SIMTEQ Newsletter June 2024

Introduction

events

Product of the month

The art of engineering

New releases

Tips & Training

We are halfway through 2024, User's Conference on the way!

The SIMTEQ Users’ Conference agenda has been published at https://simteq.co.za/uc-agenda/ and registrations are still open! With less than 1 month to the conference, register now since seats are limited!

As we enter the second half of the year, we are thrilled to share some exciting updates and events coming up in July.

Training Highlights for July:

CRA251, 301 - Introduction to scFlow and scStream: 2 - 4 July
Adams Modeler Condensed Online Course: 8 - 12 July
Apex Workshop with Apex's Product Manager: 24 July (This is going to be massive)

Additionally, we have the CAEFatigue - Theory and Practical Fatigue Analysis using CAEFatigue course scheduled from 30 July to 1 August.

In the art of engineering this month, we cover the novel approach of contact-less gears. It is such a "Why didn't I think of that?" moment that it immediately classified as the perfect candidate for our monthly Art of Engineering piece. Just when you think you've seen it all, something as innovative as this comes along. May is also training month at SIMTEQ, if you haven't registered yet to obtain some CPD points and invest in your career.

And last but certainly not least, we are proud to announce that SIMTEQ has reached 3,000 followers on LinkedIn – 3,184 to be exact. Thank you for your support and engagement!

Stay tuned for more updates and insights as we continue to advance in the world of engineering simulation and technology.

Regards

Managing Director

AI Webinar Series

We are happy to announce that Hexagon's AI webinar series has reached 500+ registrations.
Please share and let's make it a great success!

SIMTEQ Users Conference 2024

Have you Registered yet?

Get ready for an exciting lineup of events this season!

The SIMTEQ Users’ Conference agenda has been published and registrations still are open! With less than 1 month to the conference, register now since seats are limited!

Make sure to register if you haven't yet! Get ready for a day of networking, learning and innovation. Whether you're an industry expert or a post-grad student, this is the perfect opportunity to connect, share insights and explore the latest advancements in engineering simulation.

SIMTEQ Training and Workshops

For those looking to deepen their technical expertise, enrol in the CRA251, 301 - Introduction to scFlow and scStream, running from the 2nd to the 4th of July. Then we have an Adams Modeler Condensed Online Course, running from the 8th to the 12th of July - offers 1 CPD points and will equip you with the skills to tackle complex nonlinear problems with confidence.

We also expect an Apex Workshop with Apex's Product Manager, make sure to book now as this is going to be massive! Additionally, we have the CAEFatigue - Theory and Practical Fatigue Analysis using CAEFatigue course scheduled from 30th of July to the 1st of August, also offering 1 CPD points and will equip you with the skills to tackle complex nonlinear problems with confidence.

Mark your calendars and make sure to register early for these can't miss events!

Elements

Within the virtual manufacturing and simulations industry “digital twin” has become quite a buzzword. A digital twin is a software-based representation of a physical system that can revolutionize full system analysis. By integrating real-time data from sensors and other sources, a digital twin mirrors the behavior and performance of its physical counterpart. This enables continuous monitoring, predictive maintenance, and optimisation of the system.

Engineers can use the digital twin to simulate different scenarios, assess potential improvements, and detect issues before they impact the real system, thereby enhancing efficiency, reliability, and overall performance. This is where our product of the month comes into play.

For comprehensive system analysis, Elements stands out as the definitive solution. Elements serve as a modelling environment that enables the creation and simulation of intricate multidomain physical systems. With Elements, you can construct component diagrams to graphically represent physical systems. Elements uses both symbolic and numeric methods to automatically generate model equations from these diagrams, facilitating high-fidelity simulations.

Build Complex Multidomain Models

With Elements, you can construct models that integrate components from a wide variety of engineering disciplines into a single analysis system. Elements offers an extensive library of modelling components, including electrical, hydraulic, mechanical, pneumatic, and thermal devices, as well as sensors, sources, and signal blocks. Additionally, you have the flexibility to create custom components tailored to your specific modelling and simulation requirements.

Connectivity and Compliancy

Apart from the extensive component library that Elements offers, it is also compliant with FMI standards. Elements’ SmartConnect FMU capability offers the option to unlock the FMU to trusted users. This FMU is no longer a ‘black box’, but rather the original model can be viewed, interrogated, edited and then recreated.

This extended functionality, which will break down siloes and reduce bottlenecks between departments, is available when connecting with other Hexagon products - Adams and Easy5

Interactive 3-D Visualization Tools

The Elements 3-D visualization environment allows you to build and animate 3-D graphical representations of your multibody mechanical system models. You can use this environment to validate the 3-D configuration of your model and visually analyze the behavior of your system under different conditions and at different simulation start times.

Mechanical Neural Networks

The human quest to understand and replicate intelligence has taken a great leap forward with the recent advances in neural networks. These intelligent systems, inspired by the complex web of interconnected neurons in the human brain, are transforming our interactions with computers, machines and our approach to solving problems.

The journey began in 1943 when neurophysiologist Warren McCulloch and mathematician Walter Pitts published their paper "The Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity," setting the foundation for neural network development (Macukow, 2023). In 1957, psychologist Frank Rosenblatt introduced the Perceptron, the first trainable neural network, on an IBM 704, a computer weighing 5 tons and occupying an entire room. The Perceptron showcased its learning capabilities by distinguishing marked punch cards (Hardesty, 2017; Lefkowitz, 2019).

Fast forward to November 30, 2022, when OpenAI launched ChatGPT, a revolutionary large language model that captivated 100 million users in just two months. This milestone ignited a wave of innovation in AI and Data Science, leading to the emergence of advanced models like Google's Gemini, xAI's Grok, and OpenAI's Sora in the following years. These intelligent systems are evolving rapidly, lowering the barriers to entry for programming, data science, and AI development, creating a positive feedback loop that accelerates continuous progress and reshapes the landscape of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

In a paper published by Ryan H. Lee, Erwin A. B. Mulder, and Jonathan B. Hopkins called “Mechanical Neural Networks: Architected Materials that Learn Behaviours,” the authors describe their smart truss system as the first true mechanical neural network. These novel devices incorporate the fundamentals of artificial neural networks and apply them to a physical system. The system functions as a truss system/lattice with tunable truss elements as weights.

The truss elements incorporate activation functions by employing hard stops. This enables the system to learn complex non-linear data correlations and multiple solutions. By adjusting the stiffness of these truss elements, the properties of the lattice can be modified, enabling the system to learn and exhibit desired mechanical behaviours such as shape morphing, acoustic wave propagation, and mechanical computation. Additionally, the beams can be adjusted to achieve specific bulk properties of a material, including Poisson's ratio, shear modulus, Young's modulus, and density (Lee et al., 2022).

Envision buildings that anticipate earthquakes, airfoils that morph during flight, car suspensions that adapt to driving styles and materials that respond to impacts. These innovations highlight a future where intelligent infrastructure evolves into dynamic systems, continuously learning and adapting to the ever-changing world (Lee et al., 2022).

VCollab 23.3

VCollab 23.3 is now available on the Software Download Center.

FlightLoads 2024.1

FlightLoads 2024.1 is now available on the Software Download Center.

Patran 2024.1

The newest version of Patran is now available in the Software Download Center.

You won’t want to miss Patran 2024.1, which expands Patran’s rotordynamics capabilities, and adds new MSC Nastran card support and HDF5 model import support. You can see the full list of enhancements and learn more about them on our SimCompanion page

Here are the highlights of Patran 2024.1

Rotordynamics

- We have streamlined the job setup of rotor analysis for the solution sequences 101, 108, 109, 111, 128 and 129.
- Multiple rotor support has also been added.

MSC Nastran card support:

- The high-performance nonlinear solver (NLPERF), introduced in the current MSC Nastran 2024.1 release, is based on a revamped SOL400 architecture optimized for efficiency and speed. The MSC Nastran flagship solution for non-linear analysis (SOL 400) has now extended support in Patran, including the NLMOPTS and NSSEL options.
- Cards ACCEL/ACCEL1, which represent static acceleration loads that remain constant over time, are now available in Patran.
- The MDLPRM Offset option is available under analysis/translation parameters in the user interface. With this option, users can conveniently define how element offsets will behave during the simulation.

Graphical rendering update

- We have extended the support for graphical rendering beside the entity and group mode, and now also include property and material-based rendering.

HDF5 Postprocessing:

- Fringe Post processing is supported for composite enveloping.
- HDF5 model imports are supported.

Patran 2023.3 (only elements)

Patran 2024.1 (contact def. with HDF5 model import)

Download Patran 2023.4 to take advantage of these improvements. Want to check out past updates or find documentation?

Visit our SimCompanion page.

MSC Apex Tip

How to align two bodies in Apex in only three steps:

The transform tool in MSC Apex is a controversial topic in the community, especially when it comes to its many hidden features.

Aligning objects in MSC Apex is one of those.

Watch this short video clip to see how easy it is and NO, you DON'T USE the Rotate option!

1) Select the part
2) NB: Select the triad origin (ball)
3) Select the source edge/vector
4) Select the target edge or face normal

Now you are either done, or you simply repeat steps 3 and 4 to align a second axis and then you are done.

Tip: To translate or rotate another tool without closing the form, press the ESC key and select the other part.