CAD

Top 5 misunderstandings on (good) mesh

Although there are quite a few mesh-free (mesh-less) FEA and CFD codes, meshing is still one of the most important tasks for most CAE users. The importance of generating high-quality mesh can never be overemphasized.

But how to define a high-quality, or more preciously good, mesh? Reading the output of mesh quality report in your meshing software is only the first step; you need to make judgements whether the mesh is good enough for your physical problem.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of misunderstanding of good mesh. Nowadays, it is hard to find meshing course in engineering departments. The numerical algorithm in most engineering schools is optional. So, it is not surprising, the new generation CAE users lack some fundamental knowledge on how meshing works in a CAE system.

Here are the top 5 misunderstandings on a good mesh.

#1. Good mesh must follow CAD model well.

More and more CAE users are designers, as explained in the previous post. They are generally well trained in CAD, and they tend to bring all details to analysis. They believe more details means more close to the reality.

This is not true, most of the time. Good mesh need resolve physics, … Read the rest “Top 5 misunderstandings on (good) mesh”

CAE in the Cloud, Is It Just Hot Air?

by shengwei 7 Comments

Cloud computing now is one of the fastest growing sectors in the IT industry. How will this affect the CAE industry?

Actually, cloud computing is not new for CAE industry, especially for CFD users. 15 or 20 years ago, when you accessed supercomputers in the computing centre from home or office through dial-up modems (do you know what it is?), or ISDN if you are lucky, you were already using “cloud computing”. Now this cloud computing is so popular that every computing event must have a dedicated session for it. If you are not sure, check the coming Supercomputing Carnival 2011 (SC2011) in Seattle in this November or the more geeky one: HPC 2011 in Boston in last April.

Fluent announced the Remote Simulation Facility (RSF) in 2002. This probably is the first commercial CFD cloud computing offer. They upgraded the cluster several times later. The response is, based on community feedback, very good. This e-business model combining software and computing resources is very attractive for small consulting firms, and moderate users. The $3-$20 (depending on the volume of commitment) per CPU hour is quite reasonable, although not so cheap.

It seems ANSYS is quietly retiring … Read the rest “CAE in the Cloud, Is It Just Hot Air?”

Bet on ecosystem or on disciplines?

by Editor Leave a Comment

The demand for simulation is growing in almost all industries and in all regions. This generates sufficient momentum for the organic growth in CAE industry. Even during the last global recession (2008-2009), most CAE companies reported about a two-digit increase in CAE software business.

How to ride this wave to get a larger market share? Major CAE software players choose different approaches. Essentially, they bet on the ecosystem (CAD-CAE-PLM), or bet on disciplines (multi-physics, or multi-discipline, structural-mechanical-CFD-electrical-magnetic).

When the $413 million acquisition of Abaqus by Dassault Systems was announced in May 2005, it marked the new era in CAE industry: compete with an ecosystem. Before the acquisition, only UGS (later acquired by Siemens as Siemens PLM Software in 2007) had its own ecosystem. Apparently, Autodesk is positioned to enter CAE market based on their acquisitions of Algor, Moldflow and CFDesign in recent years.

For a CAD or PLM player, providing CAE solution is a natural expansion. Compared with pure CAE players, they have at least two advantages:

Cross-selling. CAD market is far larger (in terms of the number of license, and users) than CAE market, and most new CAE opportunity lies in the CAD adopters.This means CAD vendors have

… Read the rest

The Big 6 in CAD/CAE/PLM software industry (2011)

by Editor 3 Comments

According to the Global Software Top 100 (2011 edition), 6 CAD/CAE/PLM software companies are among the top 100.

They are Dassault Systèmes, Autodesk, PTC, Siemens (UGS), Mentor Graphics and ANSYS.

Dassault and Siemens have the complete ecosystem: CAD-CAM-CAE-PLM. Autodesk and PTC reply more on CAD. Mentor Graphics has a limited presence beyond in the electronics industry. ANSYS is an interesting company focusing only CAE.

Compared with the rank of the previous year (2010), all these 6 companies climbed some potions varying from 1 to 4. This indicates the demands for CAD/CAE/PLM are getting stronger. The following table illustrates the ranking of these 6 companies in the last three years.

Company	2011 Position	2010 Position	2009 Position
Dassault Systems	19	22	17
Autodesk	22	25	16
Siemens	49	50	40
Mentor Graphics	77	80	66
ANSYS	92	96	75

We will analyze these companies, as well as other CAD/CAE/PLM software companies in other articles.… Read the rest “The Big 6 in CAD/CAE/PLM software industry (2011)”