Consolidation through strategic acquisitions is nothing new in the CAD world, though I must admit to being surprised by last week’s announcement that ANSYS, a world leader in simulation technology, had acquired SpaceClaim Corp. for $85 million in cash. The transaction closed on April 30. SpaceClaim took the “direct” approach to 3D modeling SpaceClaim introduced […]
Simulating Fiber-Reinforced Composites. It’s a multiscale world.
Composite materials, and particularly fiber-reinforced composites, present an interesting challenge. They have superior properties, compared to homogeneous materials, and have the potential to help engineers and designers meet increasingly challenging product requirements. Yet, they can be maddeningly difficult to engineer properly. To understand why this is so, you need to look closely, at the structure…
Optimizing the Design of an F1 Brake Cooling Duct
If you were going to pick a challenging use case for CFD software, you couldn’t do much better than Formula 1 racing. It’s a high-stakes game, with fast development cycles, and even faster feedback on failures. Every two weeks during the season, F1 teams get a reality check on their engineering. As a practical matter,…
CFD Best Practices & Key Features Webinar
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a powerful tool to simulate, analyze, and optimize designs. The leading CFD providers will discuss software features and functionality such as flow features and benefits, solver technology, as well as describe an example of CFD use in the real world. Register below to view the webinar and/or the pdf of…
Helping Small Hearts
A normal active childhood can elude small children and infants with defective heart valves. Soon, however, that may change thanks to LaunchPoint Technologies, a venture-engineering firm specializing in incubating startups and developing new technology. This company is researching a Pediatric Ventricular Assist Device (Pediatric VAD) that, if successful, will aid infants and small children with…