Simcenter 3D 12: Simulation to Drive Design Direction

More efficient and accurate simulations in support of performance engineering

Today we’re proud to announce the latest release of Simcenter 3D which is available for download now. This latest release of Simcenter 3D integrates multiple technologies from different tools all under one platform, enabling simulation to drive design direction.

Listen to Willy Bakkers, our VP and Head of Simulation discuss what you can expect in this release.

Over the coming weeks we will have a series of blog posts go in more depth on the themes Willy discusses, namely: supporting generative design, technology integration, expanded nonlinear solutions and enhanced industry workflows. Here is a sampling of what you can expect:

Supporting Generative Design

First off, what is Generative Design? To get a better understanding, check out this excellent blog post from our brothers-in-Lighter, stronger topology optimized passenger airplane seat bracket compared to original design.arms from the NX team.

One illustration of simulation supporting generative design is with our new NX Nastran SOL 200 topology optimization solution; where topology optimization is defined as:

“Topology optimization (TO) is a mathematical method that optimizes material layout within a given design space, for a given set of loads, boundary conditions and constraints with the goal of maximizing the performance of the system.” – Wikipedia

Technology Integration

Gearbox deformation subject to vibro-acoustic forces at 3000 RPM.This release continues the journey that began a few years ago of integrating the significant capabilities previously available in our legacy simulation tools, LMS Virtual.Lab and Samtech Samcef. Beyond merely integrating these technologies we’ve enhanced them to take advantage of Simcenter 3D’s unified, scalable and open environment giving users access to a broad yet deep array of simulation technology across multiple physical domains.

One such technology is acoustic transfer vectors (ATV) which let you efficiently compute vibro-acoustic pressure at microphones. The ATV solution is useful when analyzing large models for many frequencies or rotational speeds.

Expanded Nonlinear Solutions

Nonlinear deformation of a thermal imaging camera subject to a drop test.Unfortunately we live in a non-linear world. If we didn’t we wouldn’t have to worry about dropping our smartphones and having our screens crack; in a linear world the extreme forces a phone is subject to are reflected back (think of an elastic returning to its original shape).

To simulate these real-world conditions, you need a powerful nonlinear-based solver. In this release we offer the new NX Nastran SOL 402 nonlinear solver that is based on large displacement / large rotation formulation originally available in the Samtech Samcef solver, and can be applied to static, quasi-static, kinematic and dynamic simulations of structures.

Enhanced Industry Workflows

Automatic universal connections of a door sub-assembly.Each industry faces unique challenges and Simcenter 3D provides adapted solutions for each of them; automotive engineers often have multiple variants of the same finite element assembly for different types of analyses like NVH, crash, durability, and more.

This can lead to inefficiency and a challenge when updating components within each assembly. The new universal connections work across solvers and analysis types and simplify their workflow.