Newsletter Year 11-4

Structural Optimization of a

Car-body High Speed Train

An Innovative Analysis

and Design Methodology

EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011Welcomes an Audience of 600 CAE users

Electromagnetic issues for aIEEE 1902.1 “RuBee” tag dipped

in a fiber/composite laminate

FSO and Shuttle Tanker inTandem Configuration

Hydrodynamic Analysis

Multi-objective Optimization

with modeFRONTIER

Applied to Systems Biology

Synergy between LS-DYNA

and modeFRONTIER to

Predict Low Velocity Impact

Damage on a Composite Plate

Year 8 n° 4 Winter 2011

EnginSoft ha proposto una tavola rotonda

sulla competitività d’impresa

presso il nuovo centro di ricerca

EnginSoft Flash

For many of us, December is a time forreflection, for harvesting the fruit of ourwork and our personal efforts of the year.Our Simulation and CAE environmentsalmost constantly see new developments,upcoming software releases and changes.We are asked to be always ready for the“new”. While this is sometimes a challengefor most of us, every year also brings manynew human encounters. In our fields ofbusiness, we can consider ourselves luckyto have the opportunity to meet peoplefrom the CAE community, from around theworld. While we learn about new anddifferent technologies, the human, theengineer, its broad knowledge andexperiences, always remain at the core ofour attention.By sharing our knowledge, especially on occasions such asthe EnginSoft International Conference, we help to shapethe future path of CAE and to support the next generationof CAE engineers.In this Newsletter, we speak about the EnginSoft andANSYS Italian Conferences 2011, the two annual eventsthat offer one of the major knowledge platforms to CAEusers in Europe and beyond. ANSYS is the provider of theworld’s leading software for engineering simulation andEnginSoft’s number 1 partner. EnginSoft and ANSYS weredelighted to welcome 600 delegates to Verona on 20thand 21st October, to a wealth of topics on today’s use ofsimulation and design tools. In this issue, we also inform our readers about the RoundTable Meeting of 100 Top Managers on the occasion of theopening of EnginSoft’s Research Center in the ScientificTechnology Park ”Kilometro Rosso”. The use of ANSYSMaxwell v.14 is shown in the article on electromagneticissues for a IEEE 1902.1 “RuBee” tag dipped in afiber/composite laminate. The capabilities ofmodeFRONTIER are described in AnsaldoBreda’s work forthe structural optimization of a car-body high speed train.Our readers also hear about the use of ANSYS AQWA andthe ANSYS Workbench platform for the structuralverification of the FSO Mooring System complemented byEnginSoft’s broad experiences as a partner to the Oil&Gasindustries. The Università degli Studi di Ferrara presents their workwith ANSYS CFX 13.0 while University of Debrecen Hungaryinforms us of how Grapheur can help its users withmultiple criteria decisionmaking problems.

CIRA, the Italian Aerospace Research Centre,illustrates the Synergy between LS-DYNA andmodeFRONTIER to predict low velocityimpact damage on a composite plate. Wehear from EnginSoft Nordic in Sweden onhow multi-objective optimization is beingapplied to systems biology. Here, weencourage our readers to watch the movie“Insulin Signaling (SignalPathways)” via thelink provided!

We are pleased to introduce our customerand ANSYS user the company Almacis, andAMD, our partner in the area of HighPerformance Computing. Digimat is a powerful software for materialmodeling which is now distributed in Italy by

EnginSoft. More software news covers the LIONsolver byReactive Research, NVIDIA’s Tesla GPU, EnginSoft’sactivities for composite materials with ESAComp andANSYS Composite Prep/Post as well as MAGMA’s release5.2. The powerful Sculptor tool allows users toparameterize any mesh based on arbitrary cubic beziercontrol points. Sculptor was recently presented byEnginSoft GmbH at the ANSYS Conference and 29thCADFEM Users’ Meeting in Stuttgart.

Furthermore, we hear about Gruppo Ferroli’s project withEnginSoft, the recent introduction of the BENIMPACTproject in China and about the Minimaster and theTraining Programs of TCN and EnginSoft. Our Japan Column tells us about the CAE University whilesome of the activities of JANCAE, The Japan Associationfor Nonlinear CAE, are explained to us in the article byHideo Takizawa. Please mark your diary for the modeFRONTIER Users'Meeting 2012, which will be sponsored by ESTECO andtake place on 21st and 22nd of May 2012 in Trieste.We hope that you enjoy reading the articles on thefollowing pages of this last Newsletter of 2011. We alwayswelcome your thoughts, your feedback as well as yourideas for future publications!

EnginSoft and the Editorial Team wish you and yourfamilies a very happy, healthy and a prosperous New Year2012!

Stefano OdorizziEditor in chief

Ing. Stefano OdorizziEnginSoft CEO and President

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 3

6 EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011: 600 partecipanti all’annuale appuntamento

8 EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011 welcomes an audience of 600 CAE users

10 EnginSoft ha proposto una tavola rotonda sulla competitività d’impresa presso il nuovo centro di ricerca

12 Electromagnetic Issues for a IEEE 1902.1 “RuBee” Tag Dipped in a Fiber/Composite Laminate

15 Structural Optimization of a Car-body High Speed Train - An Innovative Analysis and Design Methodology

18 FSO and Shuttle Tanker in Tandem Configuration Hydrodynamic Analysis Finalized to the StructuralVerification of the FSO Mooring System

19 FEM analysis in Oil&Gas Industry

20 Numerical Analysis of a Micro Gas Turbine Combustor Fed by Liquid Fuel

23 Reconsidering the Multiple Criteria Decision Making Problems of Construction Workers Using Grapheur

26 Synergy between LS-DYNA and modeFRONTIER to Predict Low Velocity Impact Damage on Composite Plate

29 Multi-objective Optimization with modeFRONTIER Applied to Systems Biology

31 Eccellenza tecnologica e qualità: Almacis

32 CAE Simulations and Innovations within the High Performance Computing HPC

33 DIGIMAT per la modellazione avanzata dei materiali

34 LIONsolver: Learning and Intelligent Optimization

36 GPU Accelerated Engineering with ANSYS

37 EnginSoft continua l’attività sui materiali compositi

38 EnginSoft presenterà la release 5.2 di MAGMA a METEF 2012

39 La simulazione di processo nella progettazione di radiatori

39 modeFRONTIER Users’ Meeting 2012

40 EnginSoft GmbH Silver Sponsor at the ANSYS Conference & 29th CADFEM Users’ Meeting 2011

4 - Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4

Sommario - Contents

The EnginSoft Newsletter editions contain references to the followingproducts which are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respec-tive owners:ANSYS, ANSYS Workbench, AUTODYN, CFX, FLUENT 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. [ICEM CFD is a trademark used by ANSYS,

Inc. under license]. (www.ansys.com)

modeFRONTIER is a trademark of ESTECO srl (www.esteco.com)

Flowmaster is a registered trademark of The Flowmaster Group BV in the

USA and Korea. (www.flowmaster.com)

MAGMASOFT is a trademark of MAGMA GmbH. (www.magmasoft.de)

ESAComp is a trademark of Componeering Inc.

(www.componeering.com)

Forge and Coldform are trademarks of Transvalor S.A.

(www.transvalor.com)

AdvantEdge is a trademark of Third Wave Systems .

(www.thirdwavesys.com)

LS-DYNA is a trademark of Livermore Software Technology Corporation.

(www.lstc.com)

SCULPTOR is a trademark of Optimal Solutions Software, LLC

(www.optimalsolutions.us)

Grapheur is a product of Reactive Search SrL, a partner of EnginSoft

(www.grapheur.com)

For more information, please contact the Editorial Team

EVENTS

CASE STUDIES

SOFTWARE/HARDWARE NEWS

TESTIMONIAL

EVENTS

Newsletter EnginSoftYear 8 n°4 -Winter 2011To receive a free copy of the next EnginSoft

Newsletters, please contact our Marketing office at:

[email protected]

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PRINTING

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42 BENIMPACT Suite has landed in China

43 Alta formazione: TCN punta ad una specializzazione sempre più avanzata

44 CAE Seminars in Japan “CAE UNIVERSITY”

46 NPO Activity for Implementation of Anisotropic Elasto-plastic Models into Commercial FEM Codes

50 EnginSoft Event Calendar

52 Corsi di addestramento software 2012

JAPAN CAE COLUMN

PAGE 8: ENGINSOFT CAE

CONFERENCE 2011 WELCOMES AN

AUDIENCE OF 600 CAE USERS

PAGE 15: STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION OF A

CAR-BODY HIGH SPEED TRAIN

AN INNOVATIVE ANALYSIS AND

DESIGN METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

TRAINING

PAGE 12: ELECTROMAGNETIC ISSUES FOR

A IEEE 1902.1 “RUBEE” TAG DIPPED IN A

FIBER COMPOSITE LAMINATE


La Fiera di Verona ha ospitato l’edizione 2011 del maggioreappuntamento in Italia dedicato al calcolo scientifico:l’EnginSoft International Conference, CAE Technologies forIndustry e l’ANSYS Italian Conference.Oltre 600 i congressisti, esperti ed opinion leader in metodie tecnologie CAE, che il 20 e 21 Ottobre scorso si sonoincontrati, presso il Centro Conferenze del polo fieristico diVerona.Molte le aziende presenti, tra cui: Ansaldo, Piaggio, MagnetiMarelli, Avio, Tetra Pak, Ferrari, Iveco, ENI, a dimostrazionedell’utilizzo crescente del CAE in ambito industriale.Tra gli obiettivi della Conference vi è stato quello di offrireai partecipanti una visione d’insieme del comparto,attraverso il contributo di esponenti del mondodell'industria, dell'università e della ricerca e dai numerosisviluppatori di tecnologie intervenuti.“La Conference – ha spiegato Stefano Odorizzi, CEO diEnginSoft – è nata nel 1984 quando le tecnologie in fatto disperimentazione virtuale erano solo oggetto di ricerca daparte delle università. Convinti che queste tecnologieavrebbero avuto un’evoluzione importante, abbiamo deciso diabbracciare la sfida e oggi continuiamo a perseguirel’obiettivo di trasferire agli operatori del settore leinformazioni e le conoscenze relative a questi ambienti disimulazione e supporto alla progettazione”.Dopo la sessione plenaria di apertura che, oltre alla “Vision”da parte del Vice Presidente di ANSYS Inc., ha ospitato unmini simposio dedicato alla tematica del geo-modeling,l’evento è continuato su sessioni parallele, ognuna delle quali

focalizzata su una macroarea tecnologica o applicativa:meccanica, fluidodinamica, ottimizzazione, simulazione diprocesso, compositi, ecc.Di grande appeal sui partecipanti e di interesse perchèd’attualità, l’esperienza presentata da Ansaldo Energia diGenova in tema High Performance Computing. StefanoSantucci, IT manager di Ansaldo, ha illustrato le ragioni dellamigrazione da una struttura formata da sole workstation adun cluster in cui l’hardware distribuito e HPC non soloconvivono felicemente ma si integrano in un tuttunoestremamente efficiente sia in termini di performance dicalcolo che di ritorno dell’investimento per tutta l’azienda.

EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011: 600partecipanti all’annuale appuntamento

Fig. 1 - Stefano Odorizzi - CEO di EnginSoft - in sessione plenaria.

Fig. 2 - Scorcio della sala conferenze di Verona nel corso di uno dei workshop.

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 7Nel corso dei lavori relativi alla sessione sulla simulazionemeccanica sono stati presentati alcuni importanti progettitra i quali lo sviluppo di un’innovativo sistema dicontenimeto di argon liquido, commissionato dal CERN diGinevra, che consentirà di approfondire la ricerca scientificasui neutrini. EnginSoft ha inoltre illustrato il progetto di unveicolo filoguidabile, realizzato in collaborazione con WASS,finalizzato all’esplorazione subacquea sino a quattromilametri di profondità.La sessione dedicata alla simulazione CFD (ComputationalFluid Dynamics) ha, invece, reso evidente quello che è oggi,rispetto al passato, il ruolo centrale del progettista che,attraverso sofisticati strumenti di simulazione di cui puòdisporre, ha l’opportunità di focalizzarsi principalmentesull’aspetto ingegneristico del problema, delegando alsoftware l’onere di governare gli aspetti matematici di base.Progettare in CFD oggi si traduce nella necessità di avere:efficienti funzionalità di dialogo con i sistemi CAD, procedureautomatiche di meshing e parametrizzazione del modello.Tema centrale della sessione dedicata all’ottimizzazione èstata l’analisi dello stato dell’arte sulla simulazione multi-obiettivo, tematica molto utilizzata in ambito automotive,dimostrato dalle testimonianze di Ferrari, Iveco eContinental. Novità e successo di pubblico anche per il workshop daltitolo “La progettazione delle strutture in materialecomposito” coordinato da Marco Perillo e dal suo team diingegneri. Scopo del seminario è stato quello di condividerelo stato dell’arte dei metodi di progettazione e deglistrumenti di analisi strutturale sia sul pianoteorico/concettuale, sia sul piano applicativo.A dimostrazione di molte tematiche verticali sostenute daEnginSoft, grazie anche all’esperienza nel progettoBENImpact, è stato inserito nel programma un workshopdedicato all’utilizzo del CAE in campo ECO-Building eprogettazione sostenibile, il riscontro è stato notevolmentepositivo e ha dimostrato l’ottima integrazione del CAE anchenelle tematiche “di frontiera”.L’attività congressuale, inoltre, è stata affiancata da un’areaespositiva, in cui quasi 30 tra le più importanti softwarehouse CAE, sviluppatori hardware e di applicazioni

complementari hanno condiviso con i partecipanti le novitàrelative ai loro prodotti.Particolarmente emozionante la Cena di Gala organizzatapresso il vicino Museo dell’Auto e della Tecnica Nicolis. Qui ivisitatori, prima delle portate, hanno potuto osservareautomobili, motociclette e oggetti unici da collezione diepoche differenti.“Le tecnologie di simulazione rivoluzioneranno i processiprogettuali attualmente adottati dalle aziendemanifatturiere” ha concluso il CEO di EnginSoft. “Oggi si diceche queste tecnologie si integrano nel processo progettuale;in futuro oramai prossimo, queste tecnologie diventeranno ilprocesso progettuale”.

Con questo messaggio diamo ai lettori appuntamentoall’edizione 2012 della CAE Conference EnginSoft, sperandodi accrescere ulteriormente la community di analisti eimprenditori che credono nell’innovazione attraversol’utilizzo delle tecnologie di sperimentazione virtuale.

Per ulteriori informazioni:Luisa Cunico, [email protected]

ATTI DELLA CONFERENZA 2011Sono disponibili in download gli atti della Conferenza EnginSoft 2011 all’indirizzo:www.enginsoft.com/proceedings2011

Fig. 3 - L’area espositiva in cui i congressisti hanno avuto l’opportunità di dialogare direttamente con i produttori di tecnologia presenti in sala.


The Exhibition Centre in Verona (Verona Fiere) hosted the2011 edition of the major event in Italy on simulationbased engineering and sciences, the EnginSoftInternational Conference, CAE Technologies for Industry,and the ANSYS Italian Conference.EnginSoft and ANSYS had the great pleasure of welcomingover 600 attendees, among them many CAE experts andopinion leaders, to the Congress Centre in Verona on 20thand 21st October.Representatives of large companies participated andcontributed to the conference program as well: Ansaldo,Piaggio, Magneti Marelli, Avio, Tetra Pak, Ferrari, Iveco,and ENI, to name just a few. Their involvement underlinedhow CAE technologies are being used more and more inindustry.One of the goals of the Conference was to offer theparticipants an overall view of such technologies withpresentations from industry, universities, researchorganizations, and technology developers.“The Conference – explained Stefano Odorizzi, CEO ofEnginSoft – was organized for the first time in 1984, whentechnologies in the field of virtual prototyping were juststudied in universities. At the time, we saw greatevolution, and this is what made us decide to invest inthese technologies. Today, our goal is to transfer as muchinformation and knowledge as possible about thesesimulation and design tools to the experts in this field”.

The Plenary Session that opened the event, featured the“Vision” of the Assistant Director of ANSYS Inc. and aMini-Symposium on geo-modeling. Later on in theafternoon, the program offered to the audience a numberof parallel sessions focused on different technologicalfields: mechanics, fluid-dynamics, optimization, processsimulation, composites, etc.One of the particularly captivating presentations oncurrent topics was the contribution by Ansaldo Energia of

EnginSoft CAE Conference 2011welcomes an audience of 600 CAE users

Fig. 1 - Swaminathan Subbiah - Vice President, Corporate Product andMarket Strategy at ANSYS - during his speach talking about futuredevelopments.

Fig. 2 - Welcome desk at EnginSoft area.

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 9Genova on High PerformanceComputing. Stefano Santucci,the IT manager of Ansaldo,explained the reasons why thecompany has left a structurewith only workstations for astructure with a cluster, wherethe distributed hardware and theHPC were perfectly integratedthus generating an efficientcomputation performance andROI for the company. In the session about mechanicalsimulation, some importantprojects were presented, such asthe development of aninnovative storage system forliquid argon - committed byCERN (European Organization forNuclear Research) in Geneva –that allows to perform in depth studies on neutrinos. Onthis occasion, EnginSoft explained the project of a wire-guided vehicle, implemented with WASS, for underwaterexploration activities of up to 4000 m under sea level. The CFD session stressed the central role of the designernowadays, compared to the past. Today, we can focus onthe engineering side of the problem, thanks tosophisticated simulation tools, by entrusting themanagement of the basic mathematical processes to thesoftware. Designing in CFD means: effective connectionswith CAD systems, automatic mesh procedures and modelparameterization. The session about optimizationemphasized the state-of-the-art of multi-objectivesimulation, a topic commonly discussed in the automotivefield – as Ferrari, Iveco and Continental assured us.The workshop titled “The design of structures incomposite materials”, managed by Marco Perillo and histeam of engineers, also turned out to be a great success.The workshop’s aim was to share the state-of-the-art ofthe diverse design methods and the structural analysistools, both from a theoretical/conceptual and applicativelevel.Another interesting workshop was connected to theBENImpact Project and the ECO-Building field. The resultswere incredibly positive and demonstrated how perfectlyCAE is integrated in the “frontier” topics.

An important aspect of the annual event is the exhibitionarea. This year, nearly 30 of the most well-known CAEsoftware houses showcased their hardware and softwareproducts. The conference attendees could hear about thelatest developments and news in personal talks with someof the developers.Finally, another highlight was the Conference Gala Dinner,held at the Nicolis’ Museum of Cars, Technology andMechanics, which houses a private collection of vintagecars and motorbikes of Mr. Luciano Nicolis. On this

occasion, before the dinner started, our guests fromaround the world enjoyed a guided tour of the largeexhibition rooms of the museum.The CEO of EnginSoft closed the Conference saying that“Simulation technologies will radically change the designprocesses currently used in manufacturing companies.Now we are saying that such technologies are integratedin the design process; but in the next years they will bethe design process itself”.With this message in mind, we ask our attendees andreaders to keep an eye out for the 2012 edition of theEnginSoft International CAE Conferencewww.CAEconference.com hoping that the VirtualPrototyping Community will grow further and further untilwe meet again!

For more information:Luisa Cunico, [email protected]

CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS 20112011 Conference Proceeding are now avaliable to download on:www.enginsoft.com/proceedings2011

Fig. 3 - Some beauties inside of the Nicolis Museum - Verona.


Il 24 Novembre scorso si è tenuta a Bergamo, in occasionedell’inaugurazione del nuovo Centro di Ricerca EnginSoftpresso il Parco Scientifico Tecnologico “Kilometro Rosso”,una Tavola Rotonda dal titolo “Lean Design e Competitivitàd’Impresa - Innovazione e moderni strumenti per ilmanagement strategico”. All’evento, al quale hannopartecipato oltre 100 Top Manager delle più importantiimprese manifatturiere italiane mentre al tavolo dei relatorisi sono seduti: Roberto Formigoni (Presidente RegioneLombardia), Alberto Bombassei (Vice PresidenteConfindustria), Antonello Briosi (Vice PresidenteConfindustria Trento), Mirano Sancin (Direttore Generale eConsigliere Delegato del Parco Scientifico TecnologicoKilometro Rosso), Massimo Egidi (Presidente dellaFondazione Bruno Kessler), Giancarlo Michellone (giàPresidente di Area Science Park di Trieste e ora PresidenteGMC Consulting), Marie Christine Oghly (Presidente MEDEF,Parigi), Sergio Savaresi (professore al Politecnico di Milano)e Stefano Odorizzi (CEO EnginSoft).

Durante la tavola rotonda, condotta e moderata da FedericoPedrocchi - giornalista scientifico di ‘Radio 24-Il Sole 24 Ore’,gli opinion leader, provenienti dal mondo delle istituzioni,dell’impresa e della ricerca scientifica si sono confrontati sultema dell’innovazione quale fattore chiave di successo ecompetitività d’impresa anche, ma soprattutto, in tempo dicrisi di mercato.È Alberto Bombassei ad entrare in tema affermando che “…le strategie applicate dalla maggior parte delle aziendeitaliane - non solo PMI - fondate sull’innovazioneincrementale e di processo, sostanzialmente finalizzate adabbattere i costi di produzione e migliorare la qualità deiprodotti, non sono più sufficienti”. Aggiunge il presidente diBrembo Spa “in un mercato Globale, dove i paesi in via disviluppo e con mano d’opera a basso costo la fanno dapadrone, occorre sempre più innovare per essere competitivie mantenere la leadership”. Gli fa eco Mirano Sancin,Direttore Generale di Kilometro Rosso, che aggiunge“… èl’innovazione radicale e di prodotto che contribuiscemaggiormente a spostare le attività economiche, eproduttive, da un’elevata concentrazione di manodopera(sempre più difficile da reperire) ad una elevataconcentrazione di conoscenza (tipica dei sistemi più evoluti)e ad aumentare la competitività delle imprese a livellointernazionale”.Anche le istituzioni collaborano, con l’imprenditoria e laricerca strutturata, alla causa comune della competitivitàdell’impresa-Italia attraverso veri e propri strumentifinanziari costituiti dai Bandi. “Chi non ricerca non cresce” è

lo slogan citato da Roberto Formigoni e promosso da RegioneLombardia che nel biennio 2009-2010 ha stanziato fondi peroltre 80 milioni di Euro destinati alla ricerca e all’innovazioneindustriale. “Nonostante le difficoltà, le aziende virtuosecontinuano ad innovare, innovare e ad investire nella crescita– accenna il Governatore di Regione Lombardia - in unmomento di difficoltà generalizzata, le aziende investono inricerca per cercare nuovi margini di profitto e aprirsi a quelcontesto di conoscenza distribuita che caratterizza la societàmoderna. È questo il dato positivo - conclude Formigoni - cheemerge dai primi risultati del Bando Regionale”.“Le nuove tecnologie di simulazione e di analisi predittivasono di fatto riconosciute da molte aziende un’effettivarivoluzione dei processi progettuali” ha affermato GiancarloMichellone. In questo contesto di ricerca applicata ed incubatoretecnologico si inserisce a pieno titolo anche EnginSoft che datempo collabora con l’R&D di Brembo per la simulazione disistemi frenanti e con l’Istituto Mario Negri per applicazionifarmacologiche: realtà entrambe insediate nel ParcoScientifico. Con oltre 30 ricercatori ed ingegneri impiegati

EnginSoft ha proposto una tavolarotonda sulla competitività d’impresapresso il nuovo centro di ricerca

Fig. 1 - Alberto Bombassei, Vice Presidente di Confindustria, che commentail contesto di mercato entro cui le aziende italiane devono operare


nella sede di Bergamo, l’azienda investe sul proprio futuro erilancia la presenza in Italia trasferendo una delle sediall’interno di un incubatore tecnologico d’eccellenza qual è ilKilometro Rosso. “È dal 2007 che collaboriamo con ilConsorzio Intellimech e con altri laboratori di ricerca inseritinel Parco Scientifico Tecnologico - afferma Stefano Odorizzi,Presidente di EnginSoft – in questi anni abbiamo toccato conmano l’importanza di far parte di questa struttura checondivide la nostra stessa mission: sviluppo di tecnologia einnovazione”.L’evento di oggi promosso da EnginSoft, in uno dei rari casiin cui istituzioni, ricerca universitaria e impresa si riunisconoa confronto su temi strategici e di vitale importanza per ilsistema-Italia, è la riprova del consenso e dell’autorevolezzache l’azienda, negli anni, ha riscosso sul mercato.

Per ulteriori informazioni:Mosè Necchio - [email protected]

Fig. 2 - Overview della platea di Imprenditori e Top Manager che hannopartecipato alla tavola rotonda organizzata da EnginSoft a Bergamo La gestione progetto in ottica

Lean Design

Sviluppare processi di progettazione e sviluppo-prodottosempre più rapidi ed affidabili è oramai riconosciuta qualeuna necessità strategica imprescindibile. È quanto è emerso,in estrema sintesi, dal simposio di Bergamo. Per esplorare di-verse alternative di soluzioni è necessario essere rapidi etempestivi nell’apprendere i limiti e le potenzialità di ciò chestiamo ideando e progettando. La velocità e l’efficacia nel-l’esplorazione delle alternative, quindi, sono profondamentelegate alla capacità di sperimentazione attraverso un nume-ro significativo di prototipi ognuno funzionale alla verificadelle intenzioni di progetto e la loro corrispondenza alle ne-cessità del cliente. Questo approccio, mediante l’impiego diprototipi fisici, potrebbe richiedere tempo e risorse in nume-ro incompatibile con il budget disponibile. Anche nei proces-si di innovazione-prodotto esistono forme di “spreco” defini-bile in: qualsiasi attività che non crea Valore per il cliente. Iltema su cui riflettere è che tali sprechi non sono immediata-mente visibili e non sono, quindi, facilmente aggredibili senon attraverso le giuste metodologie per individuarli. La ri-progettazione dei processi di innovazione-prodotto, in chia-ve sperimentazione virtuale, può liberare enormi energiecreative e di conoscenza che frequentemente sono già pre-senti negli uffici tecnici e di calcolo. EnginSoft, su questotema, sta elaborando e sviluppando iniziative ad hoc finaliz-zate a diffondere le metodologie di Lean Design con la rela-tiva valutazione del ROI soprattutto attraverso l’impiego del-la Simulazione e della Sperimentazione Virtuale.


The IEEE 1902.1 “RuBee”communication standarddefines the air interfacefor radiating transceiverradio tags using longwavelength signals (up to450 kHz). Conformingdevices can have very lowpower consumption (afew microwatts onaverage), while operating over medium ranges (0.5 to 30meters) and at low data transfer speeds (300-9600 bps).In this article, the approach to model a loop tag operatingat 131.072 kHz through ANSYS Maxwell v.14 is describedwhen the sensor is dipped in a multilayer fiber/compositelaminate. Some preliminary results are shown in terms ofinput inductance and magnetic fields.

Free standing antenna modelingFig. 1 shows the prototype and the numerical ANSYSMaxwell model of a magnetic loop antenna for the shortrange “RuBee” protocol. The antenna (Fig.1a) is a 42mmradius multi-turn coil made of 33 loops of a copper wirewith a section radius equal to 0.25mm. The numericalmodel is made of a solid single wire with a circular section

radius rls equal to 0,143cm. As indicated in the bottom ofFig. 1b, this value corresponds to the radius of acircumference with a surface equal to the sum of the 33wire sections.

The second element is a multi-turn printed loop on a0.8mm thick FR4 laminate and it is shown in Fig. 2. The

CPW fed antenna is made of 16 properly distanced 0.6mmwide microstrip copper line turns. The background scenario was modeled by imposingradiation boundaries to the problem region in order tosimulate free emission into space. In the operationalenvironment, the latter could be a lossy and/orconductive media like sea water and oil (see Table I formore details) and it should be consequently modeled withthe correspondent electric characteristics.

Fig. 3 shows a sample of the electric current density alongthe loop and on the solid wire section. The imposed

Electromagnetic Issues for a IEEE1902.1 “RuBee” Tag Dipped in aFiber/Composite Laminate

Fig. 1 (a) - Prototype of the 33-turn copper wire coil and (b) geometricaldetails of the Maxwell 3D model. In the top of Fig. 1a the microstripfeeding line and the PCB connector are visible.

Fig. 2 (a) - Prototype of the multi-turn microstrip coil and (b) Maxwell 3Dmodel. The PCB connector is visible in the bottom of Fig. 1a. The two sidecopper plates are helpful to tune the antenna input impedance.

Table I - Dielectric characteristics of some media compared with free space

Fig. 3 - Sample of the current density distribution along the loop

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 13stranded current, constant on the wire section, is visiblein the bottom left detail and, as expected, the current isconstant along the loop.

Fig. 4 shows a sample of the magnetic inductiondistribution in a plane containing the loop axis. This Bfield distribution is a well-known result, according tobasic electromagnetic theory. Indeed, the loop length ismuch smaller than the free space wavelength at 131 kHz(around 2.3km), so resulting in an elementary loopdesign. For such elements the near field is mainlymagnetic and completely decoupled by the electric field.

Even if the device is an antenna, this considerationjustifies the use of ANSYS Maxwell 3D rather than ANSYSHFSS because the magnetic near field characterizationprovided by Maxwell 3D fully satisfies the designrequirements.

Fig. 5 shows a sample of the mesh for the microstripprinted square loop. Around 161000 tetrahedra were usedfor the computational domain and around 24000 for theloop. For the solid wire loop 61000 tetrahedra werenecessary for the computational domain and 14000 wereused for the loop.

Fig. 6 shows the H field distribution along the loop axis,for both configurations. The H field is higher for the wireloop, suggesting the use of this antenna type. However,

some other aspects couldmake the printed squareloop preferable, like itsmechanical stability andthe more accuraterepeatability of theprototyping.

Table II shows thesimulated and measuredvalues of the inputinductance for the twoconfigurations. For thesolid loop case, thecalculated value isobtained from acorrespondent analytical

model and this is in good agreement with the simulatedone. The measured inductance is around 10% less than theprevious cases. This disagreement results from themismatch between the transverse section areas of thesolid loop of the simulated and calculated cases and the33-turn one of the prototype (see the bottom detail ofFig.1b). A 0.9 fill factor (Fig.1a) corresponding to themissing lighter areas of the prototype with respect to thenumerical models should be considered to compensate it.An excellent agreement between simulations andmeasurements is apparent for the printed element.

Electromagnetic modeling and analysis of thecomposite laminateThe two prototypes would be dipped in a compositematerial as shown in the sample of Fig. 7.A composite laminate can be schematized as a stack-up ofseveral plies, each of them made of a sheet of fibers filled

Fig. 4 - Sample of the magnetic induction in a plane orthogonal to thesweep.

Fig. 5 - Details of the mesh characteristics for the microstrip printed loop

Fig. 6 - H field distribution along theloop axis for the wire solid ring and theprinted microstrip square loop.

Table II Input inductance for the two antenna configurations

Fig. 7 - Sample ofrectangular loop dipped in a fiberglass compositelaminate.


with some dielectric resin, as shown in Fig. 8a. An df thickintermediate layer made of some fibers and resin liesbetween two dr thick single layers of resin. This structurecould generally be dissipative, conductive andanisotropic, the latter depending on the characteristicsand the distribution of the fibers.

An effective approach to model this structure is to definean equivalent layer for each ply. Many models have beenrecently presented, resorting to different approaches butall of them afford a specific problem without deeplychallenging a general approach. In the framework, theapproach to model an equivalent layer for each ply is toapply the method described in for the intermediate layerof Fig. 8a, in order to get an equivalent anisotropicintermediate one, shown in Fig.8b.

Then, a circuital approach can be applied to the multi-layer structure shown in Fig. 8b to result in a single layerequivalent anisotropic model. It is worth noticing that allthe constitutive materials (fibers and resin) in Fig. 8a are

isotropic, in the sense that only their intrinsic dielectriccharacteristics are known.

On the other hand, the structures in Fig. 8b and c aregenerally anisotropic, as a result of the appliedmethodology. The permeability and permittivity tensorsneed to be calculated according to the material propertiesand to the problem geometry, as:

where:

and g is a function of the ratio between the fiber and theresin volume in the intermediate layer of Fig. 8a.

Fig. 9 shows the Maxwell 3D model with 4 plies above and4 plies below the wire antenna.

Each ply has been modeled in Maxwell 3D, including allthe material anisotropies and dielectric properties. Thework on the analysis of the effect of a number of plies upto 64 is in progress. They have been fully parameterizedin order to take into account a number of possible plyconfigurations and materials.

ConclusionsIn this work, the approach to analyze the electromagneticperformance of a tag antenna for the IEEE 1902.1 “Rubee”protocol has been described through the use of ANSYSMaxwell. Preliminary results have been shown in terms ofradiated magnetic field and input inductance for bothnumerical models and prototypes. Simulated andmeasured results are in excellent agreement, proving thetool reliability. The methodology to model a multi-plycomposite fiber material has been defined and numericalanalyses on the antennas’ performance in its presence willbe the main topic of some future investigations.

Per ulteriori informazioni:Andrea Serra, [email protected] to Federica Bolognesi, IDNOVA

Fig. 8 - Single composite ply: (a) schematic model, (b) equivalent model forthe intermediate fiber/resin layer, (c) equivalent model for each single ply

Fig. 9 - Example of a composite laminate made of 8 plies: 4 above and 4below the wire loop antenna


In the past, the main challenge was to achieve avery high speed, but today the criteria such asenergy efficiency, high transport capacity,comfort and low environmental impact arebecoming more and more important. For thisreason the philosophy of AnsaldoBreda is tocombine a settled design process withinnovative approaches to optimize thereliability, safety, low power consumption and aneasy maintenance. In order to be competitive inthe market, especially in this economicallychallenging period, it is necessary to push theenvelope of the available technologies to ensurecompliance with top level quality standards.

A new methodology approach has been developed byexploiting the new capabilities of the multi-objectivedesign environment modeFRONTIER and it has been appliedto the design of the carbody structure of a new generationof High Speed trains.

In this context, the aim of the activity was the designoptimization of the aluminum carbody structure in terms ofweight and dynamic behavior, respecting all projectconstraints according to the high standardstructural and crash requirements of EuropeanEN 12663 - Category P-ll (Fixed units) and TSIRolling Stock.

Starting from the CAD model of the originalconfiguration, the FE comprehensive parametricmodel has been developed by ANSYS APDLprocedure and integrated into the

modeFRONTIER optimization platform to achieve therequested goals. The FE parametric model has been dividedinto two different main parts:1. The central parts of the carbody (named “fuselage”) – as

shown in fig.1a;2. The terminal tapered parts of the carbody – as shown in

fig.1b.

The fuselage geometry (fig.2) is completely parametric interms of:

a) number of the profile reinforcements;b) angle, position of reinforcements;c) thickness of reinforcements;d) thickness of external and internal skin ofprofiles.

The aims of the optimization process of acarbody in modeFRONTIER are:a. Minimizing weightb. Maximizing two first own frequencies

with the following constraints: a. Max Von-Mises stress for static analysis

Structural Optimization of a Car-bodyHigh Speed Train - An InnovativeAnalysis and Design Methodology

Fig. 1a - Fuselage Parametric part of high speed train: it has been completely development inANSYS APDL. Fig. 1b: No -parametric part of high speed train: terminal tapered parts are fixedgeometry

Fig.2 - Section profile of carbody


b. Max Von-Mises stress for equivalent crash analysisc. Max Von-Mises stress for fatigue analysisd. Min buckling factor for linear instability analysis

The original configuration, only referred to the parametricpart of the carbody, weighs 5.927 Tons. The main goal is theweight reduction by min. 500 Kg, maintaining the firstbending frequency of 11 Hz. The static structural analysis and fatigue analysis have beenperformed for both welded and unwelded region (fig.3),which have different material features:

Due to the high number of time-consuming simulation andthe high number of input variables, a progressive approachhas been studied for the optimization analysis. Therefore,the optimization analysis has been carried out in threesteps:• Step1: Screening, driving towards the best designs

region; • Step2: Rough refinement, including the most important

constraint conditions;• Step3: Final refinement, achieving the optimal

solutions.

A total of 23 different working -load cases have beenconsidered, with an additional specific comfort requirementabout Static Pressure load (-8 KPa inside Tunnel) whichconstrained the side wallsdisplacements (Uy < 3mm andUz < 4.5 mm)The whole simulation took 3weeks on cluster machine with8 parallel simulation (32 core).The first optimization step hasbeen carried out taking intoaccount the two most importantobjectives of the problem(increase of frequency andweight reduction) which leadthe designs to the best regionand allows to reduce the designspace of the input variables.

Only the modal analysis has been performed to find out thebest region for weight and frequency with no time-consuming run (less than 1 hour on the cluster machine).The results of this first optimization loop has been used asa starting DOE (Design of Experiment) for the second one,where objectives/constraints related to displacement underpressure loads and to the 5-6 strongest load cases (fig. 4)have been introduced. This step is more time-consumingthan the first one (5 hours on the cluster machine).After these optimization loops, some variables have beenchanged in agreement with AnsaldoBreda, and the final

optimization run has been done to achieve the bestsolutions. Since this step was really time-consuming (15hours on the cluster), the problem has become to mono-objective: only the weight has been considered, while theother objective has become constraints (fig. 5). The set ofbest designs belonging to the new Pareto frontier has beenverified for each operative load condition and the bestdesigns have been chosen using decision making tools.

The optimal designs selected on the basis of stress andweight values have a considerable variation of both externaland internal skin thickness, which can cause manufacturingproblems. In order to avoid such problems, another postprocessing analysis has been done to find out Paretosolutions with a homogeneous distribution of thickness

Fig.3 - Section of a carbody structure

Fig.4b - displacements in y direction (mm)Fig.4a - History of weight convergence (green points: 1st optimization loop; blue points: 2nd optimization loop).

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 17along external and internal skin. New postprocessing using “parallel chart” applied onbest design has been carried out in order tofind a suitable solution matching the newrequirements introduced a-posteriori (fig. 6).Table II shows the comparison between thebest design selected at the end of theoptimization analysis (Design ID 378) and thebest design after the last post processingconsidering a thickness uniformity (Design ID339). Thanks to the implemented methodology andthe optimization routine, a considerable weightreduction has been reached. The chosensolution, Design ID 339, has a weight reductionof 546 Kg (- 9.2%) and it has a more uniformthickness variation which simplifies the carbodymanufacturing.

This work aims to shows how to exploit newdesign methodologies and new technologies inorder to manage industrial design processesthat involve a large number of variables (morethan 50), several constraints and objectives,finding the best solution according to industrialtiming.

It is possible to summarize the most importantsteps of this activity, as follows:• The design optimization procedure

developed has been completely automated:this allowed to make the most of allavailable hardware and software resources,completely exploiting the downtime (nightsand holidays).

• The requested weight reduction has beenachieved respecting every structural andcomfort requirements: this has totallyfullfilled the expectations of themodeFRONTIER industrial users.

• The additional requirement aboutmanufacturing has been fulfilled without re-run any analysis thanks to the newmethodology approach: this has beenpossible thanks to the really powerfulcapabilities of the post-processing tools ofmodeFRONTIER.

• The optimization methodology can becompletely re-used for other designprocesses: this activity was dedicated to aspecific carbody but this approach can beeasily adapted also to other railwayvehicles.

For more information: Francesco Franchini, [email protected]

Fig.5 - The workflow of modeFRONTIER with all input and output variables, the finalobjective and constraints

Table I - The table above summarize the optimization strategy adopted. The total number of design has been run in 20 days

Fig.6a - Parallel chart of the best designs Fig.6b - The selected design (Design ID339) with homogeneous thicknesses

Table II - comparison between the original solutions and the optimized solutions

Table III - Thickness comparison of the side walls of fuselage (profile ref. 5-6-7-8)


Strength and Fatigue Verifications of an FSOmooring system have been performedbasing the results on proper hydrodynamicanalysis (developed inside ANSYS-AQWA)and structural analyses (developed insideANSYS-Workbench) of the system andrelevant components.

Hydrodynamic AnalysisThe FSO (109.000 DWT), operated byEdison, is moored on the Rospo Mare Offshore Oil Field. TheFSO mooring is guarantees via 6 chains connected to arotating turret, installed at the FSO bow. During the oiloffloading operation, the Shuttle Tanker (45.000 DWT) ismoored, via an hawser, at the FSO aft end.The offloading operation takes place under proper seaconditions, with waves characterized by significant height(Hs) ad zero up-crossing period (Tz). To each sea state,consistent current and wind have been accounted for.The hydrodynamic model (performed inside Ansys-AQWAsuite), simulating the FSO and the Shuttle Tanker (this onemoored, at its stern, to a Tug via a mooring cable), refersboth to aligned and misaligned meteo conditions (currentincoming at 50 degrees with respect to wave direction,wind incoming at 25 degrees with respect to wavedirection).On the model (FSO + Shuttle Tanker + mooring lines), timedomain hydrodynamic analysis has been performed for eachdefined sea-state, obtaining, for each mooring chain andfor the hawser connecting FSO and Shuttle Tanker, the axialtension as function of time.In order to check the strength resistance of mooringcomponents (such as Chain Stoppers and 'Ecubier') installedat the rotating turret, besides hydrodynamic analyses underoffloading conditions, also hydrodynamic analyses of FSO inmoored condition, for extreme storm case (100 years returnperiod), have been performed.

Strength and Fatigue Verification of Chain-Stopper and “Ecubier”Based on results of hydrodynamic analysis performed forboth extreme and offloading conditions, strength andfatigue verifications of Chain Stopper and ‘Ecubier’ havebeen performed.Strength checks have been based on results obtained fromcontact non-linear analysis performed of Finite Element

Model of Ecubier + Chain Stopper under extreme loadcase (practically the chain minimum breaking load).Fatigue checks have been developed according tospectral approach as required by DNV OS-E301(Position Mooring), assuming proper S/N curve dataas reported in DNV RP-C203 (Fatigue Design ofOffshore Steel Structures).The assumed hypothesis at the base of fatiguespectral approach is that the stress range, S, is arandom variable characterized by a probability

density equal to p(S) and that, for each sea-state, thenumber of cycles having stress variation in the range of Sand S+dS is directly related to ni p(S), where ni is the totalnumber of cycles of that sea-state.

Based on this and on the fact that, for offshore structures,the probability density of stress ranges, p(S), canadequately be represented by a Rayleigh distribution, the

FSO and Shuttle Tanker in TandemConfiguration Hydrodynamic AnalysisFinalized to the Structural Verificationof the FSO Mooring System

Fig. 1 - Hydrodinamic Model of FSO, Mooring Lines, Shutter Tanker

Fig. 2 - Von Mises Stress distribution on Ecubier and Chain Stopper

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 19damage, Di, for the i sea-state, is given by the followingrelation:

where a and m are factors of S/N curve (C curve has beenconsidered for fatigue verification of Ecubier and ChainStopper), while σs is the standard deviation of Sdistribution. Finally, based on Miner-Palmgreen relation, the totaldamage, D, due to the summation of damages of each sea-state, Di, is:

Enrico Miorin, Fabiano Maggio, Livio FurlanEnginSoft

For more information:Livio Furlan, [email protected]

Fig. 3 - Finite Element Model of Ecubier and Chain Stopper

Fig. 4 - S/N Curves in sea-water with cathodic protection

Design and FEM Analyses in Offshore andOil&Gas IndustryBesides competencies in Automotive, Aerospace and Industrial EngineeringSimulations, EnginSoft has knowledge also in the Design and Analyses voted to theOil&Gas and Offshore Industry. Many consultancy activities have been performed viacollaborations with the most important Italian players in this sector: ENI, Saipem,Tecnomare, MIB Italiana, Petrolvaves, Cameron, FBM, Officine Resta, Nuovo Pignone,ATB, Foster Wheeler.EnginSoft can supply a full range of services covering projects entire design route,from the earliest conceptual studies passing through FEED and basic design up todetailed design and installation engineering.The following list reports some of the Oil&Gas Business Unit competences:• Conceptual and detailed design and structural analysis of fixed offshore platforms

(jacket, top-sides, buoyancy tanks, stiffened structures)• Design and analysis of subsea foundation templates• Design and analysis of pressure vessels, valves, piping, rack, etc.• Design and analysis of subsea manifold (even for installation, repairing and retrieval operations)• Detailed structural analysis of structural parts (Hulls, Deck, etc.) of Semi-Submersible Vessels• Detailed structural assessment of steel Gravity Based Structures (GBS) including stiffened plate code checks• Detailed design and structural analysis of risers and FPSO's mooring connectors• Revamping of fixed offshore platforms (assessment of structural reliability- re-certification and life extension), frac-

ture and fatigue assessment of installed jacket structures (risk analysis)• Motion Analysis of Floating Vessels (even for Marine Pipeline Installations)

The BU, which is located in EnginSoft Padova Office and is coordinated by Livio Furlan, has high skills also in the fieldof structural and mechanical applications in general (as an example the design and analysis of Roller Coaster structuresand cars or the design of large valves for hydroelectric power plants).

For more information:Livio Furlan, EnginSoft - [email protected]


This work presents a CFD analysis of the combustionchamber of a 50 kWel nominal power micro gas turbine. Thepurpose of the analysis is to investigate the combustionprocess and performance of the combustion chamber fed byliquid fuels, through 3D numerical simulations performedwith ANSYS CFX 13.0. Firstly, a sensitivity analysis wascarried out in order to determine the parameters for thecorrect modeling of the liquid injection. Then, a simulationcampaign was conducted to investigate the case of Jet Afeeding and the supply with different liquid fuels derivingfrom biomass.

IntroductionNowadays micro gas turbine (MGT) are one of the moreflexible and effective system for the distributed andresidential micro cogeneration, due to their compact size,the low operating and maintenance costs, their greateroverall conversion efficiency and reduced environmentalimpact. The continuous flow operation of this system offersa greater flexibility with respect to the unsteady process ofinternal combustion engines that imposes constraints onfuel characteristics. In particular, MGTs can be supplied withfuel (both gaseous and liquid), characterized by a higherlevel of contamination thanks to their greater adaptabilityto different fuel supply. Among the renewable sources, anincreasing interest has been shown in fuels derived frombiomass since they are a predictable source, allowing thedistributed grid-connected generation without causingdiscontinuities in the electric grid and frequencyinstabilities.

At the same time, vegetable oils have gained attentionsince they can be low-cost fuels and allow to implement

systems for the distributed energy production. MGTs are notwell-established systems for straight vegetable oil feeding,yet, because the combustion of these oils had to beinvestigated due to the opposite physical and chemicalcharacteristics, such as the chemical composition, the lowerheating value (LHV), the molecular mass, the density andthe viscosity, compared to diesel, biodiesel, diesel-vegetable oils and their mixtures. In fact, the combustionperformance depends on the atomization process and spraycharacteristics, which are directly related to the fuelcomposition and its physical properties, in particular thehigh viscosity of vegetable oils. The study presented belowregards the preliminary analyses performed on a MGTcombustion chamber fed by conventional fuel (Jet A), inorder to find the correct settings for the simulation ofbiofuel feeding.

Computational domain and numerical modelsGeometry. The numerical analysis have been conducted onthe combustion chamber of Solar T62-T32, a micro gasturbine of 50 kWel nominal power, fed by diesel fuel. Thecombustion chamber (Figure 1a) is a reverse-flow annulartype combustor, with six fuel injectors, 24 dilution holesand a series of holes for the cooling of the liner wall. Theair from the compressor enters the combustion chamber incounter-current with respect to the combustion gases,passing through the space between the external wall andthe liner’s wall. The solid domain of the combustionchamber (Figure 1b) was obtained from the directmeasurement of the real geometry (Fig. 1a). Thanks to theperiodicity of the number of fuel nozzles, dilution holes andwall cooling holes, the fluid domain was reduced to a 60°annular sector of the combustor (Figure 1c).

Numerical Analysis of a Micro GasTurbine Combustor Fed by Liquid Fuel

Figure 1 - (a) real combustor geometry, (b) solid domain, (c) grid of the fluid domain.


Grid. Two unstructured tetrahedral grids with an overallnumber of elements approximately equal to 1.5 and 2.5million respectively were generated using ANSYS ICEM CFD.Both grids are characterized by a uniform distribution of theelements inside the domain, with a more refined meshinside the nozzle and combustion zone. The sensitivity analysis of the grid showed that both gridsachieved the numerical convergence and were robust withcompared to the overall performances of the combustor. Forthese reasons the 1.5 million elements grid (Fig. 1c) wasused in the numerical analyses presented below.

Numerical models and boundary conditions. The numericalmodels adopted are: the k-ε for turbulence, the EddyDissipation (EDM) for combustion with a 2-steps reactionscheme and a PDF model as the NOx formation method. Aparticle injection region and the TAB (Taylor AnalogyBreakup), as secondary breakup model, were set at the fuelinlet surface in order to model the fuel spray, while theprimary breakup was not activated. An adiabatic boundarycondition was set for all the combustor walls. Fuel inletboundary condition was set according to the data providedby the manufacturer, while the air mass flow value wasobtained from literature. All the numerical simulations wereperformed with ANSYS CFX 13.0.

CFD Analysis of the combustion chamberCase of conventional fuel feedingIn these cases the simulation regards the supply withconventional fuel, so the Jet A fuel of the CFX materiallibrary has been used. In order to determine the simulation

parameters that better predict thebehavior of this type of combustor,sensitivity analyses on the boundaryconditions have been carried out.

Boundary conditions influenceOne of the ways to reduce the particlespray diameter and, therefore, to obtain afiner spray, is to increase the atomizing airmass flow, which also applies to highviscous fuels. A larger flow of atomizing aircan be obtained by modifying the bypassfrom the main machine compressor or byadding external air from an auxiliarycompressor. So the influence of the airmass flow coming from the compressor hasbeen evaluated. The air mass flow to fuelmass flow ratio, AFR, was varied from thestandard value of 70 to 50 (richcombustion) and 100 (lean combustion).Figure 2 shows the comparison of thetemperature contour plots in the nozzlemid plane: the flame increases in terms ofextension and intensity as α increases, asexpected. The quantitative results showedthat the values of the turbine inlet

temperature (TIT) and pollutant emissions, such as NOx andCO, of the case of standard air/fuel ratio (ARF = 70) are ingood accordance with the measured pollutantconcentrations and the calculation of the TIT by means of agas turbine Cycle Deck. For these reasons, an air/fuel ratioof 70 was chosen for the subsequent simulations.

Spray parameters influenceThe simulation of liquid fuel combustion has been carriedout defining a particle injection region placed nearby thefuel inlet surface, which is closed to the exit of the fuelinjection duct. Sensitivity analyses concerning the diameterof the particles injected into the combustor and the angleof the injection cone have been performed: in particular,three diameter sizes (1, 10, 20 µm) and three injectioncone angles (10°, 20°, 30°) were investigated.

In the case of variation of the particle diameter, the flowfield and the temperature distributions in the nozzle midplane have not presented significant modifications. Thevalues of TIT and pollutant emissions (NOx and CO)calculated at the outlet surface of the combustor hasdecreased as the particle diameter has increased, accordingto the liquid fuel combustion phenomena. The evaporationtime of the particles has increased as they have increasedin size, while the particle traveling distance has increasedin an irregular way, as shown in Figure 4. A great increasehas occurred passing with diameter between 10 and 20 µmand a decrease has occurred with a diameter between 1 and10 µm. This was probably due to the size of the gridelements. Nevertheless, numerical values were in

Figure 2 - Comparison of the results of the air/fuel ratio variation: temperature distributions.

Figure 3 - Comparison of the results of the particles’ diameter variation.


accordance with it. When the spray cone angle has varied,the vaporization time and the traveling distance of theparticles increased as the cone angle has increased.Temperature values into the primary combustion zone arelower in the case of a cone angle of 30°; the TIT valuedecrease accordingly. An anomalous behavior occurred whencone angle of 20°: there is a reduction of the particletraveling distance and the evaporation time; the TIT valueis in accordance with the other simulated cases.

According to the results of the sensitivity analyses alreadyperformed, an air/fuel ratio of 70, a diameter of 10 µm forthe particle injection and a spray cone angle of 30° havebeen chosen for all the simulation presented below.

Case of vegetable oil fuel feedingSubsequently, some simulations have been performed inorder to investigate the behavior of the combustor in caseof feeding with liquid fuel derived from biomass. As firstattempt, two mock biofuel have been created starting fromthe Jet A characteristics and modifying only some of theparameters (density and viscosity values), in order todetermine the influence of a single parameter each time.The density value, equal to 914 kg/m3 at 20 °C and thedynamic viscosity value, equal to 40 cP at 20 °C, comesfrom a direct measurement of a sample of rapeseed oilderived from dedicated crops (experimental crops realizedwithin a research project on short energy chain). As areference, default Jet A density and viscosity values at 20°C are 780 kg/m3 and 1.5 cP, respectively.

Figure 4 shows that the temperature distributions of themock biofuels differ from the Jet A feeding in terms ofintensity and flame morphology. The maximum temperaturevalues in the mock biofuel cases are higher than the onesin Jet A case within the primary combustion zone, and theflame of Jet A case is more stable and there is less variationin temperature values. In terms of flame morphology, thebase of the flame starts at the nozzle exit in Jet A case,while in mock biofuel cases it seems to even start inside the

nozzle. The highest valuesin the primary combustionzone are probably due tothe lower flow velocity thatproduces an increase in theresidence time, which comeout from the analysis of thevelocity field and theparticle traveling distancepattern. The average valuesof TIT, NOx and COcalculated at the outletsurface of the combustorare not influenced by thedensity and viscosityvariation.

ConclusionsThe aim of this work is to study the combustion phenomenarelated to the liquid fuel feeding of the annular combustionchamber of a micro gas turbine with an electric power of 50kW. The main parameters of the fuel spray were investigatedin the case of conventional fuel supply (Jet A) settingdifferent values of particle diameter and cone injectionangle. No significant modifications in terms of flow fieldand temperature distributions were noticed from thesensitivity analyses on spray parameters. The values of TITand pollutant emissions (NOx and CO), calculated at theoutlet surface of the combustor, decrease as the particlediameter increases, according to liquid fuel combustionphenomena. The evaporation time of particle and theparticle traveling distance increase as dimension and coneangle increase, leading to slower combustion and, at thesame time, a longer flame in the combustor. Particles witha diameter of 1 µm present an anomalous behavior in termsof the particle traveling distance and mean particlediameter, which is probably due to the size of the gridelements.

Subsequently, a numerical analysis was performed in case ofbiofuel supplying. A mock biofuel was used by setting thevalues of density and viscosity of a rapeseed vegetable oilobtain from mechanic extraction of dedicated crops. Thesetup of the model parameters was performed by startingfrom the sensitivity analyses carried out in case of Jet Afeeding. The analysis of the particle track shows that thereis an increase in the particle traveling distance and theparticle time as the fuel viscosity increases and theconsequent increase of the residence time. This leads tohigher temperature values inside the primary combustionzone. The global performance of the combustor (TIT andpollutant emissions) are not influenced by changes indensity and viscosity.

Michele Pinelli, Anna VaccariUniversità degli Studi di Ferrara

Figure 4 - Comparison of the results between Jet A and mock biofuels: particle traveling distance and temperaturedistribution.


We are dealing with a series of multiple criteria decisionmaking problems and analysis related to Canadianconstruction projects including waste management,productivity improvement, human and IT factors, emergybased lifecycle, and process optimization. The urgent increase of using IT in construction projects hasbeen considered as one way to improve the process ofsolving our problems. Construction project managers haveto make tough decisions. They have been consideringdifferent IT tools and would like to invest on getting betterdata analysis tools for enhancing their decisions. However,making critical decisions for complicated and multiplecriteria construction projects problems in which hugeamount of data are involved is not a simple task to do. Asthe data-sets of our problems are often huge they can noteasily be handled with the traditional means of dataanalysis. In order to better manage the data collected andmake the most of our data-sets, we utilized the advancedinteractive visualization tools provided by Grapheur andreconsidered our problems. Here the idea for solving themultiple criteria decision making problems is to visuallymodel and clarify the whole dimension of problems. Theeffectiveness and performance of the interactivevisualizations, made by Grapheur, are evaluated along witha number of our case study related to construction workers.As the main result, the 7D plots and the option of sweepingthrough data have been found very useful for ourapplications. The achieved hidden information throughGrapheur’s visualization tools would enhance our furtherdecisions.

Introduction to GrapheurGrapheur is a data mining, modeling and interactivevisualization package implementing the Reactive BusinessIntelligence approach, which connects the user to thesoftware through automated and intelligent self-tuningmethods on the basis of visualization. The principles ofGrapheur were originated from researches on ReactiveSearch Optimization. The user friendly and innovativeinterface of provided visualization, via an interactive multi-objective optimization, facilitates the process of makingtough decisions. Grapheur is a handy and simple tool whichfrees the mind from software complications andconcentrates on mining the useful information data. It putsthe user in an interactive loop, rapidly reacting to firstresults and visualizations to direct the subsequent efforts,in order to suit the needs and preferences of the decisionmaker. The Reactive Search is utilized within Grapheur tointegrate some machine learning techniques into search

heuristics for visualization of complex optimizationproblems and interactive decision making accordingly. InReactive Search for self-adaptation in an autonomicmanner, we benefit from the past history of the search andthe knowledge accumulated while moving in theconfiguration space.

Grapheur sample visualizationsIn one of the building construction projects a number ofworkers were surveyed with questionnaires andobservations. Each row of our data-set is a constructionworker with the corresponding columns, characterized by aseries of parameters which are the ID and photo of eachperson, work time, looking for materials, looking for tools,specialization, moving, instruction, idleness and the othercharacteristics of the construction workers. The primaryresult of our survey clearly notes the urgent need fortraining programs to improve workers’ skill levels. However,the decision-making on how and with what rate the trainingprograms should be arranged is not a simple task and it hasto be considered from different perspectives and criteria. Inorder to learn how the training programs would affect teamefficiencies, spirit, and perceptions of supervision,Grapheur, the flexible and powerful Business Intelligenceand Interactive Visualization is utilized. With the aid ofprovided data mining and visualization some useful andhidden information are achieved which would enhance theprocess of solving the multiple criteria decision makingproblems of our case. After clarifying the dimension of theproblem and finding out the relation between involvedparameters and objectives, the effective decisions are easilymade.

1. Supporting the decisions on workers’ skills Here the idea for solving the multiple criteria decisionmaking problems is to visually and effectively model theproblems and clarify the whole dimension of them. Forinstance we are trying to find out with which rate and how,the workers’ level of skills should grow in order to maintaintheir performance with regard to team perceptions ofsupervision. In order to study a part of this problem, we areconsidering the similarity map and the parallel filters foroptimizing the idleness characteristic of the workers. Therelated multidimensional plot of the networks is createdbased on the collected data from the workers. The colorcode represents the specialization of the workers and thesize of the bubbles is proportional to the idleness ofworkers. In our similarity map of the graphicalvisualization, the gray level of the edges and the generated

Reconsidering the Multiple CriteriaDecision Making Problems ofConstruction Workers Using Grapheur


clusters provide valuable information for the decisionmaker. In the following figure and with the provided videothe capability of the similarity map for an effectiveclustering of the workers into meaningful clusters isillustrated (Fig. 1 a).

The parallel filters (Fig. 1 b) are other useful tools foroptimization. The usefulness of parallel filters in reducingthe complexity of the process of decision making isevaluated. We start from the matrix of work time in amultidimensional space while aiming at filtering particularworkers and examining their performance within a particulargroup e.g. those who have had maximum idlenesscharacteristic.

2. Displaying the precise condition of each construction workerFor complete visualization of the condition of eachconstruction worker over all parameters, the colored bubblechart is selected. In Fig. 2 a, the colored bubble chartshows work time versus specialization for each worker. Thecolor code and the size of the bubbles represent looking formaterial characteristic and the idleness status of theworkers respectively. Additionally, the shape of the bubbles

displays the looking for tools characteristic of the workers.In this figure (Fig. 2 a) we have found clustering tool veryuseful for a deep understanding of the different groups ofworkers. In this case, workers could be grouped accordingto the given characteristics. After grouping, one prototypecase for each cluster is selected which is indeed a veryeffective way of compressing the information andconcentrating on a relevant subset of possibilities.

3. Sweeping though different characteristics of workers;tracking and examining the problem with the aid ofanimated graphsIn the previous figure (Fig. 2 a), the relationship amongwork time, specialization, idleness status, looking formaterials, and looking for tools characteristics of theconstruction workers were visualized. Moreover, sweepingthough data and studying the generated animations onsweeping is an effective tool for further visualization alongwith advancing a particular objective. For instance, in ournext visualization experience the previous graph isreconsidered by sweeping though looking material, Idlenessand skill level as the time advances (illustrated in Fig. 2 b).

Fig. 1a - and similary map

Fig. 1b - Parallel filter

Fig. 2a - Bubble chart

Fig. 2b - Sweeping through data in the bubble chart

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 254. Analyzing a particular cluster of workers and theircharacteristics; sweeping through skill level and teamperception of supervisionIn the new created bubble graph, Fig. 3 b, the idleness andspecialization characteristic of a cluster of four workers isassociated with the size and the color of the bubblesrelatively. Here, by sweeping through team perception ofsupervision and the level of specialization of field workersin our building construction project, the achievedinformation from a limited cluster of workers can clarify theproblem with more details in different scenarios. Forinstance, when the skill level of the workers and the teamperception of supervision are monthly increased relativelyby the rate of 10% and 5% within a year, the idlenesscharacteristic is smoothly monitored. We can also play theresulted animation in smooth mode and track the pastvalues (they appear in a lighter tone in the background ofthe plot), in order to focus on the changes which occuraccording to morning and afternoon working shifts.

5. Providing a reliable way to find the most productive workersWith the aid of the 7D plot, the characteristics associatedwith the productivity can be presented within a singlegraph. In our case the size, the color and the shape of thebubbles relatively displays the specialization, the moving,and the following the instructions characteristic of theworkers. Moreover the blinking feature displays the idlenesscharacteristic of the workers who have been idle less than100 hours (Fig. 3 a).

Conclusions In this short article, along with our case study, the aspectsof data mining, modeling, and visualization of the datarelated to construction workers are considered and brieflypresented by utilizing Grapheur. We made the most of ITapplications via newly implemented data mining andvisualization tools of Grapheur. Considering the ability ofGrapheur, the interesting patterns are automaticallyextracted from the raw data-set via data mining tools. Inaddition, advanced visual analytical interfaces are involvedto support the decision maker interactively. With additionalfeatures of Grapheur such as parallel filters and clusteringtasks, construction managers can solve multi-objectiveoptimization problems as it amends previous approaches.Furthermore, the animations of sweeping through data andadvanced visualizations including 7D plots stead managersand enable them to screen the data at their consulting roommaking decision interactively. In one of our case studies, Grapheur provided a widespreadview on how the throughput of the whole project would beaffected by the increasing workers’ specialization andsupervision. We swept through different characteristics ofworkers in order to examine the whole dimensions of theproblem. For instance, we assumed that the problem ofhaving high level of idleness within the workers might besolved by increasing the supervision and team perception of

supervision. For this reason, workers are carefully clusteredand analyzed with regard to their level of idleness andsupervision. In this particular case, Grapheur has been afacile tool in modeling the problem with the aid of a 7Dplot. Once a 7D plot is created the problem could be visuallyanalyzed from seven different perspectives simultaneously.In other words, a convenient way of concentrating on ourobjectives and further decision making is provided bysimply observing the size, the color, the shape, and theblinking of the bubbles. Moreover, utilizing furthervisualization options such as similarity maps, parallelfilters, and clustering would support making a confidentdecision. For our future studies aiming at making easier andfaster decisions we will reconsider our problems with the aidof a developed issue of Grapheur called LIONsolver,Learning, and Intelligent OptimizatioN which is capable oflearning from human feedback and previous attempts whilebenefiting from the Grapheur visualization tools.

M.Azodinia - University of DebrecenFaculty of IT, 4033 Debrecen, HungaryFor more info on Grapheur:www.grapheur.comor email: [email protected]

Fig. 3a - 7D plot of data

Fig. 3b - Sweeping through data


Laminate composite structures do suffer from poor resistanceto impact loading which results in internal damage thatoften cannot be detected by visual inspection. The damagecan cause severe reductions in strength and can grow underload. Therefore the effect of foreign object impacts oncomposite structures must be taken into account during thedesign process. In order to simulate the impact event, an LS-DYNA FE (Finite Element) model was developed and coupledwith modeFRONTIER. The integrated procedure allowed to obtain a betterunderstanding of the influence of some numerical parameterson simulation results (sensitivity analysis), moreover theconfiguration, which provided the bestagreement with the experimental data,(optimization analysis) was computed.

Test Case Description The test case used to assess the capability ofthe procedure in investigating the impactevent consists in a rectangular plate (whosedimensions are shown in Figure 1a) impactedat an energy level of 40J by a hemisphericalsteel impactor with a diameter of 25.4mm anda mass of 1.85kg.

The material of the plate was a laminate composite with asymmetric, quasi-isotropic lay-up of 24 plies [-45°/0°/45°/90°]3s. In the unidirectional plies with thespecification Cytec® 977-2-35-12K hts-134 the carbon fibreswere impregnated with an epoxy matrix. The plies were thenstacked and cured in an autoclave. The resulting average cured plate thickness was 2.7mm. Alength of 50mm of the specimen was clamped at each endreducing the free specimen length to 300mm (edge AD andBC fully constrained). On the other hands, a simply supported condition wasrealized on the lateral sides (CD and AB).

LS-DYNA FE modelAs the plates’ length and width dimensions are largecompared to the thickness, a 2D modelling approach waschosen. In particular layered shell elements with an elementlength of 3mm were used. The plate was associated to thelinear elastic material model MAT54 which takes into accountthe progressive damage of the material. The elastic behaviourof the single ply is computed based on the lamina elasticmaterial properties (Young modulus, shear modulus andPoisson’s ratio) which can be found in. Damage occurs assoon as one of the four failure indexes defined belowbecomes positive (Chang/Chang criteria):

After a failure is detected, elastic properties are degradedaccording to a specific degradation rule which depends onthe kind of failure detected. The impactor was modelled as a spherical rigid body withconventional shell elements and the material modelMAT_RIGID. An initial velocity of 6.5m/s was imposed to theimpactor by using the PART_INERTIA card. A very fine meshwas adopted in order to correctly compute the contact forcebetween the impactor and the plate. The FE mesh used in themodel is shown in Figure 1b. Finally, an automatic surface-to-surface contact with the option SOFT=0 was definedbetween the composite plate and the rigid impactor.

Synergy between LS-DYNA andmodeFRONTIER to Predict Low VelocityImpact Damage on a Composite Plate

Fig. 1 - a) Dimensions of impact test specimens (in mm); b) FE mesh

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 27modeFRONTIER – LS-DYNA process integrationThe definition of some numerical parameters ofthe LS-DYNA model may be a considerablechallenge because of several reasons (highuncertainty, no reliable data available inliterature, etc.) and they usually are chosen onthe basis of the analyst’s experience. In order tobetter understand the influence of suchparameters on the simulation results, asensitivity analysis was performed by couplingthe LS-DYNA FE model with modeFRONTIER, aprocess integration and design optimization toolfor exploring the design space (i.e. the freeparameters dominions) and finding theconfigurations which fullfill several objectivefunctions. The integration of the LS-DYNA FEmodel described above into the modeFRONTIER environmentis roughly described by the workflow in Figure 2. From thetop to the bottom the so-called “Data flow” can be seen.

The blocks on the top define the input variables for which asuitable range of variations was set. In particular the inputvariables object of this analysis were: the damping constant(variable “sf” in the DAMPING_PART_MASS card), the timestep size (variable “tssfac” in CONTROL_TIMESTEP card), thepenalty contact stiffness (variable “sfs” in the CONTACT card)and the shear stress parameter (variable “alph” in MAT54card). Each time a new combination of their values isproposed by the modeFRONTIER strategy the LS-DYNA inputfile is updated and a new LS-DYNA analysis is performed inbatch mode.

The output of each simulation is then post processed and theobjectives of the process are evaluated. The output of theanalysis used in this study were the contact force time

history, the plate deflection time history and the absorbedenergy. These numerical results were compared to theexperimental ones during the post-processing phase and therelative errors were computed. Such errors, which will beindicated respectively as “err_f_min”, “err_d_min” and“delta_energy”, were thus the objective functions to beminimized. The block DOE means “Design of Experiment”. Theuser can use this block to generate a suitable initialpopulation (combinations of input variable values) in respect

of an efficient exploration of the design space. Looking atthe performances provided by these configurations, the“Scheduler” node starts to generate completely new designsbased on various optimization algorithms with the aim ofachieving the defined goals.

Sensitivity AnalysisIn order to study the interaction between the input variablesand the three chosen objectives a statistical analysis wasperformed by evaluating an initial population of 144 designsgenerated by using the Full-Factorial method with 3 levels forthe variables “alph” and “tssfac” and 4 levels for thevariables “sfs” and “sf”. The scatter matrix chart, which is a very useful tool toanalyze the data of a statistical analysis, is shown in Figure3. It is a matrix with 7 rows and 7 columns (4 input variables+ 3 objectives) which contains in a matrix form three kindsof information: the Probability Density Function chart foreach variable (along the diagonal), all the pairwise scatter

plot (above the diagonal) and thecorrelation values between the variables(below the diagonal). For example thefirst row and fifth column of the matrixrepresents the scatter plot of the variable“alph” vs. the objective “delta_energy”.The correlation value is a normalizedindex spanning from -1 to +1: a valueequal to +1 (-1) denotes a full direct(inverse) correlation, while a low absolutevalue means low correlation. Thecorrelation value at the ith row and jth

column can be also seen as the slope ofthe linear regression line shown in the scatter plot at the jth

row and ith column.

It was found that the variable “alph” is the least significantinput variable (low correlation with the 3 objectives) andthus it can be considered a constant in the next optimizationanalysis reducing the number of input variables. On the otherhands the damping constant and the penalty contactstiffness were found to affect significantly the results of the

Fig. 2 - Sketch of the modeFRONTIER - LSDYNA workflow

Fig. 3 - Scatter matrix chart


analyses. Finally it was found that two pairs of objectives(“err_f_min”/“err_d_min” and “err_d_min”/“delta_energy”)are negatively correlated, that means that such objectivesare conflicting and thus an optimization strategy should beused to find a good compromise.

Optimization analysisThe modeFRONTIER workflow was simplified according to thefindings of the statistical analysis and a multi-objectiveoptimization analysis with the algorithm MOGA-II wasperformed. The optimization strategy provided, in less then3000 evaluations, several candidate optimal solutions. They can be easily detected in the 3D bubble chart of Figure4a where each solution is represented by a bubble in the 3Dplane of the objectives.

A good configuration (the one which minimizes the threeobjectives) should stay bottom left in the chart and shouldbe blue. Among the others the configuration 2940highlighted in Figure 4a was considered a good compromisebetween the minimization of the three objective variables.

The correlation between the numerical results obtained withthis configuration and the experimental ones, in terms ofcontact force, deflection and absorbed energy time historiesare shown in Figures 4b, 5a and 5b, respectively.

The peak force and deflection, the impact duration and theenergy absorbed by the plate are predicted by the model witha very good accuracy.

ConclusionsAn LS-DYNA – modeFRONTIER coupled procedure wasproposed to simulate low velocity impact on compositeplate. The procedure allowed to study the influence of somenumerical parameters on the simulation results and to findthe configuration that provide the best correlation betweenthe numerical results and the experimental ones in terms ofcontact force, deflection and absorbed energy time history.

Moreover, the procedure allowed to take advantage from themodeFRONTIER automation: once the workflow was set inmodeFRONTIER, the calculations run automatically and allthe available time (night, weekend, etc.) is fully used.

Rosario Borrelli - CIRA - Italian Aerospace Research Centre, Capua, Italywww.cira.it

Fig. 4a - 3D Bubble Chart Fig. 4b - Contact Force time history curve

Fig. 5a - Deflection time history curve Fig. 5b - Absorbed Energy


Systems biology, the art of simulating biological processes ina computerized environment, is of growing interest due tonumerous applications for e.g. the pharmaceutical industry.In this article modeFRONTIER was used to automate andoptimize an analysis model written in MathModelica, amodelling and simulation software based on Modelica.

Insulin signalling When the body detects glucose in the blood, e.g. afterdigesting a meal, the hormone insulin is released to signalvarious cells, such as fat cells, to absorb the glucose from theblood to prevent the blood sugar levels from becoming toxic.In this study, a MathModelica model of this process, shownin figure 2, was run through modeFRONTIER for optimizationand analysis.

In the laboratory measurement process, human fat cells areexposed to insulin and the levels of certain indicator proteinsare measured as the response.

The goal of the optimization process was not to identify asingle solution to the model-fitting problem, but rathermultiple solutions with acceptably small errors but at thesame time with as widely varying parameters as possible. Byidentifying model properties shared among these differentsolutions, future experiments could be planned to furtherimprove the model.

Optimization and clustering analysisA significant number (tens of thousands) of MathModelicasimulations were run through modeFRONTIER (see figure 3for the workflow setup) and several thousand solutions withan acceptably small error between measurement data andmodel predictions were identified. Since the goal was toidentify different sets of solutions, a Partitive ClusteringAnalysis was carried out on the data.

In clustering, the goal is to identify groups (clusters) ofsimilar solutions. A cluster is well-defined if themathematical distances between its centroid (centre-point)and those of its neighbouring clusters are large compared tothe distances between the points in the cluster and itscentroid. The Davies-Bouldin index, best described as theratio of intra-cluster to inter-cluster distances, is anindicator of the quality of the clustering. The lower theindex, the better separated the clusters are from each other.Figures 4 and 5 show the results of the clustering. In figure4, all designs have been colour-coded according to whichcluster they have been assigned. In figure 5, the centroidsfor each cluster are shown. The difference betweenparameters v1ak1 (first on the left) and v1rk1 (one step to

Multi-objective Optimization withmodeFRONTIER Applied to SystemsBiology

Fig. 1 - Six insulin molecules assembled in a hexamer, the form in which thehormone is stored in the human body. Source: Wikimedia

Fig. 2 - The MathModelica model


the right of the middle) is illustrated in thischart: for v1ak1, all the clusters have similarvalues, whereas for v1rk1, different clusters havedifferent values. The conclusion to be drawn hereis for any good fit of the model, v1ak1 will havethe same value but we can find different valuesfor v1rk1 which all generate good results. Thismatches the biological behaviour where differentpeople have different body chemistries, yet stillmanage not to die from blood sugar poisoning.

ConclusionsBy using Partitive Clustering Analysis, one of thetools available in modeFRONTIER for MultivariateAnalysis (MVA), information regarding complexsystem behaviour was identified that could notreadily be understood using the normal toolsavailable in the Design Space such as ScatterCharts and Parallel Charts.

The data extracted from the analysis regardingthe different solution clusters could then form abaseline for determining future experiments andmeasurements.

For more information:Adam Thorp, EnginSoft [email protected]

Thanks to Elin Nyman at Linköping University forhelp with modelling and simulations.

For an animated explanation of insulinsignalling, please watch the movie “InsulinSignaling (Signal Pathways)” at:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkkK5lTmBYQ

Fig. 4 - The Partitive Clustering Analysis identified 8 separate clusters.

Fig. 5 - A plot of the cluster centroids highlights the differing behaviours for the parameters

Fig. 3 - The modeFRONTIER workflow


L’Almacis è stata costituita nel 1987 nell’ambito del piùampio progetto di ristrutturazione dell’attività delle aziendedel gruppo Marramiero, operante dal 1955 con l’impresaMarramiero. L’Almacis è in grado di progettare, realizzarechiavi in mano, garantire servizi di manutenzione, gestire,telegestire e curare tutte le pratiche relative ad impianti di

co/trigenerazione, centrali termiche ed elettriche,antincendio, idroelettrico e fotovoltaico in modo del tuttopersonalizzato e calzante con le differenti esigenze diciascun cliente, tutto tramite personale proprio concostruzione e preassemblaggio nelle proprie officine.Parallelamente al settore impiantistico, ugualmente leadernei propri ambiti, l’azienda dispone di un settore edile e diuno di realizzazione di reti gas ed acqua che, oltre ai proprimercati, garantiscono un’ulteriore completezza a progetti dicogenerazione ed impiantistica in tutte le loro fasi.Fra le numerosissime referenze, l’Almacis può vantarecollaborazioni con le aziende più importanti sul panoramamondiale, fra cui: Gucci, Procter&Gamble, Fater, JanssenCilag, Angelini, Merck-Serono, Ibi Lorenzini, Marangoni,Merker, ecc…Visitate il sito di Almacis all’indirizzo: www. almacis.it

L’utilizzo di ANSYS nella progettazioneANSYS verrà utilizzato per la verifica strutturale discambiatori di calore, diverter, piping e strutture portanti didiverse apparecchiature.Inoltre verrà utilizzato anche nell’area “ricerca” per tutti iprototipi da realizzare e testare nelle proprie officineAlmacis.

Perché Enginsoft ed ANSYS in Almacis“A seguito di una attenta valutazione tecnica delle soluzionisoftware (ANSYS, Comsol…) abbiamo scelto ANSYS perchérappresenta a nostro avviso la miglior tecnologia attualmentepresente sul mercato per le nostre esigenze” – ha dichiaratol’Ing. Emiliano Grande Responsabile Ufficio Analisi diAlmacis. “La potenza del software, la sua versatilità esemplicità di utilizzo ci hanno convinto che ANSYS puòrappresentare un vero e proprio fattore di vantaggiocompetitivo e di crescita tecnica per l’Almacis – hacontinuato l’Ing. Grande - inoltre EnginSoft, a differenza dialtre soluzioni che abbiamo preso in considerazione, hadimostrato di essere un partner con forti competenze nelnostro settore industriale e ci affiancherà nella fase inizialedi start-up consentendoci di essere indipendenti nel piùbreve tempo possibile”.

Eccellenza tecnologica e qualità: Almacis


Finite Element Analysis,Computational Fluid Dynamics and allthe CAE simulations and innovationswithin the High PerformanceComputing HPC are top-end marketsegments requiring the incredibleprocessing power provided by today’sprocessors and system designs.

AMD has recently announced theavailability of its AMD Opteron™6200 and 4200 Series processors(formerly code-named “Interlagos”and “Valencia”). The new AMD Opteron processors aredesigned to provide: betterperformance for business, increasedscalability for Virtualization and thebest efficient economics for Cloudenvironments thanks to the reducedpower consumption, up to less than5W of power per core.

The new AMD Opteron™ 6200 Series processor is the world’sfirst and only 16-core x86 server processor, providing thehighest core density for incredible scalability to handledemanding multi-threaded workloads such as cloudcomputing, virtualization, high-performance computing(HPC) – this technology is already at the heart of several ofthe fastest HPC systems in the TOP500 list and businessapplication datacenters.

The new AMD Opteron™ 4200 Seriesprocessor is the world’s lowest power-per-core server processor. It has beenbuilt to deliver unparalleled efficiencydifferent workloads. Designed for power-conscious cloud deployments and idealfor IT infrastructure and collaboration,the AMD Opteron 4200 Series processorwas developed from the ground up tohandle demanding server workloads atthe lowest possible energy draw.

The new processors deliver unparalleledperformance, scalability and efficiencywith more cores than the previousgeneration for handling more threads per

node, thanks to the new instruction set including AVX, FMA4and XOP, significant memory controller enhancements, theexclusive new Flex FP for 256-bit floating point processingand additional features designed for HPC.

The trends in enterprise computing are driving down twodistinct paths: toward greater performance and scalability ortoward greater energy efficiency and value. AMD uniquelyaddresses both of these with its leadership technology.

With this in mind, AMD is proud to say that the newgeneration of AMD Opteron™ processors 6200 Series basedon the innovative “Bulldozer” core architecture, have beenchosen to power the most important AMD partners’ solutions,as HP ProLiant, Dell PowerEdge, Acer, E4 Computers, IBM,Cray, to provide a superior performance, efficiency andscalability with a greater CPU and memory density within thesame or even less floor space and power envelope.

HPC is not a one-size-fits-all environment. It is a demandingone that requires new technologies to keep pace withcustomer’s needs. Whether its the “Interlagos” processor orAMD energy-efficient APU, AMD’s unique x86 and world-classgraphics IP place AMD at the heart of some of the fastestsystems as we push well beyond the PetaFlop moving towardsto the next step: the ExaFlop.

CAE Simulations and Innovations withinthe High Performance Computing HPC

Roberto Dognini, Commercial Account Executive AMD Italia

The new AMD Opteron processor


EnginSoft ha recentemente firmato un accordo con la societàBelga E-Xstream Engineering per la distribuzione in Italia delpacchetto software DIGIMAT per la modellazione deimateriali.

DIGIMAT, è un modellatore avanzato, non lineare, multi-scaladi materiali e si pone come obiettivo quello di offrire unarappresentazione completa e rigorosa utile sia ai fornitori dimateriali (“progettisti” di materiali), sia ai progettistianalisti CAE (end users) per i quali, il più delle volte, ilmateriale viene modellato in modo semplificato.A seconda della complessità e della tipologia del problema inesame, DIGIMAT permette una trattazione analitica, semi-analitica o numerica della microstruttura del materiale con lafinalità, tramite algoritmi di omogeneizzazione, di fornire unmodello rappresentativo in una scala dimensionale tipicadelle strutture meccaniche e quindi utilizzabile dai maggiorisolutori FEA commerciali.

L’utilizzo di DIGIMAT in combinazione con i solutori FEApermette lo studio dei complessi fenomeni di plasticità, didanno e di rottura di materiali quali tecnopolimeri, gomma,fibra di carbonio, metalli duri, nanocompositi, ecc. e puòquindi rendere la simulazione numerica estremamentepredittiva anche nell’indagine di fenomeni complessi permateriali non canonici.

Per ulteriori informazioni: Alfonso Ortalda, [email protected]

DIGIMAT per la modellazione avanzata dei materiali

Per una previsione rapida e precisa del com-portamento non lineare dei materiali multifa-se attraverso la tecnologia di omogeneizza-zione Mean-Field.

Per una previsione precisa del comporta-mento non lineare a livello locale e globa-le di materiali multifase, attraverso un ele-mento di volume rappresentativo (RVE –Representative Volume Element).

Per la preparazione, l’archiviazione, il recu-pero e lo scambio in completa sicurezza deimodelli di materiali DIGIMAT tra i fornitoridi materiali e gli utenti, favorendo contem-poraneamente la protezione della proprietàintellettuale (IP – Intellectual Property).

Interfacce per lo stampaggio ad iniezione ecodici strutturali FEA per una previsione pre-cisa dei materiali compositi e delle presta-zioni delle parti di plastica rinforzate, avva-lendosi di una tecnologia di modellazionemultiscala e non lineare.

Per una mappatura efficiente di grandezzescalari e vettoriali tra mesh di tipo shell esolido.

Per una progettazione facile e efficiente dipannelli sandwich a nido d’ape, avvalendosidelle più avanzate tecnologie di modellazio-ne dei materiali.


LIONsolver is a smart software to build models, optimizethem and visualize them interactively.The name LION stands for “Learning and IntelligentOptimizatioN“, a combination of learning, modeling,problem-solving and optimization. LIONsolver has been developed with the aim of offering amulti-purpose tool; a flexible framework that allows theusers to reproduce their business or design process throughmodeling and data analysis.Finance, logistics, bio-technology and, of course,engineering are some of the areas where a need for modeling,optimization and visualization frequently occurs; LIONsolverwith its versatile modular structure has been designed todeliver accurate results in all possible different domains.Whether your analysis requires a prediction of the rightamount of material X in the design of component Y or todetermine the optimal composition of your financial stockportfolio to minimize risk and maximize profit, you aredealing with problems that, even though very distant in thereal world, can be both managed and solved with LIONsolver.

User-friendly interfaceOne interesting feature of the software is the clear andintuitive interface.The software works entirely with drag and drop. Everything in LIONsolver is an item in a list that can bedragged and dropped to a workbench, where it can beconnected to other items in a typical flow-chart process.What it takes to start is: a valid set of data and the businessprocess in your mind.Then it is all about picking up the tools you need to recreateyour business process by linking the icons (representing thetools you have selected) on the workbench and byconnecting them to your data.

Build your modelDo you want to perform predictive analysis? Do you need toshed some light on your forecast?Connect the dots between your data inputs and outputs andfind the rules that lie behind them.LIONsolver comes with an ample set of integrated modelingtools: polynomial fitting, neural networks, local regressionjust to name a few.Once you have determined a model that works well with yourdata, all you have to do is save it and then reuse it for yourpredictive analysis.The process is just as simple as connecting two icons with anarrow on your workbench.

Optimize your modelSingle and especially multi-objective optimization problemsare often very tough to solve.A crucial component of LIONsolver is Reactive SearchOptimization (RSO), a robust and efficient method for solvingdifficult problems. The word reactive hints at a ready response to events whilealternative solutions are tested. Its strength lies in theintroduction of high-level skills often associated to thehuman brain, such as learning from the past experience,learning on the job, rapid analysis of alternatives, ability tocope with incomplete information, quick adaptation to newsituations and events.RSO fast and accurate results in optimization problems arethe trademark of LIONsolver.

LIONsolver: Learning and IntelligentOptimization

Fig. 1 - Interface

Fig. 2 - Modeling

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 35Interactive visualizationsLIONsolver offers a wide selection of data visualizations.Spanning from the classic ones (pie charts, bubble charts,line plots) to the most advanced ones (7D plot, similaritymaps). All visualizations are displayed in the dashboard area,where all panels can be rearranged according to preference;moreover all visualizations are refreshed in real-time, so thatyour filtering or focusing operations are displayedconcurrently.

The RSO philosophy is fully embedded within LIONsolver'sinteractive visualizations: investigating locally optimalsolutions is just a matter of a mouse click on a bubble chart.

For more information:www.lionsolver.comRoberto Battiti - Reactive [email protected]. 3 - RSO, pareto

Fig. 4 - Visualization

Attraverso uno studio condotto in oltre trenta settori Kim eMauborgne hanno elaborato un modello sistematico,replicabile da qualsiasi impresa, per raggiungere alti livelli dicrescita. Dal "Modello T" della Ford allo "iPod" di Apple, essihanno identificato i principi e gli strumenti per neutralizzare laconcorrenza e creare uno spazio di mercato incontestato, dallepossibilità illimitate come quelle di un oceano blu. StrategiaOceano Blu porta un messaggio carico di ispirazione: ilsuccesso non dipende dalla concorrenza spietata né da costosibudget di marketing e R&S, ma da mosse strategiche brillanti,adatte a un uso sistematico da parte di tutte le imprese.

IL LIBRO CHE VI SUGGERIAMO

Strategia oceano blu. Vincere senza competere Dettagli del libro

Titolo: Strategia oceano blu. Vincere senza competereAutori: W. Chan Kim, Renée MauborgneEditore: EtasCollana: ManagementData di Pubblicazione: 2005ISBN: 8845308480ISBN-13: 9788845308482Pagine: 288


How much more could you accomplish if simulation timescould be reduced from one day to just a few hours? As anengineer, you depend on ANSYS Mechanical to design highquality products efficiently. To get the most out of ANSYSMechanical 13.0, simply upgrade your NVIDIA Quadro GPUor add a NVIDIA Tesla GPU to your workstation, orconfigure a server with NVIDIA Tesla GPUs, and instantlyunlock the highest levels of ANSYS simulation performance.

With ANSYS® Mechanical™ 13.0 and NVIDIA® ProfessionalGPUs, you can improve your product quality with 2x moredesign simulations or you can develop high fidelity modelswith practical solution times. This accelerates your time-to-market by reducing engineering cycles.

The amount of acceleration achievable when using the GPUwill vary greatly depending mostly on the model of thesimulation, but also on the hardware configuration beingused. To get the best speed-up the simulation should spendmost of its time in the matrix solver operations rather thanother tasks, such as matrix assembly. Also the problem sizeshould be between 500K to 8,000K DOFs for the sparsedirect solver and 500K to 5,000K DOFs for PCG/JCGiterative solvers.

To unlock the GPU feature in ANSYS Mechanical 13.0, youmust have an ANSYS HPC Pack license, the same scheme

also required for going parallel for greater than 2 CPUcores. For academic license users, the GPU capability isincluded with the base ANSYS Academic license thatprovides access to ANSYS Mechanical.

Here is an example of the speed-up you can reach withinANSYS13.

With the upcoming ANSYS Mechanical 14.0 engineers willeven more benefit from NVIDIA GPUs.

NVIDIA and ANSYS have collaborated to bring you thepower of GPU computing for ANSYS. With the latest releaseof ANSYS R13, NVIDIA GPU acceleration enables fasterresults for more efficient computation and job turnaroundtimes, delivering more license utilization for the sameinvestment. This will continue with even more features andoptimizations in the upcoming release of ANSYS.

GPU ACCELERATED ENGINEERING with ANSYS


La progettazione di un componente in materiale compositorappresenta una sfida complessa ad elevato contenutotecnologico che coinvolge attualmente settori industrialiprofondamente diversi, dall’aerospace alla nautica, sinoall’automotive ed applicazioni sportive più spinte. Il CAEsvolge un ruolo sempre più importante in questo senso,rappresentando lo strumento in grado di riprodurre inmaniera fedele ed accurata un prototipo virtuale deicomponenti realizzati in materiale composito. ESAComp edANSYS Composite Prep/Post rappresentano ad oggi lo statodell’arte dei software per la simulazione dei compositi; illoro avvento, sin dalle prime release, ha permesso disuperare definitivamente i limiti intrinseci del classicoapproccio seguito per la progettazione delle strutture incomposito, consentendo una caratterizzazione dettagliatadei materiali di base (fibre, matrici, core in schiuma ohoneycomb, ecc.), una accurata gestione della laminazioneattraverso la simulazione delle fasi tecnologiche di stesuradei tessuti (Draping & Flat Wrap) euna dettagliata verifica degli statitensionali avvalendosi di FailureCriteria polinomiali (Tsai-Hill, Tsai-Wu, ecc.) e basati sulla natura fisicadei compositi (Hashin 2D/3D, Puck2D/3D, ecc.).

EnginSoft, attraverso l’organizzazionedi seminari a tema dal tagliofortemente tecnico, è costantementeimpegnata in attività di formazioneavanzata; l’obiettivo principale èquello di sensibilizzare le societàleader nel settore ed i principali istituti di ricerca nellavalutazione dell’efficienza dei nuovi software numerici alfine di affrontare in maniera efficace anche le problematichepiù ostiche e profonde.

Il seminario “Progettazione delle strutture in materialecomposito”, svolto il 21 ottobre a Verona nel contestodell’”EnginSoft International Conference 2011”, è stataun’ottima occasione di ritrovo per tutti coloro chequotidianamente si ritrovano a dover affrontare tematichecomplesse relative al mondo dei compositi; i consensiraccolti dimostrano che l’evoluzione del CAE, attraversol’avvento di strumenti di prototipazione virtuale comeESAComp ed ANSYS Composite Prep/Post, ha generato unnuovo modo di concepire la fase di progettazione dellestrutture, attraverso una sensibilità completamenterinnovata focalizzata all’efficienza computazionale, alla

drastica riduzione del time-to-market ed all’accuratezza deirisultati raggiunti. Il seminario è stato replicato il 4novembre a Marina di Ravenna, nell’ambito dei “Seminari

Nautilus” organizzati dalla Facoltà diIngegneria dell’Università di Bologna.L’evento anche in questa occasione èstato seguito con particolare interesseda operatori del settore industriale, inparticolare nautico, e della ricercascientifica. La formazione avanzata suinuovi software di simulazione per lestrutture in composito rappresentasenz’altro un punto cardine perEnginSoft, che continuerà ad investirein eventi e seminari mettendo adisposizione competenze e strumentiCAE d’avanguardia.

Per ulteriori informazioni:Fabio Rossetti, [email protected]

EnginSoft continua l’attività suimateriali compositi


Il Metef, la fiera di riferimento per l’industria metallurgica, siterrà presso la Fiera di Verona dal 18 al 21 Aprile 2012.EnginSoft, come consuetudine, sarà presente con uno spazioespositivo in cui verranno presentate le nuove release deisotware sostenuti relativi alla simulazione di processo, inparticolare ci sarà la preview di MAGMA 5.2.A novembre 2009 è uscita la prima versione di MAGMA 5, la5.0, che permetteva, in un ambiente completamente nuovo,

di affrontare virtualmente tutti i processi di fonderia basatisu sabbia (ferrosi e non ferrosi).Con la versione 5.1, attualmente disponibile, sono statiintegrati tutti i moduli, consentendo agli utenti di affrontarelo studio di tutti i processi di fonderia, dalla conchiglia ingravità alla bassa pressione, alla pressocolata in camera caldae in camera fredda ecc. Per i primissimi mesi del 2012 è prevista l’uscita dellaversione MAGMA 5.2. In questa versione saràdisponibile MAGMA C+M, un nuovo modulo, chepermetterà di simulare la produzione delle animecon diversi tipi di leganti e di sabbie. Questomodulo consentirà di simulare la fase diriempimento delle casse d’anima e la fase diindurimento delle anime, permettendo di valutarele problematiche del processo produttivo e porvirimedio con soluzioni correttive.

MAGMA 5.2 consentirà inoltre, nell’ambiente divisualizzazione dei risultati (postprocessore), diconfrontare direttamente simulazioni di differentiversioni permettendo di analizzare i risultati siacome singola immagine che come filmato in statodi avanzamento. Sarà possibile sincronizzare i filmati delle versionia confronto per garantire una più semplice ed

efficace comparazione dei risultati selezionati. Grazie al tool“User Results”, presente nell’ambiente di visualizzazione deirisultati, sarà possibile elaborare nuovi criteri di valutazione,combinando i risultati forniti dal software. Tale procedura

sarà resa possibile da un fornito compilatore matematico.Sarà infine possibile sfruttare la visualizzazione deirisultati sfruttando sistemi 3D, che permetteranno unavisualizzazione in profondità dell’oggetto analizzato.MAGMA 5.2, come l’attuale versione 5.1, sfrutta latecnologia Java, che permette un direttointerfacciamento con gli attuali sistemi operativi Linux eWindows a 64 bit, a garanzia delle più elevateperformance di calcolo.

METEF-FOUNDEQ, giunto alla nona edizione, rappresental'evento di riferimento per le tecnologie per l'alluminio ela fonderia. Grazie alle tante iniziative messe in campo,anche nel 2012 METEF-FOUNDEQ, attrarrà buyer da tuttoil mondo interessati ad acquistare impianti, macchine,

attrezzature per la produzione e la trasformazione deimetalli; componenti estrusi, colati e laminati; prodotti emateriali per il trattamento e la finitura.

Per ulteriori informazioni:Piero Parona, [email protected] web dell’evento: www.metef.com

EnginSoft presenterà la release 5.2 diMAGMA a METEF 2012


Estetica e integrità di prodotto sonodue fattori fondamentali per laproduzione di radiatori, maaltrettanto importante è saperrispondere alle esigenze del mercatoin tempi rapidi con costicompetitivi. Il processo produttivoutilizzato per questo genere diproduzione corrisponde alla colatain alta pressione. Tale processo, per le caratteristiche e iridottissimi tempi di produzione dovuti all’iniezione forzatadella lega negli stampi, richiede la massima precisione ed ilcontrollo assoluto dei parametri imposti alle macchine dapressocolata.Per assolvere a queste richieste è fondamentale ridurre almassimo gli sprechi di produzione, comprimendo il piùpossibile i tempi di progettazione/realizzazione del prodotto.In questo contesto la progettazione prodotto/processoassume un ruolo di considerevole importanza: è infatti inquesta fase molto delicata dove vengono valutate le soluzionipiù efficaci per la realizzazione delle attrezzature ed i piùadeguati parametri di processo. Sviluppare ed ottimizzare unprocesso produttivo significa identificare le variabili chemaggiormente influiscono sulle caratteristiche del prodotto,valutandone gli effetti. Questo può essere perseguitoattraverso un approccio al lavoro di progettazione cheincluda la simulazione di processo. Il caso che verrà proposto all’High Tech Die Casting 2012, chesi terrà a Vicenza il 9 e 10 Febbraio 2012, riguarda laproduzione di una specifica linea di radiatori progettati eprodotti dal Gruppo Ferroli. EnginSoft è stata coinvoltanell’attività di riprogettazione delle attrezzature al fine diridurre al massimo gli scarti presenti nella linea produttiva,incrementando al massimo la qualità estetica e di tenuta delprodotto. Lo studio svolto ha avuto come obiettivo principalela ricerca del miglior sistema di colata per ottenere lamassima qualità del componente e ridurre al minimo il rischiodi inglobamenti d’aria, principale causa di scarto nel processodi pressocolata in produzione. La riprogettazione delleattrezzature ha inoltre permesso di incrementare laproduttività e ridurre i costi. La collaborazione fra il GruppoFerroli ed EnginSoft ha determinato il successo del progetto,permettendo un rapido avvio della produzione.

Per ulteriori informazioni:Giampietro Scarpa, [email protected]

La simulazione diprocesso nellaprogettazione diradiatori

This year the International modeFRONTIER Users' Meeting2012 (UM12), sponsored by ESTECO, will take place on 21stand 22 May 2012 at the Savoy Palace in Riva del MandracchioExcelsior in Trieste.UM12 provides a unique forum to discover how engineeringand academic experts apply the latest methods andtechniques to optimize simulation design processes. Themeeting of global significance has traditionally broughttogether experts from leading companies such as FIAT,Honda, Jaguar, Bombardier and many others. The issuesrelate to the operating logic of modeFRONTIER and itsapplications in different companies with high technologicalinterest.ESTECO's biannual event is coming to its 5th edition,marking 10 years of exchange of best practices and ideasamong modeFRONTIER enthusiasts.The leit-motiv of 2012 is Collaboration: nowadays sharingknowledge and team working are imperatives for anysuccessful company. Technology helps breaking the barriersbetween disciplines, teams and field, encouragingknowledge sharing and enhancing working in team. It is notby chance that this concept is the main theme of theupcoming event, as modeFRONTIER provides a uniquemultidisciplinary software platform utilized in a wide rangeof fields all over the world.

UM12 is not just a meeting of modeFRONTIER users, but it’sopen also to the academic world: students and researchersare welcome to attend the event, and have the chance tolook closely at industrial applications while getting thepossibility to present in front of a knowledgeable audience.Guest of honor of the 2012 edition is David Edward Goldberg,the leading expert of genetic algorithms, although hisexpertise spans multiple disciplines. He has been Director ofIllinois Genetic Algorithms Laboratory (IlliGAL) andProfessor at the Department of Industrial and EnterpriseSystems Engineering (IESE) of the University of Illinois. Hewill present two talks: one about collaborative engineeringas part of the official UM12 agenda, and another one, opento the general public, concerning the relationship betweenhigher technical education and society.

For more information:http://um12.esteco.com/um12/

modeFRONTIERUsers’ Meeting 2012


EnginSoft GmbH sponsored the ANSYS Conference and Users’meeting, held this year at the Stuttgart InternationalCongress Center. The ANSYS Conference focused on ElectricMobility Technologies, Machine Tools, Wind Energy Systems,Electronic Products Design, Building and Environmentaldesign and Bio-Engineering Simulation.

The aim of the conference was to inform about the mostrecent methodologies for virtual prototyping andsimulations. From 19th to 21st October, the Stuttgart InternationalCongress Center hosted engineers and researchers fromindustry, research and education institutions, who sharedbest practices and recent outcomes from their simulationprojects.

The 29th ANSYS Users' Meeting started with a welcomespeech by Jim Chashman (ANSYS CEO). The conference thisyear hosted over 1000 attendees, 200 technicalpresentations from Industrial Companies and Universities and27 Technical Seminars. Thanks to the wide exhibition area available, the conferencealso gave the opportunity to engineers and ANSYS partnersof a fruitful exchange of ideas.

In addition to the more established engineering applications-like structural-mechanics, fluid-dynamics, electricalmechanics, a number of lectures and seminars focused onEngineering Systems Simulation and Optimization have beenperformed. Today, Engineering Systems like Car Engines, canbe holistically simulated, accounting the physical andbehavioral interactions between the subsystem parts.

In the spirit of the conference, EnginSoft GmbH presentedand time-lined an aerodynamic shape optimization process,presenting the paper “High Speed Train Aerodynamic ShapeOptimization Methodology and Framework Comparison” [T.Newill - G. Buccilli, EnginSoft GmbH]. Train speed and aerodynamics efficiency are two concepts

that are difficult to combine when running aerodynamicshape optimization, although both the concepts are requiredto advance the transportation industry. High Speed Trainshave to withstand the increasing efficiency requirements andemissions restrictions, hence major efforts are ongoing toinnovate their aerodynamic design. In particular, train shape

contributes substantially to the overall aerodynamicperformances. Typically, a 3D train design should guaranteean improved ratio between aerodynamic lift force and dragforce with respect to reference designs.

To pursue the High Speed Train aerodynamic optimization,EnginSoft GmbH proposed a methodology which used abaseline mesh model of the Train and a set of mesh-morphingcontrol points. Then, instead of re-CADing and re-MESHing,the model was morphed using Arbitrary Shape Deformationalgorithms. Finally, Latin Hypercube methods have been usedto generate the Design Of Experiments and to identify theoptimal Train Shape.

To mesh-morph the Train model, EnginSoft GmbH usedSculptor™ software. Sculptor™ directly modifies anygeometry or any mesh model, without using CAD or meshingtools. The software enables CFD analyses of differentgeometries in short time, without re-generating CADgeometries and meshes. This means that more designvariations can be calculated in the same amount of time. Sculptor™ proved to be useful to find optimal High Speed

EnginSoft GmbH Silver Sponsor at theANSYS Conference & 29th CADFEMUsers’ Meeting 2011


Train design easier andquicker. Coupled withANSYS-FLUENT, it allowedfinding an improved trainshape in just a few days,while with the traditionalre-CAD and re-MESHapproach, it would havetaken several weeks. Withsubtle shape modifications,a sound 2% increase ofoverall lift/drag ratio andover 80% simulation timereduction was achieved –without affecting the overallgeometry constraints.Sculptor™ avoided timeconsuming operations onthe CAD model and on the computational grid, since themorphing took place over the ANSYS-FLUENT model directly. Besides the Train Aerodynamics optimization paper, at the29th ANSYS Conference EnginSoft held a Seminar on “ProductDesign Chain Innovation thorugh Manufacturing ProcessSimulation” [N. Gramegna - Enginsoft Italy]. Today the whole product development chain can besimulated, from manufacturing process to thermal-mechanical fatigue behavior and several CAE software areavailable for that purpose. More in particularly, the design ofthe manufacturing process (like casting, forging andmachining) is gaining importance in product development,as all those processes directly impact mechanical propertiesand component behavior.

During the seminar, EnginSoft presented innovativemethodologies for Manufacturing Process simulation, allaimed at reducing product development time and resourcesneeded. Nicola Gramegna gave the attendees an overview ofthe most relevant manufacturing processes, like CastingProcess and Heat Treatment (simulated with the softwareMAGMASOFT), Forging (simulated with FORGE software) andMachining (simulated by the means of Advantedge softwaretools). Nicola showed how residual stresses-strains and localmechanical properties can be calculated through computersimulation. Finally, he showed how the non-uniform stress-strain and mechanical properties previously calculated, canbe integrated into the FEM model (like ANSYS) to simulatethe macro component behavior.

For more information on Sculptor™: Giorgio Buccilli, EnginSoft [email protected]

SCULPTORSculptor is a powerful tool that allows a user toparameterize any mesh based on arbitrary cubic beziercontrol points. It can be linked to your existing fluid-flow(CFD) and/or structural (FEA) analysis tools and thendeform these meshes and maintain quality in real time.Enabling the user to optimize a product without the needto remesh, saving you days, weeks, even months.


Dal 19 al 26 ottobre si è tenuto a Dalian, in Cina, il primosummit planetario sul basso impatto ambientale - Low CarbonEarth Summit (LCES 2011), che ha riunito esponenti dellapolitica, della ricerca, delle tecnologie e pubblico con l’obiettivodi creare un tavolo intorno al quale scambiarsi le conoscenzeoggi disponibili per riuscire a controllare l’impatto sul clima:“Spronare la green Economy per tornare in armonia con lanatura”. Al “Forum 8: Clean Sciences and Technology for LowCarbon Environment - Today’s R & D, Tomorrow IndustrialRevolutionization” di questo importante incontro è statopresentato anche il progetto CASA ZERO ENERGY, un edificioprogettato e realizzato con un approccio “filosofico” che miraad una visione integrata della sostenibilità.L’edificio, progettato dall’Università di Trento, è stato realizzatodal Gruppo Polo Le Ville Plus con il supporto della Regione FriuliVenezia Giulia. Numerose analisi di simulazione eottimizzazione delle prestazioni energetiche ed ambientali sonostate eseguite da EnginSoft con l’ausilio di BENIMPACT Suite.Portavoce dell’attività è stato il prof. Antonio Frattari,Responsabile Laboratorio Progettazione Edilizia (LPE) -Direttore del CUnEd dell’Università di Trento.BENIMPACT Suite è il risultato di un progetto di ricerca co-finanziato dalla Provincia Autonoma di Trento - LeggeProvinciale n° 6/99 Programma Operativo FESR 2007-2013Obiettivo 2.

Last month, from 19th to 26th the first Low Carbon EarthSummit (LCES 2011) was held in Dalian, China.It brought together important politicians, researchers, and alarge audience. The aim of this meeting was to create a roundtable where people could share their knowledge aboutcontrolling the environmental impact: “Leading the GreenEconomy, Returning to Harmony with Nature”.

Prof. Antonio Frattari, the chief of Building Design Lab of theUniversity of Trento, presented the project ZERO ENERGYHOUSE at “Forum 8: Clean Sciences and Technology for LowCarbon Environment - Today’s R & D, Tomorrow IndustrialRevolutionization”. A philosophical approach towardsintegrate sustainability characterizes this building.

The University of Trento has designed this house, GruppoPolo Le Ville Plus has built it, and the local administration,Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia, has given its support.For the simulation of the building behavior BENIMPACT Suitehas been used.

BENIMPACT Suite is the outcome of a research project co-founded by the Autonomous Province of Trento (Italy) –Provincial Law n° 6/99 Operative Program FESR 2007-2013Objective 2.

BENIMPACT Suite has landed in China

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 43CasaZeroEnergy can be called in this way because it has a ve-ry low energy consumption, it does not use any fossil fuels,and its energy demand is produced using renewable energe-tic sources. It anticipates the EU directive 31/2010/CE thatrequires the realization of near zero energy buildings, star-ting from 2020.

The main features of CasaZeroEnergy are:

• a strong bioclimatic characterization;• the use of natural, renewable and recycled materials for

the construction of the building;• the development of a new and innovative timber frame

system;• the set up of an intelligent system (home automation) to

manage the energy consumption;• the integration with energy systems that use alternative

and clean sources: photovoltaic plant of 14.6 kWh, solarthermal panels for DHW, horizontal geothermal plant withwater – air heat pump integrated with a radiant floorheating and it can also work as a cooling system insummer.

The building behavior has been simulated using BENIMPACTSuite and then compared with the real house behavior, whichis monitored.

Comparing the simulation with the monitoring results it ispossible to observe some interesting things:• the performed simulation (with only two thermal zones)

has been validated with the monitoring;• the building behavior is very good and it meets in a

perfect way the expected predictions for summer.

except from some temperature picks in the hottest days(June 29th and July 4th) the comfort in the house has beenalways achieved in the monitored period.

For more information:Angelo Messina, [email protected]

Anche per l’anno 2012 il Consorzio TCN erogherà corsi diformazione specialistici e corsi a calendario. Continueràl’attività di organizzare corsi personalizzati a seguito dispecifiche richieste da parte dell’industria.A questi si aggiungeranno una serie di Minimaster conprogrammi formativi più intensi ed approfonditi rispetto aquelli dei corsi base ed avanzati.Per questo nuovo anno c’è anche l’intenzione di inserire corsiche trattano argomenti inediti di attuale interesse.Tutto sarà coordinato tra il Consorzio TCN ed i responsabilidella formazione delle varie realtà lavorative.

Per informazioni vi consigliamo di visitare il sito:www.consorziotcn.itoppure contattare la segreteria organizzativa:Mirella Prestini [email protected]

Alta Formazione:TCN punta ad unaspecializzazionesempre piùavanzata


Cybernet Systems Co.,Ltd. (with its headquarter located inTokyo) has offered a wide range of leading-edge CAEsolutions and services for many years since its establishmentin 1985. Today, Cybernet sells more than 80 CAE products fordiverse applications in mechanical, electrical and controlengineering, optics, civil engineering and construction,optimization, bioengineering, nanotechnology and othersectors. To complement its software portfolio for its clientsacross Japan, Cybernet provides different types of services,such as technical support, training, and consultancy, tocompanies in manufacturing, as well as to universities andresearch institutes…and far more than this: The engineers ofCybernet are passionate about supporting MONOZUKURI inJapan, as one of the country’s leading CAE providers. Thecompany’s corporate message states: “Energy for yourInnovation”.To foster the interest in CAE and to support the nextgeneration of CAE engineers, Cybernet developed andintroduced an educational system called “CAE UNIVERSITY”.CAE University’s primary objective is to grow the use of CAEtechniques among engineers.

In Japan, the use of CAE technologies in manufacturing hasexpanded significantly in recent years. While we witness agrowing interest in CAE, we also hear that many companiesask for additional support and know-how for improving theirapplication skills and for making the use of CAE moreefficient to solve their real problems. CAE UNIVERSITY is anew type of educational system which enables students tolearn CAE systematically and continuously. It providesstudents with the necessary skills touse CAE technologies flexibly andefficiently for the actual requirementsin their product design anddevelopment activities.

Lectures and practical examplesCAE UNIVERSITY offers both, 1-day or2-day courses, in short periods, oneach single topic in different fields.In lectures and hands-on sessions,participants study intensivelytheories of mathematics, physics andengineering, which are used in CAEtoday. By combining differentcourses, they are able to acquiretheoretical knowledge in each fieldsystematically. For example, byattending the 1.5 day lecture on

“Design and CAE Mechanics through Numerical Experiments“,the students learn many applications, from the basicnumerical experiment and its theoretical consideration usingbeam and frame structure, to the modeling of solidstructures, thermal stress and anisotropic materials.

FEM LaboratoryNowadays, performing simulation by using CAE has becomequite common in design and development departments.However, engineers sometimes are facing problems whensimulation results differ from testing results. By performingtesting and by comparing test results with simulation resultsin the FEM Laboratory, students can study and discuss thefactors which sometimes lead to such errors. This helps themto understand the background and how the different stepsand techniques are linked; they can now evaluate and verifysimulation results correctly and make efficient use of them intheir real design and development work.I had a pleasure to conduct the following interview with Mr.Takashi Sakurai, Manager of CAE UNIVERSITY.

Please can you tell us about the positioning and the features of CAE UNIVERSITY?The main features of CAE UNIVERSITY are to offer thecurriculum, which meets certain standards based on theUniversity’s educational system and to invite active teachersfrom universities. The courses are linked with each other andthe learning content has been examined carefully to avoidoverlapping and insufficiency. Teachers who are in charge ofthe computational mechanics courses get together for

CAE Seminars in Japan“CAE UNIVERSITY”


curriculum meetings periodically, to check and modify theinteraction of each lecture and practice. CAE UNIVERSITY canbe regarded as a new CAE education system with a university-like philosophy that offers high CAE knowledge levels.Concerning the content, some may think that mostlyadvanced CAE theory is being taught. The aim of CAEUNIVERSITY though clearly is not limited to the teaching oftheory, it also provides the knowledge of advancedtechniques of how to use CAE in the right way. Hence thetheory is just an element of the teaching content. We believethat a combination of both: learning how to apply CAE andstudying theory, will enable us to use CAE effectively for theactual job. Many companies have learned in the meantimethat CAE is not a magical tool that will help just byintroducing it. Introducing CAE also requires learningmethods for its correct use. CAE UNIVERSITY is a reasonablesystem to learn techniques for CAE usage because it issystematic and continuous.

What type of students do you have mostly?Many different types of employees participate. We welcomedesigners, R&D engineers, analysis specialists and trainers.We have students from universities too. They usually havedifferent goals, for example reviewing things they havelearned many years ago and solving specific problems on thejob. We ask everybody who registers to complete aquestionnaire before the course; we ask to tell us aboutrequests, expectations and backgrounds. Teachers prepareand try to arrange the course as much as possible followingthe students’ satisfaction questionnaires. There is anotherquestionnaire that is submitted after each course for futureimprovement of the courses. With these efforts, we are ableto maintain good quality and to constantly gain reputation.The number of students who register for subsequent coursesis rather high. Recently, we received several requests to hold on-site CAEUNIVERSITYs from customers who greatly appreciate thephilosophy and the intent. Our clients more often book nowon-site Courses and arrange for their engineers to participatein the entire range of lectures and practical sessions overmonths, to provide thorough CAE employee training.

What is the students’ general reaction to the “FEM Laboratory”?CAE is a tool for design. Designers have got into the habit ofdoing, looking at and touching real things and thinking

about them. This means touching and trying shapes theirimagination and deepens their understanding. Therefore, the“FEM Laboratory”, which offers a combination of lectures andtesting is very effective. FEM Laboratory maintains a highreputation and gathers many registrations always. The size oftesting is not so large, because it needs to be done on thedesk. However, the testing is very well conducted andsufficient to understand the essence. Presently, we offer 2FEM Laboratory courses, we are planning to add more in thefuture. Attending these courses, in which the studentsperform testing in groups, also provides a good platform forthem to share information and to get to know each other andeach other’s work easily. Often, students from differentcompanies keep in touch afterwards and discuss their ownproblems with other engineers in similar environments.

Please tell us about your future vision for the “CAE UNIVERSITY”Currently, students need to come to our seminar room toattend CAE UNIVERSITY. This is difficult for someone who hasto travel a long way or for those whose schedules are tight.To improve this, we are planning an alternative way of CAEeducation. Actually, we already have experiences indelivering the customized CAE UNIVERSITY on the customer’sintranet so that all their engineers can learn while being atwork. By using cloud computing, the system can be appliedand extended to a wider area and audience. We can indeedoffer CAE UNIVERSITY to many more people. Also, if wedevelop other language versions, it will be possible to sharethis education system globally. We want to achieve new CAEoriented design innovation by collaborating with as manyengineers as possible who have studied and overcomeengineering challenges. To reach this goal, we want to builda CAE community, to foster comprehensive CAE developmentin Japan and in other countries around the world. This is ourultimate vision and goal.

This article has been written in collaboration with CYBERNET SYSTEMS Co.,LTD.: http://www.cybernet.co.jp/english/Akiko Kondoh, Consultant for EnginSoft in Japan


The nonprofit organization JANCAE, The Japan Association forNonlinear CAE (chairperson: Kenjiro Terada, TohokuUniversity), offers several activities to companies, universitiesand software vendors [1] to gain a deeper understanding ofnonlinear CAE including its main work, the nonlinear CAEtraining course held twice a year. This article introducesJANCAE’s efforts to implement anisotropic elasto-plasticmodels into commercial FEM codes as one of the initiatives ofthe “Material Modeling Committee”.

2. Background and outline2.1 The efforts of the Material Modeling Committee:When we think of comprehensive advancements in the accuracyof a simulation, we are aware that all capabilities of thematerial modeling, the boundary conditions as well as thedefinition of the geometric modeling have to be improved atthe same level. The capabilities of geometric modeling for FEMsimulations have drastically improved along with the growth ofthe 3D CAD market, the advancements in auto-meshingcapabilities and the progresses made in hardware speeds andcapacities, over the past 10 years. Yet material modelingcapabilities have not progressed as significantly as theadvances achieved in geometric modeling. Users need to beinvolved in the definition process of material modeling, whichmeans that they have to choose the appropriate material modelfrom huge amounts of available material models offered byeach FEM code. As a next step, the parameters of the materialproperties have to be determined by performing material tests.These processes are still necessary, even now, at a time whenmany sophisticated commercial FEM codes are available.In this situation and independently from its CAE trainingcourse, which mainly consists of classroom lectures, JANCAEorganizes “The Material Modeling Committee” as a practicalapproach to the study of nonlinear materials. The Committeewas originally established in 2005 to study mainlyhyperelasticity and viscoelasticity. Then, its research activitieshave diversified into all material nonlinearity including metalplasticity. In the frame of the Committee, members learn abouttypical nonlinear material modeling by studying the basictheory of the constitutive equations, material testing methods,and how to handle test data and parameter identificationtechniques.

2.2 User subroutines for constitutive law in FEM CodesThere are many constitutive equations of materials, as we cansee from the many researchers’ names which appear in thetitles of the equations. Although such variety of materialmodels contributes to the improvement of simulation accuracy,not all material models, especially new models, can be applied

to various commercial FEM codes. With regard to yieldfunctions, which are a core concept for metal plasticity, it hasbeen pointed out that the yield surfaces of the actual metalmaterials cannot be represented well enough by the classicalanisotropic yield functions [2]. However now, many differenttypes of new yield functions are proposed especially in sheetmetal forming; they are able to represent real plasticdeformation much better than before [3]. LS-DYNA provides specific capabilities for sheet metal formingsimulation, it also offers a considerable number of newanisotropic yield functions [4]. On the other hand, when wethink about other commercial general purpose FEM codes, theyusually have only limited kinds of yield functions, such as theclassical Hill quadratic anisotropic function.These commercial codes offer user subroutine capabilities toextend material models. By using these capabilities anddefining material models following the programming rules thateach code provides, users can implement the requiredconstitutive laws. However in reality, it is difficult for ordinaryusers who are not familiar with the framework of continuummechanics, numerical simulation and the theory of plasticity,to perform such processes only from released text books oravailable information, as the manual definition in FEM codesrequires professional skills.

2.3 The development activity in the Material Modeling CommitteeThe Material Modeling Committee started its unique R&Dactivity in 2009. For this activity, engineers with variousbackgrounds and skills engaged in the CAE field got togetherto jointly work on making subroutines for the constitutivelaws. The members are from industrial companies and CAEsoftware vendors.As mentioned above, it is impossible to create suchsubroutines without understanding the basic concept of elasto-plastic models for FEM. In the first year, in 2009, we studiedthe basics of plastic constitutive equations and the framework

NPO Activity for Implementation ofAnisotropic Elasto-plastic Models intoCommercial FEM Codes

Fig. 1 - Framework of the subroutine “UMMDp”

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 47of constitutive law subroutines by referring to some text books[5], to obtain a better understanding of their principles. Inparallel, we summarized the characteristics of each code’s usersubroutine and proposed a framework for the user subroutinedevelopment. [Fig.1] In this framework, stress integration andcalculation of consistent tangent modulus, which representbasic capabilities of constitutive law subroutines, have beendetermined as “Unified Material Model Driver for Plasticity(UMMDp)” and separated from each code’s specified rule inorder to be able to be used commonly. Additionally, yieldfunctions were isolated as a modularized subroutine so that wecan implement different types of yield functions easily. In thesecond year, in 2010, the members worked on the programmingbased on this framework and by sharing each role.

3. Development and verification of the user subroutine3.1 Basic equations of elasto-plastic constitutive lawsHere we show the basic part of the subroutine for elasto-plasticconstitutive laws, which is crucial for this programming. Tensor is represented by the Voigt notation arrayingcomponents as vector. The stress to be calculated is , andthe strain increment given to the subroutine is .Following are basic equations for elasto-plastic constitutivelaws.

Equation (1) shows the yield condition and represents thatstress point on the yield surface. The shape of the yield surfaceis determined by the yield function , the magnitude is givenby the hardening curve showing isotropic hardening andthe center of the yield surface is provided by the back stress

showing kinematic hardening respectively. Equation (2)shows that the elastic and the plastic strain increments aregiven by additive decomposition, and the elastic strainincrement gives the stress increment by Hooke’slaw shown as Equation (3). Equation (4) gives the plasticstrain increment and here the associated flow rule isused, in which the outward normal of the yield surface and theplastic strain increment have the same direction. Equation (5)is the evolution equation of the back stress. p shows theequivalent plastic strain which has a conjugate relation withthe equivalent stress in the plastic work. UMMDp usesbackward Euler’s method for the stress integration algorithm.In this method, nonlinear simultaneous equation is solved,assuming the stress and internal variable (back stress

and equivalent plastic strain pn+1) after the completionof ”n+1” increment satisfy the basic equations (1) – (5). Wenow define residual functions as follows.

Now is the trial stress (initial estimate of stressintegration) assuming all strain increments are elasticcomponents and given by

Equation (6), Equation (7) and Equation (8) correspond to theyield condition of Equation (1), Equation (2) – (4) and theback stress evolution equation of Equation (5) respectively,and the stress after integration and the internal variable( and ) are obtained by converging , and

to 0 using Newton-Raphson method. In UMMDp, it ispredicted that the convergence calculation will be difficultbecause of implementation of higher order anisotropic yieldfunctions. So we relaxed the condition of (6) by using Multi-stage Return Mapping [6] which leads to gradual convergence.

3.2 The idea of UMMDpThe variables used for convergence calculation of the stressintegration are the yield function , the isotropichardening curve , the back stress evolution equation

and their first and second order differentials. Inthe static implicit method, tangent matrix (Material Jacobian)consistent with stress integration algorithm, is also required toobtain the quadratic convergence in equilibrium calculation. Inthis calculation, as with the stress integration, yield function,isotropic hardening curve, back stress evolution equation valueand its differential value are going to be needed. Theframeworks of calculation for stress integration and consistenttangent modules are in common regardless of forms of yieldfunction, hardening curve and back stress evolution equation.Therefore, if we could make a unified interface for thosevarious sets of functions, the function group of a variety ofconstitutive equations described above would be able to bemodularized and have higher expandability. When we thinkabout the variable names and the stored formats in subroutinesof commercial codes, of course they vary from code to code.However, the role of the constitutive law in FEM codes is toprovide “local stress-strain relation at integration point” andthere is no difference on this point. By using proper variableconversion for code-independent user subroutines, they can belinked to UMMDp correctly. From this standpoint, the greatvariety of constitutive equations, such as yield function andhardening law can be externalized. Additionally, if we developthe interface for different commercial codes using theirspecific user subroutines, which we call “Plug”, it will kick-offan open effort and a discussion which will not be limited to aspecific code.

3.3 Yield function subroutine The yield function subroutine is developed mainly by CAE usersfrom industrial companies. Following are the yield functions forthe implementation. (von Mises is used for verification of theimplementation.)

von Mises[7]Hill(1948[8], 1990[9])

(1)(2)(3)(4)(5)

(6)(7)(8)


Gotoh's bi-quadratic yield function [10]Barlat yield function (Yld89[11], Yld2000[12],Yld2004[13])Banabic yield function (BBC2005[14], BBC2008[15])Cazacu 2006[16]Karafills & Boyce[17]Vegter[18]

The yield function subroutine receives the stress componentas the argument, and then returns the corresponding

equivalent stress , its first order differential andits second order differential .To demonstrate objectively that the developed subroutineworks correctly, also numerical verification is being performed.For this verification, we also provide a main routine so thatonly the capability of the yield function’s subroutine itself canbe checked separately without mixing up its bug with otherbugs in UMMDp (the parent routine of the yield function’ssubroutine), and “Plug” for commercial FEM codes. By doingso, the members can work independently. The verification wasperformed by the comparison between the yield surface in theoriginal paper, which proposed anisotropic yield functions, andthe output from our developed subroutine as shown in Fig.2,as well as by the comparison between analytical and numericaldifferential values to secure correctness.

3.4 Development of the interface “Plug” for commercialcodesThe “Plug” subroutine, which becomes an interface tocommercial FEM codes, is developed mainly by engineers fromCAE software vendors. This subroutine links to UMMDp correctlythrough each different manner depending on commercialcodes. The name of the ‘Plug’ is based on the functionalanalogy of plug-adopter for AC power socket which differs bynation.The Plug needs to offer overall capabilities for communicationwith commercial codes, such as storing and updating internalvariables, and variable output adjustment to result data. Onthis point, it was very helpful to gain the cooperation ofengineers from software vendors, who are familiar with eachcommercial code. We appreciated their cross-bordercooperation.The verification of the developed Plug was also performed. Forthis verification, we used the basic benchmark test provided bythe NAFEMS guidebook [19] for “Code to Code Verification”. We

compared the result usingdefault elasto-plastic modelsprepared in each commercialcode (von Mises typeisotropic yield functions) andthe result using the von Misestype yield function throughUMMDp, and we confirmedthat these stress histories arematching as shown in Fig.3.

3.5 Implementation of combined hardening lawWe finalized the development and the verification of theprogram for the standard isotropic hardening models in 2009.It is difficult to simulate deformation behavior accurately whenthe direction of stress is reversed. So we are promoting thedevelopment of the combined hardening model includingkinematic hardening shown in the basic equations. Kinematichardening behavior is modeled by back stress evolutionequation. For this evolution equation, various types of modelsare proposed, and we need to accept this diversity as withyield functions. At this point in time, we are developing aframework to modularize the function shown inEquation (5) as a subroutine.

3.6 Total verificationFor total verification of the developed program, we analyzedproblems which come to the surface by the influence of plasticanisotropy, and we compared them to the reliable result. Wesimulated a hole-expansion test of a steel sheet [20] and ahydraulic bulge test of aluminum alloy [21] in cooperationwith Prof. Kuwabara, TokyoUniversity of Agriculture andTechnology. Fig.4 shows thesimulation result of the hole-expansion test. We can seethat the thickness decreasearound the center hole varieswith angle from the rollingdirection. Afterwards, weverified that the developed subroutine group worked rightly, bycomparing the UMMDp simulation result and the reliablesimulation result. The aim of the verification at this stage isnot the comparison with experimental results, instead it isabsolutely for Code to Code Verification. We think that usingthe middle scale problem, which is positioned between smallscale problems like material testing and large scale problems inrealistic sheet metal forming, is more important for thematerial model validation rather than jumping to acomplicated large scale problem.

4. ClosingIn this article, we introduced an activity of the NPO “JANCAE”working group. As the volume of tasks becomes larger, thedevelopment is still in progress. In 2011, the development ofa common subroutine for resin and rubber has been planned asa subsequent activity of the working group. The effort this

(a) Yield locus in original paper [12] (b) Output from ummdp_checkyf

Fig. 3 - Comparison with result ofcommercial code (von Mises model)

Fig. 2 - Verification of yield function subroutine (eg:Yld2000).

Fig. 4 - Simulation example of hole-expansion test

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 49time is the implementation of the yield functions which werealready proposed in previous papers, hence there is noacademic novelty. Meanwhile, it is not just about a limitedactivity for a specific commercial code only. This is why thetopic is not really suitable to be presented in academicsocieties or at specific users’ conferences by CAE vendors. Weintroduced this work as an example of the activities featuringNPO’s neutrality. Following NPO’s guidelines, it is planned thatthe subroutine group will be opened to the public a year afteractivity completion. Yet more than 30 engineers from differentorganizations have already joined the working group. Theirbackgrounds are different, some have already obtainedpermissions from their managers, some join to support theirown personal development. In any case, their motivation is themost important driving force for the activity. C.A Coulomb, when he was a building engineer in the militarycorps of engineers, expressed the reason to write a paper bymaking an analogy to an artisan when he submitted the paperto the French Académie des sciences in 1773, as follows.[22]“Besides, the Sciences are monuments consecrated to thepublic good. Each citizen ought to contribute to themaccording to his talents…. While great men will be carried tothe top of the edifice where they can mark out and constructthe upper stories, ordinary artisans who are scattered throughthe lower stories or hidden in the obscurity of the foundationsshould seek only to perfect that which cleverer hands havecreated.” We think the reason why so many engineers wereeager to be involved in the work is because of their motivationto understand in a deeper way and to express their sympathyfor the activity based on Coulomb’s words. We, ordinary artisans,have great responsibility in the present apprehensions regardingthe gap between computational mechanics and CAE [23].

5. References[1] http://www.jancae.org/[2] The Japan Society for Technology of Plasticity ed.: Static-

Implicit FEM – Sheet metal forming (process simulationseries), Corona Publishing, pp.198, 2004. (in Japanese)

[3] ibid. pp.172.[4] LSTC, JSOL: LS-DYNA Version 970 User’s Manual Vol.2,

2003.[5] F.Dunne, et al.: Introduction to Computational Plasticity,

Oxford Univ. Pr., 2005.[6] J.W.Yoon, et al.: Elasto-plastic finite element method

based on incremental deformation theory and continuumbased shell elements for planar anisotropic sheetmaterials, Comp. Meth. Appl. Mech. Engrg., vol.174,pp.23-56, 1999.

[7] R.von Mises: Mechanik der festen Körper in plastischen-deformablem Zustand, Göttinger Nachrichten math.-phys.Klasse, pp.582, 1913.

[8] R.Hill: A theory of the yielding and plastic flow ofanisotropic metals, Proc. Roy. Soc. A: vol.193, pp.281,1948.

[9] R.Hill: Constitutive modeling of orthotropic plasticity insheet metals, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, vol.38, no.3, pp405-417, 1990.

[10] M.Gotoh: Improvement of orthotropic theory byimplementation of forth order yield function (planestress) I, JSTP journal, vol.19, no.205, pp.377-385, 1978.

[11] F.Barlat, et al.: Plastic behavior and stretchability ofsheet metals. Part-I, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.5, pp.51-66,1989.

[12] F.Barlat, et al.: Plane stress yield function for aluminumalloy sheet: part 1:theory, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.19,pp.1297-1319, 2003.

[13] F.Barlat, et al.: Linear transformation-based anisotropicyield functions, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.21, pp.1009-1039,2003.

[14] D.Banabic, et al.: Influence of constitutive equations onthe accuracy of prediction in sheet metal formingsimulation, Proc. of NUMISHEET2008, 2008.

[15] D.Banabic, et al.: Plane-stress yield criterion for highly-anisotropic sheet metals, Proc. of NUMISHEET2008, 2008.

[16] O.Cazacu, et al.: Orthotropic yield criterion for hexagonalclosed packed metals, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.22, pp.1171-1194, 2006.

[17] A.P.Karafillis, M.C.Boyce: A general anisotropic yieldcriterion using bound and a transformation weightingtensor, J. Mech. Phys. Solids, vol.41, no.12, pp.1859-1889, 1993.

[18] H.Vegter, et al.: A plane stress yield function foranisotropic sheet material by interpolation of biaxialstress states, Int. J. Plasticity, vol.22, pp.557-580, 2006.

[19] A.A.Becker: Understanding Non-linear Finite ElementAnalysis Through Illustrative Benchmarks, NAFEMS, pp.20,2001.

[20] Kuwabara, T., Hashimoto, K. Iizuka, E. and Yoon J.W.,Effect of anisotropic yield functions on the accuracy ofhole expansion simulations, J. Mater. Processing Technol.,211 (2011), 475-481.

[21] Daisaku Yanaga, Toshihiko Kuwabara, Naoyuki Uema andMineo Asano: Material Modeling of 6000 Series AluminumAlloy Sheets with Different Density Cube Textures andEffect on the Accuracy of Finite Element Simulation, Proc.NUMISHEET 2011, Seoul, Korea, 21-26 August, 2011,pp.800-806. (AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 1383)

[22] Timoshenko, S.P.: History of Strength of Materials, Doverpublications, pp.47, 1983.

[23] N.Kikuchi: Computational Solid Mechanics –Trend andFuture, JSCES Journal, vol.11, no.1, pp.1290-1295, 2006.(in Japanese)

Hideo Takizawa (Mitsubishi Materials Co, Japan)Vice-chairman of JANCAE Material Modeling Committee

For more information about this article, please e-mail:[email protected]

By courtesy of Mechanical Design & Analysis Corporation, anoriginal version of this article was presented at the 4th MechD&A Users’ Conference, 1 July 2011 (Tokyo, Japan) andpublished in the Conference Proceedings.


ITALY

For more information on the next EnginSoft Seminars andWebinars, please contact: [email protected] tuned to: www.enginsoft.com (Events)Download the 2011 Conference Proceedings now on:www.enginsoft.com/proceedings2011 and stay tuned for thedates/venue of the 2012 International Conference: www.caeconference.com Every year, the conference program features applications ofCAE in: mechanics, industrial applications, structuralengineering, optimization, manufacturing processsimulation, computational fluid dynamics, emergingtechnologies, durability and fatigue, rapid and impactdynamics, CAD/CAE integration, …

9-10 February - High Tech Die Casting, VicenzaEnginSoft will present a case history of the processsimulation applied to Ferrioli radiators.www.metallurgia-italiana.net

18-21 April - METEF 2012, Fiera VeronaEnginSoft will present the MAGMA 5.2 release.www.metef.com

15th European Conference on Composite Materials. 24-28Giugno; Venezia. www.eccm15.org.

3rd Dolomites Workshop on Constructive Approximation andApplications; 9-14 Settembre; Canazeievents.math.unipd.it/dwcaa2012/?q=node/1

GERMANY

15-16 November - NAFEMS European Conference: SimulationProcess and Data Management (SDM). Munich

If you would like to hear more about EnginSoft Germany’spresentation on: Methodology and Validation forBidirectional, Homogeneous Simulation Data FlowManagement in a Fluid-Structure Interaction ProblemUtilizing Workflow Management and Shape DeformationTools, please contact our team at:[email protected]

EnginSoft Germany. Regular Webinars and On-sitePresentations 2011 & 2012: EnginSoft Germany hosts regularWebinars to present the company’s products and services, aswell as specific Webinars to discuss our customers’ currentapplications and needs.To hear more and to fix an appointment for your company,

please contact: [email protected]. Please stay tuned to: http://www.enginsoft-de.com/

FRANCE

Flowmaster Roadshow 2012Pour accompagner le lancement de Flowmaster V7.9 etprésenter ses principales nouveautés, Enginsoft Franceorganise des conférences dans plusieurs villes de France.Vous y découvrirez notamment l’analyse diphasique, le tempsréel, et le couplage avec modeFRONTIER. Inscrivez-vous vite!Book your place now, for the Conferences that EnginSoftFrance will host in 2012 – Hear about Flowmaster V7.9 andthe coupling with modeFRONTIER!Voici les lieux et dates – Dates & venues:• 2 février 2012 après midi à Nantes • 7 février 2012 après midi à Lyon • 9 février 2012 après midi à Toulouse • 14 février 2012 après midi à Aix en Provence • 16 février 2012 après midi à Paris Pour vous inscrire, appelez vite le +33 (0)1.41.22.99.30 ouvisitez http://www.enginsoft-fr.com/

EnginSoft France 2011 & 2012 Journées porte ouverte dans nos locaux à Paris et dans d’autres villes de France, encollaboration avec nos partenaires.

Pour plus d'information visitez: www.enginsoft-fr.com, contactez: [email protected]

UKThe workshops are designed to give delegates a goodappreciation of the functionality, application and benefits ofmodeFRONTIER. The workshops include an informal blend ofpresentation plus ‘hands-on’ examples with the objective ofenabling delegates to be confident to evaluatemodeFRONTIER for their applications using a trial license atno cost.

modeFRONTIER Workshops Warwick Digital Laboratory, Warwick University • Thursday 10th March • Tuesday 12th April• Tuesday 21st June• Wednesday 17th August• Tuesday 1st November• Wednesday 14th December

modeFRONTIER Workshops at Warwick Digital Laboratory,Warwick University

EnginSoft Event Calendar

Newsletter EnginSoft Year 8 n°4 - 51• Thursday 10th March • Tuesday 12th April• Tuesday 21st June• Wednesday 17th August• Tuesday 1st November• Wednesday 14th December

modeFRONTIER Workshops at Cranfield University• Thursday 27th May

modeFRONTIER Workshops for InfoWorks CS at WarwickDigital Lab • Tuesday, 8th February • Thursday 26th May • Wednesday 20th July • Thursday 13th October• Tuesday 22nd November To register, please visit: www.enginsoft-uk.com

7th December - CIWEM Innovations Showcase, CoventryEnginSoft has been selected to present 'Exploring the fullrange of possible solutions to DG5 schemes by combiningmodeFRONTIER's smart algorithms with InfoWorks CS -maximising customer choice between performance and cost' http://bit.ly/InnSC

SWEDEN

2011 Training Courses on modeFRONTIER – Drive your designsfrom good to GREAT EnginSoft Nordic office in Lund, SwedenThe Training Courses are focused on optimization, bothmulti- and single-objective, process automation andinterpretation of results. Participants will learn differentoptimization strategies in order to complete a project withina specified time and simulation budget.

Other topics, such as design of experiments, meta modelingand robust design are introduced as well. The two daytraining consists of a mix of theoretical sessions andworkshops.

The following dates are scheduled for 2012. All courses are held at the EnginSoft Nordic office in Lund,Sweden.• 1st-2nd December • 25-26th January • 8th-9th February • 6th-7th March• 2nd-3rd April• 3rd-4th May • 5th-6th June • 4th-5th September • 3rd-4th October • 6th-7th November• 6th-7th December

To discuss your needs, for more information and to register,please contact EnginSoft Nordic, [email protected]

SPAIN

EnginSoft Iberia. Programa de cursos de modeFRONTIER andother local events. To enquire about the next events in Spainand for more information, please contact: tel: +34938.945.092. email: [email protected] tuned to: http://iberia.enginsoft.com/empresa

El 14 de diciembre de 2011 a las 09:30 Webcast: Add-On para LabVIEW de modeFRONTIER para laOptimización de parámetros y Prototipado Rápido de Control

El 20 de diciembre de 2011 a las 10:00 (45 minutos) Webcast: Metodologías que aumentan su valor añadido a susclientes

For more information on the 2 Webcasts, please visit:http://www.aperiotec.es/agenda.php

USATMS 2012 Annual Meeting & Exhibition; 11-15 March;Orlando. www.tms.org/meetings/annual-12/AM12home.aspx

Courses and Webinars on Design Optimization withmodeFRONTIER Sunnyvale, CA. For more information, please contact: [email protected]

ISRAEL

AUVSI; 20-22 Marzo; Tel Avivevent.pwizard.com/auvsi2012/index.py?p=376

EUROPE, VARIOUS LOCATIONS

modeFRONTIER Academic Training Please note: These Courses are for Academic users only. TheCourses provide Academic Specialists with the fastest routeto being fully proficient and productive in the use ofmodeFRONTIER for their research activities. The coursescombine modeFRONTIER Fundamentals and AdvancedOptimization Techniques. For more information please contact: modeFRONTIERUniversity Program, [email protected]

To meet with EnginSoft at any of the above events, pleasecontact us: [email protected]

L'attività di formazione rappresenta da sempre uno dei tremaggiori obiettivi di EnginSoft accanto alla distribuzione edassistenza del software ed ai servizi di consulenza eprogettazione.Per ciascuno dei possibili livelli cui la richiesta di formazionepuò porsi (quella del progettista, dello specialista o delresponsabile di progettazione), EnginSoft mette adisposizione la propria esperienza per accelerare i tempi delcompleto apprendimento degli strumenti necessari con unagamma completa di corsi differenziati sia per livello (di baseo specialistico), che per profilo professionale dei destinatari(progettisti, neofiti od analisti esperti).La finalità è sempre di tipo pratico: condurre rapidamenteall'utilizzo corretto del codice, sviluppando nell'utente lacapacità di gestire analisi complesse attraverso l'usoconsapevole del codice di calcolo. Per questo motivo ognicorso è diviso in sessioni dedicate alla presentazione degliargomenti teorici alternate a sessioni 'hands on', in cui ipartecipanti sono invitati ad utilizzare attivamente il codicedi calcolo eseguendo applicazioni guidate od abbozzando,con i suggerimenti del trainer, soluzioni per i problemi diproprio interesse e discutendone impostazioni e risultati.

Anche per il 2012 EnginSoft propone una serie completa dicorsi che coprono le necessità di formazione all'uso deidiversi software sostenuti. Le novità proposte, confermanol’idea che EnginSoft ha della formazione: non è una realtàstatica che si ripropone uguale a se stessa di anno in anno,ma è un divenire, guidato dall'esperienza accumulata neglianni, dall'evoluzione del software e dalle esigenze dellesocietà che si affidano a noi per la formazione del propriopersonale. In tale contesto EnginSoft organizza e sviluppaanche attività didattiche attraverso un programma formativopersonalizzato, soluzioni di progettati in relazione allenecessità e alle specifiche esigenze aziendali delcommittente.

L’offerta dei corsi ANSYS viene ridefinita ogni anno peradeguarsi, sia all’evoluzione del software ed allecaratteristiche dell’ultima versione disponibile, cheall’introduzione di nuovi moduli e solutori. In tale senso sisegnala in campo fluidodinamico l'introduzione, accanto aicorsi tradizionalmente erogati, del corso ANSYS FLUENT:Corso Avanzato sulla Combustione.Sono stati inoltre rivisti ed aggiornati i corsi relativi a tuttigli altri software sostenuti da EnginSoft per adeguarli allostato attuale delle relative distribuzioni.

Si segnala infine l'introduzione del nuovo corso DIGIMAT,modellatore avanzato, non lineare, multi-scala di materialiche si pone come obiettivo quello di offrire unarappresentazione completa e rigorosa utile sia ai fornitori dimateriali (“progettisti” di materiali), sia ai progettistianalisti CAE (end users) per i quali, il più delle volte, ilmateriale viene modellato in modo semplificato.Dal punto di vista organizzativo nel 2012 tutte le sei sediEnginSoft saranno impegnate nella formazione, dando lapossibilità agli utenti di scegliere la location a loro piùconveniente in termini di vicinanza geografica alla propriasocietà.

Tutto questo a riprova dell'impegno nella formazione che, perEnginSoft, è e rimane un punto fondamentale della politicaaziendale, un impegno costante verso l'eccellenza, unservizio per fare crescere i suoi clienti e, se lo desiderano,crescere con loro.

Per maggiori informazioni: www.enginsoft.it/corsiPer richiedere una copia del libretto: [email protected]

Corsi di addestramentosoftware 2012

Newsletter Year 11-4

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Transcript of Newsletter Year 11-4