The SWAU Report, Issue 46 Thursday, August 7, 2008
 

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

- Medical 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

 

 

PADT would like to extend a personal invitation towards everyone who reads the SWAU Report to join us in Pittsburgh this year. This will be the first conference with ANSYS and FLUENT together and we expect a lot of new announcements on future products, changes to Workbench, how the Ansoft purchase changes things, and on how people are using the ANSYS Products in different areas. As always, there will be tons of great papers and presentations of new capabilities in the next release (V12). PADT will be there and we hope to see as many of you as can make it.

Visit www.ansys.com/events/conference2008 for more information.

ANSYS, Inc. Announces Successful Completion of Ansoft Acquisition and Names Dr. Zoltan J. Cendes to ANSYS, Inc. Board of Directors

ANSYS, Inc. announced it has successfully completed the acquisition of Ansoft Corporation in a series of mergers for approximately 12.2 million shares of ANSYS common stock, including 1.9 million shares pursuant to assumed stock options, and approximately $387 million in cash, plus expenses.

ANSYS expects the acquisition to be modestly accretive to earnings the first twelve months, excluding acquisition-related costs, amortization of intangibles, the impact of deferred revenue purchase accounting treatment and expensing of stock compensation. The Company used a combination of existing cash and proceeds from approximately $355 million of committed bank financing to fund the transaction.

To view full article, please click here:

Success of First European Built Environment CAE Conference Demonstrates Value of Engineering Simulation

Event Hosted by ANSYS Highlights the Increasing Importance of Engineering Simulation in the Industry

 

ANSYS, Inc. announced that the first European Built Environment CAE Conference (EBECC), hosted by ANSYS in London in June, was a resounding success. Attendees from some of the most influential civil engineering and built environment organizations -- including the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), Ingeciber, Mott MacDonald, Hilson Moran, ARUP and Ramboll -- were present to share best practices in applying the very latest engineering simulation technology.

To view full article, please click here:

Featured Article: Time to Get Your Ducks in a Row: Simulation Data Management

By Eric Miller

Ansys EKM Workflow

Have you ever had a project engineer show up at your desk and ask “Hey, do you remember that model you ran 6 years ago, that vibration analysis?  Well can you find it and bring it up?”  Or even better “Hey, that model you ran last year of that bracket, which rev of the solid model did you use?”  I don’t know about you, but with me questions like that are usually followed by a sharp pain in my stomach and a rush of adrenaline.  No matter how organized you are, very few people have the time to document all of the aspects of their simulation, archive all the needed files, and then document where everything is being stored.

 

Enter Engineering Knowledge Manager or EKM, the newest product from ANSYS, Inc.  EKM grew out of the obvious need in the analysis community for engineers who work with others on a variety of projects to quickly and easily manage their data, and to quickly get useful information out of it. We’ve been using it here at PADT for a while now and would like to share with you what we have found.EKM

 

The first thing you will notice about EKM is that it has a simple web based interface.  This is not some PLM system designed by teams of database gurus.  This is a practical tool developed by analysts to solve real problems.  Like PLM systems, it sits on top of a relational database and users navigate through their web browser to store data in the system, view relationships between simulations and extract data, whether the data is key information or the analysis files themselves.

 

One thing that we like a lot about EKM, is that it automatically extracts metadata from the analysis files.   If you have ever used any document or file management system, you know that they often don’t get widespread use because it is such a pain to fill out the forms with all the key data (called metadata).  With EKM, data like titles, number of nodes and elements, types of loads, material definitions and more are automatically extracted from the simulation files and used to populate the database.  That way you can get key information very quickly without reading the huge files that we create.

 

Another advantage is the fact that EKM was built knowing that it would need to manage large files.  Instead of storing those files in the database, it stores them on the server and points to them.  As you would expect, it has a way to create a hierarchy to organize your data (we do it by customer then project) and has check-in/check-out controls along with revision control.

Everyone talks about data management, and most of ANSYS, Inc.’s competitors are spending a lot of time generating press releases on their “collaborative synergistic information and knowledge cooperation systems”.  EKM is different from these offerings for a variety of very simple reasons: 1) it does not try to be a PLM system, 2) it is very simple without unneeded bells and whistles or lengthy site customization, 3) it was developed by long term analysts to solve the real world problems they face in their consulting projects, and 4) It is designed from the bottom up to work with other tools (even competing ones) and integrate into PLM systems.

 

We have all sat at our desks wishing we had some way to organize our databases, results and macros.  Maybe even dreamed up some nifty schemes, but we have never had the time to implement them. Now we have a way to get those ducks in a row without much more effort than installing the server.  It certainly is not the snazziest ANSYS, Inc. product, but it is a product that with very little effort can really make your life a lot easier.  We certainly feel it is useful enough to recommend that everyone check it out. 

 

For more information and to watch a demo, please visit: 
http://www-harwell.ansys.com/demoroom/details.php?id=68,88 

 

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.

Visit us @ www.padtinc.com or call us at (480) 813-4884 or (800) 293-PADT

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!

25% discount

 

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. 

 

Here are some testimonials:

 

"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 August, September, and October

8/4 - 8/5 104 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation – Intro (in Tempe, AZ)
8/6 - 8/8 152 - ICEM CFD/AI*Environment (in Tempe, AZ)
8/11 - 8/12 202 - Advanced Structural Nonlinearities (in Tempe, AZ)
8/14 - 8/15 501 - ANSYS/LS-DYNA (in Tempe, AZ)
8/18 - 8/19 604 - Introduction to CFX (in Tempe, AZ)
8/28 - 8/29 701 - Design Optimization & Probabilistic Design (in Tempe, AZ)
9/4 - 9/5 301 - Heat Transfer (in Tempe, AZ)
9/8 - 9/9 104 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation – Intro (in Tempe, AZ)
9/10 - 9/11 205 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation Dynamics (in Tempe, AZ)
9/15 - 9/17 101 - Introduction to ANSYS, Part I (in Tempe, AZ)
9/15 - 9/18 802 - Advanced APDL and Customization (in Las Vegas, NV)
9/18 - 9/20 102 - Introduction to ANSYS, Part II (in Tempe, AZ)
9/22 - 9/23 201 - Basic Structural Nonlinearities (in Tempe, AZ)
9/24 - 9/25 204 - Advanced Contact and Fasteners (in Tempe, AZ)
10/2 - 10/3 104 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation – Intro (in Las Vegas, NV)
10/6 - 10/7 205 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation Dynamics (in Tempe, AZ)
10/9 - 10/10 100 - Engineering with Finite Element Analysis (in Tempe, AZ)
10/14 - 10/15 207 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation – Structural Nonlinearities (in Tempe, AZ)
10/16 - 10/17 302 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation Heat Transfer (in Tempe, AZ)
10/20 - 10/20 107 - ANSYS Workbench DesignModeler (in Tempe, AZ)
10/22 - 10/24 902 - Multiphysics Simulation for MEMS (in Tempe, AZ)
10/27 - 10/27 411 - ANSYS Workbench Simulation Electromagnetics (in Tempe, AZ)
10/28 - 10/28 206 - ANSYS Workbench Rigid & Flexible Dynamics (in Tempe, AZ)

SWAU Seminar Series

Seminars Offered in August, September, and October

No seminars are scheduled in this time period.

Other Offerings

Did You Know that PADT, Inc. Offers:

3D Printing with Dimension Printers!

  • Engineering Services
  • Rapid Manufacturing

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

     

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