Top 5 Simulation Issues NX CAE Addresses

Simulation is critical to product development, and more companies are starting to sit up and take notice. You can lower costs, save time, and improve the life and durability of your products all by using simulation. So when you invest in a software solution, you want to be sure it not only is the strongest option available for simulation in the market today, but that it continues to be in the future.

That’s why experts and executives from some of the largest simulation organizations out there including Siemens PLM joined forces at the Analysis, Simulation, and Systems Engineering Summit (ASSESS) to discuss the top issues in CAE and what the future holds for simulation software.

Just what issues did the summit determine are most impactful to CAE? How will they shape simulation software going forward? And how does NX CAE address them? Let’s take a look.

1. Design centric workflow
   Imagine how much time could be saved if design engineers could easily comprehend simulation results. They could tweak their design based on the results without having to consult with a simulation analyst, thus freeing the analyst to focus on more complex simulations.  Increasing ease of use so that simulation is not just limited to “experts” is a win-win for everyone involved. Expect to see more design centric workflows in simulation software going forward. NX CAE already addresses this issue with its customizable user interface, which allows everyone from designers to high-end analysts to use simulation. Integrated design validation tools also go a long way in making simulation more designer-friendly.


2. Ease of use and/or usability
   It’s not just design engineers who need a user friendly simulation environment: A simplified work environment promotes productivity in analysts too. Anytime you make someone’s job easier, they will be happier and get more work done! NX CAE’s new multiphysics environment addresses this concern. Complex simulations such as blade clearance analysis are simplified in this new environment, as analysts can now perform both thermal and structural analyses at the same time on one model. It’s easy to build a coupled analysis, because the analyst can do so on one mesh using the same tools he or she is already familiar with.


3. Analysis & simulation before CAD
   When you introduce simulation earlier in the product development process, it helps drive changes to the design. Engineers are able to validate the design early on to make a product that will perform better and last longer than if geometry drove the design with simulation performed as an afterthought. It also allows for faster design-analysis iterations through an integrated process. NX CAE facilitates simulation-driven design because it is based on the same platform as NX CAD. Software that allows you to implement simulation sooner—as NX CAE does—will be on the forefront of simulation industry minds.


4. The impact of web, cloud & mobile devices
   What hasn’t been impacted in the last ten, fifteen or twenty years by the Web and mobile devices? Of course they are going to change the way we think about—and ultimately use—simulation software as time goes on. The cloud has huge implications for simulation as well. Think faster runtimes when you use the power of cloud computing to divide a problem up into smaller pieces, for example. This is a hot trend for simulation that will be garnering a lot of attention in the next few years. Currently, NX Nastran is available on the cloud with Rescale.


5. Capturing and reuse of knowledge
   Knowledge reuse saves engineers time from creating the same models or data sets over and over again. It can dramatically reduce design development time, so you get your products to market faster. And all of these savings in time translate to savings in cost as well! Time is money, after all. That’s why this concern made the list of top issues in the simulation industry today, and also why you can expect industry leaders to continue to develop ways for their software to capture and reuse information. NX already goes a long way in helping clients with respect to this area. NX Reuse Library is a central platform where users can drag and drop reusable objects into an NX session, among other features.

• Systems approach to combining heterogeneous models


• Speed & model fidelity


• Unattractive technical issues


• Changes to licensing models