For job seekers, four job openings are included in this week’s CFD news. There’s an interesting insight into why the cloud is more suited to simulation now than it’s ever been. And borrowing a great idea from the SC conference, what technical paper do you think has most deeply influenced CFD? Cast your vote in the comments after you read all the details. The image here is from an MIT article about simulating boiling.

Supercomputing & CAD

• Nominations have closed for this year’s SC Test of Time Award for the outstanding paper from 10-25 years ago that has “deeply influenced” HPC. So why do I mention this after the deadline? I think it’s a great idea for other conferences to adopt. [Less of a great idea was changing the name Supercomputing to SC but that’s just my opinion – I could be wrong.]
• Siemens PLM released Parasolid v31.1, their geometric modeling kernel, with 64-bit Android support for mobile apps and many other features. [Note: It’s called Parasolid not “Parasolids” as though it’s plural. Minor, but pet peeve nonetheless.]

Nice mesh image from a case study on DEVELOP3D about use of Femap for simulations of a component of a space-borne spectrograph. Image from develop3d.com.

Computing & Interoperability

• Writing on the Siemens PLM blog, Tech-Clarity’s Jim Brown asks “Why not cloud?” for engineering simulation. Looking back, he opines that slow adoption of the cloud for engineering use might not have been due to IP security concerns (an oft cited reason) but instead the simple lack of all of the needed functionality. Now, the cloud offers unique benefits for simulation such as support for a geographically diverse workforce and large amounts of computing power. Read the article for all the insights.

Thanks Siemens PLM for the faceted cloud used in the article Why not cloud? linked to above.

• DEVELOP3D brings the cloud down to earth, so to speak, and shares some thoughts about “infinite computing” and its impacts on how we work. [This is one of two articles from DEVELOP3D linked to this week. Are you a subscriber or follower? There’s good stuff to be learned.]
• It seems that CFD isn’t the only simulation discipline that has issues with geometry model interoperability. The SolidWorks blog delves into “When STEPs Become a Misstep” within ECAD.

Thanks to alert reader James for taking this photo of a mesh on a recent visit to Dubai. He believes the lattice will eventually be covered by the gold outer skin.

CFD for…

• female specific aero bikes.
• liquid cleaning jets.
• boiling. (In nuclear reactors, not for Ramen.)

Jobs & Events

• The University of Manchester seeks a Lecturer in Advanced Fluids Simulation.
• Pointwise seeks a mesh-loving CFD engineer for our technical support team.
• Aerion Supersonic has a lot of job openings.
• CHAM has an opening for a CAD and GUI software development engineer.
• The 4th Midwest OpenFOAM User Meeting will be held in Minneapolis on 4-5 October 2019. The call for presentations and registration both appear to be open.
• If you’ll be attending AIAA Aviation this June in Dallas you are invited to join Pointwise for a celebration of our 25th anniversary, demonstrations in the exhibit hall, and three technical presentations.

Image from an article describing the use of TwinMesh for simulation of a hydraulic turbine. Image from twinmesh.com.

Minimalist 3-D Grid

They say that on average an art museum visitor spends fewer than 30 seconds with each work. Minimalist works like those of Donald Judd likely suffer horribly in this regard because they appear to be easily digested at a glance.

Meshing has a visual appeal to me based on its clean, regular, and often flowing lines. There’s a rhythm in a mesh that implies something about what will be computed on it. The same is true for Judd’s work. The first impression of simplicity quickly fades when materials, finishes, lighting, and installation all combine to activate the work as you move around it. The sculpture shown below has a visual restlessness that makes my eyes rove all over its surface.

A retrospective of Judd’s work has been announced for New York’s MoMA in 2020.

Donald Judd, Untitled, 1991. source