Fine Tuning Wastewater Treatment

In 2011, civil engineering firm Burgess & Niple (B&N) entered into a contract with the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District for a proposed upgrade of the Southerly WWTP preliminary treatment facilities, including an improved grit removal system. To evaluate the impact of the proposed grit tank modifications on removing the desired level of particulates under both nominal and peak flow conditions, B&N turned to the SimuTech Group to conduct computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations.

http://www.wwdmag.com/fine-tuning-wastewater-treatment

Simutech Group releases SimuCloud; ANSYS Cloud Computing

http://www.simutechcanada.com/resources/simulation-videos/viewvideo/32/simulation-videos/simucloud-simutech-s-fea-cfd-cloud-computing

ANSYS Releases Student Version of its Simulation Suite:

http://anss.client.shareholder.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=704044

ANSYS Launches Student Version of Robust Simulation Technology

Academic Student Now Available for Purchase in the U.S.

PITTSBURGH, Sept. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. college students can now take engineering simulation technology outside of the classroom with ANSYS^® Academic Student, a new simulation solution derived from ANSYS' successful teaching software. This robust technology, which was released today, offers similar capabilities as the commercial solution at the affordable price of $25 for a one-year license. Eligible U.S. students can download the ANSYS solution used in their classroom on their personal computer, eliminating the physical restriction of having to be on campus to access the technology.

The simulation functionality built into Academic Student provides access to the same solvers and user environment in ANSYS' industry products. The inclusion of structural mechanics, rigid-body dynamics, fluid dynamics and multiphysics solvers addresses the fundamental educational needs of students across many disciplines, such as mechanical, aerospace, civil, chemical, biomedical engineering and physics. Students with multicore processors on their personal computers (up to a quad-core processor) can also benefit from the software's ability to run the solvers in parallel, allowing for more advanced simulations.

Mechanical and aerospace engineering students at Cornell University were among those selected to test ANSYS Academic Student on a trial basis prior to this launch. Rajesh Bhaskaran, Swanson Director of Engineering Simulation at Cornell, integrates simulation technology into courses across the Cornell Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program. "Not only is this powerful solution easy for the students to access both financially and physically, it's also valuable to our curriculum. It allows our students to apply the technology across several of their engineering courses to complete homework assignments and projects, which ultimately gives them a deeper understanding of the solution's capabilities," Bhaskaran said.

"Education is a core focus for ANSYS. We're dedicated to providing quality simulation tools to the academic world and helping to shape the engineers of tomorrow," said Murali Kadiramangalam, academic program director at ANSYS. "Students now have unparalleled access to ANSYS multidisciplinary engineering simulation in the comfort of their dorm rooms. Not only will this help students with assignments, projects, competitions and theses/dissertations, but it also allows them to explore simulation. Enhanced simulation knowledge will help students transition more easily to the professional industry, where ANSYS is the tool of choice."

ANSYS Academic Student is sold and distributed online via the ANSYS Student Portal, which provides instant access to numerous learning tools, tutorials and training. ANSYS offers a full range of academic products suitable for both physical and distance learning as well as academic research. Future plans for Academic Student include making it available outside the U.S. market and linking to cloud computing to further increase its accessibility.

Visit www.ansys.com/students to learn more.

About ANSYS, Inc. ANSYS brings clarity and insight to customers' most complex design challenges through fast, accurate and reliable engineering simulation. Our technology enables organizations ― no matter their industry ― to predict with confidence that their products will thrive in the real world. Customers trust our software to help ensure product integrity and drive business success through innovation. Founded in 1970, ANSYS employs more than 2,300 professionals, many of them expert in engineering fields such as finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, electronics and electromagnetics, and design optimization. Headquartered south of Pittsburgh, U.S.A., ANSYS has more than 65 strategic sales locations throughout the world with a network of channel partners in 40+ countries. Visit www.ansys.com for more information.

ANSYS and any and all ANSYS, Inc. brand, product, service and feature names, logos and slogans are registered trademarks or trademarks of ANSYS, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States or other countries. All other brand, product, service and feature names or trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Technology: ANSS-T

Contact	Media	Jackie Mavin
		724.514.3053
		jackie.mavin@ansys.com
	Investors	Annette Arribas
		724.514.1782
		annette.arribas@ansys.com

SOURCE ANSYS, Inc.

News Provided by Acquire Media

Fluid Flow Everywhere - Why not visualize them, on computers?

There is fluid all around us (planet earth, for sure :)). We experience it within ourselves and in any system that mankind has ever built. Understanding the flow pattern in a system can be crucial for feasibility studies. In the world of simulations, we call it Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). A lot of real world problems cannot be solved analytically because of the complexity of the flow. Plus, a solution may not exist.
CFD uses discretization methods to break down the Navier-Stokes equation (which is the momentum equation of fluid flow) into algebraic equations which can then be solved using various numerical schemes. The same is true for other fluid flow equations. The accuracy of the solution thus would depend on the mesh size. Smaller the mesh, more accurate are the results. However, the computational time is more. There is an optimal limit where you can satisfy both these conditions. It depends on what you are looking for (in terms of results). For most applications you can get away with coarse mesh in the far field and refine the mesh close to the boundary of the system. However, there is no one size that fits all. Only through experience and rigorous testing (or sensitivity analysis), a user can understand the effect of mesh on the results. Lot of computational codes use "Finite Volume" approach these days. There are other ways to model them as well like -finite element approach, finite difference and spectral element method. Some codes do not even use CFD at all but rather treat fluid as a collection of molecules.
We will focus on the finite volume approach which is used in ANSYS Fluent and CFX. The method is based on "marching" the solution in space and time in forward direction. All the variables are solved for in the "control volume" (mesh element) and passed on to the neighboring cell.

 The simulation is run for user specified "iterations" and stopped when either the residual error is below the specified threshold or when the number of computational iterations is equal to what the user specified. Care must be taken to make sure the run is not stopped before it really has "converged".
ANSYS Fluent and CFX offer users with tons of capabilities. However, as the saying goes - "with power comes responsibility" is applicable in using these softwares as well. Users must be careful in applying the right boundary conditions, choosing the right physics model and applying the right mesh settings. The user will always be able to get results but whether it's junk or useful depends on various parameters. One way to test this is by comparing the results with experimental data or using engineering judgement. Sensitivity analysis can also help the user to understand how different variables affect the final result.

Swirl flow within a valve

May the fluid force be with you!!

Virtual Prototyping - The power of Simulations

With the ever increasing demand for products comes tighter deadlines, shorter product lifecycle and product innovation. However, the product has to be tested for it's robustness and quality without which the product will never appeal to the mass and will eventually lead to failure.
Virtual prototyping is gaining importance largely because of faster turnaround time and faster decision making cycle (due to the fact that multiple configurations can be tested within a limited time).
Simulations are approximations to real world physics but through rigorous testing and correlation with experiments can reduce the margin of error. Simulations are becoming the bread and better for various companies and it continues to grow.
Some of the advantages of performing computer simulations are:

• Faster turnaround time
• More virtual experiments and designs can be churned out with limited resources and limited time
• Limited human resources unlike experiments
• Easy to visualize results and get better understanding of the system unlike experiments where the visualization is limited to graphs and charts. The system can be visualized in real time with the desired physical variables
• Initial investment for simulations is orders of magnitude lower than experiments
• Return on Investment is much higher than experiments
• Easy to make changes to design parameters unlike experiments where it takes long time to get new data set.
• Quite helpful for companies that are constrained by their geographical locations. Results can be made easily available to anyone around the world. Users from anywhere can modify the design parameters without being bounded by any constraints

Simulations are used in a variety of applications. These include:

• Aerospace
• Healthcare
• Turbomachinery
• Civil Engineering
• Consumer Products 
• Electronics
• MEMS - Semiconductor
• Defense
• Chemical and Petrochemical
• Oil and Gas
• Marine
• Clean Technologies
• Automotive
• Industrial Equipments and many more!!

Our next post will focus more on various simulation tools available within ANSYS

Interested to learn more about ANSYS products?

Click on the link below to learn more about the products we offer.
ANSYS SimuTech Canada Brochures

For further information, feel free to contact SimuTech Canada

Red Cedar Technology and SimuTech Group Form Strategic Partnership to Expand Engineering Design Optimization

http://www.simutechcanada.com/news-a-events/latest-news