Watch

• For the car buff comes this video describing the aerodynamics of the 2014 Porsche 911 Turbo. [Full disclosure: I am not a car buff.]
• Catch this video of Combined Sewer Overflow hydraulics as computed using FLOW-3D.

Screen capture from a video illustrating a FLOW-3D solution of Combined Sewer Overflow. Image from Flow Science.

See

• Learn all about the new Tecplot 360 EX in a webinar to be held on 10 April.
• Intelligent Light shared quite a bit of content recently including a video from their friends at Infiniti Red Bull Racing on the changes to Formula 1 racing for 2014.
• From NVIDIA, Intel, and AMD comes tips on how to improve OpenGL performance by up to 15x.

Buy*

• ESI’s financial results as commented upon by Monica Schnitger look good and the income from OpenCFD and CyDesign appears to be in the 1 million euro range. One factoid that caught my eye is that ESI’s top 20 clients account for 46% of their revenue while for ANSYS that percentage is only 5%.

Read

• The March 2014 issue of DEVELOP3D is 100 pages of 3D printing goodness.
• On a related note, Scan&Solve for Rhino now supports 3D printing materials for your simulations.
• The SolidWorks World 2014 proceedings are now available online including CFD and simulation topics.
• From Aerospace America comes Ready, Set, Export (PDF) on the pending changes to export regulations for defense related articles (i.e. ITAR and AECA). [IMO, the changes described are good but only the first steps required to make export regulations less burdensome while also providing the desired protections.]
• In the article Closing the CAD to CAE Gap, we read about how several organizations are moving more and more simulation from dedicated analysts to designers. For example, Northrop Grumman reports that the ratio of designers to analysts has changed over the years from 6:1 to 1:1.2. In other words, everyone’s doing simulation.
• The secrets of CFD are revealed on the Secrets of Science website with their Introduction to CFD.

This image id described by The Secrets of Science as a Fluent solution on a polyhedral mesh for a Formula 1 car.

Use

• At the STAR Global Conference, CD-adapco president Steve MacDonald announced that over the next year they’ll be adding FEA to STAR-CCM+.
• AeroDynamic Solutions released ADS Release 6.0 for turbomachinery CFD.
• Design World shares three free CAD programs for engineers: IronCAD COMPOSE, AutoCAD Inventor Fusion, and Solid Edge 2D Drafting. [I know there are others. Please include your favorite in the comments.]

Apply

• From Today’s Medical Developments comes news that Menges Roller won an award for their use of CFD to design heat transfer rollers.
• Build2Design is a new service for ship builders to ensure that their ships perform as designed. Even though optimized using CFD during the design phase, there can actually be wide performance differences in the as-built products.
• The University of Oslo has an opening for a PhD Research Fellow in fluid mechanics.

The Grids of Agnes Martin

How can engineers not like the work of Agnes Martin? After all, imagine the reams of green quadruled graph paper we’ve all used during the course of our careers. Engineers will also probably be the first to dismiss her work with the cliché “I could do that” retort.

As Agnes Martin said, her paintings have nothing to do with geometry. They’re about finding perfection which can only be found by reading between the lines. Keep in mind that she was strongly influenced by the same desert southwest landscapes that also influenced Georgia O’Keeffe. The amazing comparison there is how the two painters expressed that influence so differently on canvas.

Agnes Martin, Leaf, 1965

P.S. If “you can do that,” I really, really wish you would.

*Buy is not a recommendation, just wordplay. You don’t want stock tips from me.