The SWAU Report, Issue 39 Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Introduction

SWAU — pronounced “swah-oo” — is the Southwest ANSYS Users (SWAU), an organization of ANSYS users and people interested in ANSYS, who are located in the Southwest (Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Western Kansas, and El Paso). The goal of the organization is to provide a sense of community for ANSYS users in the region, to serve as a means of communication about ANSYS, and to provide technical and peer resources to those interested in becoming ANSYS users.

News!

PADT - Wants You!

PADT is looking for a highly motivated individual to join our team in the following positions:

-FE Analysis Engineer

-Mechanical Lab Manager

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

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 engineers with over 15 years of experience using 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).

HPC Luncheon at SC07

Please join ANSYS for an exclusive luncheon with Microsoft and other key HPC partners on November 14, 2007, held during SC07 in Reno, NV. For more details please click here:

ANSYS and Network Analysis Team Up to Improve Thermal Simulation

Plug-in Incorporates SINDA/G Thermal Analyzer into ANSYS Workbench for Advanced Capabilities
ANSYS, Inc., a global innovator of simulation software and technologies designed to optimize product development processes, and Network Analysis, Inc. (NAI), a global innovator of thermal simulation software and the developers of the SINDA/G(TM) advanced thermal modeling software, today announced a combined product that integrates the SINDA/G thermal analyzer into the ANSYS(R) Workbench(TM) modeling system.

For more details please click here:

 

Shipbuilder Samsung Heavy Industries Selects Software from ANSYS for its Engineering Simulation Needs

ANSYS CFD Software Comprises the Biggest Contract of Commercial CFD Tools in the Shipbuilding Industry

ANSYS, Inc., announced that the global shipbuilding company Samsung Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. (SHI) in Seoul, Korea has selected ANSYS technology to improve the quality and fluid dynamics of their tankers, vessels and other products. SHI contracted with the ANSYS channel partner Advanced Technology Engineering Service Co., Ltd. (ATES) in Korea for 128 parallel licenses of ANSYS computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software. This is the largest parallel license add-on ever completed in the Korean shipbuilding industry.

To view full article please click here:

Announcements

 

ANSYS 11.0 Service Pack 1 (SP1) is Now Available on the ANSYS, Inc. Customer Portal

The ANSYS 11.0 SP1 release including ANSYS Workbench, ANSYS Multiphysics, ANSYS AUTODYN, ANSYS CFX and ANSYS ICEM CFD software is now available on the ANSYS, Inc. Customer Portal. Registration and current TECS are required to enter the Customer Portal -->Get Software -->Software Downloads. The ANSYS 11.0 SP1 release includes support for Microsoft Windows Vista® operating system for most products and supports an updated network configuration procedure on Windows for ANSYS Workbench and ANSYS Multiphysics as well as error corrections. For more details, please see the Release 11.0 Service Pack 1 Notes which can be downloaded at the top of the Current ANSYS, Inc. Product Downloads page or if you wish to download it with the software, please pick ANSYS, Inc. Documentation Packages from the menu.

 

PADT, Inc. - Fluent 6.3PADT is pleased to announce that our sales and support teams have successfully completed ANSYS, Inc.'s certification requirements and can now officially sell and provide technical support on the FLUENT products. We have been eagerly awaiting our certification since we are long time FLUENT users and feel that offering the two best CFD products on the market will be a huge benefit to our customers. So from now on, feel free to come to PADT for your ANSYS, CFX, AND FLUENT needs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Featured Article: CFD Options from ANSYS, Inc: An Embarrassment of Riches

By Eric Miller

“Which CFD tool is best for me?” That is a very common question these days from people who are using, or looking at using, ANSYS, Inc. products. Through acquisition, the corporation has gathered a significant collection of options for modeling fluid flow and related activities. In this brief article, we hope to shed some light on your options.

 

To begin with, it is always important to establish if you or someone you work with knows how to use one of the tools already. Even if the feature mix is not ideal, knowing a tool that is close is better than learning a tool that is perfect. Your next step is to try and capture all the types of problems and geometries that you will want to simulate that involve fluid flow. With these in mind, you can better choose from the following fantastic options (in alphabetical order):

AirPak

AirPak

Airpak is a quick and easy-to-use design tool which is for modeling airflow within structure. It can help decide the size and placement of units and ducts as well as the behavior of airflow for clean rooms.

Built on top of the FLUENT solver, it is a vertical application ideal for those involved in controlling the climate of building.

AQWA

AQWA

A tool for modeling the behavior of structures in moving water. Referred to as hydrodynamics, it is used in the shipping, off-shore oil, and construction industries to get structural loading between structure and the surrounding water.

AutoReaGas

AutoReaGas

This tool is used by the oil and gas industry to model the effect of gas explosions and their resulting blast waves. It is completely 3D and includes a wealth of tools for modeling complex oil and gas structures

CFX

CFX

CFX performs flow simulations quickly and reliably using its unique, implicitly coupled multigrid solver technology. It is both fast and robust. As a general purpose CFD tool, it can be applied to almost any problem. Especially when turbulence or chemical reactions are important. It also works within the ANSYS Multiphysics program and is therefore the tool of choice for fluid-solid-interaction modeling. Models can be built and meshed in CFX, delivering greater productivity gains.

FloWizard

FloWizard

FloWizard takes the power of FLUENT and wraps it inside a CAD- oriented, easy-to-use interface. It is ideal for preliminary analysis and when using CFD directly in the design process. Occasional users find that it provides a “goldilocks-like” just-right balance between power and ease-of-use. And since it is built on FLUENT, it doesn’t have the limitations of the CFD tools sold by CAD vendors.

FLUENT

FLUENT

The most commonly used CFD tool in the world is FLUENT. About as powerful and general purpose as any CFD program can get, dominant in almost every industry, FLUENTis a proven workhorse that can be used to solve almost any CFD problem. Due to its wide use, it is also known by more engineers and accepted as the industry leader.

ICEPAK

ICEPAK

ICEPAK is a tool that is loved by its users. It is a vertical application for modeling flow in and around electronic systems. From chips to boards to systems, it simplifies the modeling process so that complex assemblies can be modeled in hours instead of days. Anyone who needs to do flow and/or heat transfer in the world of electronics should be using ICEPAK.

 

If you don’t have a special need (ICEPAK, AQWA, etc…) and you don’t need a first pass tool (FloWizard) you are still left trying to decide between CFX and FLUENT.

Fortunately over time these two codes will merge, but over the next couple of years individual user’s will have to choose what best fits them. If you are familiar with one, go with it, if you don’t know either, look at your list of needs and see if one program matches up better than the other. The next best step would be to contact your ANSYS sales team and let them help you.. One of the nice things about ANSYS, Inc’s CFD offerings is that they are backed up by consulting groups who can help you to understand your CFD needs and if necessary, provide a custom based solution using either CFX or FLUENT.

If you like to do things on your own, visit these two links for the key features in each code:

CFX: www.ansys.com/products/cfx-features.asp

FLUENT: www.fluent.com/software/fluent/modeling_spec.htm

Both are general purpose tools and solve the majority of problems well. Tens of thousands of users have found that you can’t go wrong with CFX or FLUENT. But if you have special needs, (Those with combustion, moving mesh and external flow needs will move towards FLUENT whereas those with parametric geometry, turbomachinery, turbulence and chemical processing needs will lean toward CFX.) it is worth taking the time to make the right decision.

Promotions!

For a limited time, PADT is offering a 20% discount on parallel license keys that will be used on a new Windows CCS cluster. In addition, we can provide you with specially configured and discounted solutions that come bundled with Windows CCS. Contact the PADT Sales Team today to learn more.

Questions?

For more information or questions about these promotions, please contact PADT Sales.

PADT Training

Courses Offered in November, December, and January

10/30 - 10/30 411 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation 11.0 Electromagnetics (in Tempe, AZ)
10/31 - 11/1 205 - ANSYS Workbench Mechanical Dynamics (in Tempe, AZ)
11/2 - 11/2 206 - ANSYS Workbench Mechanical Rigid & Flexible Dynamics (in Tempe, AZ)
11/5 - 11/7 101 - Introduction to ANSYS (Mechanical APDL), Part I (in Tempe, AZ)
11/12 - 11/13 301 - ANSYS Mechanical APDL Heat Transfer (in Tempe, AZ)
11/15 - 11/16 102 - Introduction to ANSYS (Mechanical APDL), Part II (in Tempe, AZ)
11/27 - 11/28 204 - ANSYS Mechanical APDL Advanced Contact and Fasteners (in Tempe, AZ)
11/29 - 11/30 604 - Introduction to CFX (in Tempe, AZ)
12/4 - 12/5 204 - ANSYS Mechanical APDL Advanced Contact and Fasteners (in Tempe, AZ)
12/6 - 12/7 302 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation 11.0 Heat Transfer (in Tempe, AZ)
12/10 - 12/11 104 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation - Intro (11.0) (in Tempe, AZ)
1/14 - 1/16 101 - Introduction to ANSYS (Mechanical APDL), Part I (in Tempe, AZ)
1/17 - 1/18 100 - Engineering with Finite Element Analysis (in Tempe, AZ)
1/24 - 1/25 801 - ANSYS Customization with APDL (in Tempe, AZ)
1/28 - 1/29 104 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation - Intro (11.0) (in Albuquerque, NM)
1/30 - 1/31 207 - ANSYS Workbench Mechanical – Structural Nonlinearities (in Albuquerque, NM)
1/31 - 2/1 301 - ANSYS Mechanical APDL Heat Transfer (in Tempe, AZ)

SWAU Seminar Series

Seminars Offered in November, December, and January

12/12/2007 2007 Customer Appreciation Lunch

Other Offerings

Did You Know that PADT, Inc. Offers:

  • Engineering Services
  • Rapid Manufacturing

  • Dimension 3D printers
  • Product Development such as Fuel Cells?
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