Product design: Simpler path to simulation data capture, reuse, backup and archiving

Ansys, Inc. has released Ansys Engineering Knowledge Manager 2.0, a software solution that addresses real-world challenges that engineers face, such as how to better manage, share and reuse simulation data, as well as how to capture the engineering expertise that a simulation result represents. Separately, Ansys released Fluent for CATIA V5 5.0.

Custom simulation application using ANSYS EKM tools.

Ansys, Inc., a Pennsylvania maker of simulation software and technologies, announced the release of Ansys Engineering Knowledge Manager (ANSYSTM) 2.0, a product focused on simulation process and data management (SPDM). The solution set addresses some real-world challenges that engineers face, such as how to better manage, share and reuse simulation data, as well as how to capture the engineering expertise that a simulation result represents.

"Engineers are interested in spending less time handling data and more time focusing on true product development efforts," says Michael Engelman, vice president, business development.

As companies look for increased productivity in all aspects of their simulation activities, they start asking‘How do we better manage and share the voluminous simulation data that is being generated? How do we better capture the engineering expertise that the simulation results represent?’"

By managing simulation data and processes more effectively, companies can better leverage the full power of simulation and the tremendous expertise of the analysts and engineers who contribute to the process, says Engleman. The result is shortened time to market and protection of valuable intellectual property. "Managing product data is a specialized subset of the broader product lifecycle management (PLM) vision, and it presents a whole new set of challenges to organizations that engineer products," he says.

Simulation details report for ANSYS Workbench project file in ANSYS EKM.

Ansys EKM software is a Web-based solution with archival and management capabilities, traceability and audit trail, advanced search and retrieval, report generation and simulation comparison, process/workflow automation , collaboration tools, and capture and deployment of best practices. The enhancements in version 2.0 simplify and speed up work, especially for remote teams that hand off data to each other as part of collaborative design. They provide the ability to run simulation jobs remotely using job submission systems, such as RSM, LSF, SGE and compute clusters. A new addition, Ansys EKM Studio, is an intuitive graphical system for defining simulation workflows for dynamic engineering simulation collaboration. A new scripting interface enables the creation of custom applications templates that can be accessed by users over the internet.

Other Release 2.0 improvements include automated metadata extraction and report generation for use with other CAE formats, tighter integration with Ansys Workbench project files for performing what-if studies, extended change configuration with branching and versioning, and a new analysis project type that allows users to easily track input and result dependencies for simulation files.

Separately, Ansys released the latest version of Fluent for CATIA V5 5.0 to customers. The software is a rapid flow modeling tool embedded into Dassault Systeme’s Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) tool, CATIA, which allows design and process engineers working within CATIA V5 to rapidly and accurately validate their designs early in the product development cycle. New features include the volume of fluid (VOF) model, which allows users to design fuel cells, automotive fuel tanks, pumps and marine equipment.

– Edited by Renee M. Robbins, managing editor, MBT www.mbtmag.com