Software

• As reported by DEVELOP3D, Autodesk seeks feedback on Project Arro, its software for making CAD models meshable. Read more about Arro here.
• CD-adapco announced the release of STAR-CCM+ v11.02 with new capabilities in DEM, rheology, multi-body dynamics, and interactive visualization.
• Read more about the improvements to FlowSight for postprocessing FLOW-3D results.
• I just discovered the freely available DUNE, the distributed unified numerics environment for solving PDEs.
• It’s worth reading this Tech Clarity article about product lifecycle management (PLM) in 2016.

Researchers at the University of Stuttgart are using Tecplot 360 EX to design cleaner gas turbine engines. Image from Tecplot. Click image for article.

Events

• The Symposium and Workshop on Industrial LES & DNS will be held on 21-23 November 2016 in Toulouse, France.
• MUST READ: Monica Schnitger shares a great write-up of the recent ASSESS 2016 event at which the future of analysis and simulation was pondered (all while a blizzard approached and eventually overtook Washington, DC). I was in her breakout session on democratization of simulation [which you all probably find funny because of my prior statements about the word democratization].
  • One stumbling block to the wider adoption of simulation was cost – it’s too expensive. The unasked question, to paraphrase Edward Tufte, is “compared to what?”
  • Monica cites the maleness and whiteness of the people in the democratization session and then the [what I’d consider to be] ironic suggestion to make CAE “sexier,” an adjective that might only have come from a bunch of white male engineers.
  • Unfortunately, I was one of the folks who got an unplanned 3-day vacation in DC.

Applications & Hardware

• Simulation I can sink my teeth into: One of the winners of Best Poster from the COMSOL 2015 Conference was Simulation of Microwave Heating of Initially Frozen Sandwiches. [Hot Pockets, anyone?]
• GrabCAD tells us that 2016 may be the year of the 4K monitor. [Pointwise will support 4K monitors later this year. Coincidence?]

Motorsport company ORECA will use ANSYS’ software to optimize the design of their cars. Image from IT Business Net. Click image for article.

Dollars and Cents

• ANSYS earned $943 million in 2015, an increase of 8% over the prior year. Will 2016 be the year they exceed the $1 billion mark? (As reported by Monica Schnitger.)
  • Update: I’m trying to reconcile this report with the one from Graphic Speak in which revenue is only up 0.7% year-over-year. I bet it has something to do with currency. The problem is entirely one of mine, one of interpretation.
• Monica also reported on Autodesk where the news appears to be subscriptions up, revenue down.
• Simpleware‘s software for converting 3D scan and image data into CFD models will now be available in Israel through Laser Rapid Production Systems.
• The University of Cambridge seeks a research assistant/associate in CFD.

When Does Math Become Art?

Because beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder (Margaret Wolfe Hungerford), math becomes art whenever its results are deemed aesthetically pleasing by a viewer. Of course, this leans too heavily on equating art with aesthetics and instead maybe we should say art makes truth visible (Paul Klee).

Science Alert illustrates seven instances of math becoming art including the 3D printed models of Henry Segerman as exemplified by the image below. Of course, I see this simply as a structured grid mapped to a sphere.

Mathematician Henry Segerman uses 3D models to illustrate mathematical concepts. Image from Science Alert. See link above.

Bonus: Our lead meshing expert takes a break from working on T-Rex (anisotropic tetrahedral extrusion).