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

ANSYS Named to Forbes 200 Best Small Companies List

ANSYS, Inc. announced that it has been included on the Forbes 200 Best Small Companies list, ranking 57th. This is the sixth time ANSYS has made the list over the past eight years.

The list comprises financially solid small-cap businesses based on return on sustained sales, net profit growth and equity over 12-month and five-year periods. ANSYS ranked 12th in market value on the 2007 Forbes list.

To view full article, please click here:

Microsoft Adds Four Engineering Software Firms to Growing Oil and Gas Industry High Performance Computing Partner Ecosystem

Better access to high-performance computing helps enable design engineers to increase computing power for lower cost

Four engineering software firms — Altair Engineering Inc., ANSYS Inc., CD-adapco and Livermore Software Technology Corp. — have recently converted their engineering software to run on Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, Microsoft Corp. reported today at the Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition

Each industry partner will help deliver more accessible high-performance computing (HPC) capabilities to engineers who use computer-aided engineering (CAE). With an easy-to-use, low-cost HPC platform, engineers can create highly detailed virtual prototypes and simulate product design performance. As a result, engineers within drill/platform manufacturers, downhole tool/drill bit manufacturers, and the petrochemical industry will be able to improve computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and design and enhance their equipment and process troubleshooting capabilities.

To view full article please click here:

BMW Sauber F1 Team Races to the Front After Increased Emphasis on CFD

FLUENT CFD Software from ANSYS Helps F1 Team More Than Double Point Tally

ANSYS, Inc. announced that ANSYS engineering simulation software assisted the BMW Sauber F1 Team, who has more than double last year's points total in the 2007 Constructors' Championship.

Prior to the season, the BMW Sauber F1 Team signed an extended agreement with Fluent Deutschland, a subsidiary of ANSYS, Inc., to use FLUENT(R) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software to run powerful engineering simulations on its new supercomputer -- one of the largest in Europe -- rather than invest in a second wind tunnel. This investment in CFD has allowed the team to run increasingly complex simulations of race car aerodynamics, far quicker than was previously possible. This has enabled the BMW Sauber F1 Team to analyze and implement design changes more quickly, which combined with other advances the team has made, has delivered the team's best performance in the Constructors' Championship to date.

To view full article please click here:

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).

To view PADT’s CFD webpage, click here.

Featured Article: Getting the Courage to Hex Mesh

By Eric Miller

Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear - not absence of fear. - Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

The other night at a neighborhood party, I was surprised to find that there were two guests (myself included) present who make a living doing CAE simulation, (Note: my neighbors are very open minded!) The other guy is a CFD wiz (combustion in FLUENT) and we got to talking about business. At one point he mentioned that he still needed to hex mesh much of his geometry, to which both of our faces immediately puckered up as if we had bitten into a lemon. One of the non-engineers sitting with us smirked and said, “Wow, that must be a bad thing!” We proceeded to tell “through the snow, both ways, without shoes” stories about the difficulties of hex meshing. To be expected, no one was impressed and we soon found ourselves sitting alone.

In actuality, if you take a good look at the tools and capabilities available to us, HEX meshing is really not all that bad. The problem is that TET meshing is so incredibly easy, we have become spoiled. For people who have only been doing this sort of thing for 5 or so years, they grew up with TET meshing and the manual and semi-manual nature of HEX meshing then seems like a huge burden.

Over the years, a few of our customers and some of our engineers, have become very good at quickly knocking out a high quality HEX mesh for CFD, LS-DYNA or other non-linear ANSYS models that require a well-behaved mesh. Looking at the procedural steps they use, a few guidelines can be found:

1. Get your head around “blocking”
   The secret to HEX meshing is being able to divide an object into a collection of 6 sided “blocks.” Once you have a block, you just need to worry about refinement and spacing. Getting the block is the hard part and something that takes time and practice. When you get a part, use whatever method you think is best to visualize it as a collection of six sided blocks. This includes knowing how to block an O-Grid or a 3-1 transition (see figure for an example of both).

2. Learn and get good at a CAD tool
   A common problem that people have with HEX meshing is that the geometry they have needs to be simplified or sliced up. If you are not good at CAD, you have to find someone else to do your CAD work and that never turns out well. You don’t have to learn the drafting or the assembly modeling. You really don’t have to learn how to use all the creation capabilities, although that helps. What you do need to know is how to slice up geometry and remove features.
3. Start closing your eyes and visualizing things in 3-D
   This is related to blocking. Good HEX meshers can look at a chunk of geometry on the screen and visualize breaking it up into blocks. You should practice, starting with simple parts, closing your eyes and spinning the part around in your head. Getting good at this skill may be the best thing you can do to be a more productive HEX mesher.
4. Learn several meshing tools
   Each meshing tool has a strength when it comes to HEX meshing. ANSYS is fantastic at sweeping and extruding uniform thickness stuff, Workbench is great at thin parts, and ICEM CFD is awesome at complex geometries. If you have several tools that you know well, you can pick the best one for your geometry.
5. Learn several hex creation methods
   Another area where HEX meshing experts shine, is that they know when to use different methods. The basic three are: bottom up, sweep and sub-divide. Get good at identifying which is best for a given block.
6. Learn geometry manipulation in your meshing tool
   Most meshing tools have some way to modify geometry in the tool. This is much more efficient then jumping back and forth to CAD.
7. Recognize that HEX meshing is all about planning
   The easiest way to fail in HEX meshing is to not plan your mesh. Before any elements are created, you need to figure out your blocking and plan how you will get it done.
8. Don’t get discouraged by some trial and error
   HEX meshing can be frustrating. You can “paint yourself into a corner” or end up with a block that is so skewed that the resulting elements inside are not usable. The key to getting through such situations is to get back on that horse and try again.
9. Learn how to transition
   Many of the most difficult parts of a hex mesh involve changing size. The key to breaking through is knowing what the best transition is between two different areas.
10. Learn how to glue
    Don’t be afraid to cut your geometry up and use bonded contact or constrain equations to join them. Find a place in the model where you don’t expect a strong stress gradient and slice it up. This may save hours of meshing.

Remember that fear is a not a bad thing; it helps you respect difficult situations. With practice and a positive attitude, the boogeyman of HEX meshing can be saved for light party conversation.

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 December, January, and February

SWAU Seminar Series

Seminars Offered in December, January, and February

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