cfd « The Virtual Engineer

Engineering Grad School: MBA vs. MSE?

February 29th, 2008 Posted in cfd, cfdesign, grad school, upfront

Great article in this month’s Mechanical Engineering magazine. It gets into the heart of making the decision about continuing to grad school after engineering school. It is a really good article. It gives an unbiased view of the pluses and negatives of two separate paths. Definitely a must read for new graduates.

I have been out of grad school for a number of years and found the article very interesting. I look back on my decision to take the master’s in engineering path as one of the smarter decisions that I made early in life. At the time, quite frankly, I was just looking to stay in school as long as possible. I was having a great time in engineering school while paying the bills bartending all through college. The thought that I would be able to sleep until noon, attend grad classes in the late afternoon and not have to pay for it, was a no-brainer for me.

I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but graduate school taught me some of the advanced fundamentals of fluids and heat transfer, but most importantly, it taught me how to take a conceptual project from idea to completion. It was also my first exposure to CFD. I dabbled in small development projects, tons and tons of lab testing and a fair share of “traditional” CFD. Although, I am not sure that at the time, it was fair to call it traditional. It was simply cutting edge at the time, but way out-dated by today’s standards.

It really gave me a great appreciation for “the process” of simulation. I really believe it kick started my career path into Upfront CFD. I am looking forward to what the future brings both for me and for things to come in the Upfront Simulation movement.

I always thought about what would have happened if I decided on an MBA instead? Looking forward to hearing others experiences.

An Underground Subway Stop is a Great Platform for Upfront CFD

February 26th, 2008 Posted in cfd, cfdesign, hvac, subway, underground, upfront, upfront cfd

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HVAC applications keep popping up more and more. Anything from new construction of “green” buildings to retrofitting 100 year old subway systems.

Here is a model I worked on recently that allowed us to optimize the airflow inside an existing subway station. We were able to try a variety of what-if scenarios — with and without cars, with and without people as well as various heat loads (best and worse case scenario).

Who’s Driving IRONCAD?

February 18th, 2008 Posted in cadkey, cfd, cfdesign, ironcad, kubotek, upfront cfd, vx

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An article was recently published highlighting the New Features of the latest release of IRONCAD. I love learning about products like this. They have been around for along time, so there must be enough room in the market for everyone. I always placed them in the same category as Kubotek (CADKEY), Alibre, VX etc… Not sure it’s fair to classify them in the same group?

But based upon what I’ve read, appears to have a ton of really cool features. The U/I above looks modern, lots of drag & drop etc. I would really like to hear from users out there who are driving IRONCAD. Not sure how it stands up to the mainstream systems, like SolidWorks, Inventor etc. But after browsing their gallery, pretty clear that users are modeling some pretty cool things. I’ve always been a fan of the smaller guy out there. They typically have a pretty solid product with a devoted user base. I’d like to hear from some of you…

PLM is the Theme of Wildfire 4

February 16th, 2008 Posted in cfd, cfdesign, pro/e, ptc, wf4, wildfire

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The term “PLM” has been around for a number of years. I used to view it as a smoke and mirrors type of marketing campaign. I never really understood it, until recently. I used to always view the CAD market as high end (old, clunky, yet powerful) vs. mid-range (new, super cool, 90% functionality). I really didn’t get the high end market. I figured alot of it had to do with legacy installations and complicated relationships at large organizations. But the more you dig into it, there is some method behind the madness. It is more than just modeling products and tracking them via a vault system for PDM. There is the interaction with ECAD data, routing & tubing but more importantly it is the “lifecycle” of the design. Not sure I can really put words around what that means, but I think I get it. Check out the New Features in WF4, it should shed light on what I am saying.

We have been partners of PTC for a very long time. We have been fortunate to see Pro/Engineer evolve substantially over the last few years. Having access to all of the CAD systems is a real treat. We are able to get our hands on the releases ahead of time and provide feedback to the developers. I have been driving WF4 for a few months now. To see a video of how to perform an Upfront CFD analysis with Wildfire 4, click here.

Efficient Design is the Key to Success

February 10th, 2008 Posted in apple, cfd, cfdesign, iphone, upfront, upfront cfd

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I mentioned Desktop Engineering Magazine in my last post. There is a great article by Amy Rowell that discusses the importance of design. The point is that it is extremely important to push the envelope on design regardless of the industry you serve. Pushing the envelope can mean many things. For some, it may involve the industrial design department, others may need to tweak a % or two to gain extra efficiency and others may need to ensure that their thermal management can accomodate the latest and greatest coming from the EE’s. No better example of a company that pushes the envelope than Apple. They have raised the bar so we now expect them to “wow” us. Difficult position to be in for a company, but they are certainly reaping the benefits.

We speak to many engineering manager’s all over the world everyday that acknowledge the fact that competition is tough and they would like to expand their foothold on the market. Unfortunately, they are already stretched thin and are struggling to keep up with the demand of their existing products. It is doubtful that hiring additional engineers is on the shortlist. So, doesn’t it make sense to optimize the efficiency of your existing team? I know people are cringing as this is the perfect time for a sales pitch. Bear with me.

Today’s engineer is multi-tasking. Time management is probably the biggest obstacle. Personally, I go through an exercise of jotting down where I spend my time each day. No fancy tools, just pen and notebook. I try to see where I am wasting time, not necessarily spending the most time. I am trying to identify tasks or areas that can be eliminated or automated.

So, where does Upfront CAE come into play? Begin to look at your process. Are you spending time, building and testing? Is it a fast and inexpensive process? I doubt the answer is yes. Are you spending time supporting customers after the fact because your products are failing in the field? Are there areas of your new designs that you really think would have an impact, but there just isn’t enough time in the day to try them? If the answer is not an definitive, NO, then you should at least talk to somone about Upfront CAE.

To start, my advice, ask the sales guy how he envisions incoporating Upfront CAE into “your” process? Often, we get very tied up in how software works click for click. This can be a huge time sink. It is important to understand how it can be implemented first. The rest, usually falls into place.

Desktop Engineering Magazine is Awesome!!!

February 8th, 2008 Posted in cae, cfd, cfdesign, desktop engineering, upfront, upfront cfd

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Busy week, quick post. Desktop Engineering Magazine is one of my favorite magazines. There is an online version as well as the hard copy. I love having everything digital, but there is quite alot to be said for the glossy images that come out each month. Greatest thing, it’s free. Go check them out.

The Downhole Drilling Industry is Ideal for Upfront CFD

February 2nd, 2008 Posted in cfd, cfdesign, drilling, gas, oil, upfront cfd

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Sitting around on a Saturday afternoon, flicking through the channels and stumbled upon a show on “Deep Sea Drilling”. Pretty sure it was on the Discovery Channel. Having done a fair amount of work over the last two years in the Oil & Gas industry, I was intrigued. It was awesome. I think the majority of us take energy sources for granted. We just expect that it will always be there. But considering the fact that a good majority of the oil and gas drilling is done on the bottom of the ocean floor, many miles off the coast and in some cases miles under ground, the technology required is fairly sophisticated. The conditions are pretty harsh and the challenges are endless.

For every minute that a rig is not operating, the cost is tremendous. So, the reliability of the equipment is key. On the fluids side of the world, the issues are endless.

Cavitation
Erosion
Optimizing pressure drop
Optimizing flow patterns
Reducing flow impingement

Actually, the above issues are all related. Upfront CFD is a perfect fit for this world. Traditional CFD has been in this market for a number of years. But, quite frankly, having a “CFD Specialist” on staff is becoming a thing of the past. Certainly, there is a need for them in some of the companies out there, but the “multi-tasking” engineer is more the norm. He/she needs to get quick insight on the flow characteristics of his designs, have the ability to make a tweak to the CAD model, compare and repeat. This process has to be quick, intuitive and reliable.

Check out the video of a tri-cone bit. This is a very common design that is used in drilling the holes to extract the energy source. This device is 1000′s of feet under ground with high pressure fluid being blasted through to wash the debris back up to the surface. This video shows the traces of the fluid in the hole as well as the pressure contour of the flow inside the bit. This is just one of the many components in this world that are reaping the benefits of Upfront CFD. Take a minute and Google “downhole drilling”, pretty amazing industry.

Lighting is the Hot Industry for Upfront CFD

January 29th, 2008 Posted in cfd, cfdesign, cooling, lighting, upfront cfd

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The trend for lighting designers is to emit as much light as possible for a given input power. Various new applications are evolving everyday. There has obviously been a huge push to make things “greener”. This pushes engineers to optimize their designs and maiximize efficiency. LEDs are the hottest thing right now. No pun intended.

Designers are always trying to cram these light sources into tiny little areas. This causes major issues on how to cool the devices. Most of the time, they do not have the luxury of actively cooling the lights. They have to rely on natural convection and have to be creative on the various types of heat sinks they use. This is a perfect application for Upfront CFD.

In the past, there was tons and tons of trial and error. Hand calcs and best practices only go so far. It is impossible to account for the various shapes and sizes of the heat sinks. It is much faster and cheaper to build your design in CAD, run an analysis, verify that the temps are within spec and then make a change and optimize.

A really cool article was recently published that highlights how Upfront CFD was used to ensure that gigantic lighting displays are cooled properly. The lighting displays are used in stadiums and the Las Vegas strip.

Literally seems like these lighting applications are popping up everywhere. Seems odd that lighting companies wouldn’t have been the first people in line to jump on the Upfront CFD train?!?

CAD Skills are No Longer a Requirement for Upfront CFD

January 27th, 2008 Posted in cfd, cfdesign, spaceclaim, upfront, upfront cfd

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The terms “Upfront CFD” and “CAD jock” used to go hand and hand. It wasn’t a requirement to have CAD chops, but it sure helped. The thought was that if you were familiar with CAD, you could easily pick up Upfront CFD.

It seemed to make sense. There were 1000s of engineers out there that were designing a variety of different products, driving CAD everyday and had a need to do a quick flow and thermal simulation. Better yet, they would want to me able to make a change in CAD and see the model update and per from a variety of “what if” scenarios.

But, the more the market matures and the more accepted Upfront CFD has become, the more people want it. Including engineers that simply are not driving CAD everyday. Whether it be that they are in R&D or there are simply other guys on their team that do the CAD side of things. Not a real big deal, they leverage their CAD guys and work hand and hand to make modifications to the CAD. Meanwhile they spend a majority of their time on the Upfront CFD side of things. But this process can be limiting.

Enter SpaceClaim. This was one of the sole purposes of their existence. They are the “go between”. Fully functional modeler that allows you to import CAD models from a variety of locations. You can then modify the geometry and add additional geometry. The thing that makes SpaceClaim awesome is that it’s interface is bone simple. Let’s face it, the whole process is bone simple. You can purchase it online, it’s cheap and no training required.. They have a few videos that you can watch and you are off and running. We now have a direct link to SpaceClaim.

Not a believer? Go check it out for yourself. You can download it for 30days. Check out the video I created above. Shows the process on the geometry side. It is Part 1 of a multi part series of videos I am creating for non-CAD guys who have a need for Upfront CFD.

The Fundamentals of Upfront CAE Should Start in the Universities

January 23rd, 2008 Posted in cfd, cfdesign, colleges, mechanical engineering, mechanical engineering magazine, school, university, upfront, upfront cfd

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A few articles were published in this month’s Mechanical Engineering Magazine, highlighting the usage of CFD & FEA in universities. Music to my ears. The dilemna seems to be how to incorporate this into an already tight curriculum? Hmm, considering the importance, I think the implementation can be worked out.

When I was in school, there was a big disconnect between the fundamentals of engineering and the engineering software tools. Looking back, I would have benefited way more if they were taught in tandem. I think schools have come along way over the years and this are a bit more in sync, but they can still be improved.

Unfortunately, like many others, I was forced to teach myself (and all the bad habits associated with it) most of the engineering software tools that were available. I was able to operate it and generate images, pretty sure they were right… Figured I’d post a cool spring loaded poppet valve simulation while I was on a tangent.

The author in the ME article makes a great point when she discusses teaching students how to use it to solve engineering problems, not necessarily how to make the picks and the clicks. I think the challenge is that the professors have to be proficient in the tools that are used. This is a tough one. Many of the university professors have extensive experience in R&D and tend to have a “specialty”. Difficult for them to have a wide background on various tools that are being used in the various industries. Let’s be honest, how many of them have any experience in Upfront CAE? If they were exposed to any of the tools, they were most likely traditional, older tools that focused on very sophisticated types of analysis.

Obviously, the tools are changing drastically over the years with a niche for helping engineers design faster, cheaper and better. There is no better community of people that will understand this fundamental concept better than todays engineering students.

Take a deep breath and imagine yourself back in your engineering classes. How much easier would it be if you were able to actually see the fundamentals of Bernoulli’s eqn or fully developed flow vs. not fully developed. How about heat transfer? How much easier would thermal contact resistance have been to understand if you could see a simple contour plot live?

More importantly, think of how it would have driven home the point on how to problem solve? How to take a very real problem, sketch it up parametrically, run an analysis and make a change to see the effects of the various parameters. “Make this dimension larger, it will then make this spot cooler”. No question, the fundamental equations have to be taught and fully understood. But we need to teach tomorrow’s engineers how to implement these equations and put them to good use in today’s world.