A Guide to Getting Started with

Engineering Simulation

www.C AEAI.com
 A Guide to Getting Started with Engineering Simulation
Copyright © 2014
www.C AEAI.com

Published by Computer Aided Engineering Associates Inc.

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of
this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission
of the publisher.

Visit our website at www.caeai.com.

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 2

 Contents

Chapter 1
The Importance of Engineering Simulation for Innovation 4

Chapter 2
How to Introduce CAE Simulation Into Your Product Development
Process 7

Chapter 3

Five Traps to Avoid When Using Simulation for Product Development 10

www.C AEAI.com

Chapter 4
About CAE Associates 13

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 3

 Chapter 1

The Importance of Engineering

Simulation for Innovation

Innovation. We hear the word with increasing frequency in today’s business environ-
ment. In the April 2014 issue of the Harvard Business Review (HBR Vol. 92, No. 4), the edi-
tors used Google’s Ngram Viewer to track the frequency of a variety of familiar business
terms used in books over the past century. Their premise was that language is a reflec-
tion of our culture, and the phrases used reflect our shifting priorities. In this study, the
word “innovation” showed more than a five-fold increase in frequency of use over this
period; much larger than either “management” or “leadership.”

In the same issue of HBR, “innovation in response to customer requirements” was high-
lighted as one key way in which manufacturers in developed countries are competing
successfully with those in emerging economies with much lower labor costs.

The U.S patent office received over 575,000 patent applications in 2012, more than six
times the number received in 1962, and 60% more than in 2002. So, innovation is not
www.C AEAI.com

only increasing, it is accelerating rapidly.

Enabling Innovation

There are many factors that enable innovation. A culture of creativity and flexibility is
key, but so is the ability to quickly test new ideas and identify those that merit further
development.

With the use of computer aided engineering (CAE) simulation, today’s trials can be
virtual. This approach can be orders of magnitude faster and cheaper than innovation
by building one physical prototype after another. In our rapidly moving and competitive
world, vetting new ideas and processes in a virtual environment provides significant ad-

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 4

 Chapter 1

vantages compared with traditional physical experiments. An engineer can dream up a

new concept during a morning shower, flesh it out a bit more during the drive to work,
simulate it by lunchtime to prove feasibility, and have a solid, defensible proposal on the
manager’s desk by 3 o’clock. With sufficient computer hardware, a hundred different
variations of the original concept will be ready to review by morning. Someone taking
the traditional physical testing approach would be lucky to have the paperwork request-
ing lab resources completed in this same time frame.

Savings in time and cost are not the only advantages that simulation has to offer. Some-
times, innovation happens by accident. For example, making minor modifications during
product testing or changing materials may yield huge performance benefits. The rea-
sons for the improvement may not always be understood; testing is great for answering
what happened, but not always so good for answering why it happened. You need a lot
more testing for that — or you can simulate.

Because simulation can help engineers visualize the relevant parameters, it can provide
insight and understanding not easily achievable by testing. New products that rely on
multiple physics working together are the most complex to test and are those where
simulation brings the most benefits. Simulation answers the “why” question, which is
critical when filing for a patent or when deciding whether to further pursue a concept.
www.C AEAI.com

Simulate Early and Often

The pace of change is fast and getting faster with breakthrough technologies like addi-
tive manufacturing. Traditional manufacturing constraints will soon disappear, opening a
new universe of potential designs for even everyday items.

ith this increased pace comes increased risk. A company may be looking at dozens of
innovative ideas. How does it decide which ones to proceed with? While the basis of
this decision is multi-faceted, simulation can certainly help. One obvious way is to model
the innovation to ensure that it can achieve the performance and benefits required for
success. In addition, CAE simulation can help determine the manufacturing methods,
tolerances and material requirements for a successful implementation, thereby helping
to put a number on production cost and timeframe.

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 5

 Chapter 1

Without simulating early on, it is difficult to rationally draw these conclusions before
committing significant time and resources.

Like most things that have increased risk, there is also potential for increased reward.
Businesses at the forefront of innovation who embrace simulation level the playing field
as they compete with more established and conservative rivals.
A S SOC I AT E S
www.C AEAI.com

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 6

 Chapter 2

How to Introduce CAE Simulation Into

Your Product Development Process

Congratulations! You’ve decided to join all the best-in-class organizations that utilize
engineering simulation as an integral part of product development. So what happens
next? There are lots of ways to get started, and the best method for implementation
depends on many factors. Here are a few essential ideas that I’ve found to be helpful
throughout the many years I’ve been working with companies on various aspects of
CAE simulation.

Choose Your Tools

A key factor to success is the CAE software (FEA, CFD, electromagnetics, etc.) which is
chosen, but that’s a topic unto itself. Let’s begin with the assumption that the proper
CAE software and support team have been selected, and the engineers have been
trained. Where do you go from here?

Pick a Project
www.C AEAI.com

The biggest obstacle in the introduction of CAE simulation is not technical; it’s over-
coming the human intellectual inertia, or our natural inclination to return to what
we’ve done in the past. So, rather than simultaneously introducing simulation into the
development process of every product in your portfolio and trying to overcome the
resistance of a multitude of project managers and engineers at the same time, pick one
product or initiative to start with.

The product you chose depends on how confident you are in success, your tolerance
for stress and risk, and how badly you want to impress people at your organization. If
you want to hit it out of the park, find the most high-profile project you can think of. All
eyes will be on you, and if you’re successful, you’ll be a hero. On the other hand, if things
don’t go so well, it could get rough. Personally, I like to go for doubles -- mid-profile

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 7

 Chapter 2

projects, with reasonable lead times, where you have a good handle on the existing
product development process and timeline. Whichever project you choose, it’s impor-
tant that it be a good candidate for quantitatively demonstrating the benefits of simula-
tion.

Identify Bottlenecks and Develop the Simulation Plan

Once the project is chosen, the next step is to examine the existing design process and
identify the major bottlenecks. Select those points in the process where simulation can
help grease the skids. Next, form a detailed plan for how simulation will be used and
make the appropriate modifications to the design process. This plan must include the
individual responsibilities of cross-functional teams, the types of simulation to be con-
ducted, the level of simulation required, the expected timeline, and defined criteria for
an acceptable solution.

Measure Impact
It is critical to ensure that there’s a way to measure the impact of this plan on time and
cost. This is how you’re going to convince others that simulation is beneficial. Manage-
ment cares about numbers, so you need to provide data and not starry-eyed descrip-
tions revolving around the “cool factor” of seeing the videos of the simulation results.
Identification of the bottlenecks and developing a plan isn’t always intuitively obvious,
so you may want to get assistance from an outside expert. This is the most important
www.C AEAI.com

part of the implementation and one you can’t afford to get wrong. Remember, this is
a numbers game, and you’re looking to demonstrate that the numbers are better with
simulation than without.

Communicate
If you’re the only one who knows about the simulation plan, this isn’t going to end well.
It’s important to pull all the people together who have a vested interest in the project’s
success and explain to them what you’re trying to accomplish, what their responsibilities
are, what will be measured, the required timeline, and how they will benefit from all of
this.

A Guide to Finite Element Analysis of Par t-to -Par t Connections / 8

 Chapter 2

Monitor, Measure & Adjust

The final and arguably most important point is to monitor, measure, and adjust. In a
perfect world, you just need to set the plan in motion, go away for a six-month sab-
batical, and come back to view the wonderful benefits of simulation. Now, let’s get
back to reality. The chance that everything will go smoothly on its own the first time
out can make winning the lottery look like a sure thing. It’s important to carefully moni-
tor the process to ensure that the plan is both being adhered to as well as working as
intended. Try to measure what can be measured at every stage. Remember, simulation
plans are dynamic, so make modifications as appropriate and in real-time. Don’t wait for
a post-mortem; it might be yours.

At the end of all of this work, you will have:

•• A better product, released with time to spare

•• A quantifiable measure of how simulation improved the product development
process
•• Lessons learned, and a better understanding of how to apply simulation to the next
project
•• An established simulation-centric communication process among the cross-
functional team members
www.C AEAI.com

•• A healthy raise! (Or, at least an “atta boy”)

A S SOC I AT E S

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 9

 Chapter 3

Five Traps to Avoid When Using

Simulation for Product Development

When implemented correctly, simulation can bring many benefits to your product
development. However, you need the right processes or you can wind up reducing the
value or providing a false sense of security. Here are the top five traps to avoid.
www.C AEAI.com

1. Failure to Understand the Physics

One common danger is failing to understand the underlying physics of your application.
Software cannot do all the thinking for you - if you don’t understand the fundamentals
then disaster awaits.

The allure to play around with phenomena you don’t fully comprehend is tempting. I
have a vivid recollection of an engineering team that believed that they had conceived
a revolutionary flow accelerator that would radically change how we capture wind
energy. Unfortunately, they were using an incompressible fluid assumption in their CFD
code to model supersonic flow. Let’s just say that breaking the news to them was...
uncomfortable.

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 10

 Chapter 3

2. Going in Blind
Another snare is that some people expect simulation to provide predictive results of
complex phenomena without experimental benchmarking or material testing. While
simulation can provide valuable information about general trends, detailed experimen-
tation is still key to achieve its true potential as a predictive tool.
Product development teams have to make the initial investment in time and energy to
carefully verify and validate the simulation method for each unique process to which it
will be applied.

3. Waiting to Simulate
Perhaps the biggest mistake is to wait until the design is complete before simulating. If
simulation is only performed late in the design cycle then it is almost not worth do-
ing. Instead of accelerating the process, it actually delays the design process. You may
as well take your chances with a prototype test and hope for the best. This is the main
reason you hear the common cry: “I don’t have time to simulate!”

On the other hand, simulating throughout the entire design process maximizes the
benefits at the conceptual stage. This will drive innovation, provide guidance, allow for
quick vetting of concepts, and help to avoid a late stage blind side. If performed prop-
erly, the final analysis becomes merely a confirmation. This strategy helps compress as
well as define the entire process.
www.C AEAI.com

4. Failing to Plan
Don’t forget to allocate enough time and resources for simulation when planning out
the development schedule. While serving to ultimately compress the design cycle, it
should come as no surprise that simulation requires manpower. Unless this allocation is
prepared at the outset of the project you will likely never touch the software.

If design and simulation are performed by different groups then it is also important to
collaborate closely. Teams need to adhere to timelines drawn up during the planning
stages. In this way, it will be less likely that simulation will be abandoned if schedules
begin to slip.

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 11

 Chapter 3

5. Assuming You Know Everything

One final trap to be aware of is failing to incorporate uncertainties as part of the simula-
tion process. The real world is uncertain; nothing is manufactured with all dimensions
being “nominal.” The analysis of one geometric configuration, using one set of loads,
material properties, and boundary conditions barely scratches the surface. Simulation is
critical for analyzing multiple variants of a design.

Simulation is critical for analyzing multiple variants of a design.

With the right design process, software tools and hardware option, it is relatively easy to
analyze multiple variations of the same design. Doing so will help you gain true insight
into the effects of uncertainties. Failure to do this will put you at a competitive disad-
vantage.

Avoiding these five common traps will go a long way to ensuring your organization will
perform simulations effectively and achieve all the benefits that it has to offer.
A S SOC I AT E S
www.C AEAI.com

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 12

 Chapter 4

About CAE Associates Inc.

Since 1981, CAE Associates been helping companies large and small maximize value
from engineering simulation through expert FEA consulting and CFD consulting ser-
vices.

As an ANSYS channel partner since 1985, we provide full service technical support to
over 100 companies in our region, including some of the world’s largest and sophisti-
cated users of simulation like General Electric and United Technologies.

We offer a range of consulting options to fit unique and specialized needs of our clients.
It could be as simple as getting to the bottom of a product failure, or as complex as
developing the infrastructure and process for simulation within the entire organization
using a combination of software, training, mentoring and automation.
www.C AEAI.com

Our team of senior technical specialists bring graduate-level educations and an average
of 15 years of real-world experience in a variety of industries including: aerospace, elec-
tronics, consumer product, turbomachinery, civil engineering, manufacturing, biomedi-
cal, energy, and nuclear power.

For questions and to find out more about how CAE Associates can help you solve
your engineering analysis challenges, please contact us at info@caeai.com.

A Guide to Get ting Star ted with Engineering Simulation / 13