Analyze Structures without Geometry Cleanup and Meshing

Dear DE Reader:

I microwaved some ready-made mashed potatoes the other day. In a zap, six traditional, time-eating preparation steps were history. It was a life-changing experience.

You may wonder what spuds have to do with product design, design engineers and simulation analysts. Traditional FEA (finite element analysis) structural analyses, that's what. What if you could run accurate, robust and fast simulations without spending hours fooling around with geometry simplification, cleanup or meshing? What if you could just do some design studies whenever on your desktop? Such technology exists. Take the time to watch the demo of SimSolid on the other side of today's Check it Out link and see for yourself.

Backdrop: Altair Engineering recently acquired SimSolid. That company's euphoniously named SimSolid software is built for analyzing complex parts and large assemblies that aren't practical with traditional methods. It deploys a completely different structural simulation strategy than what has been the norm for decades.

Still, wrap your head around this: SimSolid doesn't do meshes nor does it make you convert, simplify or clean up your geometry. Then, too, it works on full-fidelity CAD assemblies in most major formats. It tolerates surfaces with gaps and overlapping geometry.

In hands-on terms, this means that SimSolid works directly on your CAD geometry, warts and all. That alone should save hours of time. Further, SimSolid reportedly can solve a complex part or a large assembly analysis in minutes, not hours or days.

The differentiator seems to lie in SimSolid's computational engine. It leverages mathematics based on extensions to the theory of external approximations, and it controls solution accuracy using multi-pass adaptive analysis. These, it seems, makes it fast and memory efficient, enabling you to solve large, complex assemblies on a laptop computer.

Today's SimSolid demo is a new recording of a presentation at a recent Altair technology conference. It runs 20 minutes and provides demos of modal, linear statics and nonlinear statics analyses. It's fascinating stuff. What might fascinate you more is running SimSolid through some paces yourself. Hit the link in the sidebar to sign up for a complimentary 60-day trial.

Altair seems pumped about SimSolid technology. In the acquisition announcement, they mention spreading SimSolid methods across applications. Altair also plans a live introduction to SimSolid webinar on November 7. Hit the link in the sidebar for details. For now, you can watch the SimSolid demo here.

Thanks, Pal. – Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, DE