Why Simulate?

The question “Why do we simulate?” isn’t a very straightforward or light-hearted one. If we change a few terminologies, the question can also be rephrased as:​

Why do we use computers and/or Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software to solve engineering problems? ​
Why do we utilize numerical methods to solve mathematical models describing physical behaviours relevant to engineers scientists?

Before the detailed explanations are discussed on the abovementioned terminologies, the question can even be simplified to:​

“Why do we use tools (or technology) in general”?

This is a question most people with and without a technical background and mindset will be able to answer. Although there will be different opinions and priorities, the most prominent responses will be “to reduce efforts”, “to save time” and even “to increase consistency”. There will always be a strive to save time and money while maintaining quality in order to be competitive and relevant in any business environment. Not to mention product development and sustainability. Mankind will always make use of available knowledge and suitable tools to survive, and in certain circumstances, to thrive.

If this reason is brought back to our original question(s), the answer and motivations may seem obvious as most engineers are talented in finding ways to do more work with less efforts. However, certain tools in the engineering industry not only help to accurately speed up repetitive tasks and calculations, but also help us to gain insights into the science and engineering involved in product design and development. The time saved on complicated, elaborate analyses while ensuring certainty on product performance and quality, is the powerful gear-ratio that defines the requirement for engineering tools such as simulation technology. Increasing the business potential (i.e. product or solutions output) for a fixed amount of time is the definition of profit efficiency, the primary reason why successful businesses simulate during the design and development stages.

Elaborating on the primary drivers of time and money, we can add the secondary vital drivers that transforms an established business into a thriving, innovating enterprise, namely reduced time to market, reduced material usage, reduced scrap, increased consistency and quality, increased performance, increased innovation, research and development. Not to mention the process to capture knowledge and digitisation trends that Industry 4.0 provides.

USING THE CORRECT TOOL FOR THE JOB

A solution for a problem, or an outcome of an objective is measured on the final success as well as the performance thereof in terms of resources required. The solution or outcome, however, are very much dependent on the inputs and associated processes. The incentive for any successful engineer and business are to use the least amount of resources and time for the highest degree of outcomes. 

It is without a doubt that industry challenges or real world problems are often far removed from the examples in textbooks used to explain the theory. There are many ways to address the challenge, both adequately and accurately. But more often that not, a certain amount of uncertainty goes with the solution as the methods have certain assumptions associated with it. Non-conventional characteristics in the form of geometry, materials and load cases are a few contributors to the uncertainty. The uncertainties are accounted for by margins like extra material or conservative load cases, which in turn again influence the precious time-money ecosystem. A successful engineer, or rather business, always use the best available engineering knowledge and tools to honour engineering principals and commercial or economic integrity.

Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) software and simulation technology are one of the primary tools engineers and manufacturers use today to achieve the sustainable dynamic between business sense and engineering certainty. CAE software assist engineers and manufacturers to characterise designs, products and processes in order to eliminate uncertainties, potential flaws and, importantly, where the engineering time spent on effortful manual calculations exceeds the value of the result. Simulation technology expands the capability of engineering businesses to ensure competitive knowledge is developed sustainably.

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ONE SOLUTION, MULTIPLE DISCIPLINES

It should be no secret for any lecturer, student or researcher, that science and technology has never developed independently from each other. Science and the understanding of the world around us has without a doubt help to development of technology. On the contrary, technology has open doors to scientific discoveries and gave insights into the world we live in.
The best example of the modern age is the influence and impact computers had on mathematics, physics and engineering. Matrix algebra, solving equations simultaneously and the Finite Element Method (FEM), to name a new, is not a 20th century invention. These ideas and techniques originated well before then but has only reached its full potential with the dawn of the computer. MSC Software was one of the very first pioneers to use digital technology to solve complex, extensive mathematical problems and equations for NASA during the early stages of the space race. This new bridge between science and technology found its way into structural analyses and other forms of engineering applications. The advances, has without a doubt changed the way we see the world, what we learn from it and how we solve problems. This has created a completely new platform to develop and understand science. Thus, if our objective is to be the next generation engineers and scientists, we can’t separate science and technology from each other.
Understanding the fundamentals and technical aspects behind every physical and engineering science is vital. Failing to do so, ultimately result in the decay of knowledge, loss of profit and even life. How we apply those fundamentals and understanding and how we go about to solve it for our design and problem purposes, is a completely different matter. There are several different and techniques ways to address this challenge in many forms and shapes. Computer Aided Engineering (CAE) is a key term closely associated with the activity of using digital technology to solve engineering sciences and challenges.

Hexagon | MSC Software is a world-leading CAE simulation technology provider and provides powerful software tools not only to design and develop products, but also to learn, apply and visualize engineering principals. The technology allows the lecturer, student and researcher to understand basic principals and to move from conventional design principals (based on the non-computational methods that support it) to more advanced, sustainable solutions. The software gives insights to the behaviour and performance of ideas and concepts without any experimental setups or part manufacturing. The CAE technologies covers almost all the engineering disciplines, fields and specialisations.
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Motivation 1

Introduce students and lecturers to CAE technology and its uses, benefits and limits. Explains where it fits into the  lifecycle of engineering and how it is used to excel engineering businesses.

Motivation 2

Powerful software tools to illustrate and define mechanisms, structures and mathematical modelling concepts and free body diagrams

Motivation 3

Demonstrate the use of ML and AI in commercial packages.

Motivation 4

Illustrate different methods (models) for

Motivation 5

CAE software to conceptualize, define and verify parts, assemblies and systems. Excellent use of technology to solve engineering problems.

Motivation 6

Determine, explain and visualize stress and deflection of both both linear and nonlinear materials for static, quasi-static and dynamic analyses.

Motivation 7

Explain, visualize, demonstrate and design components and systems based on flow and thermal behavior.

Motivation 8

Design and verify parts, assemblies and systems with reduced costs and time to effectively compete in industry according to set specifications and requirements.

Motivation 9

Helps students, lecturers and manufacturers to predict stresses, distortions and material states to understand and improve processes associated with specified manufacturing processes.

Motivation 10

CAE software to conceptualize, define and verify parts, assemblies and systems. Excellent use of technology to solve engineering problems.

Motivation 11

Understand different manufacturing processes and determine associated costs and time to optimize production, material usage and resources.

Motivation 12

CAE technology are effectively used to predict process outcomes and the associated impact on time and costs.

Motivation 13

CAE software to conceptualize, define and verify parts, assemblies and systems. Excellent use of technology to solve engineering problems.

Motivation 14

Helps students, lecturers and manufacturers to predict stresses, distortions and material states to understand and improve processes associated with specified manufacturing processes.

Actran

Actran is used to perform acoustic simulations. It can be used to perform aero-acoustic analysis and can also be coupled with structures to perform vibro-acoustic analysis.

Adams

ADAMS is software to calculate the motion of moving parts as well as calculate the load transfer between parts. It is often used to determine the loads applied to different components in a complex mechanism. An example would be the modelling of a race-car driving around a race track: To calculate the behavior of the vehicle, the vehicle's mass and inertia, the suspension- and steering-components and characteristics, the track as well as the driver response is required in a single analysis.

CAEfatigue

CAEfatigue is a time and frequency domain based fatigue solver that can be used together with stress or strain results to perform a fatigue analysis. CAEfatigue can be used as a standalone software package but it is in the proses of being integrated into Patran and MSC Apex as it will replace the MSC fatigue module.

CFD (scFLOW, scSTREAM)

scFLOW is a capable and highly-parallelizable CFD package for Aerodynamic models. It is especially good at modelling moving geometry, whether as rigid bodies or coupled to FEA models. scSTREAM uses a structured cartesian mesh for faster solving on specific types of models.

CivilFEM

CivilFEM is a user-interface designed for Civil-, Structural- and Geotechnical-Engineering applications. It uses the Marc solver in the background, but talks the language of Civil Engineering and Civil Engineering codes of practice.

Digimat

Digimat is a powerful platform to perform both micro- and macro-scale analyses of materials, predicting their performance and calculating their mechanical, thermal and electrical properties for metals, non-metals and composites.

Dytran

Dytran is used to model short-duration events such as drop-tests and vehicle-crash simulations. It can model structures, fluids and fluid-structure interaction.

Easy5

Easy5 is used to model and simulate systems and can be used to model control systems for them. The libraries allows simulation of systems that contains hydraulics, pneumatics, HVAC, Electrical systems and multi-phase flow.

Marc

Marc is the main nonlinear solver from MSC. It specializes in the most complex nonlinear analysis types and can perform structural, thermal, magnetic, electrical and acoustic simulations. It allows automated re-meshing for models where the mesh distorts too much. It can also perform fracture mechanics and use re-meshing to model the crack propagation process.

Material Center

Material Center is used for Material Lifecycle Management. It is used to capture and manage material data with full traceability.

Moldex3D

Moldex3D is used to simulate the complete injection molding process. It shows if and where any defects will occur and how the chosen material will behave during the whole process.

MSC Apex

MSC Apex is the new CAE platform from Hexagon | MSC Software that consists of different modules and products for all future developments and integration of simulation tools. MSC Apex currently consists of 3 modules: MSC Apex Modeller, Structures and Generative Design.

MSC Nastran

MSC Nastran is an industry standard FEA solver in Aerospace and Automotive markets. It is a general Finite Element Analysis (FEA) code that can perform structural, acoustic and thermal analyses. It can perform linear and nonlinear analysis, but it is exceptional for large model linear static, normal modes and classical dynamic analysis (i.e. the Modal methods)

MSC One

MSC One is a flexible license type that allows using almost all the software in the MSC Stable without having a separate license for each. It is the most cost-effective solution when more than a single piece of software is required to run.

Patran

Patran is a generic Pre- and Post-Processor mostly used for Nastran, but supporting additional products from MSC and other FEA suppliers.

SimManager

SimManager is a Simulation Process and Data Management (SPDM) system that focus on meeting the needs specific to the simulation community.

MSC Apex Generative Design

MSC Apex Generative Design uses smart algorithms with built in manufacturing constraints to create optimized structures in seconds and minutes based on user design criteria.

Simufact Additive

Simufact Additive  is a process simulation solution to manufacture metal 3D printed parts within quality  standards the first time. Simufact eliminates unproductive, trial-and-error, development efforts by accurately predicting process results such as distortions, cracks and costs for Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) Binder Jetting (BJ) processes.

Sinda

Sinda is a network-based thermal solver. It is used for space-thermal (i.e satellite) as well as aerospace and electronics industries.

VGSTUDIO MAX

CT quality inspection software VGSTUDIO MAX gives users the ability to keep the quality of their products high by giving them full insight into their products, from design to production.

VI-Rail

VI Rail is used to simulate railway vehicles to determine features such as vehicle stability, derailment characteristics and track loading.

Virtual Test Drive

VTD is a product that is used to simulate the environment for autonomous vehicle design. A virtual world is built and used in the simulations, and the response of the different sensors is determined for use by the autonomous driver control.

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what we offer
training & e-learning
Lectures and lecture material we can offer

Technology overview presentations (Using the right tool for the job)

If you would like to supplement your lectures with a presentation from industry on why we simulate, we would love to do it for you.

Videos and 3D models of Engineering principles

Would you like your own set of interactive demonstration videos to teach basic engineering principles, such as what bending, torsion, stresses and the likes look like? What about taking it a step further to explain the differences between a shear center and a section area center, or composite beams, complex section stress distributions and bending moments and shear diagrams? With our simulation tools, the sky is the limit when it comes to interactive structural analysis, dynamics and other engineering principles. Contact us to obtain ready-made videos you can share with your students, as well as the models used to create them if you would like manipulate the views or even change the model.

Go to videos and 3D models

Dedicated Student Courses on request

Apart from the small group courses that SIMTEQ Engineering presents to industry and academia, the same courses can be presented to large student groups on request. Contact us to discuss how we can help.

Frequency Response and modal participation factors explained

Talk to us to show you how easily you can use MSC Apex to explain the concept of Frequency Response to your students with this easy-to-use interactive post-processing FRF tool. You can use any simple or complex model of your own, place sensors anywhere (before or after the analysis). Simply solve the model and show the Frequency response at sensor locations, and animate all the natural frequency modes that contribute to any area on the FRF curve.

You can even modify the natural frequencies in the table and predict the changes to the FRF before making any changes to the model. This is a super handy tool to see the effect before your eyes and then discuss what model changes could help to change the natural frequencies accordingly. 
Contact us to get you started.

25 Costly challenges for Additive Manufacturing

Designs are constrained by the limitations of the chosen manufacturing method. Although Additive Manufacturing introduced much more design freedom than traditional manufacturing processes (like CNC, welding and joining), it too introduces challenges for the production engineer that may make the process uneconomical for use unless accounted for. In these lectures, we cover 25 costly challenges for Additive Manufacturing and how to predict and prevent them.

Design for Additive Manufacturing

Generative Design builds on the foundation laid by Topology Optimization, however, it replaces it with print-ready results. Apart from mass reduction and elegant part designs, Generative Design makes parts consolidation simple, while maintaining integration (attachment) points and other user-specified constraints.

Experiments and assignments

Apart from the dedicated student courses that SIMTEQ Engineering presents, we can also assist lectures to create assignments and experiments. The assignment can be about general simulation practices or product specific.

Currently, we already have a few assignments and experiments available that we can present together with lecturers.

Contact us if you require more information or need assistance with creating an assignment
Software technology available

Student versions

Student versions of the most commonly used MSC Software products are available to students and lecturers. These student versions have all the functionality of the commercial versions but it is limited in terms of the model size.

For more information on the student version available and how to get access, visit our student version page. 

Full commercial versions

Universities who sign up as academic customers with MSC Software are provided access to the full commercial suite of MSC One products at a fraction of the commercial costs of leasing the products.


This provides students and lecturers with the same unlimited capability as commercial customers to conduct research or to teach and demonstrate complex engineering phenomena.

How academic licensing work

The MSC One academic license makes a large pool of licenses (tokens) available on the university network which can be used by anyone authorized to access the network (on or off campus). Each product (and feature) temporarily checks out a certain number of tokens from the license server when the software is opened and checks the tokens back to the pool when the software is closed.


This means that many combinations and multiple instances of the software can be opened simultaneously, without any limitations.


Contact us today to find out if your university is already signed up and accelerate your teaching and research.

Training

Software getting started guides

SIMTEQ Engineering provides the basics and some tips & tricks to get started with the software products that we sell and support.

Getting started guides

Contact us today if you cannot find the getting started guide for the software products that you are interested in.

Formal Courses (for small groups)

SIMTEQ Engineering offers industry and academia comprehensive in-person and online courses. Students and lecturers may attend any course offered by SIMTEQ at a much reduced rate when capacity allows.

All the courses are complemented with exercises throughout the training to ensure practical experience and comprehension of the content.

Courses are presented in small groups to allow for one-on-one engagement and constant interaction between trainer and trainee.

See here for the list of available courses and book your attendance on the calendar.

MSC LearningCentre

Students and lecturers at Universities with subscription agreements with MSC One in place has automatic access to the complete portfolio of commercial courses through the MSC LearningCentre.

To gain access to the courses and certification opportunities, download and install the MSC LearningCentre software from the MSC DownloadCentre and create a profile through which you will be able to sign up for courses, track your progress and even complete certifications to add to your CV.

Dedicated Student Courses on request (for large groups)

Apart from the small group courses that SIMTEQ presents to industry and academia, the same courses can be presented to large student groups on request. Contact us to discuss how we can help.
Support

Technical support

SIMTEQ Engineering has a qualified team of engineers available to support lecturers and post-graduate students if they have any questions or challenges using the software technology.

Post-graduate support

It often occurs that students choose the wrong tool or approach to solve a problem or that they attempt to design solutions for problems that no longer exist.

Apart from training and technical support, SIMTEQ offers lecturers and post-graduate students one-on-one guidance on the choice of technology and the approach that will be best suited to solve their advanced problems.

Contact us for an appointment to assist you further.

Software getting started guides

SIMTEQ Engineering provides the basics and some tips and tricks to get started with the software products that we sell and support.
Getting Started Guides
Contact us today if you cannot find the getting started guide for the software products that you are interested in.

Formal Courses (for small groups)

SIMTEQ Engineering offers industry and academia comprehensive in-person and online courses. Students and lecturers may attend any course offered by SIMTEQ at a much reduced rate when capacity allows.

All the courses are complemented with exercises throughout the training to ensure practical experience and comprehension of the content.

Courses are presented in small groups to allow for one-on-one engagement and constant interaction between trainer and trainee.

See here for the list of available courses and book your attendance on the calendar.
Training Courses
Training Calendar

MSC LearningCentre

Students and lecturers at Universities with subscription agreements with MSC One in place has automatic access to the complete portfolio of commercial courses through the MSC LearningCentre.

To gain access to the courses and certification opportunities, download and install the MSC LearningCentre software from the MSC DownloadCentre and create a profile through which you will be able to sign up for courses, track your progress and even complete certifications to add to your CV.

Dedicated Student Courses on request (for large groups)

Apart from the small group courses that SIMTEQ presents to industry and academia, the same courses can be presented to large student groups on request. Contact us to discuss how we can help.
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