Responding at the speed of design: ANSYS' latest software upgrade is more evolutionary than mathematical - Software Technology

Automotive Industries, Jan, 2004 by Rich Wilson

Software updates aren't always meaningful. Often times they are pop up windows that are never clicked. The inverse is also true--some software updates are born out of necessity and a natural evolution of sorts. Something more along these lines is the story of the newest software offering from ANSYS.

ANSYS 8.0, the latest version of ANSYS' CAE simulation software platform, features multiphysics analysis as well as a new distributed solver, contact formulation, automated simulation, integration, parametric mesh capabilities and other technology advancements. The complete simulation suite is filtered through one program as the main application, Workbench. Workbench essentially functions to tie all the other features together.

"In addition to the many enhancements related to multiphysics simulation and solver performance, ANSYS 8.0 enables companies to manage and reuse legacy data," said Mike Wheeler, vice president and general manager of the Mechanical Business Unit at ANSYS, Inc.

Often a user needs to include more than two physics to achieve a realistic simulation, and there is a need to facilitate coupling to external analysis codes, this is a situation where multiphysics capabilities are useful. ANSYS says they have had multiphysics technology since the 1980s, and continue to expand such capabilities with their new Multi-field(TM) solver, which is designed to allow for the coupling to external code.

8.0's Multi-field solver provides a framework to solve coupled-field problems. The new version is an automated sequential coupled physics solver applicable across all physics available in ANSYS Multiphysics. With the Multi-field solver, each physic can have totally independent meshes and solution settings. This allows the multiphysics problem to be divided up easily amongst single physics experts (both within a company or to external consultants).

"Many CAE tools today ignore the reality that many development organizations have a tremendous amount of simulation data from previous projects. This data represents a significant financial investment and contains valuable intellectual property. In ANSYS 8.0, we now provide our customers the tools to reuse and reevaluate finite element models which will generate a greater return on their simulation data investment."

The genesis of the upgrades to the new system echo what is being offered to the customers, in the area of legacy data. One of the most significant upgrades in the new system has to do with the meshing capabilities.

"The problem you have in a general meshing algorithm with tetrahedrons is that it is very difficult to set up all the local meshing guidelines. Meaning that you have requirements in certain areas where you need a finer mesh then certain areas where you don't need as fine a mesh ... going around and identifying all of those is a very time consuming process. We've come through with a whole new set of meshing specifications and substantially reduced the time it takes to go through that. By doing everything based on the features of the solid model you click on the feature and then can apply local mesh settings. This especially helps with a repeated feature or parent/child relationship features--you can automatically select the info and apply it."

The evolution of the meshing aspect of the software, according to Wheeler, is the aggregate knowledge the company has accrued on meshing coupled with input from customers is the basis for most of the advancements in this area of the software.

"The next step is the actual meshing itself. And this is where the actual algorithms come into play. We've made substantial performance/memory improvements. What the speed of the meshing is doing is enabling the customers to reduce computations that might have taken days to hours. They are applying the technology in parts of the process where in the past, they may not have applied it at all. Customers don't want to make approximations. They want to solve their exact geometry. In the past being able to solve geometries meant simplification of the designs."

This practice is also knows as 'defeaturing' which in a reaction to being outgunned by the situation due to a lack of time of technological firepower. Offering shrunken permutation times is one of the biggest selling points for ANSYS. What better way to justify the cost of your product to a customer than showing them how many dollars in man hours/computers they can save?

"The big issue in doing simulation is how long the process takes. It's not a matter of if they have the skill set to answer their questions, it's just a matter of time. Fundamentally what it's (Workbench) doing is reducing time to get an answer."

8.0 builds on its Workbench integration capabilities, featuring advances like pretension bolt loads, hex dominant meshing and mixed contact. The mixed contact formulation capabilities are made to give users the ability to automatically create and more rapidly modify virtually any type of contact for surface and solid geometries.