3D Simulation-Driven Design

Dear DE Reader:

Why continue developing new products with early 21st century processes when you have infinitely better options today? That question, never uttered so bluntly yet always there, nagged me watching the on-demand webinars at the other side of today's Check it Out link.

The series' title, “The Age of Simulation Driven Design is Here with Simcenter 3D,” encapsulates it. See, these presentations argue that powerful yet easy to use simulation from concept to sign-off can help designers, analysis experts and their organizations create better, more robust products quickly and cost effectively. It's convincing stuff.

The on-demand webinar series “The Age of Simulation Driven Design is Here with Simcenter 3D” shows how simulation is no longer just a performance validation tool but how it plays a vital role throughout the concept and design development process. Image courtesy of Siemens PLM Software Inc.

So, what's Simcenter 3D? The elevator speech is that Simcenter 3D is a unified, open, scalable and extensible environment for 3D CAE (computer-aided engineering). It connects to design, 1D simulation, test and data management. It provides geometry editing, associative simulation modeling and embedded, industry-savvy multi-disciplinary solutions. You have solvers for acoustics, composites, flow, motion, structural and thermal analyses. It handles optimization and multiphysics simulations. Simcenter 3D plays nice with most design formats, and it's available as a standalone environment or fully integrated with Siemens' NX product development suite.

The series offers six presentations; most run over 40 minutes. They have a wealth of demonstrations. (Hint: Go to full-screen mode.) The demos are moderately technical at times, but you won't get lost if you didn't pay attention in that college class.

The intrigued, unsure and the skeptical should start with “Welcome to the World of Simulation Driven Design.” It's the overview. It presses home the point that simulation is a key part of the concept and design development processes, growing in adoption. It explains how simulation-driven design works, offers demos and cites some real-world deployments.

Next watch “Analyzing Product Performance in an Integrated Design Simulation Environment.” This broadcast vastly expands what's covered in the welcome presentation and should answer many of the questions you have that might have arisen watching the welcome webinar.

The title of three webinars begins with the word “Exploration.” These are hands-on demos of select Simcenter 3D's analysis capabilities—motion, structural and thermal/flow (computational fluid dynamics). A fourth, “Automated Structural Optimization,” demonstrates major features of the Simcenter 3D optimization tool set.

“The Age of Simulation Driven Design is Here with Simcenter 3D” webinars are well done. Highly informative, they move at a brisk pace. Make the time to explore this series. It could change how you perceive your design development process.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood

Editor at Large, DE