CAE : Structural and Thermal Simulation

[Fourthshifter]

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/8168/pan4kl9.jpg



Finally, we come to CAE aka computer aided engineering

in CAE you are the test engineer.

You job is to analyze the model, optimize the design, simulate and play around with your design.

you simulate the structure, heat, liquid flow of the system.
Sounds fun eh?

here's some of the software that support CAE, including Pro/ENGINEER

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Computer-aided_engineering_software


the picture above is structural and thermal simulation of a frying pan using Pro/MECHANICA, a basic module of Pro/ENGINEER.

the left part shows the stress on the pan, when you hold the handle (dark area) and the force applied to it is the weight of the pan (towards negative Y-direction)
You can see that most structural stress lies at the handle, near the place where your hand is holding the pan.

The right picture is heat simulation, sort of like heat sensor :P

the heat load comes from the hot plate below the pan. The bright yellow is hot spot and blue region is cold. It simulates heat transfer in the system.

here's a nice testimonial

http://www.cbd.dk/you/development/engineering/structuralsimul/



Have fun !

[chiachean]

Computer-aided engineering (often referred to as CAE) is the use of information technology for supporting engineers in tasks such as analysis, simulation, design, manufacture, planning, diagnosis and repair. Software tools that have been developed for providing support to these activities are considered CAE tools. CAE tools are being used, for example, to analyze the robustness and performance of components and assemblies. It encompasses simulation, validation and optimization of products and manufacturing tools. In the future, CAE systems will be major providers of information to help support design teams in decision making.

In regards to information networks, CAE systems are individually considered a single node on a total information network and each node may interact with other nodes on the network.

CAE systems can provide support to businesses. This is achieved by the use of reference architectures and their ability to place information views on the business process. Reference architecture is the basis from which information model, especially product and manufacturing models.

The term CAE has also been used by some in the past to describe the use of computer technology within engineering in a broader sense than just engineering analysis. It was in this context that the term was coined by Dr. Jason Lemon, founder of SDRC in the late 70's. This definition is however better known today by the terms CAx and PLM.

CAE areas covered include:
Stress analysis on components and assemblies using FEA (Finite Element Analysis);
Thermal and fluid flow analysis Computational fluid dynamics (CFD);
Kinematics;
Mechanical event simulation (MES).
Analysis tools for process simulation for operations such as casting, molding, and die press forming.
Optimization of the product or process.

In general, there are three phases in any computer-aided engineering task:
Pre-processing – defining the model and environmental factors to be applied to it. (typically a finite element model, but facet, voxel and thin sheet methods are also used)
Analysis solver (usually performed on high powered computers)
Post-processing of results (using visualization tools)

This cycle is iterated, often many times, either manually or with the use of commercial optimization software.


adapted from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer-aided_engineering)

[chiachean]

http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/1140/rings4om5.gif (http://imageshack.us)
Shot at 2007-06-28

i found this at http://www.castech.fi/