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Introduction
SNIPPETS – PADT is pleased to present the ANSYS User Community with a monthly newsletter containing information and observations on ANSYS, Inc. related topics. Unlike its sister publication The Focus, Snippets is a non-technical publication, oriented towards users and their managers with a goal of passing on critical information that everyone involved in the ANSYS community should have. It is free, does not contain outside advertisements, and is issued about once a month.
Snippets used to be called The SWAU Report and started life as the newsletter for the Southwest ANSYS Users Group. Over time the readership has grown to include all corners of the globe and so PADT decided to refocus on serving the broader user community. Previous SWAU issues can still be found in the archive, along with all Snippets issues.
We welcome your feedback, questions, and suggestions at snippets@padtinc.com. To manage your subscription, visit our subscriptions page.
News!
PADT - Wants You!
PADT is looking for a highly motivated individual to join our team in the following positions:
-FE Analysis Engineer
-Medical Device Engineer
For more information please visit the Job Opportunities page on our website.
Become an APDL Master with PADT's APDL Guide
Teach Yourself ANSYS Customization with PADT's APDL Guide
This guide is a compilation of course notes from PADT’s very popular ANSYS Customization with APDL class. By popular demand, PADT has turned these notes into a 288-page guide that steps new and experienced ANSYS users through all of the details of APDL scripting. Its 12 chapters include reference information, examples, tips and hints, and eight workshops. The guide, available in hardcopy only, is an invaluable resource to anyone who wants to start using APDL or become an ANSYS “power user”. At $75 plus shipping, this manual will quickly pay for itself by saving you hours of research and trial-and-error.
For more information on this guide or how to purchase, please visit our website .
Register Now for the Engineering Simulation Energy Conference (ESEC)
ANSYS, Inc. has organized the 2008 Engineering Simulation Energy Conference (ESEC) to bring together leaders and practitioners of CAE simulation from around the world for two days of information sharing on the latest technology developments. There will also be presentations showcasing the innovative applications of various engineering simulation technologies that have helped solve problems encountered in complex, real-world products and processes.
Date: Conference 11/11/08-11/12/08 Training 11/13/08
Location: Omni Houston West Houston, TX.
From SWAU to Snippets!
A message from the Snippets team: Kelsey Pitts, Eric Miller, David Mastel and Stephen Hendry
When the team at PADT who recently attended the ANSYS User’s Conference in Pittsburgh, PA. returned and mentioned how our booth had received a lot of attention/recognition from peoples’ familiarity with PADT’s other publication, The Focus, it made us think, “What about the SWAU?” Originally a newsletter for ANSYS users in the Southwest Region, where PADT is located, the SWAU has grown to a world-wide readership. We wanted to change the name to reflect this status as well as give it a bit of a makeover. The SWAU and now Snippets has always been geared towards fun and informative news, updates and articles that appeal to a greater audience than just the technical ANSYS user. We will continue to deliver this to our readers and hope that you will continue to enjoy receiving it!
To subscribe to Snippets, click here:
ANSYS Helps Speedo Take Home Medals at Beijing Olympics
Speedo LZR RACER Suit, Designed with Software from ANSYS, Worn by Medal Winners and World Record Holders
ANSYS, Inc. announced a strong presence at the Beijing Olympics in the swimming competition: The majority of medals won and world records broken there were achieved by competitors wearing swimsuits designed in part with software from ANSYS. Speedo(R)'s revolutionary LZR RACER(R) suit features panels that reduce drag and are positioned precisely based on fluid flow analysis results simulated with technology from ANSYS. The software was used to guide, test and refine the final design of the suit.
To view the full article, click here:
Featured Article: A View From the Conference
By Eric Miller
All and all it was a fun and informative conference. The weather was nice, the venue spacious, and there were just enough people to make it interesting but not so many that things were too crowded. For a group of engineers, everyone was remarkably social, providing the opportunity to reconnect with people from past conferences and to build new relationships.
It kicked off with some presentations from senior ANSYS, Inc. folk. For a company that is growing as fast as they are, ANSYS, Inc. seems to have a firm and steady grip on their vision and is executing against it without the usual whipsawing and frequent re-orgs that most acquisition prone companies fall back on.
Things were kept at a pretty high level but from the presentations, 12.0 looks like it will have a lot of high-end goodies for everyone. There have been improvements to solvers, elements, material models and physics models. Those that were able to watch the demos in the ANSYS, Inc. booth later on were able to see more details and things are looking good.
We also had our first introduction to the world of Ansoft. Most of us sitting in the back were scratching our heads and starting to panic because it’s been 20+ years since we’ve taken a circuit class. But the low and high frequency bits seem right up everyone’s alley and should enhance the ANSYS toolkit a lot. The take away was that things will progress slowly over the next 2-5 years, as Ansoft finds its place and technologies migrate.
The big technical introduction for the conference was the new infrastructure for CAE that is being called Workbench 2 or WB2. It is still very young and most of what it contains is still hidden from the user (data interchange functions) but both the Engineering Data application and the Project Management Page (not sure on that name) are native in WB2 and they look very promising. Built from the ground up to allow rapid creation of CAE applications, they have a clean and efficient spreadsheet like look and feel that can be dialed in to the level of detail that users want. There is still a lot of work to be done and it will take several releases to get there, but at first glance this new infrastructure looks like it will be capable of supporting true Multiphysics and an expanding suite of ANSYS, Inc. tools well into the future.
The round-tables and conference papers were all well attended and for the most part interesting. Turbomachinery was the most popular, for CFD and FEM users alike. There was a lot of interest on the EKM (Engineering Knowledge Manager) roundtable and all of the managers seemed to enjoy the Management Roundtable. If you were not able to attend the conference, you will probably be able to access some of the papers on the ANSYS Customer Portal in the next few weeks. There are papers from 2002-2006 already there.
The exhibition hall was packed with vendors, including PADT, there were lots of hardware types, labs and complimentary software. Nothing new or breakthrough but the overall impression was that the ANSYS community is a healthy eco-system with lots of supporting vendors. The best handout was probably the Penguins that one of the Linux vendors had. PADT’s pens were also a popular item… at least until they starting leaking ink in everyone’s pockets (just kidding!).
At the front of the exhibition hall, various ANSYS, Inc. people were showing bits and pieces of new technology in V12. There were way too many things to remember and present here but It’s safe to say that the hundreds of developers have been very busy and in general are responding to user requests for more capability and to make things more efficient. The three items that stood out to PADT were: Lots of very useful and robust meshing coming in V12, surface fitting to deformed geometry (yes, surface fitting to a deformed mesh! We have not tested it yet so we are trying not to get too excited), and some nice work on modeling rigid solid to fluid interaction in CFX. We will of course go into depth on new stuff in V12 here and in The Focus when it is released at the end of this year or beginning of 2009.
The overall highlight for me was having lunch with John Swanson at the APDL “Birds of a Feather” table. For those that do not know who John Swanson is, he is the man who wrote most of the original ANSYS software and ran the company that is now ANSYS, Inc. until he sold it to private investors. Now he contracts for ANSYS, Inc., writing codes and fixing things. I do not exaggerate when I say that his innovation inspired me, like many of you, to follow a career in engineering. He was cheerful, funny, modest and very interested in making APDL more useful and powerful. Once our awe had eased, we were able to have a discussion on the ways that he can improve APDL in the future. This was a special 90 minutes that all of us at that table will remember. (Not to get too sentimental on you!)
If you missed the conference, you missed a good experience. But there’s no need to worry; there will be more regional conferences in 2009 as well as a few industry specific events. We hope to see more of you at one of these in the near future.
GOT CFD?
GOT CFD?
Whether you feel you need to start implementing CFD into your engineering analysis or you are looking for increased compute power, PADT, Inc. can assist you! We use two of the best and most comprehensive CFD tools available, FLUENT and CFX, which are unmatched in their breadth and depth of capability when solving the toughest or even the simplest CFD problems.
PADT, Inc. has CFD experienced engineers who are very familiar with FLUENT, CFX and a host of other CFD codes. This experience enables us to quickly assess an application, understand the challenges and provide you with timely, accurate and detailed results.
Give us a call or send us an email if you:
- Want to bring CFD into your engineering design and analysis and don’t currently have the expertise
- Don’t have the compute power to solve larger CFD problems
- Have purchased CFX or FLUENT and want some help, such as mentoring or services to get up to speed quicker
- Need a CFD job done now
- Or just need additional CFD resources
To speak with someone about your CFD and other engineering needs, please contact Stephen Hendry at: steve.hendry@padtinc.com or call 1-800-293-PADT (7238).
To view PADT’s CFD webpage, click here.
Promotions!
There is a 25% discount on new ANSYS ICEBOARD Software. Please inquire with our ANSYS Sales Team: Emily.Ronnow@padtinc.com or Bob.Calvin@padtinc.com
Have You Considered Mentoring?
Mentoring is one of the services we provide at PADT. Typically, it consists of one-on-one interaction between a PADT expert and a simulation tool user at your facility. Mentoring goes beyond training to address specific applications of the software to the critical projects at your organization and is tailored to fit your needs.
"With your help, I was able to complete my task on time."
"Trying to use ANSYS with little prior ANSYS experience and training, and to finish the project in a specified deadline was quite a challenge… Each time PADT was there to get me through."
"PADT, as I found, has a unique system… because they have a pool of ANSYS experts - with different levels and area of expertise - who can help their clients with combined efforts."
To discuss how PADT's mentoring capabilities in the ANSYS family of products can benefit your organization, please contact Ted Harris (ted.harris@padtinc.com, 480-813-4884) or Steve Hendry (steve.hendry@padtinc.com, 207-541-9198).
Questions?
For more information or questions about these promotions, please contact PADT Sales.
PADT Training
Courses Offered in September, October, and November
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Snippets Seminar Series
Seminars Offered in September, October, and November
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