High Performance Computing - Business value

What is simulation?

Simulations answer simple questions like:

• “What is the stress level here, the turbulence level there?”
• “What is the temperature there at time x?”
• “Will it break?”

However, the potential value of simulation is not at all realized by simply answering question that basic.

Simulation provides insight:

• Into product performance
• Spawns ideas
• Uncovers “secrets”.

Customer statement: “To out-compute is to out-compete”

You may have top level simulation experts and expertise in FEM and CFD simulations. You may be using simulation not only for internal validation, and maybe even as technology proof in front of your customers.

...Maybe there is a potential for increased value of simulation at your company?

What is High Performance Computing (HPC)?

HPC means taking advantage of large computers. It can mean powerful workstations (4-8 processors) or large clusters with hundreds, even thousands of multi-core CPUs.

Software in general does not necessarily take advantage of large scale computers. Even if the software does run “in parallel”, it might not scale well, meaning for example that doubling the numbers of CPUs does not always double the speed of the simulation.

What is the value of HPC?

The goals of High Performance Computing are different to different customers, but some examples are:

• Reduce risk
  • By knowing more
  • By including more detail
  • By including all relevant physics
• Get to market faster by working faster
• Reduce cost because of failure
  • “Design right first time”
• Enable the engineer
  • Provide window to insight and spawn innovation
  • Focus on engineering work, not modeling problems
  • Sharing of hardware resources, no idle equipment.

ANSYS Inc spends significant efforts on developing technology that does take advantage of this and the customer community is gaining the positive results of this! ANSYS is considered a market leader in High Performance Computing and regularly post press releases along with customers to testify to that; examples:

Customer testimonials:

• HPC-video
• 1 Billion cells!
• Cost-Effective Innovation

What can you do with HPC?

• You can run larger models in shorter time, thereby
  • Include more geometry detail
  • Make fewer assumptions (less dependent on the individual judgment)
  • Get more accurate results in one model
• You can run more simulations in the same amount of time
  • This lets the engineer study sensitivities to loads, materials and geometry variations instead of getting only one answer.
  • More advanced models:
    • More accurate material model (plasticity, turbulence)
    • Transient effects, less assumptions about dynamic effects
    • Simulate, not assume loads (fluids, splashing, vortex shedding, thermal coefficients)
    • Contact, friction
    • Bolts, welds
  • Sensitivity Studies / Design Exploration
    • Study effects of variations (controlled or out of control)
      • Material
      • Geometry (tolerances or actual design variations)
      • Loads (do you know the effect of variation in loads?)
    • Not to be confused with “optimization”
      • Studying sensitivities will always provide more robust/trustworthy results

ANSYS software

ANSYS is software for simulation of solids, fluids and electromagnetics. ANSYS software is considered one of the market leaders (if not “the” Market Leader) in all of these areas of physics, while the software offering is considered unsurpassed in areas where these physics are coupled, like Fluid-Structure-Interaction (FSI) or Electro-Mechanical Systems considering software from one vendor.

ANSYS offers scalable license packages and we try to provide valuable product mixes to every customer.

Read more about HPC

• ANSYS HPC product page
• Microsoft HPC Server 2008

Interested?

Please contact EDR to learn more...