How Advanced Simulation will Impact the Offshore Industry both Now and in the Future

With faster computers comes new complexities that, if understood, can be mastered to yield significant application performance and cost improvements. In this breakout session, we will investigate how the Azure HBv3 offering, with increased memory bandwidth and L3 cache, can drastically reduce time to solution for AcuSolve at scale. We will cover some benchmarks and show how they perform on Azure at various scale points. This data will enable AcuSolve users to reduce time to solution so they can dedicate more time to improving their product.

Together with cloud providers and our other HPC partners, Intel is driving the performance and flexibility that are critical to running advanced HPC workloads in the cloud. We collaborate across our HPC ecosystem to help cloud providers offer accelerated, secure, and agile environments using our latest technologies, such as Intel® Xeon® processors. As cloud customers continue exploring new possibilities and applications for HPC, Intel is dedicated to facilitating their success. Intel works with HPC partners from various industries to enable forward-thinking cloud use cases such as bursting, AI, and advanced analytics. Learn how Intel collaborates with Public and Private Cloud Service Providers to optimize HPC workloads for fast, cost-effective execution on Intel-based Cloud Instances.

The door closing feel is directly experienced by the customer and is typically treated as a subjective functional attribute. Objective targets have also been identified and correlated with subjective feelings, even though the final sign-off happens based on subjective assessment. Door Closing is a complex function involving multiple subsystems, their behavior & interface across parts.

In modern Electric Vehicles, body panel design plays a huge role in thermal management for the Li-Ion battery and powertrain performance. Early-stage aerodynamic and thermal prediction is necessary for surface optimization of vehicle exterior. Well defined and controlled flow phenomena need to be achieved around the vehicle during A- surface development phase, to improve the ride performance and handling of the vehicle on the road In this phase, Altair CFD Thermal solver AcuSolve drastically reduced the time consumed for analysis

The aerodynamics design of high-performance bikes plays a significant role in reducing the overall drag, increase in speed, and improving the range efficiency. To improve and sustain the performance of the EV, it is necessary to explore various factors such as aerodynamically streamlining the vehicle design, optimise frontal area, and cooling electronic components as well.

Dactem (a DAM group company), developer of specialist test, measurement and assembly solutions for the aerospace industries, presents an overview of the optimization of a thrust balance used for accurate measurements in electrical thruster qualification endurance testing. The presentation will provide details on how a Multiphysics simulation approach was used to find the optimum design taking mechanical, thermal and electromagnetic performance into account. Speakers: Emmanuel Pouleau, CEO, Dactem (a DAM Group company) Pierre Moutet, Engineer, Dactem (a DAM Group company) Duration: 15 minutes

Altair® EDEM™ is a discrete element method solver that enables users to accurately simulate particulate processes. When coupled with Altair Computational Fluid Dynamics (AcuSolve), these two solutions enable the simulation and analysis of two-phase solid-fluid systems. These simulation tools are widely used in various industries and in academia to deepen the understanding of different unit operations, such as mixers, coaters, fluidized beds and pneumatic conveyors. The unique and novel solutions that Altair offers address the challenges when using DEM and coupled CFD-DEM methods.

Sustainable designs last longer. David Yáñez from Vortex Bladeless, a Spanish start-up, shares his vision of the technology, the strategies used for the integration of the different physical phenomena involved in the simulation-driven design, and the development of their resonating structures having minimal parts susceptible to wear by friction. The simulation results from CFD, with fluid-structure interaction, and electromagnetic field simulation are compared with experimental wind tunnel results and from in-service environments.

Dust is a serious problem for industries that handle and process bulk materials, causing deteriorating ambient air quality, human health concerns, while increases housekeeping labor costs to meet safe levels for health and fire risks. Learn from Dr. Andrew Grima about the technologies employed to develop a successful solution to minimize dust by using calibrated discrete element modeling (DEM) and new dust extraction technology.

The ever-advancing digitization is being driven by the convergence of simulation, data, and HPC. While virtual methods, interoperable tools, and standardized interfaces become state of the art, the engineers and their management will play a significant role to break down silos and benefit from a Digital Thread. In this fireside chat, we will discuss the importance of people to unleash the potential of Digital Twins, how they can combine the different fields of product development and what is still missing to make the connection.

An intuitive and robust CFD workflow is available in Altair® SimLab® - a process-oriented, feature-based finite element analysis software that allows you to quickly and accurately simulate the engineering behavior of complex assemblies. For fluid and thermal analyses, SimLab can make the model setup process even faster, repeatable, thereby minimizing tedious manual steps that can be automated. A live demo will be performed using real-world models to show the simple and smooth analysis process in Altair SimLab that goes from CAD to results in minutes.

For the past three decades, Altair’s optimization solutions have driven the innovative, lightweight, and structurally efficient designs of many products you see and use every day. The intense focus on additive manufacturing in recent years have given a boost to topology optimization and generative design, providing more freedom to explore alternatives. Today, we keep on innovating the technology, looking at including multiple physics, like thermal, electromagnetics, and fluid flow to drive design. Altair AcuSolve – coupled with Altair Optistruct – enables engineers to find the optimum shape by simply defining inlets, outlets, and the allowable space in which the solver can work. AcuSolve’s gradient-based topology optimization method will quickly and efficiently find the path of least resistance to deliver fluid flows with minimal effort.

The Digital Twin concept is broadly applicable to all Altair customer base wanting to develop better products faster. We will explain how to maximize the value you can get from the Altair Platform for Digital Twins. We will illustrate how this solution helps diverse engineering teams develop better, more complex products faster by avoiding work in silos. This will include proven uses cases for the convergence of simulation and data.

For several years now, co-simulation between Multibody Dynamics (MBD) codes like MotionSolve and Discrete Element Method (DEM) software like EDEM has been used for many applications such as vehicles and material transportation. One missing link has been a realistic tire model that not only could interact with the soil material in a realistic way but also show the influence of varying tire pressure, change in contact area and pressure distribution over said contact area.

For very soft material such as deep mud with a high-pressure tire, using a rigid wheel is a decent approximation. But for tires on harder surface, this method has several short comings. For example, a rigid representation of the tire will have neglectable rolling resistance while the pressure distribution on a real tire has its peak well ahead of the centerline of the tire producing a resisting moment to the motion. The contact patch area will in reality not depend on sinkage, but the sinkage is dependent on the contact area that is dependent on load and internal pressure.

This presentation introduces the new PM-FlexTire model that is integrated in EDEM and will work with MotionSolve. Requirements for creating and correlating the tire model is presented together with several application examples on mud, clay and gravel beds.

Presented at the ATCx Heavy Equipment in May 2021.

Speaker: Jesper Slattengren, Technical Fellow, Pratt Miller

Duration: 20 minutes

The chassis of a the RAVO 5 iSeries street sweeper has been a proven design that has remained relatively unchanged since the mid-60’s. However, due to increasing weight and size requirements, as well as possible changes to the driving mechanism, an overhaul of the chassis platform is needed. To develop a new (modular) chassis, which is suited for upcoming and future changes, a CAE-driven design approach is chosen, which is being performed by VIRO. When using computer-aided engineering (CAE), the chief problem is to define or estimate the acting loads and / or boundary conditions on a structure. In case such a structure is dynamically loaded, such a determination is further aggravated. Furthermore, if that structure is a chassis, a wide range of load cases and interconnected systems (e.g. tyres, suspension) effect the multifaceted loading behavior.

By utilizing multibody dynamics (MBD) and creating a MBD-model of the current street sweeper, a first step is taken towards developing a new (modular) chassis. The calculated loads and moments acting on the suspensions and chassis are quantified for e.g. several worst case scenarios, which allows for well-founded decisions in relation to the new design. Furthermore, these load conditions can be used as input for future topographic optimizations and / or stress analyses. An important part, when creating a CAE-model, i.e. in this case a MBD-model, is the validation of that model by experiments and /or analytic formulations. Consequently several calculated load cases have been tested in the field and in mutual cooperation. A subsequent verification shows that the measured accelerations correlate well with the calculated accelerations from the MBD-model.

Presented at the ATCx Heavy Equipment in May 2021.

Speaker: Thijs Romans, Group Leader Engineering Analysis, VIRO

Duration: 20 minutes

G.S. Vidyaprakash presents how Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd. drives the design process with simulation. In his presentation First Time Right Machine Design with CAE Simulation, he discusses reliable simulation techniques to predict & prevent failure modes.

Controller strategy expert Lorenzo Moretti presents how to improve Cobot collaboration. In the context of virtual commissioning, he discusses how more meaningful controller design is possible with realistic plant models.

Benoit Pelourdeau presents how Stanley Robotics SAS drives the design process with simulation, to develop the world's first robotic car storage service. Learn from him how the interdisciplinary mechatronic product development team succeeds with accurate virtual prototypes.

Daniel Jauss, Application Engineer CAE, gives a Demo Sessions on Altair Simulation Solutions for faster evaluation of real-world machines, explaining how to improve system understanding with dynamic motion analysis to Identify real behavior of the machine assembly and Identify peak loads.

Christian Kehrer, Business Development Manager System Modelling, gives a Demo Sessions on Altair Simulation Solutions for faster evaluation of real-world machines, explaining how CNC control optimization is performed to realize toolpath error correction of a CNC milling machine, with system simulation and how more effective controller design with realistic plant models is realized.

Industry expert Dennis Baum presents how Weber Maschinenbau applies simulation, how simulation can be used along product lifecycle and which benefits arise to customers and internal processes.

In this presentation, MIRDC’s Bionic Intelligent Automatic Guided Vehicle (BI-AGV) is introduced. This “collaborative handling module” has three characteristics of wireless intelligence, flexible use and flexible movement. Through the wireless intelligent collaborative handling system, it can control several automatic guided vehicles (AGVS) in real time, and several vehicles can conduct remote control and serial connection to carry out handling tasks. At the same time, the 360-degree mobile omni-directional wheel design framework is adopted. It has the advantages of flexible use in the area where the traditional unmanned vehicle cannot run smoothly in the indoor narrow space.

Dr Venkat Perumal, Senior Principle Engineer at Stryker Global Technology Center discusses the adoption of simulation in Medical Device industry and how it helps shorten the overall product development cycle time & cost. While adoption of simulation has the ability to reduce and time, physics-based models need rigorous verification, validation and uncertainty quantification. This talk will include examples, where physics-based simulation results lent insight of the product performance, materials modeling and structure-properties correlation. The role of industry-academia-private & public partnership in driving the change from 100% ‘make & break’ to ‘simulation driven product development’ including regulatory submission will be discussed. The video is 12 minutes long and was presented at the Altair Technology Conference 2020.

A welcome address to Altair's ATCx CFD virtual event hosted in 2020, presented by Andy Fine, VP CFD Solutions EMEA at Altair.

Presented at the ATCx CFD 2020, Fast and Accurate Solutions to Optimize CFD Performance by Stephen Cosgrove, VP CFD Solutions Americas at Altair.

Presented at the ATCx CFD 2020. A New & Revolutionary Way to Collect Energy from Wind by David Yáñez, Co-Founder of Vortex Bladeless.

Workshop 3: General Purpose CFD presented live at the ATCx CFD 2020 virtual event.

Recorded at the ATCx CFD 2020 virtual event, this is a Q&A with Torbjörn Larsson, Former Head of CFD for Ferrari F1. With previous roles at BMW F1, General Motors and Saab Military Aircraft, Torbjörn has 30 years of industrial experience in fluid mechanics and CFD. Listen to the questions our audience posed to Torbjörn in this 30 minute session.

Learn how Altair’s flexible and efficient CFD solvers pave the way for simulation-based design in the field of Computational Fluid Dynamics.

More and more engineers need to solve problems that can span multiple physics including structural, thermal, electromagnetics, and fluid dynamics.

The world is full of bulk and granular materials. From ores being mined, soil being excavated, rocks being conveyed, or powders being processed - over 70% of all industrial processes involve the handling or processing of these challenging materials.

Winning the innovation race for mechatronics products requires a tool set which can support a multi-disciplinary development process from early concept design up to in-service support.

These success stories illustrate how customers are leveraging Altair's Math & Systems technology for Model-Based Development to develop better products, faster. Simulations involve 3D, 1D, and/or 0D modeling approaches based on the integrated use of Altair MotionSolve™, Altair Activate™, and/or Altair Compose™.

With the prospect of increasing labor shortages among a wide variety of industries, combined with the significant costs of occupational injuries and the ever-increasing pressure to increase productivity, leading robotics company, Sarcos is in a unique position to deploy industrial robotics designed to increase productivity while eliminating injuries, by augmenting rather than replacing human workers. Chris Beaufait, COO of Sarcos, discusses the current robotics landscape, why automation is not the right solution to the problems industries are facing, how Sarcos and its product lineup - including the full body, fully powered Guardian XO exoskeleton - will play a critical role in defining the workforce of tomorrow, and his vision for the robotics industry over the next five to 10 years.

Presentation by Konstantin Arhiptsov & by Eitan Maler, Simulation Dept. IWI Israel Weapon Industries (IWI) at the ATCx in Israel, Netanya on October 30, 2019. These days, in IWI, complete multi physics simulation is an integrated tool in the development of any new product. The motivation is to completely simulate one or two firing cycles as close to reality. First step is the Multi Body Dynamics simulation to check all mechanism are synchronized and work properly. Second is the explicit simulations - calibrating the mechanical properties of the pistol, in that the springs, contacts, materials and gun powder properties based on one firing cycle. The following is to calibrate the Non Rigid Boundary conditions (NRBC’s). This calibration of boundary conditions which are not completely fixed is crucial to understanding the actual strains and stresses on the parts. One of the approaches was to use known data of the stiffness of arm and wrist, implementing this data into a HyperStudy model to compare and calibrate the results based on a slow motion capturing of a real firing. The results are promising, with high accuracy of the behavior compared to a real capturing of the shooting, up to the point of slider getting to the end of its move – where most of the kinetic energy transform into loads on the frame. The following steps will be to calibrate, using the same method, the return of the slider to it’s original position and perform more than one firing cycle.

Presenter: Christian Kehrer, Business Development Manager, Altair

This presentation discusses the multi-disciplinary evaluation of truck platooning, with the lead truck sending out acceleration, braking and steering signals for the following trucks to react accordingly. The benefits address safety requirements, fuel savings, traffic capacity and convenience. The presentation demonstrates why platooning requires a holistic approach in the sense of connecting different modeling and simulation methods for a virtual evaluation of this system of systems.

Presenter: Nino Michniok, Mechanical Engineering Student, University of Kaiserslautern

The first part of the presentation shows the detailed process of building the multibody system of an actuated exoskeleton in MotionView/MotionSolve (MV/MS). The required movements are transferred to the corresponding joints by “Motions”. By this the exoskeleton can Stand Up, Walk diagonally across the floor and Sit Down. In the second part the “Motions” in MV/MS are replaced by controllers (position control) whichdeliver a certain torque to actuate the exoskeleton. The main topic here is the implementation of the co-simulation between Activate and MV/MS. In the end the presentation gives a quick outlook of similar works at the University of Applied Sciences Kaiserslautern in Germany.

Presenter: Dario Mangoni on behalf of Alessandro Tasora, Engineering Professor and Digital Dynamics Lab Leader, University of Parma

This presentation address the use of the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) deep reinforcement learning algorithm to train a Neural Network to control a robotic walker and a robotic arm in simulation. The Neural Network is trained to control the torque setpoints of motors in order to achieve an optimal goal.

Presenter: Kaustubh Deshpande, Chassis Engineer, Nikola Motor Company

This presentation describes Nikola Motor’s progression of design maturity from 1D CAE to 3D CAD/CAE for chassis system engineering work on their electric trucks. This progression spans from Voice of Customer to Functional Requirements to Functional Deployment to Structural Deployment. Nikola Motor starts with a ‘First Principles’ model of their truck/trailer vehicle dynamics, then they perform system modeling & simulation with Altair Activate using quarter- and half-truck/trailer models. Block diagrams are created using both signal-based blocks and physical-based blocks (with Modelica). Through this methodical process, Nikola Motor is able to derive more and better insight earlier in their development process regarding important vehicle characteristics for their trucks – ranging from ‘yaw rate of the tractor for loaded vs. unloaded trailer’ to ‘full-trailer load distribution sensitivity due to fifth wheel location’. Work is in-progress to tighten the connection between their 1D CAE simulations in Altair Activate™ and their 3D CAE multi-body dynamics simulations.

Presenter: Ronald Kett, Technical Specialist, Altair

For a Stewart-Gough-Platform (Hexapod), various software tools were used to study and design highly dynamic hydraulic drives together with an overall system control. Calculation of Eigenfrequencies, control design and comparison, hydraulic system design, and overall simulation control were done in Altair Activate, the mechanics of the Stewart-Gough-Platform was taken from a CAD model into Altair Inspire Motion. The co-simulation between control + hydraulics and mechanics was performed using Activate and Altair MotionSolve. Altair HyperView and HyperGraph were used to analyze and visualize the results. With the highly integrated solutions, the results could be achieved within a very short time. The different types of models (linear/simplified/full mechanics/hydraulics) made it possible to start with fast development cycles and finally achieve reliable results.