company he founded, Morris The infrastructure needed to produce parts in high volume:
Technologies, and its sister company, Rapid Quality Manufac- materials for specific applications, a published materials data-
turing, in November 2012. base of characteristics, rapid part inspection systems, better
“Throughput is an issue,” admits Prabhjot Singh, manager, post processing, better design tools, and a supply chain for all
Additive Manufacturing Lab, GE Global Research. The $27 of the above, isn’t yet mature.
million lab acts as a central research and development hub fo- “We have a very strong materials and manufacturing
cused on developing new AM processes for all of GE. “We’re not group,” Singh says. “It is helping us bring in new technol-
talking one-offs, we’re talking hundreds of thousands of parts.” ogy and mature it to our needs. The engineering teams we

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 75

Optimize Design to Manufacture /// Additive Manufacturing

While augmented manufacturing brings design engineers one

step closer to the manufacturing process, creating end-use parts
via 3D printers the way GE is doing — what Reis calls alternative
manufacturing — further breaks down the walls between design
and build. With business units in power and water, oil and gas,
energy management, aviation, health care, transportation, and
home appliances that dwarf many competitors in their own
right, GE is in the rare position of being able to advance alter-
native manufacturing in many industries. The way it does so will
no doubt serve as a template for other companies looking to use
3D printing to speed design and development.
During the GE webcast, Furstoss called AM part of the next
industrial revolution that “represents a convergence of design and
materials and manufacturing. It’s a new way of thinking about man-
ufacturing as being as important as any product. That process is the
product. That materials and manufacturing and design can meet.”
Such a meeting could shift the design engineer from the
front of the design-to-manufacture process to its center. If the
process is the product, then the engineer will be designing for
REDEYE ON DEMAND by Stratasys is a “factory of the manufacture in a way that makes an immediate impact on a com-
future” that quietly creates parts using 150 AM systems.
MakerBot Academy Launched

T
work with keep us real, and they help us develop the right
kinds of technology.” he US has been the leader in additive manu-
In a recent webcast titled “The Future of Manufacturing,” GE facturing (AM) ever since 3D Systems’ founder
Global Research’s Technical Director, Manufacturing & Materials Chuck Hull patented stereolithography and
Technologies, Christine Furstoss, echoed Singh’s concerns. Scott Crump designed Stratasys’ first 3D printer, but
“We’re just learning what gives the materials the types of that may be changing. Both the UK and China have
properties it’s achieving,” she said. “What are the things we can invested serious amounts of money into the technol-
do in the equipment to make sure we make a material strong ogy, and the EU, with the European Space Agency as
enough and tough enough? How do we make sure we do that a partner, isn’t far behind. The US does have its own
every time for every part?” investments in place, such as America Makes, the
While GE has been able to develop that quality control process National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute,
for its new fuel nozzles, it needs to grow exponentially to advance but the race is tight.
other end uses for AM technology. MakerBot is hoping to help keep the US at the
forefront of AM with its MakerBot Academy program.
Expanding the Reach of Additive Manufacturing It represents a partnership between donorschoose.
Thus far, professional 3D printing technology has largely fo- org, Autodesk, America Makes, and, of course,
cused on rapid prototyping and what Stratasys’ CEO David MakerBot (now a owned by Stratasys).
Reis calls augmented manufacturing, which refers to using 3D Businesses and individuals who would like to
printers to create tools, jigs and templates to support tradi- assist with the MakerBot Academy program can visit
tional manufacturing processing. The design cycle optimi- donorschoose.org and offer financial support for the
zation opportunities for prototyping are obvious: a physical program. Teachers can then register on the site to
model can be used to advance a concept, sell executives on a receive a MakerBot Academy bundle. Each MakerBot
design change, or cut down on costlier physical testing. Academy bundle includes a MakerBot Replicator 2,
“People are less aware of the augmented part of additive three spools of PLA filament, and a full year of the
manufacturing,” Reis says. “It’s a huge opportunity for Stratasys MakerBot MakerCare Service and Protection Plan.
and a huge opportunity for our customers. All of them are using MakerBot will also assist teachers in the develop-
tools today in a traditional way, which is long, expensive, not ef- ment of ongoing 3D printing curriculum for classroom
ficient. Here (with 3D printing) we have tools that can go into activities, and draw upon Autodesk’s software and
production the next morning. There are hundreds of thousands of educator curriculum as well.
production facilities who can use this technology today.” — John Newman

76 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com

 3D Printing /// Optimize Design to Manufacture

pany’s output. In some instances, the time to market would be tal, president and chief executive officer, 3D Systems during GE’s
measured in hours, not days, weeks or months. webcast. “We see a clear opportunity for mashups between additive
An example of this was presented at Stratasys’ Manufactur- and subtractive in a single manufacturing box as a way to expand the
ing the Future Summit in October by Bryan Dods, an executive degrees of freedom and flexibility in manufacturing.”
in Manufacturing Engineering & Technology at GE Power & GE Power & Water’s Dods is equally optimistic.
Water. Dods’ customers include large power plants that could “3D printing is giving us functionality we can’t get other-
stand to lose $1 million each day that they’re offline due to a faulty wise,” he said. “It changes the business model by allowing the
part. If a 3D printed part could be designed and manufactured to company to make what it can design.” DE
get them up and running quickly, it would change the traditional
design to manufacture cycle for that service industry. Jamie Gooch is managing editor of Desktop Engineering.
Send e-mail about this article to de-editors@deskeng.com.
Challenges are Opportunities
GE’s investment in AM bodes well for advancing the tech-
nology, but there’s still a long way to go. Despite the chal- INFO ➜ 3D Systems: 3dsystems.com
lenges of new materials and quality controls, there seem to ➜ America Makes/NAMII: americamakes.us
be nearly endless possibilities on the horizon. ➜ GE: ge.com/stories/additive-manufacturing
“There are areas of opportunities — where we need to develop
➜ Makerbot Industries: makerbot.com
multi-material functionality, where we need to develop conductivity,
we need to be able to embed intelligence functionality and sensing ➜ Stratasys: stratasys.com
— where a great deal of development is required,” said Avi Reichen- For more information on this topic, visit rapidreadytech.com.

Advertising Index
Altair-HyperWorks ...................................... 15 Red Cedar ................................................... 57
ANSYS...................................................... CV2 Stratasys-Mojo .......................................... CV4
Aras Corp.................................................. CV3
Bluebeam Software, Inc. ................................. 1 h OPTIMIZATION LEADERS h
BOXX Technologies ..................................... 13 Altair-HyperWorks ...................................... 30
BOXX Technologies ..................................... 52 Aras Corp.................................................... 31
CD-adapco .................................................. 27 CAE Associates ............................................ 32
COMSOL ..................................................... 5 CD-adapco .................................................. 33
ESTECO SpA.............................................. 51 Collier Research Corp. ................................ 34
Field Precision LLC .................................... 52 Convergent Science, Inc............................... 35
Intel Corp. ................................................. 8-9 CPFD Software ........................................... 36
Intel Corp. Sponsored Report .......................... 17 CST of America, Inc. ................................... 37
Kubotek USA, Inc. ....................................... 52 Dassault Systemes SIMULIA Corp................ 38
Livermore Software Technology Corp. .......... 19 Engineering Technology Associates, Inc. ....... 39
MakerBot .................................................... 11 ESTECO SpA.............................................. 40
MathWorks ................................................... 7 HBM-nCode................................................ 41
Missler Software, Inc. .................................. 52 IronCAD, LLC ............................................ 42
MSi Computer Corp. Sponsored Report ........... 25 Noesis Solutions .......................................... 43
MSi Computer Corp. ................................... 67 Professional Systems Associates .................... 44
National Instruments ..................................... 3 Proto Labs, Inc. ........................................... 45
Okino Computer Graphics, Inc. .................... 69 Red Cedar ................................................... 46
OriginLab Corp........................................... 23 RTT ........................................................... 47
PDE Solutions ............................................. 55 Siemens PLM Software ................................ 29
Proto Labs, Inc. ........................................... 52 Tormach LLC .............................................. 48

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 77

Fast Apps Engineering Case Studies

Optimization Improves Style Without Adding Costs

Evenflo redesigns a car seat release handle using solidThinking Inspire.
If you have kids, you’ve probably heard of struggle of structure vs. design vs. cost.
Evenflo Company, Inc. You may have even The pair decided to use Inspire to redesign
trusted your most precious cargo to one a car seat handle for an existing product.
of the Ohio-based company’s infant car The handle secures the car seat shell to
seats, or stopped junior from falling down a seat base or a stroller. The intent of the
the stairs with one of the company’s baby redesign was to improve the styling and
gates. The 93-year-old company’s product maintain ease without increasing costs rela-
offerings span a range of infant and juvenile tive to the current part.
categories. Its products have to be structur-
ally sound, but also aesthetically appealing Getting a Handle on Optimization
to compete for consumer attention. The To use Inspire, the team needed two
company is always looking for ways to things: a package space and a set of static result also enabled less measurable ben-
improve both without increasing costs. loads for the release handle. As this was a efits. The engineering design team was able
“Safety is the key consideration in replacement part, the package space was to see load paths for the design in Inspire
the design process. Ease of use is also easy to create with a simplified version of before exporting to Pro/E. The results also
important, but costs must be controlled,” the current part in PTC’s Pro/ENGINEER. provided a place to start a conversation
said Andy Davis, senior design engineer, “Brian and I talked about the block of with the industrial design team to ensure
Evenflo CAE. material to optimize,” Davis says. “It was the delivery of style and function.
With solidThinking Inspire shape and very easy to modify the model slightly to “The industrial designers were pretty
topology optimization software, Davis found get it into inspire and still keep all of the excited about Inspire as well,” Pleiman said.
he could investigate structurally efficient CAD geometry that could not change.” “The team we have here likes it when form
concepts that his industrial design col- The crash and abuse loads that the han- meets function, and this plays into that.”
leagues could use to make aesthetically dle may see during its life are dynamic. Once the design direction was finalized,
pleasing designs. Even better, it allowed This means equivalent static loads need- the part was matured in Pro/E and a
Evenflo to reduce material costs. ed to be developed for Inspire. Generating 3D printed rapid prototype was built for
In 2008, Altair acquired solidThinking, approximate loads involved using previ- stroller and sled testing.
allowing it to expand Inspire’s capabilities. ous data, making some assumptions and “This was a successful project for us.
Inspire is included in Altair’s HyperWorks using a few rules of thumb. After styling the part, we were still able
suite, which Evenflo was already using. “From some of the finite element analy- to achieve a 25% improvement,” said
“Inspire software is included in our licens- sis we have done — we are dealing with Pleiman. “The quick results we were
ing, and Altair pointed out it might be some- a lot of dynamic loads from drop testing able to get from Inspire assisted the co-
thing we would be interested in,” Davis said. and crash testing, for example — so we development of the new part between ID
“Since it was already included in the licens- have grown accustomed to approximating (industrial design) and engineering.”
ing and had the potential to reduce material static loads for dynamic situations,” Davis “solidThinking Inspire shows the mate-
usage, we started trying it out.” said. “Between myself and Brian, we had rial that cannot be removed from a
Davis was intrigued by the organic a good understanding of the load sce- design. This helps you understand your
shapes that Inspire suggests when using narios that this part would see.” design earlier and it can be used as
optimizing design topology. The design would still be developed in CAD a common language between depart-
“For us, making consumer products, and validated using the standard corporate ments,” added Davis.
interesting shapes resonate with our cus- procedures so that a high degree of accu- Evenflo has since asked Altair for Inspire
tomers,” he said. “We don’t make boxy racy wasn’t essential for idea generation. training session with a larger group of engi-
square shapes. If we could optimize the Inspire also made it easy to evaluate differ- neers. Now that Evenflo understands the
material and make it an interesting shape ent loading conditions and view their effect capabilities of Inspire, Davis said they are
for the customer, it would be a win-win.” through the concept designs generated. looking for any place where it might provide
Davis showed the software to Brian material reduction and better aesthetics
Pleiman, senior project engineer in the Positive Results without reducing quality.
Child Restraint team at Evenflo, who saw The initial Inspire results showed potential Source: Interviews with end users and infor-
it as a potential solution for the perennial for a 30% mass and material reduction. The mation provided by Altair’s solidThinking.

➜ For the complete application stories, visit deskeng.com/fastapps

78 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com
Driving for Design Success — and Cleaner Air
Scania redesigns truck engine components, helping reach Euro 6 emissions
goals, using SIMULIA Tosca Structure.
As the European Union adapts to Euro structures have helped Scania build light-
6 — legislation that sets the highest- er-weight vehicles that consume less fuel
ever pollution regulations on trucks and produce fewer emissions, helping the
and buses — global commercial vehicle company meet the Euro 6 standards that
maker Scania is finding new ways to have applied to all new trucks registered Image courtesy of Scania.
meet the challenge. in Europe since Jan. 1, 2013.
Over the 20 years since Euro 1 was insti-
tuted, the Swedish-based company has had Seamless Integration industry-standard solvers, Tosca Structure
an ongoing program to develop vehicles Scania’s engineers work in a mixed CAE allows for easy integration into any existing
and engines with a host of innovative environment, using a variety of design CAE environment. This lets engineers work
technical solutions that have radically cut tools. For optimization, they use Tosca in their accustomed IT environment with
emissions. For additional design refinement Structure from FE-DESIGN — since May their existing FEA models.
of powertrain and drivetrain components, 2013, part of the Dassault Systèmes Scania’s primary FEA solver is Abaqus,
however, it has added the optimization soft- 3DEXPERIENCE technology portfolio also from SIMULIA. Using Tosca
ware Tosca Structure to its CAE toolkit. under the SIMULIA brand. Structure along with their own FEA mod-
The software creates design concepts SIMULIA Tosca Structure is a flexible, mod- els and knowledge base enables the
early in the product development process ular software system for non-parametric engineers to exploit the full potential of
to show the potential to reduce material structural optimization of topology, shape optimization ...
weight while maintaining, or even improv- and bead design using finite element anal-
ing, rigidity and durability. Such optimized ysis (FEA). With its open interfaces to FEA MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabmzs.htm

Pushing the Pedal to Its Mettle

Mechatronic simulation enables PSA Peugeot Citroën to enhance fuel efficiency and reliability of powertrain components.
Car manufacturers face multiple challenges Powertrain systems are becoming standards. It also facilitates appropriate
when designing powertrain architectures. increasingly complex, and include a powertrain cooling and passenger thermal
They must reconcile numerous (and some- growing number of actuators, sensors, comfort by controlling cooling fluid tempera-
times contradictory) requirements to reach hybrid traction systems, and electric ture and flow rate in the air heater.
the desired level of product quality, pollut- and electronic components — requiring In addition, effective powertrain ther-
ant emissions, passenger comfort, fun-to- controls and protection strategies to mal management maintains an optimal
drive performance, reliability and safety. limit component damage. Developing operating temperature for the engine and
And they must do all of this while striving to powertrain thermal management strate- gearbox, promoting component reliability
be profitable, shorten the product develop- gies is a major issue for original equip- and fuel efficiency. The thermal manage-
ment cycle and reduce time-to-market. ment manufacturers (OEMs), and these ment system can adapt to vehicle usage
strategies are taking more systems into under a variety of conditions, and set
account than ever before, including the temperature thresholds to further help
internal combustion engine, gearbox, car protect powertrain components.
interior, electric powertrain battery and
electronic controls units. Broad Appeal
Powertrain thermal management optimi- PSA Peugeot Citroën addresses pow-
zation enables car manufacturers to reduce ertrain thermal management by using
fuel consumption (for example, via warm-up simulation throughout the powertrain
phase acceleration) and carbon dioxide component and system design process.
(CO2) emissions. Therefore, it allows the
OEMs to meet stringent international MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabmzx.htm

deskeng.com /// December 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 79

Fast Apps Engineering Case Studies

Becoming Empowered by PLM

With Omnify Empower PLM, security provider Genetec integrates PLM software
with ERP and engineering tools for better integration and data quality.
Based in Montreal, Genetec is a pioneer capabilities had to be implemented via
in the physical security and public safety customization of the software. The time
industry, and a global provider of IP video spent by software designers to custom-
surveillance, access control and license ize the tool to meet their needs was
plate recognition (LPR) solutions to mar- extensive and counterproductive.
kets such as transportation, education, It was becoming important for Genetec
retail, gaming, government and more. to have the ability to catch product doc- ability to interface with its enterprise
Genetec had previously implemented umentation problems early on, prior to resource planning (ERP) system (MS
an open-source product lifecycle man- manufacturing, and to have a complete Dynamics) — all at a price that made
agement (PLM) system to replace the history of the changes for accountabil- sense for the organization.
use of spreadsheets for managing prod- ity. Genetec needed a PLM system that After researching the market, the team
uct information. Although the team did delivered robust, out-of-the-box func- decided on Omnify Software.
realize some improvements in their pro- tionality including electronic manage- “Ultimately, we were impressed by how
cesses, they needed to find a new PLM ment of part data, engineering changes, easy the software seemed to configure,
solution to meet their requirements in an BOMs, and product documentation that and by how many functionalities this
electronic manufacturing environment. did not require customization to imple- software offered out-of-the-box,” says
They found with the open-source solution ment. It also needed a system that Danny Roy, hardware development man-
that minimum functionalities such as offered easy integration with its exist- ager for Genetec.
reference designators, redlining, bill of ing engineering design tools (Altium
material (BOM) compare, and importing Designer and SolidWorks) and the MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabmzr.htm

From Mud Stream to Value Stream

Viatran’s redesign for manufacture and assembly implementation benchmarks competition, reduces
part count, and re-imagines a pressure transmitter design with total cost of ownership in mind.

Sensitive, yet tough. That’s the job humidity, temperature extremes — and ing functional improvements to which
description of the hammer-union pres- the routine shock of hammer blows during customers would respond, along with
sure transmitter used in oil and gas well installation — the unit plays a pivotal role increased assembly efficiency and cost-
servicing applications like cementing, in communicating with down-hole mea- effectiveness.
fracturing and acidizing. This fine-tuned surement-while-drilling (MWD) tools to help
sensor must accurately (and repeatedly) ensure safety and efficiency in the produc- Begin with Benchmarking
measure the hydraulic and pressure tion environment. The unit’s reliable perfor- A company-wide philosophy of continuous
characteristics of drilling fluid in the harsh mance is critical to the integrity of hammer- improvement has led Dynisco to empha-
environments found in the secondary oil wing union fittings, used in thousands of size the role of early design evaluation
and gas recovery industry. energy installations around the globe. in its product development process.
Withstanding mud, corrosion, vibration, The Viatran business unit of Dynisco, a Knowing the value of applying Design for
Roper Industries company, has offered Manufacture and Assembly (DFMA) from
model 510 Hammer Union pressure Boothroyd Dewhurst — with benchmark-
transmitter as an industry staple for ing, Lean, and Total Cost of Ownership
years. With a number of competitors (TCO) methodologies — Viatran engineers
vying for position in the supplier arena, teamed with Dynisco’s Value/Analysis/
Dynisco decided to take a renewed look Value Engineering (VAVE) group to launch
at its core product to ensure that its lead the redesign project.
would hold. The company launched a
redesign project with the goal of provid- MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabmzw.htm

➜ For the complete application stories, visit deskeng.com/fastapps

80 DESKTOP ENGINEERING December 2013 /// deskeng.com
 A STRONG CASE
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© 2013 Stratasys, Inc shipping, applicable taxes and/or duties not included.