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SPOTLIGHT ON
ANSYS 12.0
Engineering
Simulation:
Needed Now
© iStockphoto.com/Atrapat
Table of Contents
SPOTLIGHT ON ANSYS 12.0
4 ANSYS 12.0
Launching a New Era of
Smart Engineering Simulation
A full generation ahead of other solutions, ANSYS 12.0 takes
product design and development to the next level.
6 FRAMEWORK
4 Introducing ANSYS Workbench 2.0
Proven simulation technology is delivered in a truly
innovative integration framework.
8 GEOMETRY AND MESHING
Taking Shape in 12.0
ANSYS combines depth of simulation with industry experience to provide
geometry and meshing tools that realize simulation results faster.
11 MULTIPHYSICS
Multiphysics for the Real World
8 In ANSYS 12.0, multiphysics capabilities continue to increase in flexibility,
application and ease of use.
14 ELECTROMAGNETICS
ANSYS Emag 12.0 Generates Solutions
Improved accuracy, speed and platform integration advance the capabilities
of low-frequency electromagnetic simulation.
15 FLUIDS
A Flood of Fluids Developments
A new integrated environment and technology enhancements
make fluids simulation faster, more intuitive and more accurate.
11 18 STRUCTURAL MECHANICS
Designing with Structure
Advancements in structural mechanics allow more efficient and
higher-fidelity modeling of complex structural phenomena.
22 EXPLICIT DYNAMICS
Explicit Dynamics Goes Mainstream
ANSYS 12.0 brings native explicit dynamics to ANSYS Workbench and
provides the easiest explicit software for nonlinear dynamics.
23 EIGENSOLVER
Introducing the Supernode Eigensolver
A new eigensolver in ANSYS 12.0 determines large numbers
of natural frequency modes more quickly and efficiently than
conventional methods.
15
25 HIGH-PERFORMANCE COMPUTING
The Need for Speed
From desktop to supercomputer, high-performance computing with
ANSYS 12.0 continues to race ahead.
28 FUTURE DIRECTIONS
Foundations for the Future
The many advanced features of ANSYS 12.0 were designed to solve today’s
challenging engineering problems and to deliver a platform for tomorrow’s
simulation technology.
22
38 BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Designing Against the Wind
Simulation helps develop screen enclosures that can better
withstand hurricane-force winds.
40 ENVIRONMENT
Stabilizing Nuclear Waste
Fluid simulation solidifies its role in the radioactive waste
38
treatment process.
42 OPTIMIZATION
Topology Optimization and Casting:
A Perfect Combination
Using topology optimization and structural simulation helps
a casting company develop better products faster.
44 MARINE
Fighting Fire with Simulation
The U.K. Ministry of Defence uses engineering simulation
to find alternatives to ozone-depleting substances for 49
fire suppression.
Executive Editor Editors Ad Sales Manager Circulation Manager About the Cover
Fran Hensler Erik Ferguson Helen Renshaw Sharon Everts ANSYS introduces release 12.0,
Shane Moeykens the next-generation technology
Managing Editor Mark Ravenstahl Editorial Advisor for Simulation Driven Product
Chris Reeves Kelly Wall Development. The spotlight
Contributors begins on page 4.
Senior Editor and Susan Wheeler Designer
Industry Analyst Marty Mundy Miller Creative Group
John Krouse
ANSYS Advantage is published for ANSYS, Inc. customers, partners and others interested in the field of design and analysis applications.
Neither ANSYS, Inc. nor the senior editor nor Miller Creative Group guarantees or warrants accuracy or completeness of the material contained in this publication.
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AQWA, AutoReaGas, Blademodeler, DesignXplorer, Drop Test, ED, Engineering Knowledge Manager, Emag, Fatigue, Icepro, Icewave, Mesh Morpher, ParaMesh, TAS,
TASSTRESS, TASFET, TurboGrid, Vista, VT Accelerator, CADOE, CoolSim, SIwave, Turbo Package Analyzer, RMxprt, PExprt, HFSS, Full-Wave SPICE, Simulation Driven
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service and feature names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ANSYS Advantage • Volume III, Issue 1, 2009 3
© 2009 ANSYS, Inc. All rights reserved.
ANSYS 12.0:
Launching a New Era of
Smart Engineering Simulation
A full generation ahead of other solutions, ANSYS 12.0 takes product
design and development to the next level.
By Jim Cashman, President and CEO, ANSYS, Inc.
The current economic climate has completely changed simulation in much the same way that the internet and desktop
the way most companies view engineering simulation. publishing have revolutionized the broadband distribution
Leveraging the power of virtual prototyping to compress the of information. As a direct consequence of a long-standing
product development process and drive down costs is no commitment to simulation, ANSYS is the only company
longer a choice — it’s a requirement for survival in an offering advanced simulation technologies that span all key
increasingly competitive environment. engineering disciplines — and bringing them together in an
In nearly every industry, driving product development integrated and flexible software platform designed specifically
through engineering simulation technology has become a to support Simulation Driven Product Development.
key strategy to develop more innovative products, reduce Over the years ANSYS has made significant technology
development and manufacturing costs, and accelerate time investments, acquisitions and partnership to ensure continuing
to market. leadership. We recognize that every technology breakthrough
Backed by the unmatched power of ANSYS 12.0 or market accomplishment has only been a stepping stone to
software, progressive companies are taking engineering our vision. Reflecting these investments — as well as the
simulation a step beyond. They have already realized acquired wisdom of four decades in this industry — ANSYS
the enormous strategic benefits of virtual prototyping — and 12.0 represents the fullest expression of our leadership posi-
are now seeking more from their investments in simulation. tion. It is the most comprehensive engineering simulation
ANSYS 12.0 enables these forward-looking companies solution available today.
to maximize the efficiency of their simulation processes, to While the following pages offer a wealth of detail, I’d like to
increase the accuracy of their virtual prototypes, and to focus on the high-level benefits that our customers will realize
capture and reuse their simulation processes and data. This as they leverage the full depth and breadth of ANSYS 12.0 to
next level of performance signals a new era of Smart make product development smarter, better, faster and more
Engineering Simulation, in which product innovations can be collaborative than they ever thought possible.
realized more rapidly, and more cost effectively, than
ever before. Smart Technologies = Smart Simulation
There is no company better qualified to launch this new At ANSYS, we have applied our long history of tech-
era. ANSYS has led the engineering simulation industry nology leadership to create the world’s smartest solution for
for nearly 40 years, revolutionizing the field of engineering engineering simulation — more automated, repeatable,
Introducing
ANSYS Workbench 2.0
Proven simulation technology is delivered in a truly
innovative integration framework.
Judd Kaiser, Shantanu Bhide, Scott Gilmore and Todd Two analyses from the schematics shown in the previous figure are shown here in the mechanical simulation application.
McDevitt of ANSYS, Inc. contributed to this article. Launched from the schematic, individual applications may be familiar to existing users.
Taking Shape
in 12.0 Automated cleanup and repair of imported geometry:
ANSYS combines depth of simulation New tools automatically detect and fix typical problems,
such as small edges, sliver faces, holes, seams and faces
with industry experience to provide with sharp angles. Geometry models can now be prepared
for analysis at a much faster pace. These images show an
geometry and meshing tools that realize aircraft model before (top) and after (bottom) cleanup.
Engineering simulation software CFX tools into the ANSYS meshing for IGES, STEP, ACIS®, Parasolid®,
users have been known to spend up to platform — which provides the foundation CATIA® V4 and CATIA V5. At ANSYS
90 percent of their simulation-related for unifying and leveraging meshing tech- 12.0, geometry interfaces have been
time working on pre-processing tasks. nologies, making them interoperable and enhanced to import more information
By targeting developments in capabilities available in multiple applications. Taking from CAD systems, including new data
to increase ease of use, simplifying advantage of the enhanced ANSYS types such as line bodies for modeling
pre-processing tasks, and increasing the Workbench 2.0 framework, the company beams, additional attributes such as
capabilities of pre-processing tools, provides further significant improve- colors and coordinate systems, and
ANSYS has systematically delivered ments for ANSYS 12.0 geometry and improved support for named selections
exciting advances to increase the meshing applications. created within the CAD systems.
efficiency of simulation. For pre-processing larger models,
ANSYS has combined rich CAD Connections release 12.0 includes support for 64-bit
geometry and meshing techniques ANSYS continues to deliver a leading operating systems, and smart and
with its depth of knowledge and CAD-neutral CAE integration environ- selective updates of CAD parts. The
experience, and the end result is ment, providing direct, associative and newly introduced ability to selectively
products capable of harnessing bi-directional interfaces with all major update CAD components allows users
integrated geometry and meshing CAD systems, including Unigraphics®, to update individual parts instead of an
solutions that share core libraries Autodesk ® Inventor ®, Pro/ENGINEER®, entire assembly, thus making geometry
with other applications. At releases CATIA® V5, PTC CoCreate® Modeling, updates much faster and more targeted.
10.0 and 11.0, ANSYS introduced SolidEdge®, SolidWorks®, and Autodesk®
robust, new meshing capabilities Mechanical Desktop®. Software from
from ANSYS ICEM CFD and ANSYS ANSYS also supports file-based readers
Multiphysics
for the Real World
In ANSYS 12.0, multiphysics capabilities continue to
increase in flexibility, application and ease of use.
Continuing to build on the foundation of prior releases,
ANSYS 12.0 expands the company’s industry-leading
comprehensive multiphysics solutions. New features and
enhancements are available for solving both direct and
sequentially coupled multiphysics problems, and the
ANSYS Workbench framework makes performing multi-
physics simulations even faster than before.
Elements
A new family of direct coupled-
field elements is available in ANSYS
12.0; these new elements enable the
modeling of fluid flow through a
porous media. This exciting new
The project schematic shows the multiphysics workflow for a coupled electric conduction, heat transfer and
capability, comprising coupled
subsequent thermal stress analysis. pore–pressure mechanical solids,
Coupling Electromagnetics
By joining forces with Ansoft, ANSYS can deliver simulation environment started almost immediately after
greater multiphysics capabilities — specifically electro- the acquisition. While the combined development team is
magnetics — to the ANSYS suite. The plan to integrate this working toward a seamlessly integrated bidirectional
electromagnetics technology within the existing ANSYS solution, several electromagnetic-centric case studies
already have demonstrated the ability
to couple electromagnetic, thermal
Start and structural tools within the
adaptive architecture of the ANSYS
Workbench environment.
Create and solve the electromagnetic Import the geometry into
application using HFSS ANSYS Mechanical and create the For example, a high-power elec-
corresponding ANSYS thermal model
tronic connector used in a radar
application to connect a transmitter to
Export geometry and thermal link file an antenna must be engineered from
from HFSS to ANSYS Mechanical Import surface and/or volumetric electromagnetic, thermal and structural
losses using the imported load option
(beta) in ANSYS Workbench perspectives to ensure success. The
simulation was performed by coupling
Ansoft’s HFSS software with the
ANSYS Workbench runs HFSS in batch Solve the ANSYS thermal model and ANSYS Workbench environment, using
to perform the load interpolation post-process the thermal results End
advanced thermal and structural capa-
bilities. Engineers used HFSS to ensure
Case study procedure of one-way coupling between Ansoft (blue) and ANSYS (yellow) software that the device was transmitting in the
Multi-Field Solver
The multi-field solver (used for performing implicit
sequential coupling) contains a number of new enhance-
ments at release 12.0. The first is a new solution option that
The results of an RF MEMS switch solved by coupling the electrostatic, fluid and controls writing a multiframe restart file. This capability
mechanical behavior of the switch in one analysis using FLUID136 to represent squeeze allows a user to restart an analysis from any multi-field time
film effects. Image courtesy EPCOS NL and Philips Applied Technologies.
step, which allows for better control over the availability of a
restart file with less hard drive usage. Another enhancement
Another new capability for fluid structure interaction in is more-flexible results file controls. This capability reduces
ANSYS 12.0, FLUID136 now solves the nonlinear Reynolds the results file sizes for the multi-field solver, and it allows for
squeeze film equations for nonlinear transient FSI applica- synchronizing the fluid and mechanical results in an FSI
tions involving thin fluid films. Since the nonlinear fluidic and solution. The final improvement is new convergence con-
structural responses are coupled at the finite element level, trols for the multi-field solution to provide more flexible
the solution is very fast and robust for thin fluid film applica- solution controls for nonlinear convergence of the multi-field
tions. Any squeeze film application can benefit from this solver. The applications for these enhancements are any
technology, including thin film fluid damping often found in multiphysics application using sequential coupling including
RF MEMS switches. fluid structure interaction. ■
Version 12.0 offers another exciting new FSI capability:
the ability to perform one-way fluid structure interaction
using ANSYS FLUENT software as the CFD solver. Stephen Scampoli of ANSYS, Inc. and Ansoft LLC technical specialists
This capability enables one-way load transfer for surface contributed to this article.
Generates Solutions
Improved accuracy, speed and platform integration advance SOLID237
3-D 10-node
the capabilities of low-frequency electromagnetic simulation. tetrahedron
As the combined development teams from Ansoft and and SOLID237 elements support both distributed and
ANSYS set out to integrate the world-class Ansoft electronic shared-memory parallel processing for low-frequency
design products into the ANSYS portfolio, ANSYS electromagnetic solutions. As a result of faster simulation
customers can benefit immediately from improved and speeds, users can solve much larger and more complex
extended electromagnetics capabilities in release 12.0. low-frequency electromagnetic models.
A Flood of Fluids
Developments
A new integrated environment and
technology enhancements make fluids
simulation faster, more intuitive and
more accurate.
In work sponsored by BMT Seatech, partially-filled tanks on marine vessels are being
simulated by researchers at the University of Southampton to predict structural loads
and changes in vessel behavior due to the sloshing of the fluid. CFD-Post can be used to compare multiple designs directly, both by examining
them side by side and by looking at the calculated difference between results.
Geometry courtesy CADFEM GmbH.
The ability to drive the engineering design process in this requires local remeshing during the simulation
structural applications has taken a significant step forward process. The 2-D rezoning introduced with release 11.0
with the improvements in release 12.0. New features and extends further in ANSYS 12.0, increasing the flexibility of
tools, many integrated into the ANSYS Workbench platform, the remeshing process: The user can now define transition
help reduce overall solution time. Specific improvements regions within the refined zones and use meshes created
focus on elements, materials and contact and solver in external meshing tools.
performance, along with linear, rigid and flexible dynamics.
Materials
Elements Accounting for proper cyclic softening or hardening or
The most notable new element in release 12.0 is the damage of materials is a key factor for elastomer applica-
four-noded tetrahedron for modeling complex geometries in tions and, more generally speaking, any structure whose
hyperelastic or forming applications. The element provides material variation depends on the strain rate. Release 12.0
a convenient way to automate the meshing of complex introduces several additions to the wide choice of materi-
structures, avoiding the need for pure hexahedral meshes. als already available. Other feature improvements include:
This reduces the time it takes to develop a case from geom- • Rate-dependent Chaboche plasticity, which can
etry through solution, while maintaining the accuracy of the benefit turbine and engine design
solution. See the table below for a summary of new and
• Bergström–Boyce model to enhance elastomer
enhanced elements.
modeling capabilities
When simulating a nonlinear process, large deformation
can introduce too much distortion of the elements. Resolving • New damage model based on the
Ogden–Roxburgh formulation
General axisymmetric element X Supports contact Compatible with 3-D non-axisymmetric loading and can
use arbitrary axis of rotation
Various pipe model elements X Increased accuracy To provide refined behavior of structures in case
of ovalization, warping or similar deformations of
cross section for thin or moderately thick pipes and
nonlinear material behavior support
Shell: linear, quadratic, axisymmetric X Improved shell thickness updating scheme Provides greater accuracy in the behavior of shell models
and improved convergence as well as a faster solution for nonlinear problems
Beam X Supports cubic shape function Provides additional accuracy to coarse meshes and
greater support of complex load patterns
Reinforcement elements X Allows modeling of discrete fibers with a Stresses in reinforcements can be analyzed
variety of nonlinear material behavior separately from host elements
Summary of new and enhanced element features in ANSYS 12.0 structural analysis products
Solver Performance
Solver performance has improved in many different
areas. ANSYS 12.0 introduces a new modal solver, called
SNODE, that increases the speed of computation for prob-
lems with a large number of modes — in the realm of
several hundred — on large structures that typically have
over a million degrees of freedom. This solver is well suited
for automotive or aerospace applications and for large
beams and shell assemblies. Beyond its ability to compute
a larger number of modes in a reduced amount of time,
Crack tip analysis SNODE also significantly reduces the amount of I/O
of turbine blade
Courtesy PADT required to compute the solution. (See the Supernode
Eigensolver article.)
Many enhancements have been made to the distributed
solver to improve the scalability of the solution. (See
• Anand’s viscoplasticity model, useful for metal the article on High Performance Computing.) More solver
forming applications such as solder joints techniques are supported, including:
• Improvements in the calculation of J-integrals to • Partial solve capability that computes only a portion
account for mixed-mode stress intensity factors, of the solution
which benefit improvements in fracture mechanics • Prestressed analysis
• Initial strain and initial plastic stress import • Models that employ the use of unsymmetric
capabilities that allow for state transfer from matrices, which are useful for scenarios that involve
a 2-D model to a 3-D model high-friction coefficients, for example
so-called expansion pass that computes results at each solution speed by a factor of three or four — the greater the
frequency or time step on the full model. For very large number of sectors, the better the performance.
structures, the total computation effort can be reduced Rotating machinery applications profit from an extended
by up to 75 percent. The mode combination for spectral set of capabilities for rotordynamics analysis. These include
analysis benefits from similar advancements. Instability the extension of the gyroscopic effect to shell and
predictions, such as the case of brake squeal, can be 2-D elements and inclusion of rotating damping that takes
computed faster due to several enhancements to the hysteretic behavior into account.
damped eigensolver. Random vibration and spectral analysis users gain new
The introduction of ANSYS Variational Technology tools as well as a greater flexibility in modeling structures,
provides faster mode computation for cyclic symmetric including support of spectrum analysis in the ANSYS
structures, such as those found in many turbine Workbench platform. New tools include the United States
applications. Using this technique can typically improve Nuclear Regulatory Commission–compliant computation of
missing masses and support of rigid modes, along with the
ability to use residual vectors to account for higher
energy modes. The global number of spectra applied
simultaneously to the structure has been increased up to
50 as has the number of modes used in a combination —
now up to 10,000.
When analyzing design variations, comparing data
from different simulation cases, or correlating simulation
and test data, comparison between modal content of the
models is required. The modal assurance criterion (MAC)
in release 12.0 provides a convenient tool to compare the
results of two modal analyses. Typical use cases for the
Instability analysis for brake squeal Modal analysis of a
cyclic–symmetric geometry criteria include tuning of misaligned turbine blades or
Courtesy PADT, Inc. validation of new component designs, each with respect
to their vibration behavior.
Multibody Dynamics
At release 12.0, a number of improvements in the • Ability to export forces and moments at any time
general area of multibody dynamics enable the rapid design within a transient simulation
and analysis of complete mechanical systems undergoing
large overall motion. ANSYS Rigid Dynamics software has a For durability studies, exported loads can be used in a
new Runge–Kutta 5 integrator, the preferred solution for long static structural analysis as an efficient first-pass failure
transient simulations. A new bushing joint, a “stops and analysis. Although it won’t provide the complete picture
locks” option for most other joint types, and the ability obtained from comprehensive flexible dynamics simulation,
to specify preload for springs give new flexibility when a static structural simulation is typically much less compu-
simulating complex multiple-part assemblies and tationally expensive. Flexible dynamics simulations benefit
component interactions. at release 12.0 from robust component modal synthesis, or
For complex assemblies, conducting an initial simulation CMS. This method uses an internal substructuring
with the ANSYS Rigid Dynamics product is the key to approach and requires that the CMS parts of an assembly
achieving robust flexible dynamics results. Creating over- are constructed with linear materials. The procedure simpli-
constrained assemblies is an inconvenient reality; release fies a problem by accounting only for a few degrees of
12.0 adds a redundancy analysis and repair tool to identify freedom, which results in solution times that are often a
overconstrained assemblies, points out which joints or fraction of those found using the standard full computation
degrees of freedom are redundant, and allows selective method. Time-to-solution reductions of several hundred
unconstraining to create a properly constrained mechanism. percent are not uncommon.
A number of improvements to data and process
handling increase ease of use for multibody simulations:
• Enhanced load data fitting (no longer requires
curve fitting)
• Ability to read in complex load input,
such as simulated or measured
multi-channel road surface or seismic
data, and apply as load data to parts
or joints
• Ability to use remote solution manager
(RSM) to offload the solving effort to a
server or other capable CPU (benefits long-
duration and multi-channel input transient
simulations)
Multibody dynamics capabilities were used to simulate this leaf spring suspension.
Explicit Dynamics
Goes Mainstream
ANSYS 12.0 brings native explicit dynamics to ANSYS Workbench
and provides the easiest explicit software for nonlinear dynamics.
ANSYS has expended significant they already know most of what is • Associatively link to a parametric
effort in the area of explicit dynamics for needed to use ANSYS Explicit STR. CAD model or import a geometry
release 12.0 — including the addition of The ANSYS Explicit STR tool is well • Create a smooth explicit mesh
a new product that will make this tech- suited to solving: using the new explicit preference
nology accessible to users independent • Drop tests (electronics and option and/or patch-independent
of their simulation experience. In addi- consumer goods) mesh method within the ANSYS
tion, enhancements to both the ANSYS meshing platform; automatically
• Low- to high-speed solid-to-solid
AUTODYN and ANSYS LS-DYNA create part-to-part contact by using
impacts (a wide range of applica-
products provide considerable benefits the new body interactions tool
tions from sporting goods to
to their users.
aerospace) • Fine-tune contact specifications if
Newly introduced in ANSYS 12.0,
ANSYS Explicit STR software is the first • Highly nonlinear plastic desired by utilizing breakable or
explicit dynamics product with a native buckling events (for ultimate eroding contact options
ANSYS Workbench interface. It is based limit state design) • Load and/or support an assembly
on the Lagrangian portion of the ANSYS • Complete material failure and/or parts as usual
AUTODYN product. The technology will applications (defense and • Assign material properties from the
appeal to those who want to model homeland security) comprehensive material library
transient dynamic events such as drop
tests, as well as quasi-static events • Breakable contact, such as • Solve interactively either in the
involving rapidly changing contact adhesives or spot welds background or via remote solution
conditions, sophisticated material (electronics and automotive) manager (RSM)
failure/damage and/or severe displace- The real benefit of ANSYS Explicit • View progress of solution in real
ments and rotations of structures. In STR software is the work flow afforded time using concurrent post-
addition, it will appeal to users who can by operating in the ANSYS Workbench processing capability, new to
benefit from the productivity provided by environment. While many different ANSYS Workbench at 12.0
other applications integrated within the simulation processes are possible, here
• Explore alternative design ideas
ANSYS Workbench environment. is an example of the typical steps a user
via parametric changes to the CAD
Those who have previous experience might take:
model and easily perform re-solves,
using ANSYS Workbench will find that
just like other ANSYS Workbench
based applications
• Use the ANSYS Design Exploration
capability to automate the para-
metric model space exploration
In addition, users of the full version of
ANSYS AUTODYN (structural- plus fluids-
capable) have access to the ANSYS
Explicit STR interface; consequently, they
will be able to transfer implicit solutions
from the ANSYS Workbench environment
for doing implicit–explicit solutions, such
as bird strike analysis of a pre-stressed fan
blade. ANSYS LS-DYNA software users
will be able to use the pre-processing
portion of ANSYS Explicit STR and output
a .K file for solving and post-processing
outside of ANSYS Workbench. ■
Introducing the
Supernode Eigensolver
A new eigensolver in ANSYS 12.0 determines large numbers of natural
frequency modes more quickly and efficiently than conventional methods.
By Jeff Beisheim, Senior Development Engineer, ANSYS, Inc.
© istockphoto.com/Matejay
cyclic mechanical loading, and engineers must use an
eigensolver to determine the structure’s natural frequencies
— also known as eigen modes. With some modes, large
vibration amplitudes can interfere with product performance
and cause damage, such as fatigue cracking. In most
cases, only the first few modes with the largest deforma-
tions are of particular interest, though determining even
dozens of modes can be common.
In the CAE industry, the block Lanczos eigensolver is
typically used more than any other for these types of calcu- The ANSYS supernode eigensolver is well suited for applications such as seismic
lations. This proven algorithm has been used in many finite analysis of power plant cooling towers, skyscrapers and other structures in which
element software packages, including ANSYS Mechanical hundreds of modes must be extracted to determine the response of the structures
to multiple short-duration transient shock/impact loadings.
technology. It brings together the efficiency and accuracy of
the Lanczos algorithm and the robustness of a sparse direct For such cases, the ANSYS release 12.0 includes a new
equation solver. The software works in a sequential fashion supernode eigensolver. Instead of computing each mode
by computing one mode (or a block of modes) at a time until individually and working with mode shapes in the global
all desired modes have been computed. model space, the supernode algorithm uses a mathematical
Although the method is considered efficient in solving approach based on substructuring to simultaneously deter-
for each of these eigen modes, the amount of time and mine all modes within a given frequency range and to
computer resources (both memory and I/O) required adds manage data in a reduced model space.
up when many dozens of eigen modes must be found. By utilizing fewer resources than block Lanczos, this
Elapsed solution times of several hours — or days — are supernode eigensolver becomes an ideal choice when
typical in applications that involve thousands of modes. solving on a desktop computer, which can have limited
Generally, determining large numbers of modes is required memory and relatively slow I/O performance. When com-
in capturing system response for studies such as transient bined with current eigensolver technology already available
or harmonic analyses using the mode superposition in mechanical software from ANSYS, virtually all modal
method. analyses can be efficiently solved.
25,000
60
50 fully utilized, indicating that the latest quad-core processors
40 have sufficient memory bandwidth to support parallel
30 processing for memory-hungry mechanical simulations.
20
Software tuning has contributed to improved scaling as well,
10
including improved domain decomposition, load balancing
0
1 2 4 8 32 64 128 and distributed matrix generation. To help customers maxi-
Number of Cores
mize their ANSYS solver performance, the online help system
Figure 3. Scaling of a 10M DOF simulation using the ANSYS Mechanical 12.0 iterative now includes a performance guide that provides a compre-
PCG solver on a cluster of Intel Xeon 5500 Processor series. All cores on these quad- hensive summary of factors that impact the performance of
core processors are fully utilized for the benchmark.
mechanical simulations on current hardware systems.
Explicit simulations using ANSYS AUTODYN technology
take great advantage of HPC systems at release 12.0. Full
8.00
64-bit support is now available, allowing much larger simu-
8.00 7.16 7.18 7.58 7.55
lations to be considered from pre-processing to solution and
7.00 6.23 6.79 post-processing.
6.47
For users of fluid dynamics software from ANSYS, release
6.00
Core Solver Speedup
Speedup
Model — 10M Nodes
dynamic load balancing based on mesh- and solution- 60.00
derived criteria. This enables optimal scalability for
simulations involving multiphysics, such as particle-laden 40.00 Ideal
flows. The ANSYS CFX code delivers improved partitioning Infiniband
for moving and/or rotating meshes, yielding important 20.00
Gigabit
reductions in memory use and improved performance for
turbomachinery and related applications. Finally, ANSYS 0.00
0 16 32 48 64 80 96
FLUENT users will benefit from several usability improve- Number of Cores
ments, including built-in tools for checking system network
Figure 5. Scalability of ANSYS CFX 12.0 on a 10M node transonic airfoil benchmark
bandwidth, latency and resource utilization — all helping to example. Data was collected on a cluster of AMD Opteron™ 2218 processors, showing
identify potential scaling bottlenecks on the cluster. the benefit of a high-speed interconnect.
Beyond solver speedup, the ANSYS 12.0 focus on HPC
addresses issues related to file input and output (I/O). Both
ANSYS FLUENT and ANSYS CFX software have updated I/O 2,048
algorithms to speed up writing of results files on clusters,
enhancing the practicality of periodic solution snapshots
1,536
when checkpointing or running time-dependent simulations. Truck Benchmark Model — 1,581
Solver Speedup
ANSYS FLUENT includes improvements in the standard file I/O 111M Cells
as well as new support for fully parallel I/O based on parallel file 1,024
991
systems. Order of magnitude improvements in I/O throughput
have been demonstrated on large test cases (Figure 7), virtually 512 Speedup
521
eliminating I/O as a potential bottleneck for large-scale simula- Ideal
tions. ANSYS CFX improves I/O performance via data 265
128
0
compression during the process of gathering from the cluster 0 512 1,024 1,536 2,048
nodes, therefore reducing file write times. Proper I/O configura- Number of Cores
tion is also an important aspect of cluster performance for the
Figure 6. Scaling of ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 software is nearly ideal up to 1,024 processors
ANSYS Mechanical product line. and 78 percent of ideal at 2,048 processors. Data courtesy SGI, based on the SGI Altix®
Recognizing that cluster deployment and management ICE 8200EX using quad-core Intel Xeon Processor E5472 with Infiniband®.
are key concerns, ANSYS 12.0 includes a focus on compati-
bility with the overall HPC ecosystem. ANSYS products are
registered and tested as part of the Intel Cluster Ready pro-
gram, confirming that these products conform to standards of 400
I/O Rate for Data Write (MBytes/sec)
PanFS
PanFS –—FLUENT
FLUENT1212.0
compatibility that contribute to successful deployment
NFS
NFS –—FLUENT6.3
FLUENT6.3 345
(www.ansys.com/intelclusterready). In addition to supporting 300 334
enterprise Linux® distributions from Red Hat® and Novell, 273
ANSYS 12.0 products are supported on clusters based on 200
31X
Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008. ANSYS has also 39X 20X
worked with hardware OEMs, including HP®, SGI®, IBM®, Dell®, 100
Cray® and others, to define reference configurations that are
optimally designed to run simulation software from ANSYS 0
64 128 256
(www.ansys.com/reference-configs). Number of Cores
As computing technology continues to evolve, ANSYS is Figure 7. Parallel I/O in ANSYS FLUENT 12.0 using the Panasas© file system, compared
working with HPC leaders to ensure support for the break- to serial I/O in the previous release using NFS. Parallel treatment of I/O provides
through capability that will make simulation more productive. important speedup for time-varying simulations on large clusters.
Looking forward, important emerging technologies include
many-core processors, general purpose graphical processing
units (GP-GPUs) and fault tolerance at large scale. ■
Foundations
for the Future
The many advanced features of ANSYS 12.0 were designed to solve
today’s challenging engineering problems and to deliver a platform for
tomorrow’s simulation technology.
As this special spotlight in ANSYS Advantage attests, Release 12.0 is a notable milestone in the company’s
release 12.0 delivers a compelling advancement in what the nearly 40-year history of innovating engineering simulation,
CAE industry has, until now, only envisioned — a full range and it sets the stage for a new era of Smart Engineering
of best-in-class simulation capabilities assembled into a Simulation — an era in which ANSYS customers will gain
flexible multiphysics simulation environment specifically more from their investment in simulation by increasing the
designed to increase engineering insight, productivity and efficiency of their processes, increasing the accuracy of
innovation. Whether the need is structural analysis, fluid their virtual prototypes, and capturing and reusing their
flow, thermal, electromagnetics, geometry preparation or simulation processes and data. However, the advance-
meshing, ANSYS customers can rely on release 12.0 for the ments of ANSYS 12.0 notwithstanding, the journey is far
depth and breadth of simulation capabilities to overcome from complete. To address the simulation challenges on the
their engineering challenges. horizon, ANSYS will continue to reinvest in research and
Staying true to our commitment to develop the most development and to explore new technologies. In particular,
advanced simulation technologies, release 12.0 has further there are a few areas that we consider vital in the pursuit of
expanded the depth of individual physics and more Simulation Driven Product Development — areas in which
intimately coupled them to form an engineering simulation ANSYS has laid strong foundations and remains committed
capability second to none. A multitude of new material to build upon as we look beyond release 12.0.
models, physics and algorithms enable simulating
real-world operating conditions and coupled physical Physics First
phenomena, while new solver technology and parallel ANSYS customers rely heavily on simulation before
processing improvements have dramatically reduced run making commitments to product designs or manufacturing
times and made complete system simulations more processes. High-fidelity engineering simulation is absolutely
computationally affordable. paramount when upstream engineering decisions can
Shouldering the array of technology in release 12.0 determine the overall success of a product and, in some
is our next-generation simulation platform, ANSYS cases, the company’s financial success. At ANSYS, we
Workbench 2.0. Seamlessly spanning all stages of believe our customers should never have to compromise by
engineering simulation, ANSYS Workbench 2.0 has been making broad-based engineering assumptions due to
engineered to manage the complexities of today’s simu- limitations in their analysis software. That is why we have
lations and to accelerate innovation. taken a comprehensive multiphysics approach to simula-
tion, and it starts with a foundation of individual physics.
Looking beyond release 12.0, ANSYS will continue to invest
and demonstrate leadership in all the key physics. And as
we develop tomorrow’s advanced capabilities, we will con- applications — data management, parameterization, scripting
tinue to allow them to be combined in ways that free and graphics, among others. Release 12.0 relies heavily on
engineers from making the assumptions associated with the framework’s data management and parameterization
single-physics simulations. Within the ANSYS Workbench services to integrate existing applications into the ANSYS
simulation paradigm, we will enable engineers to routinely Workbench environment, where they have become highly
consider the effects of fully coupled physical phenomena. interoperable. Over subsequent releases, these applications
will leverage the framework’s graphical toolkit to establish a
High-Performance Computing consistent user interface and further blend the various
As one might expect, high-performance computing applications integrated into the platform. At the onset of
(HPC) is a strategic enabling technology for ANSYS. The developing ANSYS Workbench 2.0, we identified scripting
appearance of quad-core machines on the desktop and the and journaling as fundamental requirements of the new
increased availability of compute clusters have ushered in architecture. As such, a top-level scripting engine has been
a new era of parallel and distributed computing for our thoughtfully designed and lays the groundwork for future
customers. ANSYS has kept pace with the exponential ANSYS Workbench customization and batch processing.
increase in computational horsepower with prolific develop- Looking beyond release 12.0, all these services will be
ment in the areas of parallel and distributed computing and further refined and will fuel rapid add-in development and
numerical methods. The result is improved scalability and a further expansion of capabilities. Over time, ANSYS
dramatically reduced run times for large-scale fluid flow, customers and partners will leverage the framework’s
structural and electromagnetic simulations. open architecture, enlisting its services to create tailored
Solving large-scale problems with meshes exceeding applications, and will elevate ANSYS Workbench as
1 billion cells has been the latest stretch goal for fluid an application development platform for the engineering
flow simulation. Recently, HPC and software from ANSYS simulation community.
were combined to investigate the aerodynamics of a
racing yacht using 1 billion computational cells. Breaking Simulation Process and Data Management
this barrier demonstrates our conviction for high- ANSYS Workbench 2.0 is an environment in which a
performance scientific computing. As computational single analyst creates and executes one or more steps of an
resources increase and engineering simulations become engineering simulation workflow. ANSYS Engineering
larger and more complex, we will continue to ensure that Knowledge Manager (EKM) extends ANSYS Workbench by
our solvers scale appropriately. Moreover, our forward providing the tools to manage the work of a group of
deployment of HPC technology is not limited to solvers. analysts and myriad simulation workflows. This includes
The complexity of today’s models and massive amounts system-level services to manage and foster collaboration
of results data require more-scalable solutions for on thousands of models, terabytes of results, hundreds of
preparing models and interpreting results as well. defined processes and huge investments in simulation.
Looking forward, ANSYS believes that managing data
ANSYS Workbench Framework and processes will become integral with engineering simu-
The ANSYS Workbench 2.0 platform is a powerful multi- lation. Ten years ago, simulation comprised three discrete
domain simulation environment that harnesses the core and sequential phases: pre-processing, solving and post-
physics from ANSYS; enables their interoperability; and processing. With the evolution of ANSYS Workbench, we
provides common tools for interfacing with CAD, repairing now look at engineering simulation as a continuous
geometry, creating meshes and post-processing results. workflow intertwining these steps. In the same way,
Instrumental to the successful integration of this unparal- process and data management will become intertwined
leled breadth of technology is a “well-architected,” open
and extendable software framework.
The ANSYS Workbench framework is designed
to provide common services for engineering simulation
© iStockphoto.com/weicheltfilm, © iStockphoto.com/meduedik
As mechanical and electrical engineering worlds converge, the combination of ANSYS and Ansoft technologies will allow engineers to analyze the behavior of combined systems.
with simulation, expanding its role and aligning it with ANSYS has extended its range of simulation technology
business processes such as product lifecycle and supply by incorporating Ansoft’s world-class product portfolio.
chain management. Standardizing on ANSYS Workbench for Simulation Driven
Product Development means establishing a common
Electromechanical System Simulation platform on which to further develop both mechanical and
The ANSYS acquisition of Ansoft anticipates a trend in electronic components and analyze the behavior of the
the realm of engineering and design: The mechanical, elec- combined systems. Driving innovation with mechatronics
trical and software engineering worlds will rapidly converge. will require a comprehensive electromechanical simulation
Several years ago, the synchronization of these worlds environment developed by a leader in both mechanical and
was coined “mechatronics,” and, today, the combined electronic simulation software.
disciplines are responsible for engineering the electro-
mechanical systems found in everything from washing The Future Begins Now
machines to airplanes. A simple examination of the auto- With its advancements in individual physics, high-
motive industry reveals that the more recent and exciting performance computing, multidomain simulation, meshing,
advancements have relied on mechatronics. So, at a time and key enabling technologies such as simulation workflow
when greeting cards and tennis shoes contain micro- and data management, release 12.0 clearly delivers on the
processors and sensors, mechatronics is not just for ANSYS vision for Simulation Driven Product Development.
high-end cars and appliances; rather it is the key to But even though we have come a long way with the advent
unleashing innovation in every industry. of ANSYS 12.0, there is still an exciting journey ahead.
For many years, electrical and mechanical engineering Standing on the strong foundation of all that ANSYS has
teams have increasingly relied on simulation to accelerate learned and developed in almost 40 years of leadership in
innovation, but each camp has adopted simulation tools engineering simulation, we see many new opportunities on
that were not fully capable of addressing the needs of the the horizon that will extend the reach of how customers use
other — until now. As the separation between the electronic our technology. The ANSYS vision and strategy continue to
and mechanical worlds becomes increasingly blurred, set our bearings, and we continue to invest in pioneering
new frontiers of the industry. And most important is that we
remain committed to enabling customers to use simulation
to develop innovative products that perform better, cost
less and are brought to market faster. ■
X5
X4
X3
Crack front with
virtual crack X2
extension X1
directions
X6
X7
X8
X9
Hexahedral elements represent the expected path of 3-D crack The 3-D crack growth direction determining the propagation
propagation (called the crack tube), and less-complex tetrahedral path is based on a virtual extension direction angle in which
elements are used for the remaining volume of the part. maximum energy is released.
the 3-D crack tube depends on the meshed, solved and post-processed. capabilities of the APDL scripting tool.
volume of the crack path’s plastic zone The cycle continues until a target Along with techniques such as
and is based on the number of rings criterion is reached. All processes submodeling and load blocks for more
of elements and the number of are integrated and controlled using efficient solution processing, such
contours to be used in calculating in-house APDL scripts. By leveraging automation radically increases the
J-integral values using the ANSYS improved fracture mechanics capabil- speed of performing these iterative
CINT command. The number of ities in ANSYS 12.0 for calculating calculations.
element rings and contours should J-integrals, the method provides a Honeywell Turbo analyzed a test
be high enough to maintain path new approach to model and simulate case using this method to predict
independence and accuracy of energy arbitrary 3-D crack growth and to growth behavior of paths in a cruciform
release rate. compute mixed mode stress intensity specimen under uniaxial and biaxial
In this way, ANSYS software factors along the crack front within the loading. The uniaxial load case shows
calculates J-integral values at each simulation software. prominent crack turning while the
increment of crack propagation along This method requires calculations biaxial case shows near planar growth.
several user-defined virtual crack to be performed iteratively for thou- The results obtained validate the
extension directions. The crack feature sands of crack-growth cycles — a approach. The team completed further
is updated in a third-party CAD code at prohibitively labor-intensive and time- runs to validate crack growth rates
each increment, then imported into consuming task if performed manually that show promising results.
ANSYS Mechanical software where it is but one well-suited to the automation Using this automated ANSYS
fatigue crack prediction process has
the potential to increase engineering
productivity significantly, with crack
growth analysis time reduced by more
than 90 percent compared to manual
Crack path methods. This speedup has significant
from test
result value, since Honeywell Turbo engi-
neers must analyze as many as 400
designs annually, and demands will
likely increase in the coming years as
turbochargers are implemented on a
growing number of vehicle models
around the world. In this way, tech-
nology from ANSYS is playing a critical
role in enabling the turbocharger
company to strengthen its leadership
Crack path position in this competitive industry
from test
sector. ■
Crack path directions in cruciform specimens under uniaxial loading (top) and biaxial loading (bottom)
© iStockphoto.com/ kwanisik
Electromagnetics
in Medicine
Electromagnetic and thermal simulations
find use in medical applications.
By Martin Vogel, Senior Member of the Technical Staff, Ansoft LLC
Electromagnetic fields are used more and more in Model of the open MRI system, which combines an
advanced medical applications such as magnetic reso- MRI model generated by Philips Healthcare with the
ANSYS human body model
nance imaging (MRI), implants and hyperthermia treatment.
As the state of the art advances, devices are becoming
more complex and simulation more indispensable in the Frequency-dependent electromagnetic material parameters
product design phase. With simulation, a designer can are also included in the model.
study device functionality and address safety concerns The RF coil design requires optimization for appropriate
without exposing a patient to harm or otherwise. image quality: The coils need to resonate at 42.6 MHz for a
In the design of an open MRI system, for example, the 1 tesla system and produce a rotating magnetic field that is
details of the radio-frequency (RF) coils, a human body strong and smooth in the region of interest but minimizes
model, and the large volume of the entire examination room undesired field components. If the field varies strongly,
must all be included in an electromagnetic simulation model some parts of the image will appear to be overexposed,
to determine the resulting field accurately. The finite element while other areas will remain too dark, both of which are
method found in HFSS (High-Frequency Structure Simulator) detrimental for contrast. Once the specifications related to
software, an electromagnetic field simulation tool new to the image quality are satisfied, the designer needs to make sure
ANSYS portfolio, is well suited for this purpose as it uses that specific absorption rate (SAR) safety regulations are
small mesh elements where refinement is needed and larger met. SAR is a measure of how much RF power is absorbed
mesh elements elsewhere. The human body model available by, and thus creates heat in, the body. When limits
through ANSYS comprises 300 objects that, detailed down are exceeded in any part of the body, the patient can
to the millimeter, represent organs, bones and muscles. experience discomfort and tissue damage.
15W 10W
4 A realistic tumor object, created using MRI data for this
Simulation
3
20W patient, is inserted into the leg of the human body model.
30W By using the electromagnetic simulation capabilities in
2 Measurement
HFSS software, the applicator and its settings are optimized
1
to focus the hot spot in the tumor. Next, the power-loss
0
0 5 10 15 20 25
information for every mesh element in the model is
Time [min]
transferred automatically to the thermal simulation
Comparison of simulated and measured temperatures tool, ePhysics. The ePhysics product then computes
in the tumor for a hyperthermia treatment case
Measured results provided by Duke University. temperature distribution as a function of time, taking
into account thermal material properties as well as water With these simulations, modeling software progresses
cooling, blood perfusion, air convection and thermal radiation. beyond device design into treatment planning. Finding the
Blood perfusion refers to blood flow through capillary proper operating conditions through simulation relieves the
vessels in muscles and organs. This flow removes excess patient from invasive experimental procedures. To efficiently
heat and must be included in hyperthermia simulations. To optimize conditions for a variety of patients in a hospital
include all the details of the capillary blood vessels would be environment, engineers must improve methods to translate
too complicated; therefore, a simpler model is used. It is MRI scan data into personalized human body models that
assumed that a certain amount of blood enters a volume of are ready for simulation.
tissue at a specified rate; it is also assumed that blood Electromagnetic and thermal simulations are well
assumes the tissue’s temperature and leaves the volume, understood and used regularly for the design of medical
taking a corresponding amount of heat with it. Perfusion for equipment and procedures. The next breakthrough is
several tissue types can be found in literature [1] and is expected when personalized human body models can be
quantified in the simulation model as a temperature- generated efficiently and doctors use simulation for
dependent negative heat source. Overall, the simulation treatment planning. ■
results proved to be very sensitive to blood perfusion.
The input power to the applicator is varied over time for The author wishes to acknowledge Philips Healthcare in the Netherlands
for its work on MRI and Duke University in the United States for its work
both simulation and experiment. The outer layer of the on hyperthermia.
tumor is assumed to have a higher perfusion rate than the
core, as is consistent with literature. Deviations between References
simulation results and experimental data in the early stages [1] Erdmann, B; Lang, J; and Seebass, M. “Optimization of Temperature
Distributions for Regional Hyperthermia Based on a Nonlinear Heat
are likely due to the fact that initial thermal conditions in the Transfer Model.” Ann. N. Y. Acad. Sci., Vol. 858, September 11, 1998,
simulation did not exactly match those in the experiment. pp. 36–46.
Fan Tray
Keeping Cool
in the Field CAD model of the
radio chassis
The communications systems Datron mechanical engineers face need to limit — for safety reasons —
designed and built by Datron World the challenge of providing cooling external temperature of the heat sink
Communications, Inc. present major management within a completely to 15 degrees C above ambient.
thermal design challenges. The com- sealed radio cabinet in up to 60-degree Historically, thermal management
pany’s radios travel with today’s war Celsius (C) ambient temperatures. design was based on engineering
fighters around the world in helicopters Communication systems are designed experience and instinct. In order to
and Humvees® as well as on foot. The with heat sinks external to the cabinet understand the cause of any thermal
devices are designed to survive in a that use forced-air conventional problems, engineers had to test a wide
wide variety of environments, ranging cooling. Components with the highest range of prospective solutions and
from a sandstorm in the desert to a levels of power dissipation are mounted corresponding prototypes. The cost
mountain blizzard. These systems internally near those fins. Radios con- of developing, building and testing
dissipate substantial amounts of heat tain printed circuit boards (PCBs) for prototypes was high. But the resulting
yet must be sealed to the outside the power supply, radio frequency (RF) delays in bringing each new product
environment to prevent damage to filter, CPU and audio functions. These to market were even more costly.
internal components — for example, PCBs generate substantial amounts of Datron engineers have improved the
if the radio falls into a creek, it still heat. In addition to keeping junction thermal design process by using
must work — and to prevent electro- temperatures of board components thermal simulation.
magnetic interference. within specifications, Datron engineers The company now practices Simu-
lation Driven Product Development
and begins the thermal modeling early
in the design process. Radios typically
generate 125 watts output and dissi-
pate approximately 220 watts inside
a 15-inch wide by 15-inch deep by
5.5-inch high box. Initial models are
developed based on very limited infor-
mation, such as the size of the chassis,
the RF output power and the expected
efficiency of the radio. Engineers select
primitive objects, such as cubes, as
building blocks and parametrically
assign dimensions and material
properties. Surface properties are
assigned to the outside surface of
the enclosure to represent the olive
paint that is typically used on the final
product. In the early design stages, the
Original radio design with ferrite core filters shows hot spots.
New design with aircoil filters shows that temperatures are reduced to acceptable levels. ANSYS Icepak model shows the speed of the air from the fans along with temperature
(The filter temperatures in degrees C have gone from the 200s to the 90s.) contours on the chassis. Blue indicates cooler temperature.
© iStockphoto.com/akurtz
Designing
Against the Wind
Simulation helps develop screen enclosures
that can better withstand hurricane-force winds.
By Steve Sincere, President, Optimization Analysis Associates, Inc., Florida, U.S.A.
Photo courtesy Richard Graulich/The Palm Beach Post.
One of the most popular residential structures performed analytical studies of existing screen enclosure
in Florida is the screen enclosure (or screen room), designs using FBC wind loads. The company found that
consisting of an extruded aluminum frame covered with the simplified methods failed to accurately calculate forces
screen. These structures are primarily intended to keep and moments. Thus, the complex interactions among
debris and insects out of swimming pools and to structural members were not adequately accounted for in
increase living space to include an outdoor environment. the designs.
Even so, they must be designed to resist hurricane-force Finite element analysis (FEA) provides the most
winds ranging from 100 mph inland to 150 mph in coastal accurate method of determining such loads and inter-
areas, depending on building code requirements. actions. Most engineers in the screen enclosure industry
Recent hurricanes have revealed shortcomings in these do not have a background in FEA, however, and those with
designs. Most are developed by contractors or enclosure such expertise often forgo these studies due to time and
fabricators based on oversimplified analytical assumptions. cost constraints. The answer is an automated FEA-based
Components typically are sized without regard to the screen enclosure design tool — one that is fast, is accurate
Aluminum Design Manual (ADM), Specifications and and requires no FEA skills.
Guidelines for Aluminum Structures as specified by A perfect platform for this task is ANSYS Parametric
the Florida Building Code (FBC). Moreover, fasteners and Design Language (APDL) — a scripting language for
fastening methods typically are selected for ease of automating common analysis tasks or even building
fabrication or accepted convention rather than suitability for models in terms of user-specified input variables. This adap-
the high wind loads. tive software architecture enabled Optimization Analysis
Using ANSYS Mechanical software, Optimization Associates to create a web-based solution with a graphical
Analysis Associates, Inc. — an engineering consulting firm interface through which screen enclosure designs could be
specializing in mechanical analysis and design simulation — conveniently specified and automatically evaluated.
If the user does not have a passing design (or if the design is
too conservative), parameters may be revised and another
iteration may be performed.
Optimization Analysis Associates has written programs
for more specialized work as well. A version of the model-
building macro allows experienced users of software from
ANSYS to create customized structures with nontypical
shapes and/or nonstandard bracing configurations. Another
macro uses the ADM data to produce color contour plots of
interaction ratios, a calculated value of allowable stress ratio
not existing in the results file. Locations of failure to meet
APDL is used to automatically create, load and solve a full-frame model of a screen the ADM criteria give a quick visual indication of problem
enclosure from parameters entered by the user describing the structure.
areas. In addition, these allowable stress ratio plots can be
animated with a modified version of the animation macro
Users are required to enter only minimal input data, ANCNTR.MAC and overlaid on 3-D models showing
including basic geometry information of the frame, wind deformed structural geometry.
load criteria, a sketch of the plan view (to provide x and y One final specialized macro provides a cost estimate for
coordinates for each corner), wall height, roof style, density the construction of the design. This macro interrogates the
of structural members (number of columns to be used on a model to determine the length of each extrusion required
wall, for instance) and sizes of the structural members. along with the square footage of screen and number of
From this input data, three APDL macros then auto- fasteners, brackets, etc. It accesses an external price list file
matically perform an analysis, check results against for each item, as well as factors for items such as labor,
guidelines and generate layout drawings — all completed in scrap, overhead and profit to determine the total cost. The
less than three minutes and requiring no user intervention. final output includes a complete parts list and a breakdown
The first APDL macro reads in the data to create, load of all cost components.
and solve the full frame model. Beam elements represent The automation of the modeling and simulation-
the structural members, which are coupled in the model based evaluation using APDL provides a fast, easy-to-use
to simulate hinged or rigid connections as necessary and extremely accurate method of structural frame designs.
according to the type of connections used. Shell elements The screen enclosure industry now has the potential to
represent the screen in a proprietary method that deter- produce hurricane-resistant structures, to significantly
mines the load distribution on structural members. improve design productivity, and to improve cost estimating
Solutions are obtained for the eight wind-load cases and profit margins of contractors and fabricators who use
prescribed by the FBC. engineering simulation for their designs. ■
A second macro performs all required checks defined
by ADM criteria. This complicated process begins by
accessing external files containing section properties,
material characteristics and other parameters associated
with extrusions used in the design. Then a series of
nested APDL do-loops performs the ADM
calculations for all nodes on every structural
member for each load case. The macro enters
this data into arrays and sorts through them to
determine the limiting members. The limiting
members are written to a summary report text
file, which is accessed by the web-based
interface. The report provides a simple pass/fail output
with percent overstress values (or interaction ratios).
If the user has a passing design, a third APDL macro
produces a layout drawing of the structure. This macro
takes advantage of the graphical capabilities of ANSYS
Mechanical software in generating annotation for dimen-
sions and labels on screen enclosure 2-D layout drawings. Color contour plots of interaction ratios show locations’ potential wind-force failure in red.
Stabilizing
Nuclear Waste
Fluid simulation solidifies its role in the
radioactive waste treatment process. Contours of solid particle concentration:
During the suction phase, the solids were
By Brigette Rosendall, Principal Engineer, Bechtel National, Inc., California, U.S.A. found to become more concentrated along
the bottom of the vessel, as shown by the
red color in the early suction.
The nuclear site at Hanford, while keeping all mechanical compo- the top to the bottom of the vessel.
Washington, houses approximately nents well away from radioactive This model solves a separate set of
60 percent of America’s radioactive materials. Navier–Stokes equations for the fluid
waste. Near the Columbia River, the Because there had been little and solid phases. It accounts for the
site stores waste in 177 underground previous experience with PJMs in coupling between and within the
tanks as a combination of liquid, this mixing environment, it was critical phases using exchange coefficients,
sludge and slurry. A vast complex of that the engineering team be able to the most important of which is for the
treatment facilities is being constructed accurately predict the ability of the fluid–solid interaction. The results made
to convert this waste into a stable units to provide sufficient mixing for it possible to determine whether the
glass-like material using a technology each of the different vessels in which mixing criteria were met under given
known as vitrification, which involves the wastes will be treated. Within the operating conditions.
mixing the waste processed in these waste treatment plant, each of the Each vessel in the plant has a
vessels with hot glass formers such mixing vessels has substantially different mixing criterion; however,
as rutile (TiO2) or silica. The mixture different geometries and processing most simply require that the solids
is then poured into steel canisters requirements. In addition, there is remain in suspension and are mixed
and cooled to solidify for permanent considerable variation in the character- well enough for accurate sampling and
storage. One of the major challenges istics of the mixture of fluid and transfer to the next step of the vitrifica-
in this process is keeping the solids in particles that will be processed in the tion process. Since pulse jet mixing is
the waste in suspension during its different tanks due to separation and
time in the holding vessels before the concentration of the radioactive com-
Process Air
Process Air
Process Air
Process Air
Process Air
Process Air
Process Air
Process Air
Elevation (in)
of various turbulence models to
80 CFD
experimental data to determine which Experiment
model was best at predicting the 60
velocity in scaled hydrodynamics
tests. 40
The engineering group controlled
20
time-varying boundary conditions by a
user-defined function that prescribed 0
0 0.02 0.04 0.06 0.08 0.1
Volume Fraction
Comparison of fluid flow predictions and experimental results for solid particle volume
fractions averaged over tank radius and mixing cycle for a 140-inch-high tank
Topology Optimization
and Casting:
A Perfect Combination
Using topology optimization and structural simulation
helps a casting company develop better products faster.
By Thorsten Schmidt, Technical Director, Heidenreich & Harbeck AG, Moelln, Germany
and Boris Lauber, Application Engineer, FE-DESIGN GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany
Engineers usually need to ensure both functionality and TOSCA ® Structure software from German-based
zero defects during component production. This often can FE-DESIGN GmbH. This product interfaces with ANSYS
be achieved by simulating production processes and oper- Professional software.
ating conditions in the virtual world. Development teams in In the past, the engineering team designed structural
the machine tool industry need not only to prove the components with primary consideration to manufacturing
mechanical strength of components but also to take into restrictions. But structural analysis of these component
account rigidity and cost. designs often revealed weak points, especially for parts with
Heidenreich & Harbeck AG in Germany was established a large number of load cases. Engineers then had to
in 1927 as a foundry for cast iron components. Today, the perform time-consuming iterations with alternating modifi-
company’s range of capabilities has expanded to include cations of CAD design and structural analysis in order to
modern machine tools for finishing large, quality castings fulfill customer requirements.
that have high accuracy requirements. The company’s Currently, the Heidenreich & Harbeck development
in-house development department assists customers’ process starts with modeling the design space, which
designers and develops castings of complex machine usually is easy to define. Engineers import the design space
structures according to customers’ specifications. geometries into ANSYS Professional software and then
The comprehensive software portfolio at Heidenreich & generate meshes. Boundary and loading conditions are
Harbeck contains several 3-D CAD tools, process simula- applied. Groups of volume elements that are required for
tion software for casting processes and numerical control optimization are defined in ANSYS Professional technology
(NC) machining, a sophisticated cost calculation tool based as components. The engineering team exports solver input
on 3-D CAD models, and project-planning software. In files from the ANSYS Professional tool and imports them
addition, Heidenreich & Harbeck uses ANSYS Professional directly into TOSCA Structure software with the latter’s
software for the simulation of mechanical properties. user interface. Using this wizard-based technology, the
To provide optimal design proposals to accelerate the optimization setup can be executed with a few mouse clicks
development of large castings, the company obtained by re-using group definitions from ANSYS Professional to
Four Guiding
Wagons To
Be Mounted
Eccentric
Load
Model of original design, Design space, as provided Meshed, optimized structure before
without optimization by customer with loading including casting restrictions in the
definitions defined iterative design process
Scheme of topology optimization using TOSCA Structure based on solver from ANSYS
define the design area, frozen areas, evaluation areas for manufactured without the use of cost-intensive cores in the
design responses, and areas for the application of manufac- sand mold. An automatic or user-defined parting plane may
turing constraints. The optimization procedure is carried out be specified. For the design of stiffening ribs, the casting
in a batch process. TOSCA Structure software iteratively constraints may be coupled with a wall thickness constraint.
launches the ANSYS Professional solver for the analysis of A customer provided Heidenreich & Harbeck with the
the design space model and then launches the optimization design space of a support arm for a large paper roll
module that evaluates results and changes material proper- unwinder loaded with an eccentric force. The design with no
ties. Users who want to remain in the familiar ANSYS casting restrictions led to a hollow profile without access-
product environment may transfer the results produced by ibility for fastening screws. A second optimization with
the TOSCA Structure product back to ANSYS Professional casting restrictions resulted in a two-beam structure. The
for post-processing using a file containing the material final design combined the benefits of both proposals
property values for the finalized optimization. (accessibility for screws along with hollow profile for cable
Heidenreich & Harbeck uses an optional module and tube-laying, which the customer added to the specifi-
from FE-DESIGN called TOSCA Smooth to convert cations after he became aware of the first design proposal).
the optimization results into IGES or STL files containing Due to topology, optimization rigidity was increased by 25
isosurfaces and cutting splines based on the normalized percent, and weight was decreased 34 percent compared
material distribution. with the former two-piece design.
For the design of castings, consideration of In another project involving a vertical lathe housing, the
manufacturing constraints plays a very important role. It is customer delivered two-dimensional sketches with the
essential to take into account demolding constraints for expectation of final pattern drawings within only three
parts with low-cost restrictions. For a part that is loaded by weeks. Using TOSCA Structure software, the rigidity
an eccentric force leading to a torsional loading condition, a requirements were fulfilled with minimal material consump-
non-restricted optimization will generate a hollow section tion, and time-consuming design iterations were avoided.
that would lead to high torsional rigidity. By applying a This reduced development lead time by approximately
demolding constraint in the TOSCA Structure tool, the 50 percent. ■
engineer can obtain a design proposal that is less rigid
but has no undercuts and cavities and may, therefore, be Visit www.huhag.de and www.fe-design.de for further information.
ANSYS Professional simulation results, which Simulation of the casting process Final component design
are evaluated during the optimization process
Fighting Fire
with Simulation
The U.K. Ministry of Defence uses engineering simulation to find
alternatives to ozone-depleting substances for fire suppression.
By Michael Edwards and Michael Smerdon, U.K. Ministry of Defence, Bristol, U.K.
Yehuda Sinai and Chris Staples, ANSYS, Inc.
Stent Knowledge
Simulation provides the medical industry
with a closer look at stent procedures.
By Matthew R. Hyre, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering, James C. Squire, Professor of Electrical Engineering,
and Raevon Pulliam, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia, U.S.A.
Heart disease, often caused by partially blocked coro- The team at VMI hypothesizes that restenosis may be
nary arteries, is the most common cause of death in the the result of arterial injury incurred during the stenting
world. Stenting has become one of the most popular forms procedure itself. During this procedure, the medical team
of treatment to open plaque-encrusted atherosclerotic inserts a balloon, sheathed by the stent, into the artery and
coronary arteries, with hundreds of thousands of such pro- inflates it. Once the stent expands, the balloon is deflated
cedures performed in the United States each year. However, and removed, leaving the stent in place.
according to the American Heart Association, about one in The engineering team at VMI identified one possible
four stent patients will experience restenosis, a repeated reason for injury: end flare, which is caused by balloon over-
narrowing of the stented artery, less than six months after hang at the end of the stent. This exerts increased pressure
the procedure. Some patients with restenosis must undergo on the arterial wall and may scrape it during inflation, which
a second stenting procedure to alleviate the subsequent could stimulate uncontrolled cell growth in that area.
blockage, while for others a full bypass operation is the only The balloon’s mechanical properties vary dramatically
solution. A team from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is during the expansion process. Though it begins as a highly
combining simulation with animation software from Compu- flexible material, the balloon eventually expands in a nonlinear
tational Engineering International (CEI) to help identify a fashion as it nears the stent’s final diameter, making the prob-
possible cause for restenosis and to find solutions that lem numerically unstable. A factor that is critical to accurately
might help reduce the risk of developing it. simulating the problem is how the structure of the balloon, the
stent and the artery are meshed.
The team used HarpoonTM, from Sharc, Ltd., to generate
a complex mesh designed to follow the balloon, stent and
artery through the expansion from a 1 millimeter diameter to
a 3 millimeter diameter geometry. Once the mesh was
established, the data was exported to ANSYS Mechanical
software to provide information about stresses and
The stent expansion process, with the stent shown in light gray, the balloon in dark
gray and the artery colored by arterial stress geometry changes that occur during expansion.
The team used EnSight® to turn the simulation data into
animations that depict the inflation process. The resulting
images allow the medical research team to visualize the
process for the entire assembly or to focus on the individual
components — options that are impossible during the
stenting procedure itself. By using simulation and visualiza-
tion tools together, manufacturers may be able to redesign
In this image, the stent and balloon are hidden, and the remaining plot depicts only and numerically test stent designs and procedures, arriving
the artery after stent inflation. The contours represent arterial stress. The red ring,
which occurs at the location of highest stress, aligns with the location at which end
at a very clear picture of how each variable affects the
flare occurs during stent inflation. overall issue — all without a patient. ■