Applications

NASA Advanced Supercoming (NAS) Division posted this image of a CFD simulation of the Orion capsule re-entering the atmosphere on Flickr. Click image for link.

• Congratulations to CFD-Online for 20 years of service.
• Here’s a nice case study of reducing geometry cleanup time from 2 days to 1 hour by NASA using MSC Apex.
• Aerodynamic flutter influences turbomachinery too, not just wings.
• The freely available (registration required) paper Numerical Basis of CAD-Embedded CFD describes the Cartesian-mesh approach used by SolidWorks Simulation.

Software

• Combine NURBS and Sub-Division surface modeling with Shark FX.
• I’m still learning about the recently announced “CFD as a service” from SysFera and ROMEO but here’s their video on Large Scale CFD Simulations 3 Clicks Away. [I’m pretty certain I saw more than 3 clicks but as I always say, it depends on when you start counting.]
• COMSOL announced COMSOL Server for in-browser simulations.
• Avante Technology launched Emendo for STL file validation and repair.
• Simpleware released version 7.
• Introducing OpenQBMM, an OpenFOAM-based solver for “polydisperse multiphase flows.” [How to pronounce? Open Quib perhaps?]
• OpenFOAM v2.3.1 was released and coincides with the 10th anniversary of the release of OpenFOAM v1.0.
• Kitware announced Tangelo, Javascript and Python APIs for developing web-based data analytics and visualization apps.
• SpaceClaim news:
  • Reflecting their ownership by ANSYS, SpaceClaim Engineer is now ANSYS SpaceClaim.
  • ANSYS released a new version of SpaceClaim with improvements related to 3D printing.
  • csimsoft announced the Trellis SpaceClaim Add-in.

Winners

James Bertwhistle’s winning entry in CD-adapco’s 2015 calendar contest. Image from CD-adapco. See link below.

• James Bertwhistle was declared the winner of CD-adapco’s 2015 Calendar contest for his image of a CFD simulation of an urban environment.
• Josh Clos was announced as the winner of the Cinema 4D and RealFlow Fluid Dimension Challenge which called for creating a 3D model from a photo and then doing a RealFlow simulation on it.

Screen capture from Josh Clos’ winning entry for the Fluid Dimension Challenge. See link above.

Business

• Exa continues to grow. During Q3 they had revenue of $16 million (up 16%) split between license revenue ($12.9 million) and project revenue ($3.1 million). Revenue from the USA was up 40%! Also of note, they will be introducing several new technologies including a cloud offering. [Be reminded that I follow Exa because they are, to the best of my knowledge, the only publicly traded pure CFD company.]
• Parker needs a CFD Project Engineer/Analyst in Irvine, CA.
• Someone in Raymond, OH needs a CFD engineer.
• I must be out of the loop because I don’t know what 4D CAD is but perhaps it’s the reason that the MCAD market is forecast to grow at 10.81% through 2018. [I’d like to have just that last hundredth of a percent in my pocket. Who’d miss 0.01%?]
• And here’s a report on how the global CFD market in aero and defense will grow 13.73% through 2019.
• “Pricing based on perceived customer value is toxic.” Is there a better way to license CAE software? [I’m hoping for at least comment from an open-source proponent.]

Events

• RAPID, the annual event for 3D printing and scanning, will be held 18-21 May 2015 in Long Beach.
• The Workshop on Software Engineering for High Performance Computing in Science will be held in conjunction with the International Conference on Software Engineering in Florence, Italy on 16-24 May 2015.
• Registration is open for an ERCOFTAC course on Design Optimization: Methods and Applications to be held 28-29 May 2015 in Stockholm.
• The list of abstracts accepted for NAFEMS World Congress 2015 is now available online.
• Registration is also open for the Code_Saturne User Meeting 2015.

Thoughts on Engineeering

As a native Clevelander, I love this simulation of the flow over Case Western Reserve University’s campus. Image from Windpower. Click image for article.

Do we need a whole new type of engineer? If yes, are the principles in the book A Whole New Engineer how to get them? I became aware of this book from an article in the Communications of the ACM (membership required to read online) in which the “six minds” of the whole engineer are described. This is of interest to me because of my work on the advisory board of my alma mater but I haven’t actually purchased the book yet.

1. Rigorous analytical and scientific skills.
2. Ability to design unique solutions to problems.
3. Good communicator.
4. Effective interpersonal skills.
5. Leadership-type physical presence.
6. Thoughtful and reflective.

On a slightly related note comes the three biggest challenges of engineering as defined by the National Engineering Forum: capacity, capability, competitiveness. You can download and read the report Engineering our Nation’s Future for info on how these three challenges are morphed into five themes:

1. Understanding the 3 Cs
2. Education Advocacy
3. Public Perception of Engineers and Engineering
4. Public and Private Investment
5. Immigration Reform

Parlez vouz Labofactory?

I will use the fact that I don’t speak French as an excuse for not fully understanding what’s going on at Labofactory. But they’ve got some cool videos that are a cross between fluids and art. Perhaps a less linguistically-challenged reader can clue me in.

Screen capture from the video Fluxux by Labofactory. See link above.

Applications Part 2

• Symscape answers the age-old question “What would happen if you connected 4 snowglobes.”
• Here’s the best of the visualization web for October 2014 and November 2014.
• How about combustion simulation in a piston engine?
• Read how STAR-CCM+ contributed to the ground-up design and construction of a new race car in  only 1-year.
• The U.S. Dept. of Energy is spending $425 million for 3 new supercomputers.
• And then there are superconducting supercomputers.
• Articles are sought for a topical issue on CFD for Engineering Design by De Gruyter Open, a publisher of open access scientific content.
• In Democratization [ahem] of Simulation Takes Flight we read about the desire to make simulation easy. [To borrow from the open source world (“Free as in speech, not free as in beer.”) I’ll say “Easy like Hemingway, not easy like ‘See Spot Run.'” Which is way too many embedded parentheses and quotes.]
• Autodesk Simulation shares holiday greetings in this video.

Not all ovens are easy bake. Read how Whirlpool uses engineering simulation. Image from Desktop Engineering. Click image for article.

Flow Is People Too

Have you ever felt like an insignificant particle just flowing through life? In one sense, that’s probably because you are. Or more precisely, you can be simulated like one using Oasys Software’s MassMotion Flow for pedestrian, crowd and evacuation simulation. Biped agents: unite!

Screen capture from a video demonstration of MassMotion Flow.