CES 2025 was a remarkable event where innovation took center stage across multiple venues in Las Vegas. Engaging with over 40 forward-thinking companies, I delved into discussions spanning robotics, chip manufacturing, and the burgeoning realm of simulation technology. Through my role at PADT, Inc , I am privileged to offer comprehensive application engineering support to firms looking to integrate simulation into their design and testing phases.

In my interactions, it was evident that many engineers recognized the indispensable value of Ansys in enhancing their manufacturing processes through simulation. The engineers I connected with typically invested 6-14 months in refining their products, with a substantial 80% leveraging simulation techniques throughout the development journey.

Ansys stands out for its cutting-edge engineering simulation software, empowering engineers to virtually assess product performance across diverse physical domains such as structural stress, fluid dynamics, and electromagnetics. By enabling predictive analysis of products in real-world scenarios pre-prototype, Ansys equips designers to optimize complex engineering solutions before physical production, ensuring superior end results.

CES In Action

Here is a video showing some of the things we saw while walking the floor:

For those navigating intricate engineering challenges, feel free to connect with me to embark on your pathway to success.

PADT’s Alex Grishin felt the question was an interesting one, and the solution was certainly blog-worthy. After helping the customer, he created the presentation below that goes through all the theory and shows you how to do it. Not to give too much away, he used constraint equations with an APDL script that can be applied to the model.

Holding Nodes an Ansys Mechanical Model to a Specified Average Temperature

Here is Alex’s presentation, which goes through the whole process and uses a real model to show how it works for both static and transient thermal analyses.

Here is a zip file with the Ansys Mechanical model he used:

This presentation is an example of how PADT’s engineering team combines an understanding of fundamental engineering principles with the leading simulation tools from Ansys. It would be easy to just import the CAD model, put some pressure loads on, and run it. However, an approach that includes some looks at some basic equations can help us make sure we are modeling the real situation.

This is one of the many reasons why companies around the world use PADT’s simulation consulting team to supplement their own engineering teams. Reach out today, and let’s talk about how we can help.

Published on:	December 17, 2024
With:	Eric Miller, Vincenzo Abbatiello, Doug Oatis & Christian Crowley
Description:	In this episode your host and Co-Founder of PADT, Eric Miller is joined by EOS Additive Manufacturing Consultant Vincenzo Abbatiello, PADT’s Application Engineering Manager Doug Oatis, and PADT’s Application Engineer Christian Crowley, to discuss Ansys applications for modeling with metal additive design. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to suggest a topic for the next episode, shoot us an email at podcast@padtinc.com we would love to hear from you!
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Published on:	November 18, 2024
With:	Eric Miller, Keyvan Bahadori & Alex Moody
Description:	In this episode your host and Co-Founder of PADT, Eric Miller is joined by PlaneWave Co-founder & Chief Engineer Keyvan Bahadori and PADT’s Antenna Application Engineer Alex Moody, to discuss their use of Ansys HFSS and how it provides benefits for their unique applications. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to suggest a topic for the next episode, shoot us an email at podcast@padtinc.com we would love to hear from you!
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Recently, I’ve been spending more and more time within the Ansys System Architecture Modeler, or SAM for short. This Systems Modeling tool adheres to the SysML 2.0 standard and is available for customers to evaluate and use today. If you’re not familiar with MBSE or Systems Architecture, I invite you to read my last blog post within this series, Unlocking the Power of MBSE: A High-Level Overview.

Today, I want to provide a brief tutorial on the Bicycle Example within the System Architecture Modeler User Guide on Ansys Help. This example takes you through the process of importing an architecture and applying attribute values and units to the various definitions within the model. After that, we proceed to link architecture and analysis variables, perform analyses, and evaluate requirements and results. Finally, we can pass those updated values back into the system architecture.

First, there are some prerequisite steps you must consider. I won’t be providing detailed steps in setting up the prerequisites within this blog. However, if you’re a PADT customer, reaching out to swsupport@padtinc.com is the fastest way to receive product support for SAM and any other Ansys tools.

After verifying you’ve completed all the prerequisite steps, you can follow along via the video tutorial. In addition, the instructions are written out below, as well.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites for this example are stored in Section 6.1 of the SAM user guide. I’ve also included them below. To run the example, you will need:

• the latest version of Ansys ModelCenter Desktop
• the latest version of Ansys ModelCenter MBSE SAM Connector
• the latest version of Ansys ModelCenter Remote Execution (MCRE)
• the Bicycle model example: Download
• some knowledge of basic scripting is helpful

In addition, you need to use the Ansys MBSE Portal to set up your Bicycle project:

1. Log in to the Ansys MBSE Portal and click the + New project button.
2. In the Create a New Project page, click the SysML v2 tile, then click the Import File tile.
3. In the Project Name text field, give your project a name, such as Bicycle.
4. Click the Choose File button and select the Bicycle.xmi file you downloaded and unzipped.
5. Click the Import button.

Video Tutorial

Written Instructions

SAM

To begin using the sample project, complete these steps:

1. In Ansys SAM, open the Bicycle model you created (the steps are described in Prerequisites). Explore the structure tree and its Definition packages, Usage packages, and diagrams. Open Usage package > Diagrams package > bike diagram. Note that the bike usage contains the parts of the bicycle, each with its own weight. The bike itself has the combined weight of the parts. In addition, the model includes a requirement for the maximum bicycle weight, less than 8 Kg in the example.
2. Import the SI Unit library.
   • The SI Unit library is based on the international systems. You will use it to assign units to the bicycle parts.
     • Right-click the Bicycle root package and choose Import Library.
     • Click Standard Libraries to expand the drop-down.
     • Select SI, then click the Import button.
   • Import SI appears at the top level of the Project list.

Next you will assign units and values to the bicyle parts.

3. In the Bike block diagram (Definition package > Diagrams package > Bike diagram), find the part-definition for the Frame and click the Weight attribute.
4. In the Properties panel, on the Value line, enter 2, and click the drop-down and select kg. Then change the Definition to real. Continue adding weights for the parts as follows:
   • Tire: 2 kg
   • Rim: 1 kg
   • Wheel: 3 kg
   • Bike: 15 kg
5. Repeat the previous two steps for all structural element usages in the block diagram Bike.

ModelCenter

Now open the model in ModelCenter.

6. Select File > Open in ModelCenter.
   • ModelCenter opens. Under Systems Model Structure you see the Bicycle project. In the Requirements List, you see the project Weight requirement.
7. Expand Bicycle to load the model structure.

Next connect the System Architecture Model to simple ModelCenter analyses to compute the weights of the bicycle frame and each wheel.

8. Click the New file icon located under the ModelCenter File menu and select New Analysis….
   • The Analysis Editor opens. Notice that the Bicycle project appears in the Map Analysis Variables window in the Systems Model Structure tab. You can click it to expand it.

First Script

For the weight analysis, a ModelCenter script wrapper that calculates the sum of two variables is required.

9. To create the wrapper, copy the following code and paste it to an empty file using a text editor such as Notepad. In your preferred ModelCenter Remote Execution (MCRE) Analysis path (MCRE > Configure > Directories > Analyses Path), save the file as SumTwo.scriptWrapper.
   
   variable: x1 double input
variable: x2 double input
variable: sum double output

script: language="java"
void run()
{
sum.setValue(x1.getValue() + x2.getValue());
}
   
10. In the Server Browser window, select SumTwo from the folder where you saved it and double-click it.
    • When you double-click it, you see its variables appear in the Analysis Editor in the AnalysisVariables panel. You can now connect the system architecture model to the script.
11. In the Systems Model Structure, expand the model to Usage > Structure > bike > frontWheel, then expand frontWheel, rim, and tire.
12. For frontWheel, click weight and drag to the Analysis Variables panel, to sum.
    • This links frontWheel.weight to the output of the SumTwo analysis.
    • Repeat this step for the rim.weight to x1 and tire.weight to x2. This links the rim and tire weights to the two inputs of the SumTwo analysis.
13. Enter a name for your analysis (such as frontWheelWeight) in the Analysis Name text field below Analysis Variables and click OK. In ModelCenter, frontWheel analysis is listed in the Analyses List panel.
14. Repeat steps 12-14 for the rear wheel and give your analysis the name RearWheelWeight.

Second Script

Next, create a simple script to analyze the requirement and determine whether the bicycle model meets it. The script computes the bicycle weight and compares the computed weight to the weight requirement.

15. Under the ModelCenter File menu, click the New file icon and select New Analysis….
16. For writing a script, in the Analysis Editor, under Analysis Type, select Script Analysis.
17. In Analysis Selection, click the Edit button.
    The Script Editor opens.
18. In the Script panel, replace the default script with the following script.
    sub run
BikeWeight = frontWheelWeight + rearWheelWeight + frameWeight
IsSatisfied = BikeWeight < UpperMargin
Margin = UpperMargin - BikeWeight
end sub
19. In the Variables panel, add BikeWeight and define it as Output from the drop-down list.
    Repeat this for the variables IsSatisfied and Margin. Then repeat the step to define the following variables as Input.
    • UpperMargin
    • frontWheelWeight
    • rearWheelWeight
    • frameWeight
20. Change the type of IsSatisfied to Boolean. Make sure all the other created variables are type double.
21. Click OK to save your work and close the editor.
22. Back in the Analysis Editor, in the Analysis Variables panel, the list of variables appears. Enter a name for your script, such as BikeWeightReq.

Next, link the variables in the analysis to the system architecture model.

23. Under the System Model Structure tab, expand the Bicycle model to Usage > Structure > Bike, then expand the bike parts Frame, frontWheel, and rearWheel.
24. Now connect the weight for each part to the corresponding variable in Analysis Variables.
    • Bike.weight to BikeWeight
    • frame.weight to FrameWeight
    • frontWheel.weight to FrontWheelWeight
    • rearWheel.weight to RearWheelWeight
25. Now click the Requirements List tab and connect the requirement usage weight (lower-case) to the corresponding variables in Analysis Variables.
    • Is Satisfied to IsSatisfied
    • Margin to Margin
26. In the Analysis Variables panel, click UpperMargin and in the Set Constant Value text field, enter 8 and click the green check mark.
27. Click the OK button.

Perform Analyses

Now add all analysis scripts to the execution plan.

28. The Analyses List lists the three analysis scripts. Drag and drop each of these to the Analyses panel.
29. Click the disk icon to save your file.

Verify the requirement by running your script.

30. To run the analysis script, click the green Play icon.
    The results are listed in the Requirements panel at the bottom. A red X indicates the requirement is not satisfied for the defined values.
31. Optional: Click the disk icon to save your result.

You can change the values and try another validation.

32. In the Structure Elements panel, for the front wheel, change the tire weight from 2 to 1.5.
33. For the rear wheel, change the tire weight from 2 to 1.
34. Click the green Play icon.
    This time, a green check mark appears in the Satisfied column. Your model has passed validation, and the passing margin is listed in the Margin column.
35. Click the disk icon to save your successful design and execution plan.
36. Return to Ansys SAM. In the project tree, a ModelCenter folder has been added. It contains the analysis from above.
37. Click the folder and subfolders to see the scripts, analyses, and results.

Save as new baseline

38. In the Results tab, right-click the structural element bike and select Save Baseline Values.
    Verify that the weight value attributes are updated in Ansys SAM.

Conclusion

This guide walked through a basic example, showing how to link architecture and requirements from SAM to analyses within ModelCenter. This connection is bi-directional and can be updated as your model gains complexity and/or fidelity.

If Model Based Systems Engineering is a topic you’re curious about, don’t hesitate to reach out to PADT for more information. We’d be happy to provide an overview of the MBSE tools, materials, or even a demonstration depending on your needs.

This is Noah, signing out. Have a great day!

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Honorable Mention

I am sure you have all noticed that the Ansys Optics Technical Support teams have transitioned from their previous support system to the Ansys support systems. Allie at Zemax created a great overview of the changes and what it means for users: Zemax Case Support is Moving! | Zemax Community. If you are a PADT customer for Ansys, this change does not affect how you receive Ansys support. If you have utilized the Ansys Optics Support teams and are a PADT customer, you will now be redirected to PADT for your Ansys Optics technical support—which means you and I will become well-acquainted.

Ansys Optics Integration Updates

Optical Design Exchange

In 2024 R1 the Optical Design Exchange workflow was introduced to exchange optical data between Ansys Zemax OpticStudio and Ansys Speos. In 2024 R2, the workflow now supports the following Zemax OpticStudio sequential surfaces:

• Extended Polynomial
• Biconic
• Zernike Standard Sag and Fringe Sag
• Biconic Zernike

The Optical Design Exchange File (.ODX) will recreate the lenses in Speos. The equivalent non-sequential objects are also now supported—for a complete list of supported surfaces and objects please reach out to us!

The definition panel for the Optical Design Exchange Component within Speos has been improved to review all the geometry parameters that have been imported from Zemax OpticStudio. Those parameters include coating/surface properties, volume properties, and surface coefficients.

Interoperable Workflows Between Zemax OpticStudio and Lumerical

Non-scale and macro-scale optical effects can be accounted for in co-packaged optics thanks to the interoperability between Zemax OpticStudio and Lumerical. The workflow uses both optical ray tracing and simulations utilizing Maxwell’s equations to capture both the wave and ray characteristics of light.

New workflows have been created to automatically optimize grating and edge couplers to a fiber with Lumerical FDTD and Zemax OpticStudio. Things like fiber misalignment and manufacturing tolerances can be accounted for to ensure that co-packaged optics are meeting requirements. The Ansys Optics team has outlined this type of workflow in this great KnowledgeBase article: Integrated microlens and grating coupler for photonic integrated circuits – Ansys Optics.

Ansys Zemax 2024 R2 Release Highlights

Attention all university students! A student version of Ansys Zemax OpticStudio is now available: Ansys Student Versions | Free Student Software Downloads. There are some limitations to the student version, like nonsequential mode and STAR not supported, but this should allow students to design optical systems without needing to purchase a Zemax OpticStudio license.

In 2024 R2, the Ansys Zemax OpticStudio team focused on enhancing their tolerancing capabilities by creating new tolerance operands that target different manufacturing and fabrication errors. The new operands target tolerances on surface irregularities and rotationally symmetric irregularities to capture more accurate optical system simulations.

Ansys Speos 2024 R2 Release Highlights

I continue to be impressed by the work that the Speos team has done to improve the Live Preview feature within Speos. Over the past few releases, the look, feel, and accuracy of the Live Preview tool has continued to improve and become more user friendly. The 2024 R2 updates to Live Preview include the addition of the Virtual Lighting Controller to individually tune a source or a group of sources at once. Light levels instantaneously update without the need for restarting or rerunning the simulation. This can significantly reduce the number of simulations needed and in turn, save engineers time and money.

Sequences in a stray light analysis can be sorted by peak hot spots by using the Peak Value option in the “Sort sequences per” parameter in the sensor definition. This option reflects the contribution of the hot spots that degrade the overall image quality due to unwanted light that enters the optical system and reaches the detector. This is an alternative to sorting the sequences by relative energy distribution which sorts sequences by decreasing order but can miss the effects of hot spots that may be more detrimental to the overall image quality.

Ansys Lumerical 2024 R2 Release Highlights

In the 2024 R2 release, Lumerical enhanced workflows for Photonic Integrated Circuits. The first enhancement is a direct bridge between KLayout and Lumerical Multiphysics solvers. Simulation regions can be generated in Lumerical Multiphysics by importing a KLayout cell.

A new schematic-driven design workflow has been created with the open-source layout software GDSFACTORY to design a PIC schematic and run a simulation in Lumerical INTERCONNECT. The GDSFactory software has over 1 million downloads and over 50 contributors. Integrations like these make collaborations across the photonics easier than ever before.

Lastly, I did want to mention that Lumerical continues to improve the FDTD Multi-GPU Acceleration capabilities with each release. In 2024 R2, period and bloch boundary conditions are now compatible with GPU solves and the results are as accurate as CPU simulations.

Well, if you’ve made it this far, I hope you are as excited as I am to test these new features in the Ansys Optics 2024 R2 release. Don’t forget to tune in on November 13^th for a completed list of new features and updates to Ansys Zemax OpticStudio, Speos, and Lumerical.  We will have a Q&A section towards the end so come chat.

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For any questions, please feel free to reach out to myself or the software support team at swsupport@padtinc.com.

Published on:	October 16, 2024
With:	Eric Miller, Miles Adkins & Vincent Britz
Description:	In this episode your host and Co-Founder of PADT, Eric Miller is joined by Vincent Britz, Thermofluids Solver Developer at Flownex, and Miles Adkins, Lead Flownex Simulation Support Engineer at PADT to discuss the collaborative capabilities available when working with Ansys & Flownex Co-simulation. If you have any questions, comments, or would like to suggest a topic for the next episode, shoot us an email at podcast@padtinc.com we would love to hear from you!
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Have you tried the new Optical Design Exchange workflow between Ansys Zemax OpticStudio (AZOS) and Ansys Speos?! The feature is geared towards creating a smooth exchange of optical data between AZOS and Ansys Speos when conducting stray light analysis. However, it can be used for any optical workflow where a system needs to be exported from AZOS and imported into Speos.

In the past, there have been different options that enable this type of interoperability between the two optical software, but this new and improved Optical Design Exchange format has made things easier and more efficient. The data transfer works by creating an .odx file in Ansys Zemax and using the Optical Design Exchange Component in Speos to import the optical system. The process takes only a couple of minutes from start to finish and no optical data is lost in the transfer. Essential information like glass and coating properties, apertures, and sensors are all exported during the creation of the .odx file.

Something to keep in mind is that the optical design exchange format is unique to Ansys and can only be generated in AZOS and opened in Speos.

Transferring Geometry from Ansys Zemax OpticStudio to Ansys Speos in Four Steps with the Optical Design Exchange Workflow

The Optical Design Exchange is simple, there are only 4 steps to the workflow.

The first step is to find the “Export Optical Design to Speos” tool in AZOS under the “File” tab. Do not mistake this feature with the “Export Reduced Order Model to Speos” feature.

Once you’ve selected the Export Optical Design to Speos option, a “Save As” window will pop up where you can save the .odx file to your preferred project directory. And with that, you have exported your optical system from AZOS, clean and simple.

The final steps take place in Ansys Speos. In the Light Simulation Tab there is a “Components” section where the Optical Design Exchange feature lives.

Selecting the component will create a branch in the Simulation Tree under “Components.”

Under the Definitions panel, the name of the optical system, coordinate system, and direction of the system can all be modified. To import the optical system, you must select the .odx file in the Optical Component section of the Definition.

Once the component is set up correctly, the final step is to compute the optical system in Speos by clicking on the Compute button found in the 3D view window (or by right-clicking on the component):

And that is all it takes to import your optical system into Speos from AZOS!

QUICK, simple, and easy!

Hope this helps you in your next optical system design and analysis workflow. For any questions, please feel free to reach out to myself or the software support team at swsupport@padtinc.com!

You can learn more about Ansys Zemax OpticStudio here and Ansys SPEOS here.

What is Model-Based Engineering?

Model-Based Engineering (MBE) involves using digital models to perform engineering analysis. This approach is familiar to many engineers across various industries. For instance:

• Mechanical Engineers: MCAD tools such as Ansys Discovery are likely familiar to designers, while tools like Ansys Mechanical, Fluent, and LS-Dyna are commonly used for Finite Element Analysis (FEA) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
• Electrical Engineers: Similarly, ECAD tools such as MotorCAD may be familiar to electrical design engineers, whereas tools such as Ansys Maxwell and HFSS are used for electromagnetic field simulations.
• Optical Engineers: Tools including Zemax OpticStudio and SPEOS are commonly used to design and simulate optical performance.
• Software Engineers: Tools like Ansys SCADE are used to design, develop, simulate, and test software for mission and safety-critical embedded systems.

As you should be able to see, MBE has been a cornerstone of the technological advancements we’ve seen over the past few decades.

Introducing MBSE

So, what sets MBSE apart from MBE? The key difference lies in the focus on systems. MBSE enables Systems Engineers to perform analyses using model-based tools, rather than relying on physical documents and test data. This methodology allows for rapid iteration through design spaces and scenarios, ensuring that stakeholder, system, and component-level requirements are met.

Developing a System Architecture Model

By developing a System Architecture Model, system engineers and specialists alike will benefit from a streamlined workflow that connects multiple analyses. Often, a systems engineer will develop a system architecture before much, or any Model-Based Engineering has occurred. This allows the engineer to explore and understand the design space of the system earlier in the development cycle with a connected workflow. The fidelity of the system design and simulation can increase consistently throughout the entire design cycle. This enables team members to make more informed decisions earlier, saving significant time and resources.

Why should I care?

Because MBSE is a newer methodology within the systems engineering discipline, it can sometimes be met with pushback, especially from companies with robust processes already in place. One might ask, “Why should we switch to MBSE, if we’re already successful?”. The answer is almost always unique to each organization. However, here are some key points to consider.

• Facilitates the integration of MBSE within the design process of new engineering systems, as mandated by the D.O.D.
• Dramatically improves the ability to connect and automate complex engineering workflows using vendor-neutral tools.
• Provides traceability across a system and its requirements are needed to understand the entire design space.
• Ensures design constraints are captured, and requirements are met early in the engineering lifecycle.
• Enables a single, authoritative source of truth for all engineering disciplines.

Conclusion

While MBSE was a flashy new concept at one point, there’s no doubt of the value it brings to engineering teams across disciplines. If there is any confusion about what it means for organizations, teams, or even individual system engineers, we’d love to discuss the topic. In practice, the MBSE methodology has empowered those who use it to make better decisions, faster than ever before. It also allows a user to make more informed engineering and business decisions as a result of utilizing the tools and methods laid out.

If Model Based Systems Engineering is a topic you’re curious about, don’t hesitate to reach out to PADT for more information. We’d be happy to provide an overview of the MBSE tools, materials, or even a demonstration depending on your needs.
This is Noah, signing out. Have a great day.

The original version of this post incorrectly estimated the isolated cantilever (Equation (5) of slide 5) deflection using shear and moment estimates (Equations (1) and (2)). This should always match the fixed-fixed beam solution of (Equation (4)). Comments that accompanied this error were also incorrect and corrected here. Please see the PDF for details.

Ansys Mechanical users are often asked to simulate the structural response of a simple area in a complex geometry. One way to do this is to reduce the model to a static equivalent model reduction – creating a simplified model that acts close enough to a larger, more complex representation. Although this seems simple enough at first glance, years of providing tech support to customers doing static equivalent model reduction have taught us that it can be tricky, and users need to be aware of some subtleties.

PADT’s Alex Grishin, PhD, recently put together a presentation to dive into what he has learned about static equivalent model reduction over the years and how to quickly get a model that gives useful and accurate results. You can find the PowerPoint below, as well as a zip file containing the sample Ansys Mechanical model he used.

Static Equivalent Model Reduction of the Lip on a Rubber Diaphragm

Here is the model that Alex used. It’s a rubber diaphragm held in a retainer, and what the user needs to know is the load and stress on the lip that the rubber diaphragm is glued to.

The PowerPoint covers:

• Background on the problem
• Some hand-calcs to show how over-simplification can get you into trouble
• A list of common mistakes
• A full model
• A linearly elastic simplification
• Two statically equivalent model reduction model of the retainer
• A summary

And here is the ZIP file with the model and the MS Excel file Alex used:

This presentation is an example of how PADT’s engineering team combines an understanding of fundamental engineering principles with the leading simulation tools from Ansys. It would be easy to just import the CAD model, put some pressure loads on, and run it. However, an approach that includes some looks at some basic equations can help us make sure we are modeling the real situation.

This is one of the many reasons why companies around the world use PADT’s simulation consulting team to supplement their own engineering teams. Reach out today, and let’s talk about how we can help.