HyperWorks 12.0, with Emphasis on Composites, Optimization, and Collaboration
Altair Engineering, best known for its simulation software, is rolling out a major release of its flagship suite, HyperWorks. The comprehensive lineup covers every phase of design development and testing, from computational fluid dynamics (CFD, with AcuSolve), crash analysis (HyperCrash), sheet metal form (HyperForm), and meshing (HyperMesh), to structural analysis (OptiStruct), and more. The latest upgrade, HyperWorks 12.0, emphasizes the growing importance of composite materials, optimization, and collaboration. Continue reading
DE Writer Tony Abbey, Taking Your Simulation Questions on Thursday March 7
DE‘s contributing editor Tony Abbey, a recognized finite element analysis (FEA) trainer in NAFEM‘s classrooms and online courses, is planning to field your questions in a webinar titled “FEA for Managers & Reviewers: Ask Tony” (March 7).
So I took advantage of our editorial affiliation to toss him a question that’s been on my mind: How would you distinguish the terms “simulation” and “analysis”? Are they synonymous? Continue reading
SolidWorks Goes After Simulation for the Masses
More than a decade ago, when stress analysis modules started showing up in mechanical design packages, users squirmed: Can we trust the software to accurately predict how steel and plastic shapes would deform under a certain weight or pressure? The inputs required are too complex. Where do I get these values? How do I make sense of the color-coded results? What does the Von Mises numbers say about my design?
But over time, the user interface for CAD-embedded linear stress analysis tools became simpler. Now, they have become so standardized that if you know how to perform stress analysis in SolidWorks, you can, with minimum training, perform the same task in Autodesk Inventor, Siemens PLM Software’s Solid Edge, or PTC Creo on first contact. Continue reading
Siemens Acquires LMS, Expands to Testing and Mechatronics
I normally work late into the night, then sleep in, but no such luxury this morning. News was breaking at 7 AM Pacific Time. Siemens PLM Software was gobbling up LMS. (To read MCAE industry veteran Dennis Nagy’s guest commentary on the acquisition, click here.)
LMS International is a household name in test and mechatronic simulation in the automotive, aerospace, and other advanced manufacturing industries. The purchase was spurred by Siemens’ desire to “provide a closed-loop systems-driven product development solution extending all the way to integrated test management,” according to the announcement. Continue reading
A Future with Driverless Vehicles Requires Sensory Adjustments
Soon after immigrating to the U.S., while taking my first driving exam to get a license, I crashed into a guardrail. But the memory of that nerve-wrecking incident was not the reason I haven’t driven a car for more than 5 miles in the past 23 years. I’m lucky enough to live in San Francisco, a city with a fairly reliable public transit system. I can get around by jumping on a bus, a street car (not named Desire), or a train. So usually I read, fidget with my iPhone, or daydream while I let someone else do the driving. Continue reading
