There’s been lots of talk about making simulation capabilities more accessible to “regular Joe” engineers and plenty of activity on the product front. The latest announcement comes from Autodesk, which just released a new wizard tool for fatigue analysis as part of its Autodesk Algor Simulation.
Autodesk Algor subscription users will automatically receive Fatigue Wizard, a tool that delivers a wizard interface to guide designers and engineers of any expertise level through the steps required to perform complex fatigue analysis. The goal of the new tool: To bring even advanced simulation capabilities to engineers of all levels, not just simulation experts. Fatigue analysis is a simulation technique that’s critical for products such as steel rails, beams, girders and rotating stepped shafts. The capabilities help predict fatigue-based mechanical failures by allowing users to subject a design to repeated, varying loads, helping to determine its endurance limits and therefore, increase safety.
Users will be able to access Fatigue Wizard through a menu option in Autodesk Algor and from there, the wizard provides step-by-step instructions on how to set up a fatigue analysis. Users can choose between stress- and strain-based analysis types, specify material information using an extensive, editable database as well as enter data to simulate real-world conditions. Given Autodesk Algor’s multi-CAD interoperability capabilities, the fatigue analysis features can be leveraged with other, non-Autodesk CAD software.
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Against a backdrop of mounting product complexity and a need to keep a lid on development costs, companies are recognizing a need to make simulation a more integral part of the design process. In response, vendors in the CAD world are building out CAE functionality as part of their CAD suites while simulation vendors are building tighter integrations to leading CAD tools. Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., Practice Manager, Simulation and Analysis at CIMdata, Inc., joins Design News CAD Editor Beth Stackpole in this radio program to explore the new face of integrated CAD and CAE, how companies are benefitting from this tighter partnership between platforms, and how integrating CAE earlier in the development cycle pays off in optimized product designs.
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