Multi-Disciplinary CAE Tool Upgraded with DEM

By DE Editors

CD-adapco (New York and London) has introduced a DEM (discrete element modeling) capability into version 5.06 of its multi-disciplinary engineering software STAR-CCM+. Additionally, the company says that STAR-CCM+ v5.06 has been enhanced with a range of new features and improvements, including more than 200 customer enhancement requests.

DEM provides the ability to simulate bulk material handling and granular flows typically encountered in such industrial applications as mining, the transport of oil and gas through pipelines, and food production. DEM simulates the motion of a large number of interacting discrete particles, such as the granular flow of sand, food particles, metal powders, capsules, and slurries. The methodology's algorithms track the interaction between particles in a numerically efficient manner, says the company. This, in turn, enables the modeling of contact forces and energy transfer due to collisions as well as conductive and radiative heat transfer between particles. CD-adapco says that STAR-CCM+ is the first commercial engineering simulation tool to include a DEM capability that is fully coupled with numerical flow simulation in a single software environment.

STAR-CCM+ v5.06 includes new CAD clients for CATIA V5, Pro/ENGINEER (now called Creo Elements/Pro), NX, and SolidWorks. The CAD clients are said to enable engineers and designers to manage their multi-disciplinary engineering simulations from their chosen CAD environment. Notable highlights of CAD clients include the ability for designers and engineers to share models and results as well as the ability to run parametric what-if design evaluations because of direct associativity between simulations and geometry.

Version 5.06 also provides a new direct connection between STAR-CCM+ and Abaqus FEA from the SIMULIA business of Dassault, a connection that makes fluid-structure interactions a standard part of the engineering design process. STAR-CCM+ v5.06 also has been expanded with the addition of far field propagation using the Ffowcs Williams-Hawkings method. This method, coupled with STAR-CCM+'s analysis tools, is said to provide a complete feature set for aeroacoustic analysis.

For complete information on all new features in STAR-CCM+ v5.06, visit CD-adapco.

See why DE's editors selected STAR-CCM+ v5.06 as their Pick of the Week.