Desktop Engineering - 2013-04

April 2013 / deskeng.
com
FEA Idealization P.37
CPU, GPU or Both? P.45
Automated Metrology P.54
TECHNOLOGY FOR DESIGN ENGINEERING

Review: Lenovo E31 P.48
CFD On Call Simulation drives

medical innovation.
P. 21
BIOMEDICAL
3D PRINTING P.26
FDA TURNS TO
SIMULATION P.32
A CASE STUDY IN
BRAIN SURGERY P.36
COMPANY PROFILE:
COMSOL P.40
A Winning Formula
Red Bull Racing and ANSYS
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Degrees of Freedom by Jamie J. Gooch
Collaborate to Innovate
T
here has been no shortage of pixels and ink devoted a good example. It has become one of the must-attend tech-
to healthcare reform in recent years, much of which nology venues for many companies (including 3D Systems
surrounds the creation of an IT infrastructure that and MakerBot this year), because it provides a place where
would use electronic medical records and health music, independent films, and emerging technologies con-
information exchange to share access to medical informa- verge. That convergence draws thousands of people who are
tion. Billions of dollars in public grants have been awarded seen as trend setters and innovative thinkers.
to create such a system, which is intended to improve the Another conference, TEDMED, which takes place April
quality of care and lower costs by connecting healthcare pro- 16-19 in Washington, D.C., does the same for healthcare
viders, insurers and patients in a collaborative network. But and technology. It brings together people from many disci-
there are other healthcare technology breakthroughs that are plines—engineers, medical professionals, designers, musi-
achieving those goals right now via design, testing, analysis, cians, community activists, regulators, artists and more—to
additive manufacturing and high-performance computing. discuss healthcare’s “Great Challenges,” which it defines
Like the drive to finally digitize and share health informa- as: “complex, persistent problems that have medical and
tion, medical device design can benefit from collaboration. non-medical causes, impact millions of lives, and affect the
When engineers interact with doctors, inventions like the well-being of all of America—beginning with patients, and
VGo Robotic Telepresence System (vgocom.com) are born. extending to families and citizens everywhere,” according
VGo allows caregivers to essentially be in two places at once to tedmed.com/greatchallenges. “These knotty problems
are not susceptible to simple cures, magic bullets or ‘one-
size-fits-all’ solutions because they stem from broad, inter-
The ideas design engineers locking social, economic and psychological sources as well
as from medical or scientific triggers. What’s more, each
contribute will save and challenge creates multiple, overlapping effects that may cut
improve lives in ways we can across all sectors of society.”
only imagine. Complex Problems Require

Collaborative Solutions
Does TEDMED’s description of healthcare’s great chal-
to check on distant patients via a remote-controlled robot. lenges sound familiar? It’s not difficult to make the leap
When engineers talk with patients, it yields 3D-printed from medical to engineering challenges. Both can be com-
prosthesis (see page 26 and rapidreadytech.com/?p=3367), plex, cut across multiple sections of society and involve
robotic exoskeletons, and vision augmented implants (see collecting and organizing massive amounts of data (which
page 16). When computer-aided engineering specialists take we’ll focus on in next month’s issue). Likewise, both are
the time to understand the healthcare industry’s needs and strengthened when stakeholders venture outside their
educate regulators on technology, it leads the Food and Drug comfort zones and get a different perspective on a compli-
Administration to support work on a virtual patient (see page cated issue—whether its personalized medicine or design
21) and encourage the use of simulation in medical device optimization.
design (see page 32). The examples of innovation in this issue barely scratch
the surface of what can be accomplished at the intersection
Unexpected Pairings of engineering and healthcare. As computing power pro-
The articles in Desktop Engineering often stress the need gresses and the medical industry continues to find creative
for engineers from different disciplines to break through uses for advanced simulation and additive manufacturing, the
the walls that have traditionally separated mechanical and products and processes design engineers contribute to the
electrical design, for instance, to learn from each other and field will save and improve lives in ways our most innovative
improve the design process. But if we take that idea a step thinkers are imagining today. DE
further, beyond the confiners of engineering, a number of
opportunities arise. Jamie Gooch is the managing editor of Desktop Engineering.
Last month’s South by Southwest (SXSW) conference is Contact him at de-editors@deskeng.com.
2 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

April 2013 volume 18/issue 8
SIMULATION
37 The Art of Idealization
There’s an incorrect tendency to think
of a highly detailed CAD model meshed
with a large number of elements as the “real” structure.
It is important to remember that every FEA is an
idealization of the real world.
By Tony Abbey
40 Innovation with
the Multiphysics Touch
COMSOL’s multiphysics
FOCUS ON HEALTHCARE simulation solutions are designed
to help engineering organizations
grapple with increasing complexity.
CFD: Shaping the By Beth Stackpole
ENgINEERINg COMpUTINg
Medical World
21 From ensuring clean
45 CpU, gpU or Both?
Find the right multi-processing
airflows to pre-planning approach for engineering applications.
heart surgery, CFD software By Peter Varhol
increases understanding of
medical applications. 48 Compact performer
Lenovo ThinkStation E31 SFF
By Pamela J. Waterman
provides modest, but affordable
performance.
26 A Body of Work By David Cohn
From sockets to instruments, additive manufacturing
is thriving in the biomedical field. 50 Workstation Evolution
By Kenneth Wong Vendors fine tune workstations
for engineering applications and
32 Simulation grows performance.
in Medical Importance By Frank J. Ohlhorst
Today, the methodology is recognized by the U.S. FDA
as essential to medical device evaluations. 52 Seeing Ray Tracing
By Cheryl Liu in a Different Light
Caustic Visualizer and Series2 Ray
36 Fast App: precision Tracing Acceleration Boards from
Imagination Technologies focus on
is Everything efficiency.
Yes, it is brain surgery ... By Mark Clarkson
so FHC switches to EOS’
plastics laser-sintering system
to manufacture the TEST & MEASUREMENT
patient-specific STarFix
platform. 54 Automated for the people
By Lynn Manning Automated metrology increases throughput
and provides greater consistency for
ON THE COVER: A vena cava filter using discrete element industrial processes, but system designers
modeling (DEM) in pulsatile flow, mimicking embolus can benefit from it as well.
capture, as simulated with CD-adapco STAR-CCM+ CFD By Randy Frank
analysis software. Image courtesy of CD-adapco.

PERISTALTIC PUMP: This model simulates the fluid-structure interaction caused by the roller
squeezing the tubing’s wall. Large deformations, contact, and the hyperelastic behavior of the
tubing material are considered. Shown are the von Mises stresses, fluid pressure, and velocity
direction. Model images are provided courtesy of Nagi Elabbasi of Veryst Engineering.
Verify and optimize your designs

with COMSOL Multiphysics. ®
Multiphysics tools let you build simulations that accurately replicate the
important characteristics of your designs. The key is the ability to include all
physical effects that exist in the real world. Download a free product
booklet at www.comsol.com/booklet
Product Suite
COMSOL Multiphysics
ELECTRICAL FLUID MULTIPURPOSE INTERFACING
AC/DC Module CFD Module Optimization Module LiveLink™ for MATLAB®
RF Module Microfluidics Module Material Library LiveLink™ for Excel®
MEMS Module Subsurface Flow Module Particle Tracing Module CAD Import Module
Plasma Module Pipe Flow Module ECAD Import Module
LiveLink™ for SolidWorks®
MECHANICAL CHEMICAL LiveLink™ for SpaceClaim®
Heat Transfer Module Chemical Reaction Engineering Module LiveLink™ for Inventor®
Structural Mechanics Module Batteries & Fuel Cells Module LiveLink™ for AutoCAD®
Nonlinear Structural Materials Module Electrodeposition Module LiveLink™ for Creo™ Parametric
Geomechanics Module Corrosion Module LiveLink™ for Pro/ENGINEER®
Fatigue Module LiveLink™ for Solid Edge®
Acoustics Module File Import for CATIA® V5
© Copyright 2013 COMSOL. COMSOL, COMSOL Multiphysics, Capture the Concept, COMSOL Desktop, and LiveLink are either registered trademarks or trademarks of COMSOL AB. MATLAB is a registered trademark of The MathWorks, Inc.. Excel is either a registered trademark
or trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. SolidWorks is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes SolidWorks Corp.. SpaceClaim is a registered trademark or SpaceClaim Corporation. AutoCAD and Inventor are registered trademarks or
trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. Creo and Pro/ENGINEER are trademarks or registered trademarks of PTC Inc. or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and in other countries. Solid Edge is a trademark or registered trademark
of Siemens Product Lifecycle Management Software Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and in other countries. CATIA is a registered trademark of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. Other product or brand names are trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective holders. Neither COMSOL nor any of the COMSOL products listed herein are affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or supported by any of these other trademark owners.
April 2013 VOLUME 18/ISSUE 8
DEPARTMENTS 18 Rapid Ready Tech

A bioprinted ear, the Urbee 3D printed car
2 Degrees of Freedom is ready for production, a new take on an
Colloborate to innovate. additive manufacturing built moon base,
By Jamie J. Gooch and Stratasys partners with ORNL. EDITORIAL
Steve Robbins | Editorial Director
Jamie J. Gooch | Managing Editor
8 Virtual Desktop Kenneth Wong | Senior Editor
Anthony J. Lockwood | Editor at Large
Rescale’s cloud-based simulation template, Heather Pittinger | Copy Editor
Altair’s HyperWorks 12.0, Siemens PlM
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS
Software’s quality management, CFD for Tony Abbey, Brian Albright, Mark Clarkson,
design engineers and Dell going private. David S. Cohn, Randy Frank, Barbara Goode,
John Newman, Frank Ohlhorst, Susan Smith, Beth
20 Editor’s Picks Stackpole, Peter Varhol, Pamela J. Waterman
Products that have grabbed the PUBLISHER

Thomas Conlon
editors’ attention.
By Anthony J. Lockwood ADVERTISING SALES
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Robotic exoskeletons,
vision implants, mini 51 Advertising Index A LEVEL 5 COMMUNICATIONS PUBLICATION
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drones, self-deiving Thomas Conlon | President
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Virtual Desktop by Kenneth Wong & Beth Stackpole
Dell Gets Ready to Go Private
T
he PC market is dominated as users have begun to refresh their
by just a handful of major aging workstations,” he reports. “At
players. It’s literally a single the same time, vendors have intro-
hand, as five brands—Dell, duced workstations offering several
HP, Lenovo, Acer and ASUS—ac- different processors, such as i3, i5
count for 58.9% market share. and i7, thereby increasing the selec-
(Source: “Gartner and IDC: PC ship- tion of machines that can satisfy
ments tumbled…,” Oct. 10, 2012, En- specific workload applications with-
gadget.com.) The rest is made up of out wasting part of their IT budget
specialty brands. Naturally, in such on unnecessary features.” (Source:
a tight market, a major strategy shift “Worldwide Workstation 2011–2015 PC maker Dell prepares to go
by one of the Big Five is bound to Forecast,” IDC.) private. Founder, chairman and CEO
produce ripple effects. Lauren Mauro, Dell’s commu- Michael Dell, shown here at the Dell
In mid-February, publicly traded nications manager for commercial World 2012 opening party, calls the
Dell began taking steps to go pri- clients and OEM solutions, points transaction “an exciting new chapter
vate—an option the company’s out that the agreement to go private for Dell.” Image courtesy of Dell.
founder, chairman and CEO Mi- “doesn’t change our go-to-market
chael Dell described as “an exciting strategy. By becoming private, we
new chapter for Dell” in a press can more effectively proceed and completely immune from the behav-
release. According to the company, execute our strategy. iors of consumer PC buyers. The
Dell has “signed a definitive merger “End user computing, which in- spillover from consumer PC market
agreement under which Michael cludes consumer PCs, business cli- should not be underestimated.
Dell … in partnership with global ents and workstations, is an impor- In 2011, in what some considered
technology investment firm Silver tant part of our business,” Mauro a misguided move, Dell’s rival HP
Lake, will acquire Dell” in a $24.4 adds. “We’ll continue to invest in its pondered getting out of the PC
billion transaction. growth.” business altogether. At the time,
In the last few years, the PC Away from the constant scru- HP’s then-CEO Leo Apotheker
market faced significant pressure tiny of financial analysts and argued it made more sense for the
from mobile devices and smart- performance-obsessed Wall Street, company to focus on software, ser-
phones, which emerged as better privately owned Dell is expected to vices and specialized hardware for
alternatives for certain operations be more nimble, and more respon- enterprises, like IBM does. Later,
previously possible only on desk- sive to technology buyers’ changing HP reversed course and remained in
tops, laptops and workstations. The computing preferences. the PC business.
lighter, portable form factors are The transaction is financed in Currently, multicore worksta-
part of the appeal. According to data part by Microsoft with a $2 billion tions with graphics accelerators
from analysts Gartner and IDC, the loan. With a vested interest in the remain the only appropriate sys-
PC market dropped 8.3% between shrinking PC market, both Micro- tems for power-hungry professional
Q3 2011 and Q3 2012. soft and Dell know their fates are designers and engineers. The in-
Part of the PC market is the work- tied. Windows is also the primary creased size and complexity of as-
station market, accounting for the operating system in the engineering semblies also push the demand for
primary systems on which engineers and design software market—the parallel processing, only available in
and designers rely for their work. backbone of CAD, CAE and CAM. workstations and high-performance
Although the PC market’s anticipated computing (HPC) servers. However,
growth looks grim statistically, Lloyd Consumer Influence users’ flirtation with cloud comput-
Cohen, IDC’s director of Worldwide Even though the workstation mar- ing, remote desktops, and other
Market Analysis, has a sunnier out- ket is usually treated as a separate innovative computing modes could
look for the workstation sector. division by PC makers, and is rela- someday redefine the role and im-
“The workstation market has tively insulated from the encroach- portance of workstations.
returned to healthier growth rates ment of mobile devices, it’s not —K. Wong

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Rescale: Build Your Own Scalable

Simulation Template in the Cloud
E
arly this year, San Francisco-
based Rescale opened its doors
for business, in a manner of
speaking. The company tiptoed
into the cloud-hosted simulation mar-
ket, but with a twist. It provides a plat-
form—a layer of software sitting on top
of high-performance computing (HPC)
hardware—that lets you create and run
customized, repeatable, multi-solver
simulation and optimization cycles. You
haven’t heard much about it because, ac-
cording to Sunny Manivannan, Rescale’s
VP of business development, it has only
had a “soft launch.”
Let’s say, in a standard design ex-
ploration, your engineers usually begin
with a structural analysis in Dassault
Systèmes SIMULIA. Afterward, they San Francisco-based Rescale offers cloud-hosted software and HPC hardware
might use the results to run thermal to specify, set up and run simulation loops involving multiple solver codes.
analysis with MSC NASTRAN, and
then perform additional calculations
on certain parameters in MathWorks the customer’s existing licenses, or we can software packages into one compre-
MATLAB. This entire loop from start run it using on-demand licenses—weekly, hensive simulation cycle was. Rescale’s
to finish could be specified in Rescale’s monthly, depending on the vendor,” says hosted software, which functions like
web-hosted interface, to run on Res- Joris. “That’s a big part of what we help middleware, addresses the integration.
cale’s hardware. solve for our customers. We tell them not The company is targeting mostly
“The types of jobs our customers to worry about the licensing issues. We large enterprises and some midsized
want to solve are pretty compute- work with vendors to figure out the best businesses that need to run HPC-pow-
intense,” says Joris Poort, CEO and licensing plan for our clients.” ered simulation. Its on-demand plat-
co-founder of Rescale. “So all the man- form could also augment manufactur-
agement of the cluster in the back end is An Integrated, Scalable Approach ers with peak simulation demands with
taken care of by us.” Manivannan says “we all believe more which their in-house IT infrastructure
If one software program can take ad- simulation leads to better products. But cannot cope.
vantage of the GPU, but others perform the problem that you run into is, maybe Rescale recognizes that, with simu-
better on CPU cores, Rescale’s back-end you don’t have the compute power. The lation software, access to cloud-hosted
infrastructure can balance the load and second problem is, it’s not easy to build a hardware is just one part of the solu-
core distribution in a way that makes simulation pipeline that’s scalable for all tion—and not even the most important
the most sense. Rescale is not a software the software involved.” part. The true value Rescale offers is
reseller; however, if you need to acquire Rescale’s hardware-software combo a cloud-hosted HPC platform that
more licenses to run your simulation platform is the outcome of Joris’ experi- scale up or down according to peak-
(for example, more HPC licenses so ence at Boeing, where he worked for and low-time demands, along with a
you can use additional cores to compute four years as a structural and software browser-based workflow designer to
your job faster), Rescale will handle the engineer on the 787 program. For a firm specify and set up your commonly ex-
license negotiation. of Boeing’s size, HPC resources weren’t ecuted simulation loops.
“We can run [the simulation] using the problem; integrating many different —K. Wong

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Altair Engineering Unveils HyperWorks 12.0
A
ltair is rolling out a major Sampson, director of modeling and multibody dynamics in MotionSolve) to
release of its flagship suite, visualization, Altair. “It’s a major step build a custom simulation loop. To en-
HyperWorks. The compre- forward in model building.” It is, ac- courage more users, the company now
hensive lineup covers every cording to Sampson, one of the major offers Multiphysics Licensing. “We just
phase of design development and test- choke points in the process. treat the whole multiphysics job as one
ing, from computational fluid dynamics HyperView, the application for job,” observed Detlef Schneider, senior
(CFD, with AcuSolve), crash analysis viewing simulation results, now sup- vice president, solvers, Altair. You pur-
(HyperCrash), sheet metal form (Hy- ports stereoscopic display, which chase HyperWorks Units and pay for
perForm), and meshing (HyperMesh), adds realism and simulated depth to jobs using them.
to structural analysis (OptiStruct), and on-screen images. (You’ll need ste- For optimization, a process to au-
more. The latest upgrade, HyperWorks reoscopic display hardware, graphics tomatically identify the best design
12.0, emphasizes the growing impor- acceleration, and glasses to take advan- to achieve your goals, you can rely on
tance of composite materials, optimiza- tage of this function.) HyperStudy. The new version in 12.0,
tion, and collaboration. The composite modeling and according to Altair, “is an entirely re-
In the preparatory phase of simu- meshing tools give you a lot more designed release [that] accelerates de-
lation, HyperMesh now offers new controls over the orientation, layout, sign robustness and reliability studies.”
algorithms that let you perform shell and character of plies. The new Display Manager enables
and solid meshing, along with a mid- For multiphysics problems, Altair users to run graphics-intensive appli-
plane mesh generator.” The 2D mid- HyperWorks lets you combine a variety cations on their cluster while visual-
plane generator is a major time-saver of solver codes (for example, noise- izing those applications on their desk-
for people who need to extract 2D vibration-hardness solver from OptiS- top, laptop, or other lighter devices.
planes from CAD models,” said Stuart truct, nonlinear crash test in RADIOSS, —K. Wong
Quality Management Folded into Teamcenter

C
onsider the recent headlines for quality issues. The company’s new tegrated as part of their product design
regarding battery problems Teamcenter Quality Management process so they don’t make the same
with the now-grounded and with corrective and preventive ac- mistakes again.”
once highly lauded Boeing tions (CAPA) is designed to provide According to an Aberdeen Research
787 Dreamliner aircraft, and it’s not an enterprise-wide product quality report, integration of quality manage-
hard to see why engineering and manu- management platform for capturing ment systems into a core PLM can help
facturing executives lose lots of sleep various forms of complaints, defects reduce internal and external failure costs
over quality issues—and why formal and non-conformances, while allowing by more than 50%, while diminishing the
quality management programs are so the quality management team to share total cost of quality by 8%. That’s hardly
crucial to a product’s ultimate success. the same views of information already chump change in today’s still economi-
With that in mind, Siemens PLM in place for the engineering and manu- cally challenged business environment.
Software joins a number of other facturing teams. Teamcenter’s new CAPA solution,
product lifecycle management (PLM) “Companies want to be able to available as a Web-based offering, inte-
vendors folding quality management capture their intellectual capital and grates quality and change management
capabilities into their PLM platforms. best practices, and avoid having to go processes for root-cause identification,
Siemens, like fellow PLM providers through the full process of finding the correction, prevention and verification.
PTC and Aras Software, among others, problems and taking preventive action,” The software works within the Active
claims that the integration of the two explains Al Hufstetler, Siemens PLM Workspace environment to deliver a
solutions can provide greater visibility Software’s vice president of product user experience that can be customized
into quality management processes management for manufacturing and and personalized to individual needs.
while aiding in faster time-to-closure engineering. “They want the results in- —B. Stackpole

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Introducing CFD to Design Engineers
M
ost designers and engi-
neers today don’t think
twice about running
basic stress analysis
on their CAD models. Main-
stream mechanical design software
programs—Autodesk Inventor,
SolidWorks, Solid Edge and PTC
Creo, to name but a few—offer
integrated stress analysis, often at
no additional cost. What was once
considered the specialists’ domain
is now second nature to general
CAD users.
Simulation software developers
are hoping, with intuitive interfaces
and simplified dialog boxes, they
can make general design engineers
feel more comfortable performing Setting up a simple CFD job to study the pressure inside a valve, as
advanced simulation tasks earlier illustrated in a video podcast with Gilles Eggenspieler, ANSYS’ senior fluid
in the design cycle. The aim is to product line manager.
encourage simulation-driven de-
sign—the use of digital simulation
to identify the best geometry for Video Presents Examples
the product, be it a camera housing In the first episode of the video STAR Global 2013
T
or a crane. podcast series “Introducing CFD
to Design Engineers,” Eggenspieler he CD-adapco STAR Global
An Ounce of Preparation ... dissects what he believes to be the Conference that took place
ANSYS believes the key is to de- common stumbling blocks in pre- last month in Orlando pro-
mystify the setup process. One way processing: vided another opportunity to learn
to do that is to reduce the complex • identifying the fluid volume, more about simulation.
mechanical, thermal and physical • creating the mesh, and Gene Kranz, the NASA Flight
phenomena into a series of items • setting up the turbulence model, Control Director who led the effort
users can pick and choose from a boundary conditions, and thermal to save Apollo 13, gave this year’s
drop-down menu. conditions. Keynote, which preceded two full
“For structural analysis, CFD He uses a basic CFD problem— days of learning sessions.
simulation requires a model—often analyzing the pressure exerted on a In addition to users shar-
in the form of a CAD file—to valve’s wall by fluid flow—to illus- ing tips and tricks to master
be imported either automatically trate his points. CD-adapco’s products, confer-
or manually into the simulation The aim of such a simulation, he ence goers were also intro-
environment,” Gilles Eggenspieler, says, is to ensure that the structure duced to the latest version of
senior fluid product line manager of the valve can withstand the pres- CD-adapco’s flagship product,
for ANSYS, says of the computa- sure from the fluid. In the second STAR-CCM+ 8. Visit deskeng.com/
tional fluid dynamics (CFD) pro- episode, Eggenspieler reviews the virtual_desktop/?p=6806 and
cess. “Then you need to create the results from this simulation. deskeng.com/articles/aabjkb.
computational mesh of the fluid To watch the video, visit deskeng. htm for more information on the
region, and set up the physics of com/virtual_desktop/?p=6713. conference and new release.
the problem.” —K. Wong — J. Gooch

Advertorial /// Dassault Systèmes
Accelerating Knee
Implant Design and
Patient Recovery
/ Intel®
Design Optimization Sponsored Report
Corporation
A preview of the Abaqus Knee Simulator
from Dassault Systèmes.
R
ecently, DE talked to Cheryl Liu, Senior Life Sci- Five ‘stepping stones’ for guidance
ences Specialist, SIMULIA, Dassault Systèmes. 1. Contact Mechanics. In the early stage of the design, the
Her Rhode Island-based team has spent the past simulator provides relative positions of the joint to explore a
year developing the remarkable Abaqus Knee Simulator wide range of contact conditions and associated contact pres-
application. The application is part of Dassault Systèmes sures. Good pressure prediction is crucial as this directly relates
3DEXPERIENCE platform which transforms the way to the amount of wear the implant will see. All implant manu-
products are designed, produced, and supported; expand- facturers are striving to improve reliability by minimizing wear.
ing the possibilities for the virtual world to improve the 2. Implant Constraint. Forward and lateral motion and rota-
real world. tion of the joint is now introduced into the simulation. Contact
pressures and wear are further assessed, but now instability of
Simulation Breakthrough the joint can be checked.
One of the key issues facing medical device companies is 3. Tibiofemoral Constraint. Ligaments and bones are added
the many hundreds of thousands of dollars and months into the simulation. Instability and wear are now checked under
of time that testing requires when developing knee joint more realistic and less conservative boundary conditions. Surgi-
implants. The Abaqus Knee Simulator provides a break- cal procedures, such as cutting or tensioning of ligaments, can
through by enabling medical device companies to replace be simulated. It is important to note that simulation leads the
physical testing with a simulation process measured in way here as there is no equivalent test procedure.
hours. The innovative application guides even the non- 4. Wear Simulation. Now the design can be checked, using
specialist through a complex explicit finite element analy- a standard gait scenario. It can also be tuned using available
sis (FEA) simulation of the knee joint using industry-stan- material models.
dard testing procedures and evaluation methods. 5. Total Knee Replacement Loading. Load time histo-
ries of everyday patient motion are now defined, allowing
Logical and Intuitive Interface full kinematics of the joint to be simulated and wear areas
Cheryl described two ways of working with the simulator. balanced. Patella popping can be studied and avoided. The
Designer mode allows intuitive setup of the simulation, simulator, again, provides unique insight as no comparable
ideal for a small company without FEA expertise. Ana- physical testing is available.
lyst mode provides the experienced user with full access
to the underlying Abaqus/CAE functionality after setup Conclusion
in designer mode. The two modes can be switched easily. Abaqus FEA has a long history of validated use in for the
There is clearly an enormous amount of biomechani- analysis of medical devices, including knee implants. Cheryl
cal and FEA knowledge and experience required to setup and her team have now made that technology accessible to
and carry out an accurate simulation of the knee joint. non-specialists.
Without the Abaqus Knee Simulator, the task looks daunt- Any medical device company wanting to introduce simulation
ing. Cheryl took DE through the five “stepping stones,” to accelerate the design process should check out the Abaqus
or workflows, that her team has designed into the simula- Knee Simulator. It won’t take very long to appreciate how the
tor to overcome that uncertainty and make the whole task application provides a friendly and logical progression through
logical and progressive. the key design phases. DE
INFO ➜ SIMULIA, Dassault Systèmes: www.3ds.com/simulia
deskeng.com /// April 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 15

Engineering on the Edge Future Focus
Oxford Tests ‘RobotCar’ FDA Approves CFD Simulation Helps

Researchers at Oxford University are
testing a low-cost, self-driving vehicle
Retinal Prosthesis Mini-drones Take off
Second Sight is now able to offer its The U.S. Air Force is paying $3.5 million
concept in the UK. RobotCar, a modified
Argus II system to customers, thanks to to Virginia Tech’s Wu-chun Feng,
Nissan Leaf, uses stereo cameras
the approval it received from the U.S. Ph.D., to develop micro-air vehicles
Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in (MAVs), tiny drones that can perform
February. The system is a combination reconnaissance.
of retinal prosthesis, video recorder and Feng previously created
minicomputer, and has been designed Green Destiny, a highly efficient
for individuals who suffer from late supercomputer, and launched
stage retinitis pigmentosa (RP). the Green500 list of efficient
supercomputing systems. Feng and his
team will spend the next three years
and lasers, along with a 3D mapping
modeling the airflow over the wings of
solution housed in a computer in the
these tiny, insect-sized drones to help
rear of the vehicle.
stabilize them during flight.
The Oxford team is using an array of
The Air Force tapped Feng because it
low-priced cameras and sensors that
wants his team to accelerate the rate at
ring up to nearly $6,000. Eventually, the
which a supercomputer can simulate the
researchers hope to drive the cost down
The Argus II uses a miniature computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of
to about $150. Also, unlike Google’s
camera—small enough to fit in a pair of the drones. Feng’s group and researchers
self-driving car, there is no large (and
eyeglasses—to capture images of the from North Carolina State University will
expensive) 3D LIDAR unit on top of the car.
user’s surroundings. These images are build CFD codes and a hardware-software
The vehicle acts autonomously
processed by a computer that attaches to system for modeling that airflow.
only on familiar routes. An iPad in the
the belt and are transmitted via a second MORE ➜ engineeringontheedge.
dashboard prompts the driver, providing
eyeglass attachment to the retinal com/?p=3882
the option to let the vehicle take over.
implant. The implant produces pulses of
Touching the screen switches the
electricity that augment the user’s vision
vehicle to “auto,” while tapping the
brake puts the driver back in control.
by stimulating visual receptors. Tesla’s Elon Musk Knocks
MORE ➜ engineeringontheedge. MORE ➜ engineeringontheedge. Dreamliner Batteries
com/?p=3906 Boeing is frantically trying to save
com/?p=3940
face in the wake of several electrical
failures—and at least one fire—on
Robotic Exoskeletons on the March several of its new 787 Dreamliner
P arker-Hannifin has debuted its Indego robotic airliners, which caused the entire fleet
exoskeleton, which is designed to help paraplegics gain to be grounded.
mobility by allowing them to walk with the aid of robotic leg Investigators have targeted the
braces and crutches. Indego was licensed from Vanderbilt’s lithium ion batteries in the planes, and
Center for Intelligent Mechatronics. Tesla founder Elon Musk chimed in with
The company is working with an Atlanta his own criticism.
rehabilitation center to test and further According to Musk and some other
develop the device. experts, Boeing’s design is susceptible
Meanwhile, Cyberdyne’s Robot Suit HAL to thermal runaway and a domino
exoskeleton will be tested in 10 hospitals effect in which excessive heat in one
in Japan. The same technology was reconfigured into a cell can cause neighboring cells to
disaster recovery suit that may be used to help clean up the overheat and catch fire. Tesla uses
decommissioned Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, which was the same battery chemistry, but with a
damaged in the 2011 tsunami and earthquake. different physical structure.
MORE ➜ engineeringontheedge.com/?p=3966 MORE ➜ engineeringontheedge.
➜ engineeringontheedge.com/?p=3844 com/?p=3817
➜ For daily coverage on the future of engineering technology, visit EngineeringOnTheEdge.com

If product design was a sport,
we’d be a banned substance.
Faster. Stronger. Lighter.

We have a confession. We’ve been providing performance enhancing software to our
customers for many years. These tools have consistently given them an advantage over
their competitors. We’re sorry. To make amends, we would like everybody to be aware of
the capabilities of HyperWorks 12.
Learn how Altair can help you design better products by

visiting altairhyperworks.com/hw12
HyperWorks 12.0
®
HyperWorks is a division of Altair | altair.com

Rapid Ready Tech Making Digital Designs Physical
ESA Considers Moon

Urbee 3D Printed Car is
Base Built via AM
The European Space Agency (ESA) is Ready for Production
investigating the possibility of using
additive manufacturing (AM) to construct I n collaboration with Stratasys, inventor
Jim Kor is building a car using additive
manufacturing (AM) to produce the parts. The
a lunar base, using materials already in
Urbee first came to light a few years ago, when Kor first rolled out his prototype vision of
what the car would look like, but now Kor claims he’s ready to begin production.
According to Kor, the Urbee could only be manufactured using 3D printing. The
complex internal geometries and customization offered by AM allowed him to design
every piece and panel, with the result that the Urbee has far fewer parts than other
vehicles, and is lighter to boot. Kor has used AM to combine the parts into complete
sections. Kor claims the Urbee can be built using a grand total of 50 separate parts.
For the moment, constructing a single Urbee is more expensive than might be
place. The ESA wants to use lunar soil as practical, but Kor hopes to generate enough interest in the design to develop larger-scale
fuel for the D-Shape process developed by production printers. At press time, Kor has orders for 14 cars, plus one for himself. He
Monolite UK. plans for the first trip in the Urbee to be a cross-country jaunt.
To test the theory, the D-Shape printer MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=3497
was fueled with basaltic rock mined from
a volcano in central Italy that is 99.8%
similar to lunar soil. replacements for living material. Not so
The process was tested in a vacuum with the ear developed by Drs. Jason
to simulate the lack of atmosphere on Spector and Lawrence J. Bonassar. The
the moon. The ESA has plenty of other bioprinting process uses living material to
challenges to overcome before this idea create a structure that remains alive after
becomes a reality, but this presents being implanted.
a potential solution to the logistical The research performed by Spector
problems that might otherwise make lunar and Bonassar is meant to combat
construction unfeasible or too expensive. microtia, a congenital deformity in which
MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=3416 the external ear is not fully developed.
patient care and wound care. By The bioprinting process begins with
partnering with ORNL, the company is a 3D scan of an intact ear, to generate a
ORNL Drives Innovation reducing energy and material costs by 3D printed mold. Researchers then add
Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National leveraging AM to produce orthopedic animal-derived collagen into the mold, and
Laboratory’s (ORNL’s) Manufacturing implant-related products. top it off with nearly 250 million cartilage
Demonstration Facility provides research The company says its partnership cells. The collagen acts like a scaffold for
assistance, as well as opening access with ORNL has given it a chance to the cartilage, directing its growth.
to industrial AM systems to a variety develop new implants on an expedited From there, the cartilage is given
of businesses. Stratasys has formed schedule that wouldn’t otherwise have three months to fully grow, slowly
a partnership with ORNL, and other been possible. Other companies have replacing the collagen. Once an ear
companies are following its lead. similar stories. has reached full development, it can be
Companies that partner with ORNL MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=3451 implanted into a patient.
receive practical experience with AM, MORE ➜ rapidreadytech.com/?p=3565
without the expense of purchasing an
AM system. This gives engineers and
Cornell University
designers a chance to see how developing Bioprints a Functional Ear
a product using 3D printing differs from Cornell University and the Weill Cornell
more traditional subtractive methods. Medical College have taken prosthetics
For example, DeRoyal is a company research to a new level with a bioprinted
that serves the medical industry, providing ear. While every prosthesis is designed
surgical and acute care, orthopedics, to be functional, they are artificial
➜ For more coverage of rapid technologies, visit RapidReadyTech.com

Design Optimization Sponsored Report /// Intel® Corporation
Simulation for Everyone

– Xeon Makes it Possible
We have come a long a way in simulation,
Design
and the future Optimization
is getting Sponsored Report
brighter. / Intel®
Corporation
By DOug BarNEy
D
ue to the limits of hardware horsepower, simulation sis, design studies, engineering and prototyping efforts, and
was traditionally a back-end process. But today, with finally, testing, modifying, and re-testing until the design has
the continued advancement of Moore’s Law, the arrival been perfected. One company that is the personification of
of multi-core architectures and advanced memory topologies, this process is Dyson Ltd., the famous UK-based vacuum ma-
we can now do “in the loop” design and modeling of small parts chine maker that uses simulation to bolster an already innova-
and small assemblies on a standard workstation. That means tive design process.
we can iterate through designs faster and Dyson, according to an Aberdeen
arrive at an optimal design in time to make Simulation should not be Group report on computational fluid dy-
product and profitability decisions right at the last step in the design namics (CFD), uses technology to help
our workstation. process. Early simulations them fully experience their ideas before
Better yet, it also means that we can do spot problems, lets you iter- they are real and their impact is obvious.
complete assembly modeling in a fraction For starters, Dyson performs parametric
ate many designs, speeds
of the time, so rather than using simula- simulations and analysis during its design
tion as a forensic tool, exposing why the
development and ultimately process. For instance, when the company
design failed, we can use it as a design tool creates better, and more built its bladeless fan, the Dyson Air Multi-
to bring the best possible product to mar- truly innovative products. plier, there were no earlier designs to work
ket faster than ever before possible. from. But with the help of efficient simula-
tion, as many as 10 new designs were analyzed every day.
Gaining on the Competition Simulation also ensures that Dyson designs are accurate, in
Times they are a changing. Small and medium businesses, once at this case performing simulations based on NX software from
a disadvantage to larger corporations, now have access to simula- Siemens. At Dyson, vacuum cleaner parts are developed by dif-
tion and analysis tools from companies such as Dassault Systèmes ferent groups. Simulation allows for in-depth testing to ensure all
SolidWorks Corp., Space Claim Corp. and Autodesk, Inc.. These these pieces work together and lets lead designers see the entire
companies, along with Altair Engineering, Inc., ANSYS, Inc. and vacuum working virtually through sequences of animation.
Dassault Systèmes Simulia, are breaking through the glass ceiling
by bringing to market tools that enable casual users to be profi- Supporting Simulation
cient at performing simulation. Simulation should not be the last step in the design process. Early
This new breed of simulation tools are not toys—they deliver simulations spot problems, let you iterate many designs, speed
meaningful and easy-to-comprehend results that drive real design development and ultimately let engineers create better, and more
decisions. Couple ease of use with access to powerful worksta- truly innovative products.
tions and clusters based on the Intel Xeon processor—well, you Much simulation can be performed right on the worksta-
have a game changer. Simulation and analysis is now within reach tion. An ideal solution is a dual Xeon-based workstation that,
of small and medium businesses. In fact, these new tools are now by supporting efficient simulation, acts as an innovation en-
necessary to increase the number of ideas SMB’s explore while gine. This modern hardware is fast, affordable and in reach of
concurrently accelerating time to market and reducing devel- the typical customer. DE
opment budgets. The triple crown of design is now available to
small and medium business: design, analysis and simulation. Doug Barney is a computer journalist with
nearly 30 years of experience.
Driving Innovation
Great products are not simply designed, but instead they
evolve over time through countless hours of research, analy- INFO ➜ Intel Corp: intel.com/go/workstation

Editor’s Picks by Anthony J. Lockwood
Each week, Tony Lockwood combs through dozens of new products to bring you the ones he thinks will
help you do your job better, smarter and faster. Here are Lockwood’s most recent musings about the
products that have really grabbed his attention.
GeoPath CAD/CAM for Everyday Parts

Dynamic tool management said to accommodate various materials and CNC machines.
SolutionWare develops CAD/CAM software, programing, for example. Version 5.1. It has
and they’ve been at it for more than 35 years. a feature called Dynamic Tool Management,
Their flagship software system goes under the so when you change the program to run on
umbrella of GeoPath for Everyday Parts or just a new CNC machine, GeoPath will automati-
GeoPath. Version 5.1 has arrived. cally read the tooling, feeds, and speeds
GeoPath has a modular set of applica- then adjust them to the library for the differ-
tions that integrates the tools any machine ent systems.
shop deploys or needs: lathes, milling, EDM MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabhrg.htm
InnovMetric Adds Play Inspection Tool to PolyWorks

New tool in PolyWorks v12.1 adds automatic guided sequences to DirectReplay.
InnovMetric Software recently released ver- A new Play Inspection tool is the high-
sion 12.1 of its PolyWorks high-density 3D light of the PolyWorks 12.1 release. It auto-
metrology software system. PolyWorks is a uni- matically builds a guided, real-time step-
versal point-cloud measurement, analysis, and by-step sequence to capture 3D datasets
modeling platform. Universal means compre- of a new piece, and also lets you manage
hensive and that it works with most all major digitizers and probing devices as an inte-
makes of point-cloud digitizers, scanners, and grated workflow.
contact probing devices. MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabhsp.htm
CAD-to-Part Inspection Solution Updated

Build!IT 3.2.5 features Windows 8 compatibility, customizable interface.
The Build!IT CAD-to-part inspection system Build!IT eliminates the need for spread-
from BuildIT Software & Solutions seems sheet calculations and manual gauges.
to be a robust and adaptable toolset. It Among the more than 250 enhance-
works with scanners, CMMs, and digitizers ments to version 3.2.5 is a hole axis inspec-
from pretty much all the major hardware tion command, CATIA V5 FTA GD&T import
outfits, and it imports/exports common capabilities, and a new Inspect Targets with
CAD formats. Because it lets you digitally Scanner feature.
collect, analyze, and share inspection data, MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabhtr.htm
ARES Commander Edition 2013 Released

CAD system available in 14 languages for Linux, Macintosh, and Windows platforms.
ARES Commander Edition is a low-cost Lucite sides and blue running lights, the
DWG-compatible CAD system that offers same thing. And no matter what your
ACIS-based 3D modeling and a compre- preferred platform, anybody into program-
hensive programming environment. It ming will find ARES Commander a code
provides all you closet Mac mavens with jock’s paradise: It’s fully programmable
a cost-effective AutoCAD alternative. And and customizable using C/C++, COM,
you guys—you know who you are—who Delphi LISP, Visual Studio, and the like.
built a home Linux or Windows box with MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabhwz.htm

Computational Fluid Dynamics /// Focus on Healthcare
CFD: Shaping
the Medical World
Vertical laminar flow through an

operating-room airflow delivery
system, as simulated with Autodesk
Simulation CFD software. Image
courtesy of Autodesk.
From ensuring clean airflows to pre-planning heart surgery, CFD

software increases understanding of medical applications.
BY PAMELA J. WATERMAN
W
hen fluids are involved, simulating the function of volved in both R&D and manufacturing of glucose test strips,
many medical implants, surgical techniques, diag- whose reagent film includes a mixture of up to 20 components
nostic systems and test stations can be an extreme that undergo mixing, pumping, coating and drying. The com-
challenge. It takes fine-tuned software to help engineers un- pany employs CFD analysis for much of its material flow (rhe-
derstand even the basic flow of air, blood or a liquid chemical— ological) development work, so Roche scientist Julien Boeuf,
and for medical applications, the margins for design safety are Ph.D., turned to FLOW-3D to help solve a phase separation
extra-tight. What makes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) issue that led to the production of inhomogeneous films.
analysis such a useful tool when working in this field? Boeuf used the Elasto-visco-plasticity function and the Mov-
Although the competitive advantage offered with CFD ing Object function in FLOW-3D to set up a series of mix-
analysis also keeps the fine details quiet for many medical ap- ing simulations, treating the mixture as a Newtonian fluid, a
plications, a number of analysis companies told DE why their shear thinning fluid or as viscoelastic, depending on the actual
software is particularly good at handling these complex cases. chemical composition. By varying the rotation speed of a paddle
centered on a cylinder of the reagent mixture, Boeuf says, “We
Medical Equipment Demands Precision were able to visualize the influence of rotation speed combined
Flow Science FLOW-3D CFD analysis software has found use with fluid properties like yield stress on the flow at the cylinder
in many medical applications, from modeling blood circulation walls, and then correlate this flow structure with the resulting
to aiding in the placement of stents. Its capabilities in handling amount of separation. This could be visualized in FLOW-3D
microfluidics can even predict transient injection forces on the using a Two Fluids Model.”
components of fluids undergoing shear thinning at a needle- The models were confirmed by several experimental results,
syringe interface. But an application that consumers might not and enabled understanding which rheological properties of the
often consider is that of designing and manufacturing the min- chemical components are responsible for the separation.
iaturized chemical laboratory present on a diabetes test strip. CD-adapco has seen so much interest in medical applica-
Roche Diabetes Care, a division of Roche Diagnostics, is in- tions using its STAR-CCM+ CFD software that this field is one

Focus on Healthcare /// Computational Fluid Dynamics
of several areas the company is now supporting with industry- to heart pumps, powder-coating and mixing for pharmaceuti-
specific user help. If desired, you can now be assigned a desig- cals. There are even diffusion studies for drug delivery, based
nated life sciences support engineer. on patient-specific data to determine the particle size needed.
“CFD is really mushrooming,” says CD-adapco’s Kristian STAR-CCM+ also couples with Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA
Debus, Ph.D., life science sector manager. “In microfluidics, we Abaqus for fluid-structure interaction (FSI) modeling.
have a customer who wants to look at the lab-on-a-chip model; A big success, says Debus, is the software’s meshing tool, eas-
that area really has been quite silent for many years. Another ily bringing in MRI/STL data and quickly creating a usable
customer has been working on inhalers for years and is now mesh. Beyond that is STAR-CCM+’s unique ability to create a
doing external equipment for an ICU, where fan noise needs mesh “overset” whereby a major mesh is fixed on most of the
to be diminished.” geometry, while a minor mesh moves along with a moving sub-
Other biomedical applications where STAR-CCM+ model- part. Dubus notes the benefit: “You can do much larger motions
ing is now more active than ever include devices from stents without breaking the code.”
Tool for All

Medical CFD, the FDA and CFD analysis is increasingly becoming a tool for all design-
ers. SolidWorks users can apply the insight gained from CFD
Simulating the Virtual Patient
C
analyses while working directly in their 3D CAD tools, since
D-adapco’s Kristian Debus, Ph.D., says that in SolidWorks Flow Simulation is a licensed, fully embedded add-
the medical field, many professionals are trying on to SolidWorks, designed for concurrent engineering. The
to get simple answers: Doctors want a yes or software can handle internal and external flow of air, water and
no. For example, in current work on aneurisms at Tufts various fluids including blood, and include heat transfer effects.
University, a brain surgeon is studying scan data of blood Delphine Genouvrier, product manager for SolidWorks
vessel walls. He’s examining blood flow patterns and the Simulation products, lists several good reasons for adding CFD
wall thickness at an aneurism, to try to find correlations analysis to the design process. “If you are designing a product
between the visual inspection and the computational fluid that will be used in the body, it is difficult to understand how
dynamics (CFD) results. your fluid will flow,” she points out. “With CFD, product en-
So far, numerical diagnostics have not made it into real- gineers can see the invisible, something that they would not be
world medical decision-making. However, CD-adapco is able to see with testing.”
involved with an ASME subcommittee (ASME.org, V & V 40) One SolidWorks customer is working on a product for older
for writing verification and validation guidelines for biomedi- people: an oxygen mask that is worn somewhat away from the
cal devices. The goal is to get CFD and finite element analy- face. The patient wants to speak clearly, but also obtain the
ses (FEA) qualified to help speed up the U.S. Food & Drug proper percentage of oxygen in the airflow when it reaches the
Administration (FDA) approval process. When accepted, this mouth. Genouvrier says, “They’ve been able to simulate the
ruling could be groundbreaking for the legal, medical and mixing phenomena between the oxygen from the mask and the
engineering realms. ambient air around the face. That’s the kind of application that’s
One important step toward this goal is the recent FDA very difficult to measure in reality.” For example, SolidWorks
recognition of simulation as “essential to medical device Flow Simulation can help identify a dead zone in the flow pat-
evaluation.” This opinion has just been written up by tern for a given geometry.
Cheryl Liu, a senior product experience technical special- CFD simulations can also boost the performance of sys-
ist at Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA life sciences division. tems that are indirectly, yet critically important to medical care.
(See page 32 of this issue for Liu’s article that explores Huntair, an Oregon company that designs and manufactures
this in more depth.) The article explains how the FDA’s specialized heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC)
Center for Device and Radiological Health is reaching systems, uses Autodesk Simulation CFD software to analyze
out to both the medical and software industries, and pro- its CLEANSUITE airflow delivery systems. Taking a cue from
vides a good baseline for discussion of the topic at any the classic cleanroom systems of the semiconductor and phar-
level of management. maceutical industries, Huntair engineers recently delivered
A second major effort is the development of the Virtual CLEANSUITE vertical laminar flow systems for installation
Physiological Patient, a publicly available library of compu- in operating rooms at Parkview Hospital, Pueblo, CO.
tational, verified and validated submodels and data. This The CLEANSUITE systems deliver a controlled stream
cross-industry collection will cover different disease states of low-turbulence, temperature-controlled and high-effi-
in the relevant disciplines, to aid in disease-specific device ciency particulate air (HEPA)-filtered air over an operating
innovation. (DeviceConsortium.org) table. The result is less chance of patient contamination.
“Autodesk CFD Simulation software helped us under-

EASTERN STATES EXPOSITION
WEST SPRINGFIELD, MA
easteconline.com
human ingenuity.
manufacturing brilliance.
To envision a new product, it takes human ingenuity.
To bring it to life, only manufacturing brilliance will do.
Which is why so many East Coast manufacturers – local job shops, mid-level enterprises and
multinational OEM’s – attend EASTEC. It’s where new ideas, technology and processes are highlighted
through interactive exhibits, technical education and networking.
>
For Exhibiting
and Attending
Details
EASTEC is produced by SME
7910_SME ©2013
Focus on Healthcare /// Computational Fluid Dynamics
Flow, pressure and stress

results from a COMSOL
multiphysics fluid-flow analysis
of a peristaltic pump for non-
contact fluid flow control. The
COMSOL analysis was done
by Veryst Engineering. Images
courtesy of Veryst Engineering.
stand what is actually going on with airflow in the operat- Analyzing FSI
ing room vs. what should be happening theoretically,” says You may not immediately think of MSC Software as a source of
Kevin Schreiber, global director of healthcare for Huntair. medical CFD solutions, but Derek Barkey, the company’s senior
The simulation allowed the team to optimize the design for manager, consulting services, points out several capabilities that
minimized turbulence and better control of airflow direction, support this field.
compared to the rooms’ previous horizontal-flow air systems. “About four years ago we took the built-in explicit code of
the Dytran Eulerian fluid solver and added it to MSC Nastran,”
Thicker Than Water he says. “Plus, Nastran has acquired a lot of the advanced ma-
As computer processing power has increased, the time terial model capabilities from LS-Dyna, under license.” These
necessary to simulate actual human, or in situ, systems has additions, Barkey adds, allow MSC Nastran users to tackle com-
become more manageable. Modeling blood-flow through plex fluid simulations.
vascular systems and airflow in pulmonary systems, both Nastran also has an interface called OpenFSI, a standardized
including moving boundary conditions, is now possible. interface for CFD programs to talk to Nastran and vice versa,
Stephen Cosgrove, CFD director at Altair Engineering, allowing the dynamic exchange of fluid forces and structural
has watched the industry evolve. “What’s really opened up displacements. This function provides an interface to other
the in situ market has been the ability to go automatically CFD codes either directly or through the multiphysics co-
from the data—a CAT scan or some sort of digital data— coupling interface (MPCCI) developed by the Fraunhofer In-
and turn it into something for simulation. The tools have stitute—the same people who brought you the MP3 interface.
become pretty automatic at giving you, say, an STL file Coupling an Eulerian fluid mesh with a Lagrangian structural
of the vascular system of the aorta or a vein. We’ve then mesh is Nastran’s key to handling FSI.
developed automated tools to go from that geometry to a Barkey points out that the MPCCI is also supported by the
mesh that’s good for your code for simulation.” It’s a task company’s Marc solver for handling very non-linear problems.
not handled equally by all simulation packages, he adds, but From his experience consulting for biomedical applications, he
a specialty of Altair AcuSolve software. observes, “There’s almost nothing in the medical field that is
“Generally speaking, the quality of the data you’re going linear. Tissues don’t behave in a linear way; just about every-
to get to make a mesh is pretty poor, so you end up gen- thing has large deformations, and the Euler solver can handle
erating a mesh that has poor element quality,” Cosgrove extreme changes.”
explains. “Our AcuSolve code is finite element-based, but Extreme is a good word to describe the challenge of moving
it uses a different formulation than other [finite element from simple pipe models of, say, vascular systems to working
analysis, or FEA] codes like Fidap and Flotran—a Galerkin with actual patient-scan data, just one of the application areas
Least Squares vs. a standard Galerkin. What that means for where ANSYS CFD analysis capabilities are helping real-world
the end-user is a high level of accuracy where the accuracy physicians. Thierry Marchal, ANSYS industry director for
is not a function of the element topology.” healthcare, says at first computational time was the primary
He adds that blood is a non-Newtonian fluid and, gener- issue. Now, with projects running on hundreds or thousands of
ally speaking, FE formulations and their handling of gra- parallel processors, analysts using ANSYS Fluent are able to add
dients are more robust than finite-volume/finite difference even patient-specific material parameters.
approaches. AcuSolve has some very good non-Newtonian “The customer can say, ‘I want to run a blood flow simula-
capabilities, he says, and supports full bi-directional cou- tion for a male patient, age 45,’” says Marchal, “then you can
pling to SIMULIA Abaqus for FSI analyses without third- add this kind of specific artery-wall blood material property.
party translations. First, you get more accurate results and second, you can be

Computational Fluid Dynamics /// Focus on Healthcare
practically close it. The more you squeeze, the more demanding
it becomes on the solver because the fluid mesh must be moving
correctly, not crashing. You start getting backflows, and when-
ever you start having flows in different directions, it becomes
more difficult to converge. But COMSOL Multiphysics was
really good at that.”
COMSOL Multiphysics seamlessly integrates fluids and
structures, with the same interface and capabilities, says
Elabbasi, so it’s not like putting two packages together. “The
post-processing shows the pressure of the solid and the ve-
locity of the fluid as if it’s one unified physics, and the mov-
ing mesh is also taken care of seamlessly. It’s a huge time-
saver.” He says his company is also working to relate the flow
parameters and stresses on the tube with predictions for wear
and lifespan.
Simulation for Patient Predictions

Pulmonary artery blood-flow simulation done in ANSYS Fluent Shing Pan, Altair Engineering’s senior director of product mar-
CFD analysis software to evaluate surgical options. The goal keting, solver and optimization products, says there used to be
is to increase blood flow to lungs in children born with only more emphasis on modeling medical devices. Today’s focus is
one functioning ventricle. Velocity pathlines simulate the more on predictive and preventive medicine. Physicians may
injection of contrast medium in the superior vena cava to allow not be limited by the data they can gather; rather, they will be
assessment of blood distribution from the upper body into able to make predictions based on simulation. The software
pulmonary arteries. Image courtesy of ANSYS. trend, then, is to sell a shrink-wrapped product for a custom-
ized solution—for cardiologists to use, for example.
One more point in favor of CFD simulation: SolidWorks’
much more patient-specific where you test some new device on Genouvrier says her group has been told, “There literally isn’t
a whole run of different patients, therefore limiting the number enough blood available for experiments during the product de-
of clinical tests that you will do in the future.” velopment process.” DE
ANSYS Fluent software is also playing a key role in predic-
tive heart surgery, where researchers create virtual reconstruc- Contributing Editor Pamela Waterman, DE’s simulation expert,
tions of different surgical options, combining fluid dynamics is an electrical engineer and freelance technical writer based in Ari-
results with a simplified model of the rest of the vascular and zona. You can send her e-mail to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
pulmonary systems. Simulations can actually predict blood flow
distribution across the arteries and energy losses at the possible
surgical connections. This multi-domain approach allows chart- INFO ➜ Altair Engineering: Altair.com
ing blood flow over time—information that could not be deter-
mined by a 3D model alone.
➜ ANSYS: ANSYS.com
Sometimes surgical procedures require blood flow to be ➜ Autodesk: Autodesk.com
temporarily controlled in a system outside the body, as circu- ➜ CD-adapco: CD-adapco.com
lated through a peristaltic pump. This type of unit provides flow
➜ COMSOL: COMSOL.com
control by moving fluid in a tube without contacting the fluid
itself. One example is an elastomeric tube squeezed from the ➜ Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA: SIMULIA.com
outside, with rotating rollers pushing the contents through the ➜ Flow Science: Flow3D.com
tubing, either partially or fully pinching. ➜ Fraunhofer Institute: Fraunhofer.de/en.html
Nagi Elabbasi, a consultant at Veryst Engineering, used
COMSOL Multiphysics to investigate the effect of pump design
➜ Huntair: Huntair.com
variations such as tube occlusion, tube diameter and roller speed, ➜ MSC Software: MSCSoftware.com
on the flow rate, flow fluctuations and stress state in a peristaltic ➜ Roche Diabetes Care: Roche.com
tube. The problem seemed deceptively simple, but when Elabbasi
➜ SolidWorks: SolidWorks.com
researched previous efforts, he found little in the literature.
“This fluid-structure interaction was particularly hard,” ➜ Veryst Engineering: Veryst.com
Elabbasi notes, “because you’re really squeezing on the tube to For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

Focus on Healthcare /// Additive Manufacturing
A Body of Work
From sockets to instruments, AM
is thriving in the biomedical field.
BY KENNETH WONG
A
dditive manufacturing (AM) technology has branched
out of its engineering and manufacturing origins into
the biomedical field. Today, 3D printers are printing
out surgical instruments and prosthetics; in the future, if
technological and regulatory hurdles can be overcome, they
could even be churning out human tissues and organs. What
follow are two very different examples of the state of this art.
David Sengeh: Helping His Homeland

In Sierra Leone, the scars of the civil war that lasted from
1991 to 2002 are still on full display among the population.
The decade-long conflict claimed approximately 50,000 lives1.
During the war, soldiers from the Revolutionary United Front
used amputation as a way to terrorize people, leaving an esti-
mated 4,000 to 10,000 Sierra Leoneans with missing limbs2.
Very few of these survivors have ever heard of the term “addi- David Sengeh, a doctoral student at the MIT Media Lab,
tive manufacturing (AM)”; even fewer could have envisioned used SolidWorks and MathWorks MATLAB to design
machines that can literally print prosthetic pieces. But regard- and virtually test the prosthetic sockets to improve their
less of whether they know about it, they stand to benefit from comfort for amputees.
the research of David Sengeh, a doctoral student at the MIT
Media Lab working with 3D printers.
Sengeh discovered that getting prosthetics made for the
Sierra Leoneans was easier than convincing them to wear
them. “After speaking to them, I realized that they didn’t
want to wear [the prosthetics] because they’re uncomfort-
able,” he recalls.
Sengeh says he believes the biggest obstacle to comfort is
the socket that joins the artificial limb to the body. Extended
use of a prosthetic invariably puts pressure, tension and fric-
tion on the bare stump that rubs against the artificial piece;
therefore, if the socket doesn’t adequately address these fac-
tors, atrophy sets in, creating discomfort.
Sengeh is looking at 3D printers as a solution. The latest
advances in the technology have produced machines that
are capable of printing with multiple materials, compris-
ing different tensions and strengths. It could be just what’s
needed to create sockets with comfortable fit, each tailored
to the individual victim with the right geometric profile Sengeh used the Objet Connex 500 3D printer to create
and sensitivity. sockets that are customized for each patient based on an MRI
In addition to his biomedical study, Sengeh has another scan. The printer’s ability to work with multiple materials with
motivation—a more personal one—to help the survivors different stiffness and flexibility increases the socket’s comfort.

of Sierra Leone. He grew up in Bo, the country’s second- “Objet parts are pretty flexible,” notes Sengeh. “We’ve been
largest city. The conflict that left many Sierra Leoneans able to show that they have remarkable reduction in pressure on
without arms, legs, noses and ears also robbed Sengeh of different parts of the body.”
two uncles. Ideally, Sengeh says, he would like to be able to print with
a wider range of materials to produce parts with “super-thin,
An Integrated Approach super-flexible” structures with different stiffness to mimic
In Sierra Leone, prosthetic sockets are typically molded human muscles. He hopes AM system suppliers can make
out of polyurethane. It’s an efficient, inexpensive manu- that happen.
facturing method for high-volume
production. But the resulting sockets
are rigid, which discourages ampu-
tees from wearing them for extended
periods.
Sengeh’s idea is to produce sockets
that are customized to each patient’s RENDER.
anatomy based on an MRI scan. The
process allows him to create sockets DON’T SURRENDER.
that perfectly match the patient’s bone
protrusion. He uses SolidWorks’ me-
chanical modeling software to create
the geometry, and MathWorks MAT-
LAB to study the impact of stress and
pressure. For producing these one-
of-a-kind sockets, Sengeh relies on a
mixture of 3D printing and traditional
manufacturing methods.
The pieces that sit close to the pa-
tient’s bare skin and bone are better
produced in 3D printing using flex-
ible, rubberlike materials. Stronger
pieces that serve as structural supports
could be produced using conventional
manufacturing methods, like injection
molding or machining.
Faculty and students of the MIT
Media Lab worked with 3D printing
system supplier Objet (the company
merged with Stratasys in December
2012). Sengeh has access to an Objet
ThinkStations are up to 24% more
Connex 500 printer. As part of its ma- reliable than our top competitors.*
terial repertoire, the company offers
MED610, a biocompatible material
intended for uses involving “pro- When your company needs a breakthrough idea, they turn to you.
longed skin contact of over 30 days When it’s time to make that idea come to life, turn to the workstation
offering unmatched reliability. Lenovo® ThinkStations®, with NVIDIA®
and short-term mucosal-membrane professional graphics, are designed, built, and tested to rigorous
contact of up to 24 hours,” according performance standards. And according to an independent study,
to Stratasys. The company also offers they were found to be the most reliable among our top competitors.
In fact, the only thing more reliable than a ThinkStation is you.
a Tango material family, which has *Read the TBR report at lenovo.com/thinkstation
rubberlike flexibility. The use of digi-
tal material in Objet systems allows lenovo.com/workstation cadcamperformance.com
Sengeh to create parts made up of
multiple materials with varying stiff-
ness and strength. Lenovo, the Lenovo logo and ThinkStation are registered trademarks of Lenovo. ©2012 Lenovo. All rights
reserved. NVIDIA and the NVIDIA logo are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation
in the U.S. and/or other countries.

3D Printing Moves into Production
Tom Weisel, president of Ventura, CA-based Arch Day De-
sign, is also deeply involved in developing medical devices
with 3D printers. Weisel and his colleagues rely on a 3D
printer from Stratasys to create true-scale prototypes when
they develop new devices. They used to rely on 3D-printing
service bureaus to print their designs, but the typical three-
day turnaround was stalling their design cycles. So they pur-
chased an Objet Desktop unit for in-house use.
“We wanted to cut the three days down to three hours,”
Weisel says, noting that now, if the Arch Day design team
comes up with an idea in the morning, they could be holding
the 3D-printed model by late afternoon.
When Weisel suffered a soft-tissue tear on his shoulder,
he was in need of corrective surgery. Because he worked
closely with doctors, he had no trouble identifying top tal-
ent in the field. In post-operation chitchat, he happened to
ask the doctor for the brands of the instruments involved.
As it turned out, the Arch Day Design team had designed
the stitching system and anchoring device used in the op-
eration.
Print Me an Endoscopic Piece

For Weisel and his team, real-world testing of an idea means
trying out 3D-printed surgical instruments and medical de-
vices for their cadaver labs. That’s where they invite doctors
to experience the reach, comfort, ergonomics and effective-
ness of prototyped devices (say, a new pair of surgical scis-
sors) and collect feedback.
“We have to put something in the doctor’s hands to try
out an idea,” Weisel says. “They’re performing cutting,
Sengeh’s socket mounted on a prosthetic leg. Sengeh stitching, sewing; they’re manipulating something in a
hopes the improved comfort will convince more human body.”
amputees in his homeland, Sierra Leone, to take For example, in certain operations, the doctor needs to
advantage of prosthetics. pound on the instrument with a hammer. It’s a process that
a virtual CAD model cannot satisfy—only a tangible physical
prototype would do. In strength, the 3D-printed prototypes
Empowering Technology are not an exact match to the finished metal pieces, Weisel
Sengeh gets inspiration from his boss, Dr. Hugh Herr, head notes, but with a careful choice of material, the printed parts
of the Biomechatronics Research Group, MIT Media Lab. offer a good representation in stiffness and profile—enough
Herr is a double amputee, the result of a climbing expedition for lab tests.
that went awry. Arch Day Design chose Objet’s Alaris 30 desktop printer
“But he’s not disabled,” Sengeh points out. “He lives his life model “because it gives us the accuracy we need at a cost
the way I live mine. His is probably even more exciting, because point we can afford,” says Weisel. 3D-printed prototypes
he still goes mountain climbing, running—things I don’t do.” for endoscopic tips can be as small as Tic Tac breath mints.
Herr is outfitted with computer-controlled bionic limbs, Larger pieces could be the size of a coffee cup. The Alaris
one of the Top 10 inventions for health featured in TIME 30 satisfies the need for both ends of that range, Weisel says.
magazine in 2004. The firm used to farm out its 3D printing jobs to service
Socket comfort is important not just for Sierra Leoneans, bureaus, at a cost of $200 to $2,000 each. The cumulative ex-
but for anybody who has lost limbs and must wear prosthetics, pense of those jobs over time was significant enough to justify
Sengeh says: “It’s about changing the paradigm of disability. If the purchase of the in-house machine, a roughly $35,000 in-
the users feel comfortable, they’ll able to take on a wide range of vestment. Weisel points out that the time savings—“cutting
activities … They can walk, run, do normal things like the rest.” down a three-day wait to three hours” on each print job—was

the real justification for the purchase. Without the usual wait
time for outsourced print jobs, the in-house 3D printer allows
designers to try out three to five times more iterations, he says.
A Perfect Fit for the Biomedical Field

At the booth of AM manufacturer EOS at the recent Pacific
Design & Manufacturing / Medical Design & Manufactur-
ing West Conference (PD&M/MD&M West) in Anaheim,
CA, a micro-targeting device currently used in the operat-
ing room for deep brain stimulation was on display. Andy
Snow, EOS’ regional director for North America, notes that
“these are patient-customized devices, FDA-approved for
integrated targeting and deep-probe biopsy.”
AM’s penetration into the biomedical market began with
pre-surgical models (used in the planning of surgeries), cus-
tom hearing aids, and dental structures. That’s according
to Tim Caffrey, associate consultant at Wohlers Associates,
who adds that “MRI or CT scan data can go straight to a
3D printer relatively easily. They’re mostly point cloud data,
which can then be turned into surface models in software
like Geomagic.”
In conventional manufacturing, the production methods are
developed to create hundreds of thousands of identical units. By
contrast, biomedical application usually requires one-of-a-kind
objects (each pre-surgical model, hearing aid, or dental mold
is customized for the individual patient). With its capacity to
speedily build 3D profiles based on digital geometry, AM is
uniquely positioned to address the needs of biomedical industry
in a way that conventional manufacturing cannot.
David Cox, founder and CEO of AM systems distributor
Purple Platypus, observes that 3D printers’ biggest advan-
tage is speed.
“You can move from a computer file to an in-hand part,
the benchmark
potentially in the space of a few hours, without massive out-
lays for a mold and/or tooling costs,” he says. “For prosthetics
in 3D printing
specifically, 3D printing is extremely valuable because it allows
the designer the flexibility to customize specific fixtures. Expand your creative possibilities by molding
“Multi-material printing that mixes rubber-like flex- directly from your CAD file. Our superior 3D
ibility with rigid, plastic-like materials allows engineers to printing technology eliminates the interim step
create overmold devices with varying shore values or du- of in-house prototyping. You will have less
rometers,” Cox adds. “In an industry that creates medical
devices, this is an incredible advancement that helps with human error on finishing and your time-to-
ergonomic testing.” market advantage will not be matched. The
The AM industry has also done much to meet the re- throughput and precision of our 3D printers
quirements of biomedical regulatory bodies (the U.S. Food is proven to be unparalleled in the industry.
& Drug Administration for example). Wohlers’ Caffrey notes
that is especially true in developing materials and processes
that are acceptable for producing implants. It elevates the
use of AM in biomedical from a prototyping technology to a
full-scale production system.
At the PD&M/MD&M West show, also on display in
EOS’s booth were titanium hip cups. “There are FDA-ap-
proved hip cups on the market that are manufactured using To view our full suite of 3D printing
solutions and upcoming trade shows
please visit:
deskeng.com www.envisiontec.com
/// April 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 29
Arch Day Design, a medical device manufacturer, uses The use of an in-house Objet Desktop 3D printer allows
software-based stress analysis to study the strength of Arch Day Design to create physical prototypes in a matter
a new screw, but the digital model is not sufficient for of hours. If the design team has an idea in the morning, the
lab tests. team can be holding the physical mockup by late afternoon.
EOS technology,” Snow says.

Issues with 3D-Printed Tissues The titanium powder material used for printing these
T
hip cups, Snow says, “comes from an FDA-approved supply
issue printing seems to be a bit over-hyped at chain.” For medical use with titanium material, EOS rec-
present. Machines that claim to be tissue print- ommends the M 280 model, the direct metal laser sintering
ers are rather low-grade machines in terms of (DMLS) system. For use with plastic materials, EOS recom-
technology and resolution. There are a couple of groups mends the P 395 midrange model.
making some real progress. A key figure is Dr. Dietmar “Hundreds of patients in North America are now liv-
Hutmacher, Queensland University of Technology, ing with hip cups embedded in their hips that were ‘grown’
Brisbane, Australia. We are still at a very early stage in via EOS’ DMLS,” Snow adds. “This is not just prototyping
the technology. Most likely, the initial applications will technology anymore. It’s now in production use.” DE
be applications in joint prosthetics and maxillofacial (fix-
ing problems around the mouth, jaw and neck). References:
No one is actually printing tissue yet. The main 1 A Dirty War in West Africa, Lansana Gberie, Hurst 2005.
issues are the materials that are needed to hydrogel 2 “Disabled in Sierra Leone Make Gains,” Dec. 7, 2011, Global
polymers and the fact that they need to be maintained Post, globalpost.com
and saturated with water. If you are trying to print tis-
sue, all processes must be at temperatures no greater Kenneth Wong is Desktop Engineering’s resident blogger
than body temperature (98.6° Fahrenheit) and totally and senior editor. Email him at kennethwong@deskeng.com or
compatible with the well being of cells. That means no share your thoughts on this article at deskeng.com/facebook.
toxic chemicals—including many photoinitiators. Also,
all materials must be medical grade, which tends to be
more expensive and more difficult to process. INFO ➜ Arch Day Design: ArchDayDesign.com
The biggest challenge for AM system developers to ➜ Dassault Systèmes: SolidWorks.com
overcome in bio-printing is, everything must be compat- ➜ EOS: EOS.info
ible with good manufacturing practice (GMP) regulation,
which is a very rigorous quality control, much more
➜ Geomagic: Geomagic.com
severe than ISO 9000. Plus, the software needs to ➜ MathWorks: MathWorks.com
cope with multi-materials and internal architecture. The ➜ MIT Media Lab: Media.MIT.edu
design of the object must be compatible with a bioreac-
➜ Purple Platypus: PurplePlatypus.com
tor to incubate construct before implanting.
—Dr. Brian Derby, Professor of Materials Science, ➜ Stratasys: Stratasys.com
Director of Research and Deputy Head of School, ➜ Wohlers Associates: WohlersAssociates.com
School of Materials, University of Manchester, UK For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

3D-Printed Implants Approved by FDA for Bone Replacement
O
xford Performance Materials (OPM) has received FDA approval for its
OsteoFab biomedical process. “OsteoFab” is OPM’s brand for additively
manufactured medical and implant parts produced from PEKK polymer.
OsteoFab uses an EOS P800 and PEKK material to build cranial implants. The
implants can be used to repair damage and trauma to the skull, replacing miss-
ing bone and integrating with surrounding bone.
OPM’s process has already been in use overseas, but this marks the first
time the FDA has given approval for AM-created implants to be used in humans
in the US. OsteoFab can now be used to treat a variety of patients, including
veterans who have suffered severe head trauma. Approval also opens the door
for other uses of AM implants.
“If you can replace a bony void in someone’s head next to the brain,
you have a pretty good platform for filling bony voids elsewhere,” said Scott
DeFelice, president of OPM. “We have sought our first approval within cranial
implants because the need was most compelling; however, this is just the beginning.”
OPM had traditionally sold PEKK as a raw material or in a semi-finished form, but began developing additive manufac-
turing technologies in 2006. In 2011, OPM established a biomedical compliant manufacturing facility in South Windsor,
CT, to support its growing AM business. As an implantable polymer, OPM says PEKK is unique in that is biocompatible,
mechanically similar to bone, and radiolucent so as not to interfere with X-Ray equipment. Furthermore, OPM has recently
completed testing which it says confirms that the OsteoFab implant surface is, in fact, osteoconductive, so it can be used
as a scaffold for new bone growth from the native bone.
CD-adapco is
proud to announce
the release of
STAR-CCM+ v8.02
A major new version of
our integrated solution
for multidisciplinary
engineering problems
www.cd-adapco.com

Focus on Healthcare /// Simulation
Simulation Grows in
Medical Importance
Today, the methodology is recognized by the U.S. FDA as essential
to medical device evaluations.
By CHeryl liu
O
ne of the toughest design engineering challenges A
is making a medical device that works flawlessly
with the human body. The unique anatomy and
physiology of every patient create physical complexities—
and ever-shifting functional parameters, that must be
thoroughly accounted for when producing a therapeutic
product that may need to last a lifetime.
Domestic inpatient procedures involving medical de-
vices—stents, heart valves, dental implants, spine and joint
implants, surgical tools, blood pump, endovascular grafts,
drug-eluting devices and more—totaled 46 million in the B
U.S. alone in 2006, according to the U.S. Centers for Dis-
ease Control (CDC). It’s a global market that is growing
along with aging populations everywhere.
Medical device companies and their designers are in-
creasingly viewing computer simulation, already widely
accepted in many industries, as an important tool. It helps
them visualize what they cannot see, explore the design
space more fully, refine their ideas faster and more ac-
curately—and reduce expensive prototyping and testing.
Solid mechanics simulations can help determine proper
implant size, evaluate manufacturing tolerances, compare
C
design geometries or consider next-generation devices.
Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) can be employed to
identify high-shear stresses on blood vessels, regions of
low flow, and potential for blood damage. And simulation-
based product development processes can be linked in au-
tomated workflows—optimizing huge quantities of design
data to provide fine-tuned results that are of particular
value for creating patient-specific medical devices.
As life sciences engineers embrace simulation, they are
achieving increasingly accurate levels of precision when Figure 1: This example of modeling and simulation of a
evaluating device function, including the ability to evalu- medical device shows an aortic valve geometry (A), a model
ate aspects of device performance not possible with bench of the effect of blood flow on the valve in a blood vessel (B),
tests alone. As a result, the U.S. Food and Drug Administra- and an Abaqus FEA of the stress on the valve leaflets during
tion’s (FDA’s) Center for Device and Radiological Health the diastolic phase (C). This work was performed by Dassault
(CDRH) is seeing a growing number of submissions for Systèmes SiMuLiA in conjunction with the FDA’s Center for
medical devices that include a simulation-data component. Devices and radiological Health.

The CDRH is responsible for regulating firms that SIMULIA presented at the FDA’s third workshop on
manufacture, repackage, re-label and/or import medical Computational Modeling of Medical Devices the same
devices sold in the United States. The submissions for year. It continues to deliver on-site training courses to
these therapeutic devices typically contain data from four FDA reviewers about best practices in modeling and
types of evaluation models—animal, bench, computational simulation, and to partner with the FDA on aortic valve
and human—to demonstrate a reasonable assurance of model development (see Fig. 1). The FDA has also pre-
safety and effectiveness. sented at the SIMULIA Community Conference and Re-
When a company submits simulation metrics that sup- gional User Meetings.
plement bench testing, this can help
promote approval by demonstrating
Productivity
both the integrity of the proposed de-
vice and the required realistic device
failure analysis. As the ultimate safety-
and-effectiveness regulatory body be-
tween medical device manufacturers
and patients, the FDA recognizes the
value of such advancing technolo-
gies—and its own need to stay abreast
of them. The agency has now begun Performance
actively encouraging the use of simu- Fastest
lation in device evaluation. Design Methodology
However, the FDA has also put
the industry on notice that verifica-
tion and validation must go hand-
in-hand with the use of simula- Flexibility
tion in applications. The CDRH is Unrestricted
looking to quantify when a compu- Design
tational model is credible enough, Modification
and that its intended purpose is ap-
propriate for a regulatory submis-
Collaboration
sion. Unclear reporting standards,
insufficient data about geometries
and boundary conditions, lack of Effectively Share Designs
validation metrics, incomplete un-
derstanding of physiological loads
in the body, and variations in pa-
tient populations—any and all of
150%
these uncertainties can impact the
relevance of simulation outputs.
SIMULIA Contributes to
Knowledge Advancement
Noticing that a significant propor- %Increased%Productivity%Over%Traditional
Parametric%and%Direct%Modeling%
tion of the applications the agency
has seen in recent years have included
simulations with Abaqus finite ele-
ment analysis (FEA) from Dassault TLooking for an innovative, think-outside-the-box, efficiency-orientated,
Systèmes SIMULIA, the CDRH and CAD-neutral CAD package then IronCAD is a
reached out to SIMULIA in 2010 serious heavyweight contender.T - Ryan Reid, Tenlinks
for support in developing its own
internal framework, and in-house ex-
pertise, for validating and regulating IronCAD
IronCAD ironcad.com
industry-submitted simulations.

Focus on Healthcare /// Simulation
thermal transport, and ultrasound. Pub-
lication date updates can be found on the
CDRH website at FDA.gov/MedicalDe-
vices/DeviceRegulationandGuidance/
GuidanceDocuments/default.htm.
The ‘Virtual Patient’

Idea is Born
As knowledge about the importance of
simulation grows, another priority for
the FDA is the creation of a publicly
available “Virtual Physiological Patient”
of human body computer models in dif-
ferent disease states (see Fig. 2). This is
not intended to be a single model en-
compassing every function and disease at
once. Rather, the project will comprise
FIGURE 2: Broad cross-industry collaboration among medical device a library of verified and validated sub-
manufacturers, academia and software companies is being harnessed models and data based on the combined
for the FDA’s Virtual Physiological Patient project. expertise of those groups in the relevant
disciplines—cardiology, orthopedics,
Realizing the importance of model verification and val- software and so forth.
idation (V&V), in early 2011, ASME and FDA launched The goal of the Virtual Physiological Patient project is a
the V&V 40 subcommittee to develop V&V guidelines for shared point of reference that will improve understanding
the medical device industry specifically; SIMULIA is ac- of model attributes and limitations, and provide discrete
tively participating, along with others in the industry and models, data and simulations validated for regulatory evalu-
software communities. ation. Peer review by experts in academic, government and
As one outcome of these efforts, this year the FDA will industry will ensure robust V&V, and provide periodic as-
publish a guidance document titled “Reporting Compu- sessment. SIMULIA is contributing expertise to a group
tational Modeling Studies in Medical Device Regulatory that is developing a computational model for the evaluation
Submissions.” Appendices will cover fluid and mass trans- of a diseased femoral artery for stent evaluation.
port, solid mechanics, electromagnetism, control loops, The FDA views modeling and simulation as incentives
MDIC PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS ALL
C
oncurrent with the development of the Virtual for modeling and simulating of a range of valves. All
Physiological Patient concept, the U.S. Food & results would be shared.
Drug Administration (FDA) is reaching outward End-stage renal disease is another area recently identi-
to device manufacturers, software providers and medi- fied by the FDA as a priority. Industry forums on this topic
cal professionals to form a Regulatory Science Public- are already under way.
Private Partnership. Launched in December 2012, the The medical device industry can only benefit from such
partnership is called the Medical Device Innovation endeavors. Individual device design copyrights certainly
Consortium (MDIC). Specific details are available at need to be protected, but the tradition of publishing evi-
DeviceConsortium.org. dence-based research results to move the entire body of
The idea is to create an opportunity for information medical knowledge forward has resonated in the life sci-
gathering in a pre-competitive state—that is, not device- ences throughout the history of medicine. A deep under-
specific, but disease-specific. For example, if the heart standing of the function of the living body is critical to
valve community were interested in a comprehensive eval- every medical-device developer, and sharing the data that
uation of the structure and function of heart valves, costs lie at the core of that understanding can be accomplished
could be minimized through non-profit group funding and without infringing on any one company’s patents.
participation in the development of tools and resources — C. Liu

to innovation that can reduce the time and cost of device
design, assessment and manufacturing. It is the best inter-
SURGERY SIMULATOR CLEARED
I
ests of the medical device industry, the regulatory agency
and software companies to collaborate to ensure that the n addition to approving the use of simulation in
power of simulation is increasingly utilized to solve the medical device evaluations, the U.S. Food & Drug
wide range of challenges in medical device development. Administration (FDA) also recently cleared Surgical
The ultimate goal is the safety and effectiveness of medi- Theater, LLC’s Selman Surgery Rehearsal Platform
cal devices for every physician who uses them, and every (SRP), making it the only patented and FDA cleared
patient who needs them. DE platform for cerebral and spine pre-surgery rehearsal,
according to the company.
Author’s Note: Special thanks to Drs. Tina Morrison, Nan- Using standard scanned images from any patient,
dini Duraiswamy and Donna Lochner of the FDA for their the SRP generates 3D patient-specific models show-
assistance in preparing this article. ing the interaction between life-like tissue and surgi-
cal instruments. The tissue responds “realistically”
Cheryl Liu is life sciences senior product experience techni- to actions taken by the surgeon, enabling accurate
cal specialist for Dassault Systèmes’ SIMULIA. Send e-mail pre-surgery planning and rehearsal. The software
about this article to DE-Editors@deskeng.com. uses flight simulator technology to permit the
remote connection of multiple SRPs so participants
anywhere in the world can simultaneously work
INFO ➜ U.S. Food & Drug Administration: FDA.gov together and practice the same case with real-time
➜ Read more about how the FDA is promoting innovation in feedback and collaborate on the planning of a spe-
“High Stakes Balancing Act” in Dassault Systèmes’ COMPASS cific surgery case.
magazine: CompassMag.3ds.com For more information, visit surgicaltheater.net.
For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com. —DE staff
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Fast Apps Engineering Case Studies
Precision is Everything
Yes, it is brain surgery ... so FHC switches to EOS’ plastics laser-sintering
system to manufacture the patient-specific STarFix platform.
BY LYNN MANNING
The patient lies wide awake in the operat- a lifestyle-saver for people suffering from
ing room (OR), the top of his draped head Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor,
bared to the neurosurgeon. A second doc- dystonia and other neurological afflic-
tor stands at the patient’s side, lifts the tions that don’t respond sufficiently
man’s arm, and flexes it gently. The hand to medication alone. Recent studies
and wrist are stiff, with a visible tremor. even point to DBS’ potential in treating
The surgeon makes a slight adjustment dementia, epilepsy and depression.
to brain-penetrating electrodes mounted What makes the story above such a hours of awake imaging, target identifi-
through a starburst-shaped plastic fixture standout is not so much the symptom- cation and electrode implantation—all
fastened to the man’s skull. relieving surgery—but that the patient with the patient’s head completely
“How about now?” the surgeon asks. was able to move his head during it. immobilized. But now the frameless
The arm is moved again—this time That simple movement is the result of stereotactic platform is being used in
naturally, smoothly, without shaking. some truly “outside-the-frame” thinking a growing number of DBS procedures
“That’s it,” says the patient, nodding his in the concept of brain surgery. DBS, around the globe, thanks in part to a
head with relief. while performed effectively approxi- Formiga P 100 plastics laser-sintering
The procedure is called deep brain mately 9,000 times a year worldwide, system from EOS.
stimulation (DBS), and it is has become has traditionally involved many grueling MORE ➜ deskeng.com/articles/aabjkd.htm
➜ For more application articles, visit deskeng.com/fastapps
Desktop Engineering Congratulates MSC Software on its 50th Anniversary!
Join us as we celebrate our 50th Anniversary.

Be inspired as we share our vision of technology’s future.
In February 2013, MSC Software achieved a major milestone:
the company celebrated half a century of driving engineering
simulation innovation forward. With new products, new Experts will gather to share knowledge, best practices and
advancements in technology and a new surge of inspiration, MSC strategies for developing products that meet the ever-increasing
continues the tradition of helping engineers around the world to
pressures of time, cost, quality, and performance. Topics will
design, develop and analyze their products with certainty.
range from materials engineering and systems simulation to
fatigue and nonlinear analysis.
2013 USERS CONFERENCE

May 7-8, 2013 Register Today! Visit:
Hyatt Regency - Irvine, California
www.mscsoftware.com/conference-2013

Finite Element Analysis /// Simulate
The Art of Idealization

There’s an incorrect tendency to think of a highly detailed CAD model meshed
with a large number of elements as the “real” structure. It is important to
remember that every FEA is an idealization of the real world.
By Tony ABBey
Editor’s Note: Tony Abbey teaches the NAFEMS FEA Intro class
in the United Kingdom and United States throughout the year.
Contact tony.abbey@nafems.org for details.
I
dealization in finite element analysis (FEA) is the
art of taking a real structure and reducing it down to
an assembly of finite elements. At its simplest level,
the operation would consist of a single geometric model
produced from CAD and fully meshed in one operation.
This gives us a consistent mesh throughout the structure
that we hope will adequately represent the response of
the real structure.
Figure 1: Top and bottom fiber stresses under bending.
The FEA method relies on a set of discrete finite ele-
ments to represent the structure. Each element has its
own basic “understanding” of what constitutes a struc-
tural response. This may be a very primitive representa- an adjacent structure or to ground. Understanding of the
tion, such as a 1D rod with a constant axial force, or a load path can be quite tricky.
sophisticated 3D element. The discrete representation The definition of the load application and grounding
suffers from two fundamental weaknesses: By definition, regions are also an idealization judgment. The internal
it can’t be a continuous representation, and it is also reli- load path will be affected by our choice of element type
ant on the accuracy of the element. Most elements are and numbers. If we make poor choices, we may find that
now mature, stable entities—but their performance and the FE model doesn’t behave in the same way that the
limitations should still be understood. actual structure will.
Why not just use 10 million elements? 2D Shell Elements

If we have elements that are sufficiently accurate and we A classic example is a structure that is relatively thin
can put sufficient numbers in, is there any need to idealize? and is designed to transmit bending loads. Water tanks,
Well, there are quite a few reasons why we may want building floors and walls, ship hulls, aircraft wings and
to consider idealization in favor of just pouring elements fuselages are common examples. A stress gradient exists
into CAD geometry. The first question to ask: Is the CAD through the thickness of the shell or plate. If we use En-
geometry an adequate representation of the structure? gineers Theory of Bending and Shear through a plate or
By many definitions, the CAD geometry is the struc- beam, we can visualize what this stress distribution looks
ture, so it may seem a surprising question. However, what like. There are a class of elements that are designed spe-
we are really asking is: How does the structure respond, cifically to handle this type of structural configuration
and will the geometry be able to support elements that and its structural response. These are the 2D plate ele-
best simulate that response? Solid elements may not be ments that are found in most FE solvers.
adequate unless we use unfeasibly large numbers. So we have a structural configuration, a structural re-
In a static analysis, the structure has applied external sponse and an ideal element to handle it. The difficulty
loading and develops internal load paths to carry this to arises in that the element is a purely 2D entity. It means

Simulate /// Finite Element Analysis
elements have three DOF
at each node. For common
nodes connecting the ele-
ment types, this means that
we have a piano hinge cre-
ated. The connecting solid can-
not transmit bending or torsion.
There are ways around
this issue, such as overlap-
ping shells onto solids, spe-
cial connector elements al-
lowing transmission of the
moments, and linear glued
contact regions to bond an
overlapped dissimilar mesh.
However, they require ad-
ditional effort to plan and
set up.
Figure 2: Single-depth Tet10 mesh under same loading, axial
stresses. 1D Beam Elements
Sometimes the structure is
we have to think about idealizing from 3D geometry to predominantly a flexural or torsional member—in other
2D layout. words, a beam type of structure. Examples include drive
If the structure comprises all thin shell or plate, then shafts, bridge girders, stiffeners and frames. In these cases
there are relatively straightforward procedures to shell we again have a class of elements ideally suited to this type
mesh. This may involve using mid-surfaces, inner mold of structural response and load path—beam type elements.
lines or outer mold lines as the datum plane on which to They are 1D in nature, and we are using them to idealize
put the shell mesh. a 3D real structure.
If the geometry is straightforward and the component If, for example, we are looking for an overall assess-
count is low, this can be done fairly quickly. However, ment of strength and stiffness in a fabricated truss roof,
many structures are a complex intersection of compo- it would be difficult to justify going to 3D solid elements.
nents, such as pressure walls, internal ribbing, supporting The geometry may well be a 3D CAD model, but if we
structure, etc. It can become rapidly more labor-inten- were to mesh with 3D elements, the element count could
sive to mesh such a structure. rapidly become excessive.
Fig. 1 shows a simple plate structure, cantilevered Techniques for modeling such a structure with 1D
from one edge with a pressure distribution. A shell mesh beam elements are well established. We would typically
gives a peak bending stress and tip deflection very close take the centroid of each component cross-section and
to theory. use that as the datum for our 1D element. Fig. 3 shows a
Fig. 2 shows a Tet10 mesh that gives good deflection simple beam structure modeled in 1D, with its base con-
values, but poor stress values. The mesh is only one el- nected to a shell region via a spider element.
ement deep. To get accurate stress values, the element For a general structure, we may have a mix of beam-
mesh needs to be about three deep. To avoid high aspect like, shell-like and solid regions. Fig. 3 shows a mix of
ratios, this drives the element count up toward 1 million, 1D and 2D. This is often where a beam representation is
vs. 400 for the shell mesh. avoided in favor of a full solid mesh.
If the structure has regions that are “thick”—where For example, I have seen the rudder and rudder shaft
solid elements are ideal—and some that are relatively of a ship fully modeled with solid. This gave nearly 2
“thin,” where shell mesh is preferred, we have to now mix million DOF in total, with half going to the rudder shaft
the meshing types. Many engineers don’t like to do this, and half to the fabricated rudder.
because of the difficulty of dealing with the mismatched The shaft is an inappropriate use of solid elements.
elements. The shaft is fundamentally responding in bending and
Special precautions are needed when putting solid el- torsion. What do we want from the structural analysis of
ements adjacent to shell elements. Shell elements have the shaft? A shear force bending moment and torque dia-
six degrees of freedom (DOF) at each node, and the solid gram. This tells an engineer everything he or she needs

Finite Element Analysis /// Simulate
Figure 3: A 1D beam element. Figure 4: 1D/2D idealization of a bolted joint in a plate.
to know about the response of the shaft. Having a solid through a bolt.
component of 1 million DOF really doesn’t help us. Spider elements are useful in many scenarios, such as
We can look for hotspot stresses and hopefully these representing a stiff part of a structure with a rigid spider,
will be meaningful, but if we have many load cases and or representing a load transfer path with a flexible spider.
want to justify why and where these hotspots are occur- A future article will look in more detail at this type of
ring, then we are in for a lot of work. We essentially element, as its uses are widespread and the terminology
have to backtrack to the shear force, bending moment varies greatly.
and torque diagram in each case to demonstrate how the
stresses occur and confirm their values. We have made a Facing a Complex Future
very straightforward task complex. I personally believe that if we’re not careful, the future
direction of FE modeling will bring huge models of
Connection Elements the order of 1E9 to 1E12 DOF, where all structure is
Another common problem with a predominantly thin modeled with solid elements from CAD. We will have
shell structure is how to represent the joints or connec- to sift through the post-processed data and try and find
tions. The CAD model will probably not attempt to rep- local stress hotspots. Once we’ve found the local hotspot
resent welds as continuous geometry. It is quite adequate stresses, our next job as engineers is to explain why and
to define the connecting plates and to indicate the weld how the stresses get there—and then advise how to im-
symbolically. prove the design. That is going to be the challenge. A
We don’t need to have a 3D geometric CAD represen- good idealization can help us picture why and how these
tation of, say, a partial penetration fillet weld. However, load paths exist. DE
when we want to create an FE model, we have to put in a
structural idealization of the load transfer path through Tony Abbey is a consultant analyst with his own company,
the weld. It may be that the best way to calculate stresses FETraining. He also works as training manager for NAFEMS,
locally in the weld is to do this outside of the FEA, using responsible for developing and implementing training classes,
local stresses or forces in an external program. including a wide range of e-learning classes. Send e-mail about
Similarly, we don’t want to model all of the bolts, this article to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
rivets, etc., as solid elements. Fast and efficient ways of
idealizing bolt stiffness and strength are available using INFO ➜ FETraining: FETraining.com
beam elements and the very versatile “spider” connec-
tion and load distribution elements. Fig. 4 shows a spider ➜ NAFEMS: NAFEMS.org/e-learning
element and beam elements being used to transmit load For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

Simulate /// Company Profile
Innovation with the

Multiphysics Touch
COMSOL’s multiphysics simulation solutions are designed to help engineering
organizations grapple with increasing complexity.
BY BETH STACKPOLE
S
ome people bet on horses; for oth-
ers, it’s the stock market. Nearly
three decades ago, a group of doc-
toral students saw their opportunity in
a green field called multiphysics (MP)
simulation.
Taking a calculated risk that hardware
performance would advance significantly
over time, the team set sail with its vision
to bring MP to the desktop—despite the
skepticism of many in academia who
called the marriage improbable, and dis-
missed the science as far too complex for
mainstream use.
“The idea of multiphysics was border-
line impossible then, but we made a bet
COMSOL Multiphysics drove the
that multiphysics would be possible in
design of Cochlear Ltd.’s new
the not-too-distant future,” recalls Bjorn
Codacs direct acoustic cochlear
Sjodin, Ph.D., vice president of product
implant system. Image courtesy
management of COMSOL Group, the
of Cochlear Ltd.
company founded in 1986 by that group
of students. “We were laughed at, but the
laughter went away as computers became
more powerful.”
The core COMSOL team pushed forward, introduc- nized as a way for engineering organizations to zero in
ing its flagship product in 1998. on the optimal design at a point when it is far easier to
Fast-forward 15 years, and MP—and in particular, MP make changes, rather than the standard way of leveraging
simulation capabilities on the desktop—is the direction simulation at the end of the cycle as a means to prove out
in which many simulation vendors have set their sights. the viability of particular designs, experts say.
As the boundaries of engineering blur, organizations are “If you think about what’s going on with upfront
in need of MP simulation tools to explore the interde- simulation, it’s a multiphysics and systems engineering
pendencies among electrical, mechanical and even soft- issue,” notes Keith Meintjes, Ph.D., practice manager for
ware-dependent systems, and to do so in a cost-effective CIMdata. “You’re making decisions about product archi-
and efficient fashion. tecture, and you’re doing tradeoffs among variables like
The ongoing push for moving analysis further up in weight, price, etc. The upfront use of simulation drives
the design process is another factor driving demand for you immediately to need multiphysics because you’re
MP simulation. Upfront analysis is now widely recog- doing cross-discipline tradeoffs.”

While most industries face challenges that can only
be solved by an MP, systems-engineering approach,
Meintjes cites automotive as a sector where the capabili-
ties are especially in high demand; in particular, he says,
for innovations that address future fuel economy stan-
dards and for engineering the new generation of electric,
battery-powered and hybrid vehicles.
Open Architecture Drives Organic Expansion

COMSOL also played a role in investigating fatigue related COMSOL has amassed a following in the automotive
to the actuator, which is one of the core components sector, but its approach has also garnered traction in
of the Codacs device. The design is set up to keep other industries—from oil and gas to medical device
the material stress level during operation below the equipment, among many others.
endurance limit. It’s a goal particularly relevant for the Rather than grow via acquisition, COMSOL has fu-
thin titanium diaphragm (less than 0.1mm thick), which eled its expansion organically. It’s an approach the com-
acts both as a spring and a hermetic sealing. Image pany attributes specifically to its software architecture,
courtesy of Cochlear Ltd. which is designed to accommodate new physics modules
without the need for sophisticated programming—and
in lieu of requiring a wholesale software rewrite each
Case in Point
B
time it wants to bring new technologies on board. The
eing able to pick and choose among phys- software simulates coupled physics effects by solving the
ics and not have to learn a new simulation underlying mathematical representations based on par-
package each time has been a huge benefit tial differential equations (PDEs).
for Patrik Kennes, Ph.D. Kennes is a CAE engi- With this approach, various physics solvers can be
neer at the Cochlear Technology Centre Europe
(CTCE), a Mechelen, Belgium-based research arm
of Cochlear Ltd., which manufactures hearing
implants, among other hearing aid products. He Precision CNC Machining
and his team deployed COMSOL Multiphysics from At more than 1100lbs this mill goes far beyond any
the ground up on the design of Codacs, a new desktop modeling mill, bringing serious capability
to research and engineering workshops. A rigid
type of implant now in clinical trials, which pro-
frame and 1100 watt spindle allows prototypes
vides mechanical (acoustic) simulations directly
to the cochlea.
to be cut from the materials you use: plastic,
aluminum, steel, even titanium - whatever $10,485
(plus shipping)
Kennes says COMSOL was instrumental to opti- you need to get the job done. includes 3 axis mill, deluxe stand,
machine arm, and more
mizing the design of the actuator, an electromag-
PCNC 1100
netic transducer based on the balanced armature Series 3 features:
principle. Through the use of structural mechanical
analysis for various thickness values, his team was ■ Vector technology drive,
computer controlled,
able to evaluate the tradeoffs between robustness 5100 RPM spindle
and stiffness, and COMSOL’s AC/DC Module was
■ Precision ground P4
employed to calculate the magnetic flux density
grade ballscrews
within the parts.
■ 34” x 9.5” table
“Without COMSOL, we would have been able
to develop the product, but we would have had ■ Provides both
manual & automatic
to do more design iterations—and we probably
operations
wouldn’t have come as close to the optimum solu-
tion as you can when you have software to support ■ Integrated options
for digitizing, 4th
the design,” Kennes reports. “When you have a axis, CNC lathe,
good correlation between the measurements on and more
the prototypes and what the [multiphysics] model Shown here with optional
stand, tool tray, machine arms,
predicts, you can feel confident that the model is and accessories.
representative of the real world.”

Product information and online ordering at
— B. Stackpole
www.tormach.com/desktop

plugged into the primary engine on an as-required basis.
An application programming interface (API) component
makes it easy to create new physics solvers, whether that
is COMSOL expanding its own portfolio of MP mod-
ules based on customer demand or individual custom-
Here is an optimized fluid distribution manifold with
ers creating their own solvers based on the requirements
a single circular fluid inlet in the center that feeds a
of their particular design challenge. In addition, many
number of small peripheral fluid jet outlets. The color
predefined couplings are available, including Joule heat-
surface shows the normalized fluid velocity contours,
ing, thermal stress, electrochemical reactions, and fluid
with larger velocity at higher elevations. The dark edges
structure interaction (FSI). For common MP problems,
show the optimal fluid manifold geometry that balances
coupling among the physics is fully automated.
the flow rate to each nozzle while minimizing pressure
Currently, COMSOL offers 40 physics modules in the
drop. Image courtesy of the Toyota Research Institute of
categories of electrical, mechanical, fluid, chemical and
North America.
multipurpose. They cover such design trends as micro-
electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and battery and
fuel cell design, with specialized offerings in areas like to Mark Yeoman, R&D director at Continuum Blue Ltd.,
particle tracing and electrodeposition. The company’s a COMSOL Multiphysics certified consultancy.
plan is to release seven add-on modules a year based on Yeoman cites a customer example: His team was
a combination of customer input and the feasibility of charged with creating an MP model to support research
market size, notes Bernt Nilsson, COMSOL’s senior vice around a biomaterial equivalent for soft tissue mechanics
president of marketing. such as arteries and skin. The model exploration would
One of the key benefits to COMSOL’s platform- have taken about six to seven months using alternative
driven MP approach is a higher fidelity model, according MP simulation tools, he claims, but with COMSOL, the
This MP model looks at the

implantation of a total hip
replacement (femur and cup),
and assesses the long-term
changes in the patient’s bone
formation and loss because of the
functional demands and changes
in mechanical loading. Coupled
physics includes structural,
bone formation and loss. Image
courtesy of Continuum Blue.

project took only a matter of days.
“It highlights how easy it is to implement these com-
COMSOL at Work on Hybrids plex materials inside of COMSOL,” Yeoman continues.
A
“Instead of spending six months to implement an equa-
t the Toyota Research Institute of North tion, we were able to do the same thing in a fraction of
America, where multiphysics (MP) simula- the time—and that’s savings that’s passed on to the client.”
tion is a driver for research being conducted
in areas like hybrid vehicle power electronics, UI Enhancements Fuel Accessibility
COMSOL’s intuitive user interface and tightly cou- Beyond the MP engine platform, COMSOL has poured
pled approach has transformed what has tradition- a lot of R&D energy into refining its user interface over
ally been a highly complex and iterative process into the last few releases to make the software more accessible
something far more accessible and streamlined. to both specialists and generalist engineering users.
That’s according to Eric Dede, principal scientist for Prior to a major facelift with the introduction of Ver-
the group. More complex design problems, including sion 4.0 in 2010, COMSOL Multiphysics had a pretty
more physical interactions happening in a smaller rudimentary user interface. Going back to the drawing
space, means it’s not always possible to zero in board, the goal was to design the software with MP in
on the right insights simply by building and testing mind, serving up a smorgasbord of possible physics simu-
physical prototypes, Dede says. lations via the COMSOL Desktop, which organizes the
“A modeling tool is critical to understanding what tools in a structured way and allows users to drag and
is going on, on a micro scale,” he explains. drop and arrange the modules in any combination they
COMSOL Multiphysics’ tightly coupled approach desire.
also has benefits when you’re examining tradeoffs “Multiphysics is an enormous field, and means differ-
among two, three or even four physics—a scenario ent things for different users,” Sjodin says. “Our platform
that isn’t uncommon for Toyota’s work in hybrid elec- lets users use the software in the same way no matter
tronic components, including a recent design project
for an advanced heat sink that thermally regulates
the components.
Instead of pouring time and resources into trial-
and-error physical prototyping, Dede and his team
leveraged numerical simulation and MP topology
optimization techniques to design, build and test
possible prototypes of a heat sink for a future gen-
eration of hybrid vehicles. COMSOL’s computational
fluid dynamics (CFD) and heat transfer modules
were essential to the numerical simulation piece
of the project, Dede reports, while its LiveLink for
MATLAB let the team leverage a high-level scripting
language to optimize the cold plate’s topology.
Prior to a tool like COMSOL, Dede’s team would
solve one physics problem, take the results and
manually enter the input to frame out the second
physics problem, and so on.
“It would be sequentially solved, and it required
a lot of manual manipulation of data,” which could
be subject to mistakes, he says. With COMSOL, the
type of coupling is pre-chosen based on the physics
selected when you start the analysis, he explains.
“As long as you understand the physics problem
and how to make it mathematically relevant, then
the COMSOL software takes care of the rest of it. It
makes life as a designer or analyst easier.”
— B. Stackpole

what type of physics they’re doing. They could be doing applications such as MATLAB programs, automatic con-
fluid flow one day and thermal transfer the next, and the trol, statistics and geometry creation through image data.
software will look and feel the same.” Such integration is meant to improve workflow and
Having an integrated platform for MP simulation help eliminate errors that can occur with having to import
also breaks down the silos between different engineer- and export model data to and from different applications.
ing functions, which have traditionally relied on sepa- “This lets engineers stay in their comfortable envi-
rate tool sets tuned to their needs of their particular ronment to run the simulation without changing any-
function—and which don’t necessarily make it easy to thing in the way they do design,” Sjodin says. DE
exchange data.
“COMSOL Multiphysics makes it possible to share files Beth Stackpole is a contributing editor to DE. You can
between the different areas because they are all the same reach her at beth@deskeng.com.
files,” Sjodin adds. “You can’t work in a vacuum anymore.”
Another major interface improvement was the in-
troduction of the LiveLink modules also unveiled with INFO ➜ CIMData: CIMData.com
COMSOL 4.0. These modules deliver bi-directional in- ➜ Cochlear Technology Centre Europe: Cochlear.com
tegration between COMSOL Multiphysics and many of
the leading design tools, along with Excel and MATLAB. ➜ COMSOL: COMSOL.com
The LiveLink modules establish associative connectiv- ➜ Continuum Blue Ltd.: Continuum-Blue.com
ity between the CAD and simulation applications, so if ➜ MathWorks: MathWorks.com/products/matlab
a change is made to a CAD model, the geometry of the
➜ Microsoft: Office.Microsoft.com/en-us/excel
MP model is automatically updated while the physics set-
tings are retained. With LiveLink for MATLAB, users ➜ Toyota Research Institute of North America: Toyota.com
can run COMSOL models from within MATLAB for For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.
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7887 SME ©2013 Photos courtesy of Morris Tech (left, right) C.ideas (middle left), and EOS (middle right)

Multiprocessing /// Engineering Computing
CPU, GPU or Both?

Finding the right multi-processing approach for engineering applications.
By PETEr Varhol
T
he question of whether you should load up on CPU work well for most engineering computations, but aren’t opti-
cores or get a system with many graphics processing mized for all kinds of computation.
unit (GPU) cores is becoming more complicated, thanks So, engineers seeking the highest level of performance need
to the ability of more software to use the GPUs. Analysis and to look at not only at the computations they perform, but also
simulation software vendors are increasingly porting their prod- their mix of computations. It is possible to make this analysis
ucts to run on GPUs—and in many cases, the performance im- very detailed and specific in nature, but most engineering teams
provement can seem to justify the investment. would be fine just looking at the type of work they do and their
In general, it’s apparent that GPUs have more of the floating- mix of computations.
point computational horsepower needed for many engineering
computations, but it’s rarely that clear-cut. Many computations Weighing the Benefits
aren’t strictly floating point, and even if they are, many can’t be Most GPUs lack certain features that programmers need in
broken down to execute in parallel. That requires computations many types of software. For example, GPUs don’t have stack
that execute the same series of instructions on different data, a pointers and therefore don’t support recursion, the act of a func-
process known as single instruction, multiple data (SIMD). tion calling itself. That type of computation tends to be slow
But for those SIMD computations that can execute in paral- and not called for in graphics operations.
lel, and use the floating point data, GPUs offer an enticing and Lacking features such as these lets GPUs execute code more
high-performance alternative to the use of industry-standard quickly, but the code itself has to be changed or simplified to
CPUs. In parallel, they can perform simulation-specific com- do so. Porting code requires engineering effort; how much de-
putations significantly faster than CPUs. While many perfor- pends highly on the type of code and structure of the applica-
mance comparisons exist, most seem to cluster around a per- tion. For an entire application, it is likely to be a significant ef-
formance improvement in single-processor operations of GPUs fort. For only parts that can be effectively parallelized, the effort
over CPUs of about 2.5x. won’t be nearly as great.
Intel industry standard processors provide a high rate of That’s the primary reason why CPUs and GPUs are more
throughput, especially for integer operations. They tend to complementary than competitive in the nature of their work-
NVIDIA’s CUDA enables

massively computational
systems such as this one
that can support hundreds
of thousands of cores.

Engineering Computing /// Multiprocessing
loads. They do different things well. Most, if not all engineering
application vendors leave user interface code and editing code
to run on the CPU. Computational code that can make use of
graphics processing and parallel operations is being increasingly
ported to GPUs.
One popular option for the execution of parallel code on
GPUs is the compute unified device architecture (CUDA), a
parallel computing platform and programming model devel-
oped by NVIDIA for use with its GPU families. It gives de-
velopers access to the virtual instruction set and memory of
the parallel computational elements in CUDA GPUs, so that
code can be written or ported to run directly on the GPUs. The AMD FirePro 5900 supports the OpenCL
CUDA works by having its own processor cores and shared standard that allows for the sharing of CPUs and
memory. The CPU dispatches GPU-compiled code and data (it GPUs in a single system.
works slightly differently depending on the software technology
being used) to the GPU cores, where the computation occurs.
When the computation is complete, the results are passed back ming standard across different implementations,” he explains.
to the CPU that controls the application. OpenCL includes a programming language based on C for
Vendors such as MathWorks and AccelerEyes offer inde- writing kernels that execute on OpenCL devices, plus appli-
pendent ways of dispatching code and data to CUDA GPUs, cation programming interfaces (APIs) that are used to define
enabling easy GPU use of the MATLAB engineering pro- and then control the platforms. The C language is somewhat
gramming language. MATLAB also makes it easy to break limited, in that it doesn’t allow function pointers or recursion.
up a computation to run on a specified number of processors That means any existing code still has to be modified to work
and cores. with either GPU vendor.
In addition to the CUDA C/C++ and CUDA Fortran OpenCL can be used to give an application access to a GPU
programming languages, the CUDA platform supports other for non-graphical computing, such as engineering computa-
computational interfaces, including OpenCL, Microsoft’s Di- tions. The intriguing thing about OpenCL is that it offers the
rectCompute, and C++ AMP. Third-party wrappers are also ability to use both CPUs and GPUs in combination. Of course,
available for languages such as Python, Fortran and Java. There code still has to be compiled for one or other, so it’s not quite
is also native CUDA support in Mathematica. that straightforward.
Once again, the same computational limitations apply as
Best of Both Worlds with CUDA. But because the GPUs and CPUs share memory,
One approach to take is a combination of both CPUs and passing computations off to GPUs tends to be faster than with
GPUs, using a multiprocessing option called OpenCL. CUDA. In either case, it is likely that both CUDA and OpenCL
OpenCL, which has been adopted by a number of vendors implementations on GPUs will deliver significantly better par-
(Apple, AMD and Intel, among others), is a framework for allel execution of computational code than CPUs.
writing programs that can run across different processors.
OpenCL provides the ability to dispatch computations to The Choice is Yours
either a CPU or GPU (as well as digital signal processors Is there truly a timesaving value for engineers in using GPUs
and even programmable gate arrays), depending on what the in parallel execution, whether using CUDA or OpenCL? It
code is designed to run on. depends on the types of workstation or multiprocessing sys-
For engineers, it has the potential to make the dichotomy tem being used, on the software, and on the types of compu-
between industry-standard CPUs and GPUs seamless and tations being performed.
transparent. It lets code run where it makes the most sense. Chances are you will benefit, if you do a lot of data analy-
If the OpenCL standard is used by software vendors, code sis or simulation. Depending on which multiprocessing stan-
should be portable within implementations that follow the dard your systems support, CUDA and OpenCL each offer
standard. similar performance advantages. But if you’re doing single-
AMD has integrated OpenCL as its programming frame- threaded operations, such as design, or if you’re engaged in
work for its FirePro family of GPUs, as well as its CPU of- a lot of more general-purpose computing, you will see little,
ferings. According to Antoine Reymond, alliances manager at if any advantage.
AMD, OpenCL is supported by The Khronos Group, an Amer- Of course, your engineering software still has to support
ican not-for-profit member-funded industry consortium. “It is GPU execution. That’s becoming less of an issue with com-
a collaborative effort that ensures there is a common program- mercial software today, as an increasing number of vendors are

Multiprocessing /// Engineering Computing
compiling parts of their code for NVIDIA and/or AMD GPUs.

Unless you’re using a niche vendor, or have your own code, Contributing Editor Peter Varhol covers the HPC and IT beat for
chances are you’ll find a GPU solution. DE. His expertise is software development, math systems, and sys-
All this leads to why it might be more appropriate to use a tems management. You can reach him at DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
shared multiprocessing or cluster system. You’re probably not
going to make use of your workstation GPUs for general-pur-
pose engineering computing. Instead, you’re going to concen- INFO ➜ AccelerEyes: AccelerEyes.com
trate on making a single GPU system more available to engi-
➜ Advanced Micro Devices: AMD.com
neers who can make the best use of it.
Rather than one or the other, you should be looking at a mix ➜ Apple: Apple.com
of both types of processors. If your work is more heavily skewed ➜ Intel: Intel.com
toward design, you probably want to lean toward a more CPU- ➜ Java: Java.com
heavy approach. Of course, you want those CPUs to be the fast-
est and most powerful in general, even if they have fewer cores.
➜ The Khronos Group: Khronos.org
But if you do a lot analysis and simulation, you want proces- ➜ MathWorks: MathWorks.com
sors and cores—and some of them should probably be GPUs, ➜ NVIDIA: NVIDIA.com
assuming that you can get compiled GPU code for your appli-
➜ Python: Python.org
cation. For those types of computations, a mixed system using
both CPU and GPU cores using CUDA or OpenCL would ➜ Wolfram Research: Wolfram.com/mathematica
work equally well. DE For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.
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Engineering Computing /// Review
Compact Performer
Lenovo ThinkStation E31 SFF provides modest, but affordable performance.
By DaviD Cohn
T
he Lenovo ThinkStation E31 SFF (small form factor) small-profile case limits the height of the cards the system can
is aimed squarely at entry-level CAD users. Designed accommodate. In addition to the integrated Intel graphics avail-
around the latest-generation Intel Xeon E3-1200 V2 se- able with some of the CPU choices, Lenovo also offers NVIDIA
ries “Ivy Bridge” processors and equipped with error-correcting NVS or Quadro discrete graphics cards. Our system came
memory, the E31 SFF offers professional-level performance and equipped with an NVIDIA Quadro 600. This board provides
reliability in a package that should fit just about anywhere. both a DisplayPort and dual-link DVI connection.
The E31 SFF comes housed in a matte black case measur- The hard drive cage can house a single 3.5-in. hard drive or
ing just 13.12x3.75x15.0 in. (WHD), and weighing only 16.5 a pair of 2.5-in. drives. Our evaluation unit came equipped with
lbs. Rubber feet support the case in a horizontal position, while a 1TB SATA 3.5-in., 7,200rpm drive manufactured by Western
a small plastic stand enables the system to stand like a miniature Digital, and a 16X DVD+/-RW optical drive. Lenovo also offers
tower—although in that position, the tray-loading optical drive a 2-terabyte, 7,200rpm 3.5-in. drive, as well as several 10,000rpm
ends up in a somewhat awkward vertical orientation. 2.5-in. drives and solid state drives (SSDs).
In addition to the DVD drive, the front panel provides two
USB 2.0 ports, a 29-in-1 media card reader, headphone and mi- Modest Performance
crophone jacks, and a power button. Because the E31 SFF is meant to be an entry-level system, we
The rear panel provides four UBS 3.0 ports, two additional did not expect this ThinkStation to set any records. And like
USB 2.0 ports, a nine-pin serial port, a 15-pin VGA port, a Dis- the entry-level Lenovo ThinkStation E30 we reviewed last year
playPort connection, and an RJ-45 LAN port for the integrated (see DE, July 2012), the small form factor workstation lived up
Intel 82579 Gigabit Ethernet—as well as microphone, audio line- to those expectations. The ThinkStation E31 SFF’s results were
in and audio line-out jacks. There are also four expansion slots. measurably slower than those of other systems we’ve reviewed
recently. But its numbers were definitely not disappointing, with
Organized Interior benchmark results approximately twice as fast as those of work-
Sliding a small plastic lever on the rear panel releases the top of stations from just three years ago—and nearly equal to those of
the case, which hinges at the rear to reveal a compact interior. modern systems costing much more.
The Lenovo-designed motherboard takes up about two-thirds On the SPECviewperf benchmark, the NVIDIA Quadro 600
of the interior, and is partially hidden below the hard drive and just couldn’t match the performance of other systems we’ve re-
optical bays. The hard drive mounts in a novel removable plastic viewed recently, which came equipped with much more powerful
housing. Once removed, the optical drive cage can be pivoted graphics cards costing several times as much.
forward, providing full access to the four memory sockets. The
ThinkStation E31 SFF can accommodate up to 32GB of RAM.
Our evaluation unit came with 8GB of memory, installed as two inFo ➜ Lenovo: Lenovo.com/thinkstation
4GB 1600MHz ECC dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs). ThinkStation E31 SFF
The CPU is concealed beneath a heat sink and 3-in. cool- • Price: $1,093 as tested ($549 base price)
ing fan. To one side of this is a diminutive, 240-watt, 85% ef- • Size: 13.12x3.75x15.0-in. (WxHxD) tower
ficient power supply; to the other, the expansion slots and one • Weight: 16.5 lbs.
more USB 2.0 port. Lenovo offers no fewer than 18 processors to • CPU: 3.3GHz Intel Xeon (Quad Core) E3-1230V2
choose from, including Intel Celeron, Core i3, Core i5, Core i7, • Memory: 8GB DDR3 ECC at 1600MHz
Pentium and Xeon, including the top-of-the line 3.6GHz quad- • Graphics: NVIDIA Quadro 400
core E3-1280V2. Our evaluation unit came with a slightly more • hard Disk: 1-terabyte Western Digital 7,200rpm
modest 3.3GHz Intel Xeon E3-1230V2. This 22nm CPU has a • optical: 16X DVD+/-RW
maximum turbo speed of 3.7GHz, 8MB of cache, and a maxi- • network: integrated Gigabit Ethernet (Intel 82579), one RJ45 port
mum thermal design power rating of 69 watts. • other: One nine-pin serial, four USB 2.0, four USB 3.0, one
While the E31 SFF provides four expansion slots—a PCIe internal USB 2.0, 29-in-1 media card reader, DisplayPort, VGA
x16 graphics card slot, a PCIe x1 slot, and two PCI slots—the • Warranty: three years, parts and labor

On the AutoCAD rendering test, which is multi-threaded and,
therefore, clearly shows the benefits of multiple CPU cores, the
Lenovo ThinkStation E31 SFF took 64 seconds to complete the
rendering. These are among the best results we’ve recorded for
a single-socket system with a standard (not over-clocked) CPU.
A base E31 SFF system starts at $549. As equipped, our evalu-
ation unit priced out at $1,093, making the Lenovo ThinkStation
E31 SFF an affordable system in a compact package. DE
The compact E31 SFF case packs its components
neatly into its small, but well organized interior. David Cohn is the technical publishing manager at 4D Technolo-
gies. He also does consulting and technical writing from his home in
On the SPECapc SolidWorks benchmark, which is more of Bellingham, WA, and has been benchmarking PCs since 1984. He’s
a real-world test (and breaks out graphics, CPU and I/O perfor- a contributing editor to Desktop Engineering and the author of more
mance separately), the E31 SFF did better, outperforming several than a dozen books. You can contact him via email at david@dscohn.
workstations costing several times as much. com or visit his website at DSCohn.com.
Lenovo E31 SFF Lenovo S30 HP Z1

Workstations workstation (one 3.3GHz workstation (one 3.6GHz Intel workstation (one 3.5GHz Intel
Compared
Intel E3-1230 quad-core CPU Xeon E5-1620 quad-core CPU Xeon E3-1280 quad-core CPU
[3.7GHz turbo], NVIDIA Quadro [3.8GHz turbo], NVIDIA Quadro [3.9GHz turbo], NVIDIA Quadro
400, 8GB RAM) 4000, 8GB RAM) 4000M, 16GB RAM)
Price as tested $1,093 $2,614 $5,625

Date tested 12/29/12 8/18/12 6/29/12
Operating System Windows 7 Windows 7 Windows 7
SPECview 11 higher
catia-03 18.15 48.21 39.46
ensight-04 11.08 32.18 26.19
lightwave-01 46.79 64.47 60.76
maya-03 40.36 84.50 78.65
proe-5 10.29 11.93 12.69
sw-02 31.54 53.53 47.24
tcvis-02 16.53 37.66 30.79
snx-01 13.45 33.87 27.70
SPECapc SolidWorks lower
Score seconds 97.45 106.46 110.61
Graphics seconds 33.97 38.68 38.31
CPU seconds 26.22 26.88 30.52
I/O seconds 37.26 40.90 41.32
SPECapc SolidWorks 2007 higher
Score ratio 5.26 4.80 4.46
Graphics ratio 6.17 5.33 5.06
CPU ratio 4.67 4.56 4.01
I/O ratio 3.80 3.46 3.42
Autodesk Render Test lower
Time seconds 64 63.8 87.92
Numbers in blue indicate best recorded results. Numbers in red indicate worst recorded results. Results are shown
separately for single- and dual-socket workstations.

Engineering Computing /// Workstations
Workstation Evolution
Vendors fine tune workstations for engineering applications and performance.
By Frank J. OhlhOrst
W
orkstations are the bread and butter tools of the en- Microway Computer: Microway is a U.S. General Services
gineering sect. Today, no other tool is as important Administration (GSA) Schedule approved vendor that manu-
as compute cycles to the modern engineer, especially factures a va-
when one considers that time is money and design or simulation riety of PCs
can quickly chew through the hours in a day. and worksta-
Luckily, workstations continuously evolve, getting faster tions. Micro-
better and cheaper than previous generations. Workstation way has been
vendors have not blinded themselves to the fact that today’s building high
products may not fare well against the innovations of tomor- performance
row and are seeking ways to future proof workstation tech- systems since
nology with innovative designs, expansion options, and ease 1982. When
of service. it comes to modern workstations, Microway (like many other
A quick look at the current crop of workstations reveals the vendors) leverages the Intel Xeon platform, as well as AMD
evolutionary process at work. First let’s take a look at the cus- Opteron processors. NVIDIA GPUs play a major role in the
tom players on the market, who have to balance price against graphics subsystem, as well as part of the computational capa-
features to find an edge to compete against the major players: bilities of the workstations. Microway offers the WhisperSta-
BOXX Technologies: BOXX is a manufacturer of high per- tion series of workstations and, as the name implies, low noise
formance mobile and desktop workstations that are geared to- is a primary focus. What’s more, the workstations are designed
ward offering the highest performance possible for visual effects to be easily linked together to build multi-node clusters. The
(VFX) design professionals and visualization applications. As of company prides itself in its advanced research.
late, the company has been promoting its multi GPU design as Rave Computer: As one of the smallest players in the work-
the wave of the future—with some systems featuring as many as station market, Rave Computer focuses on building highly
four GPUs. The company also leverages liquid cooling and over customized engineering workstations that stress reliability and
clocking. Products are protected by a three year warranty, which maximum performance for the CAD/CAM/CAE markets. The
should assuage any worries about overclocking. The company of- Rave Ignition series of Workstations can be fully customized, al-
fers all-in-one workstations via their mobile workstation product lowing an almost unlimited selection of chassis type, processors,
line, which are powered by Intel Core series processors and fea- GPUs and so on. The company also offers solutions built on the
ture full HD 17.1-in. displays. As far as the future is concerned, Intel Xeon Phi platform that brings high-performance parallel
BOXX leverages the latest in CPUs, GPUs, memory and other processing to the forefront of workstation design.
hardware, and engineers as much performance as possible out of Eurocom: As far as workstations are concerned, Eurocom
those components. focuses on the mobility
Xi Computer: Xi Computer has segment, where its desktop
been in the workstation business for replacement systems have
more than 25 years and offers a variety of been engineered to offer
workstations based upon both AMD and workstation-level perfor-
Intel Technologies. The company’s most mance with 3D capabili-
recent innovations include notebook- ties. The company refers
based workstations powered by Intel to their products as “3D
Core i7 processors as well as multi Xeon supercomputing laptops”
processor-based workstations. Xi Com- and “ultimate mobile workstations,” which feature large screens
puter also offers a high level of custom- (17.3-in.), high-performance processors (Core i7 or Xeon) and
ization for its customers using a build-to- 3D graphics processors.
order methodology, at a low price point. Seneca: Seneca is primarily a systems builder that works with

OEMs and ISVs to create a multitude of computing offerings. of customization. Lenovo stresses reliability and ergonomics as its
However, the company’s claim to fame in the workstation space primary selling points, with a dash of affordability thrown in. DE
comes from its Nexlink product line of workstations. Nexlink
workstations are designed as lower cost alternatives to ultra-high Frank Ohlhorst is chief analyst and freelance writer at Ohlhorst.
performance engineering workstations, and are aimed at a more net. Send e-mail about this article to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
general design market. The Nexlink product line’s sweet spot is
for those on tight budgets who are looking for workstation-level
INFO ➜ BOXX Technologies: boxxtech.com
performance that is upgradable and well supported.
➜ Dell: Dell.com
Big vs. Small ➜ Eurocom: eurocom.com
The smaller workstation vendors outlined above have turned ➜ HP: HP.com
to specialized markets and niches to fill their order sheets, hop-
ing to plug the gaps left by the major manufacturers. However, ➜ Lenovo: lenovo.com
innovation is far from dead at the industry giants, who have ➜ Microway Computer: microway.com
development budgets that overshadow the total sales of some ➜ Rave Computer: rave.com
of the smaller vendors on the market.
HP: Hewlett Packard focuses a significant amount of effort
➜ Seneca: senecadata.com
on innovation, which has resulted in distinct workstation solu- ➜ Xi Computer: xicomputer.com
tions that incorporate all-in-one designs, small form factors
(SFF), or tool-less ser-
vice. Take for example
Advertising Index
the HP Z1 series, which
features an all-in-one de- Altair-HyperWorks ....................................... 17
sign, incorporating the Altair-Product Design .................................... 1
processing power into ANSYS...................................................... CV2
the same housing as the CD-adapco ................................................... 31
display. The Z1 Offers a COMSOL ..................................................... 5
27-in. display with Xeon
EASTEC 2013 .............................................. 23
power and a tool-less
chassis. The company EnvisionTEC, Inc. ........................................ 29
offers models that can incorporate different processors, GPUs, Intel Corp .................................................... 19
storage capacities and so on. HP also offers SFF-based worksta- IronCAD, LLC ............................................. 33
tions in its Z220 series, which crams high performance processing Kubotek USA, Inc. ........................................ 47
power into a diminutive case. Lenovo......................................................... 27
Dell: PC giant Dell offers a wide array of PCs, workstations,
Makerbot/Working Media Group, LLC .......... 13
notebooks and many other hardware products. The company
offers traditional workstations in tower, desktop and desktop MathWorks ................................................... 7
replacement form factors. The company’s entry-level T1650 Microway .................................................. CV3
workstation features third-generation Intel core processors, Missler Software, Inc. ................................... 47
while the company’s top of the line T5600 series feature Intel MSC Software Corp. ..................................... 36
Xeon family processors. A variety of graphics options are avail- National Instruments ..................................... 3
able, as well as a multitude of storage options. The company’s
Okino Computer Graphics, Inc. ..................... 43
most innovative workstation products come in the form of its
mobile workstations, which feature ISV certification, displays as PTC-Creo ..................................................... 9
large as 17.3 in. and quad core processors. RAPID 2013 ................................................. 44
Lenovo: PC builder Lenovo offers the Thinkstation family Simpleware LTD. .......................................... 35
of PCs to those seeking high performance workstations. The SIMULIA ..................................................... 15
product line is available under four different series, including a Stratasys-For a 3D World ........................... CV4
small form factor under the E series and ultrahigh performance
Stratasys-Mojo ............................................. 11
units under the S series. With four product lines and multiple
sub models, there is a Lenovo workstation designed for most any Tormach LLC ............................................... 41
occasion. The products feature the gambit of Intel processors, Traceparts .................................................... 47
multiple graphics options, tool-less serviceability, and a great deal Wohlers Associates ....................................... 47

Design /// Rendering
Seeing Ray Tracing

in a Different Light
Caustic Visualizer and Series2 Ray Tracing Acceleration Boards from Imagination
Technologies focus on efficiency.
BY MARK CLARKSON
I
magination Technologies’ new Caustic Visualizer view-
port renderer is a software plug-in—currently available
for Maya and soon to be available for 3ds Max—that
provides interactive ray tracing in a working viewport. The
Visualizer viewport renderer becomes another viewport
option, available in any Maya or Max viewport, providing
globally accurate lighting, reflections and shadows.
But Visualizer is more than just a render preview; it’s a
fully functional viewport. You can select and manipulate
geometry and lighting—do anything, in fact, that you
would do in any viewport, but with the added benefit of
Rendered directly in the viewport with Caustic Visualizer
interactive ray tracing.
for Autodesk Maya 2013. Triangles: 538,696; LIghts 10
Similarly, Neon for Rhino is a fully ray-traced viewport plug-
+ IBL. Artist: Ryan Montrucchio, Model courtesy of Pacific
in for McNeel’s Rhino 5, developed by McNeel in collaboration
Digital Image Visual Studios.
with Imagination Technologies/Caustic. Like the Caustic Visu-
alizer, the Neon viewport supports all native rendering features incoming light. That incoming light is affected by scene lights,
while still allowing you to edit your models. cast shadows, reflective materials and indirect lighting (light
This tightly integrated, interactive ray tracing is cool, but to bouncing off of other objects in the scene), and more.
make it go really fast, you’ll need hardware help in the form of It’s simple in principle. You can create a ray-tracing algorithm
one of Caustic’s ray tracing acceleration cards. with astonishingly little code. Here’s a ray tracer that fits on a
business card: cs.cmu.edu/~ph/src/minray/minray.card.c.
Fundamental Differences In practice, most rays don’t intersect most surfaces—and your
Caustic’s Series2 Ray Tracing Acceleration Boards are not your algorithm spends most of its time running down dead ends. To
average graphics processing unit (GPU)-powered cards. Caustic speed things up, you must first create an “acceleration structure”
cards are focused on ray tracing, and Caustic has developed a fun- that rationally divides your scene geometry into smaller regions
damentally different approach to solving the ray-tracing problem. to minimize the amount of time spent pursuing dead ends.
“GPU companies look at ray tracing as a computing problem: The nature of ray tracing, however, remains inherently random.
If I just keep adding more cores, I can solve this problem,” notes “When a ray hits a surface in the scene,” says Kelley, “it goes
Imagination Technologies’ director of business development, off in a random direction, hits another object, goes off in an-
Alex Kelley. “But that means I’m also adding more power. That’s other random direction, hits another object. The challenge is
why you see these GPUs consuming 120W apiece.” maintaining all the scene information in cache in order to be
But Kelley says ray tracing turns out to actually be as much able to compute the final shading for [a given] pixel.”
a database problem as a computing problem. GPU cards typically solve this challenge by requiring you to
Generally speaking, he explains, ray tracing works by cast- fit all scene geometry and textures in cache onboard the card.
ing rays from an imaginary camera, through the pixel plane of High-resolution textures quickly eat into the amount of amount
the final image and into the scene. When they intersect a sur- of geometry you can place on a card, but once you have to reach
face, the program computes the color of the resulting pixel by across the system bus for data from main memory, the speed
combining the surface’s orientation and material properties with advantage of your GPU card disappears.

The Caustic Series2 R2500 Ray The Caustic Series2 R2100 Ray
Tracing Acceleration Card retails for Tracing Acceleration Card retails for
$1,495 (includes Caustic Visualizer). $795 (includes Caustic Visualizer).
Shifting the Focus “We break the problem into two,” he continues. “The
Caustic took a different approach to speeding things up. “The database problem is solved by the card, and the shading is
ray/surface intersection part of the problem, which is a com- done—in this current generation—by the CPU. That’s our
puting matter, was solved years ago through Moore’s law,” says secret sauce.”
Kelley. “So we said, ‘Let’s focus on the database problem.’” Caustic holds 21 patents on its approach, which it says yields
How do you manage the random nature of ray bounces? efficiency gains up to 30 times over other ray-tracing algorithms.
Caustic’s solution is an algorithm that holds rays in mid-flight Because the CPU does the actual shading, all the textures are
until it collects enough of them going in the same direction. kept in system RAM, freeing up space on the Caustic cards for
“You shoot an object from the camera and it hits an object,” more geometry. On the R2500 card, that amounts to about 120
says Kelley. “We will hold that ray; we won’t progress any further million triangles. The end result is a fast, efficient card capable
until we have a sufficient number of rays vectored in the same of supporting large geometries with comparatively low power.
direction. That way, when a ray hits the final object in the scene, Caustic’s R2100 card, with a single ray-tracing unit (RTU),
it’s likely that the shading information will be there—not only for draws a maximum of 30W. The R2500, with dual RTUs for
that ray but, since we’ve been holding all these other rays in flight, dual-CPU workstations, consumes a maximum of 65W.
for a lot of rays that will need that same shading information.”
This is a much more efficient approach to solving the da- The Bottom Line
tabase problem, minimizing the number of times a part of the Caustic cards provide between two-and-a-half and five times
scene is read from the memory. the ray-tracing performance of a CPU alone, according to the
“We developed a PCI Express card that does just that: It holds company. Rhino, with its lower overhead, tends to gain more
the acceleration structure and the geometry, and it does all the ray performance than Maya and 3ds Max. Starting at $795, they’re
flow,” Kelley explains. “Then it tells the CPU ‘OK, we now know comparatively cheap and consume less power than comparably
what pixel shading information is required, go shade it.’ performing GPU-based cards.
Of course, GPUs are useful for other things as well—com-
putational fluid dynamics (CFD), say, or high-end image pro-
Imagination + Caustic
I
cessing. But if you’re a designer who’d like better ray-tracing
magination Technologies, which acquired Caustic in performance, a Caustic card might just be your solution.
2010, isn’t a familiar name in the desktop 3D arena; The Caustic Visualize plug-in doesn’t require hardware ac-
it’s much better known in embedded systems. celeration. You can download a free 30-day trial of the software
Developers of the PowerVR chip set, Imagination pro- at caustic.com/visualizer/maya. Rhino 5 users can download the
vides GPU cores for many smartphones and tablets. Neon plug-in free at v5.rhino3d.com/group/neon. DE
The reason for the firm’s success, says Imagination’s
Alex Kelley, is that it’s been able to provide a fast, low- Contributing Editor Mark Clarkson is DE’s expert in visualization,
power solution—thanks to its development of technology computer animation, and graphics. His newest book is Photoshop Ele-
around deferred rendering. Caustic is using a deferred ments by Example. Visit him on the web at MarkClarkson.com or send
rendering algorithm for ray tracing, as well, he notes. e-mail about this article to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
Eventually, Kelley adds, Imagination would like to
take its ray-tracing application programming interface
into its PowerVR chipset. INFO ➜ Autodesk: USA.Autodesk.com
“They want to provide that ray-tracing capability to ➜ Imagination Technologies: Caustic.com
their customers in the future and, at the same time,
➜ NVIDIA: NVIDIA.com
grow up into the professional 3D marketplace with the
Caustic add-in cards,” he concludes. “That’s where this ➜ Robert McNeel & Associates: McNeel.com
is going. That’s the end game.” For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

Test & Measurement /// Metrology
Automated for the People

Automated metrology increases throughput and provides greater consistency for
industrial processes, but system designers can benefit from it as well.
By Randy FRank
S
implifying the inspection of multiple pieces, increas- how is done by the metrology specialists who know how cer-
ing the size of automated measurement and inspec- tain projects should be measured. “What we have done in
tion, and automatic centering and leveling for fast work Play Inspection development is automated the third step, the
piece alignment and measurements are among the more recent when,” says Soucy.
improvements in automated metrology. These 3D tools ad- “When designers incorrectly create their dimensions in
dress vastly different industrial requirements, but yield higher ways that cannot be easily measured, they put an additional
throughput, greater consistency and other benefits for their burden onto the metrology specialist,” he explains. Inade-
targeted applications. quate communication between the design and manufactur-
In addition to the usually obvious advantages in the ing teams adds to the problem. CAD models need to specify
manufacturing environment, designers can (and need) to do dimensions that can be readily understood and implemented
things differently because of automated metrology. If done by the metrology specialist.
properly, benefits can occur in the upfront design process “A company that wants to streamline its process should build
based on implementing automated metrology in manufactur- a discussion focus group between the design and manufacturing
ing. The benefits for designers include minimizing design people, and agree on certain rules,” recommends Soucy.
process steps and/or time—resulting in further cost savings The geometric dimensioning and tolerancing (GD&T)
to the enterprise. quality control method for 3D solid models plays a role in
One example is provided by InnovMetric Software’s new the process as well, he says.
Play Inspection tool. This tool, now fully integrated into “When the CAD people put GD&T in their CAD model,
Phase II of DirectReplay, released in version 12.1 of Poly- usually that translates very, very well,” says Soucy. Done prop-
Works, automatically builds a guided step-by-step sequence erly, he notes, the addition significantly accelerates the inspec-
to capture 3D datasets of a work piece. tion process. The geometry, controls and tolerances are auto-
“The purpose of the Play Inspection tools is to allow matically transferred to the inspection application (see Fig. 2).
users to easily perform repetitive inspection tasks,” says Marc
Soucy, president of InnovMetric Software. Inspection Requirements in the CAD Model
Properly inspecting a part is greatly improved if the de- Hexagon Metrology’s 4.5.4 SF shop floor coordinate mea-
signer’s role is taken into account in the workflow. Designers suring machine (CMM) adds analog scanning to its capabili-
define the geometry, controls and tolerances; measurement ties. With an optional LSP-X1c probe head, the unit’s design
planners define the measurement methods, and measurement supports standard probing—including single-point prob-
operators capture 3D data of the physical parts (see Fig. 1). ing—self-centering and continuous high-speed scanning.
Designers need to care about the what, the first step. The Shaun Wissner, a PC-DMIS Software marketing special-
Figure 1: Three separate entities perform the what, how and when
of part inspection. Image courtesy of InnovMetric Software.

Figure 3: Hexagon
Metrology’s 4.5.4
SF CMM is easily
Figure 2: A CAD model with embedded product and transported
manufacturing information provides considerable between required
metrology data when it is opened by an inspection locations in a
solution such as innovMetric’s PolyWorks. manufacturing facility.
ist for Hexagon Metrology, notes that even though CMMs

have been around since the 1960s, until recently, they still
required heavy human interaction before, during and after
the manufacturing process to conceive, collect and interpret
any 3D data going in and coming out.
“We are starting to see manufacturers embracing ideas An accurate, high-resolution, fast and versatile 3D scan-
like model-based definition (MBD), where inspection re- ner can be used in product development stages from begin-
quirements are added to the CAD model, which eliminates ning to end. “Many of our customers have ATOS systems
the need for part prints,” says Wissner. Most current CAD/ installed throughout design, try-out, and production depart-
CAM software packages support embedding GD&T and lin- ments within the same organization,” says Catherine Kim, a
ear tolerancing into native component models. As a result, marketing coordinator for Capture 3D, the firm representing
this saves the CMM planner a critical step of interpreting GOM in the U.S. and Canada.
the designer’s intent for a given measurement requirement. “The important thing of scanning a part for the design
Wissner also observes that offline programming for direct process is, how do you get very accurate, high-fidelity data
computer controlled (DCC) CMMs is on the rise. While this that will help with the CAD creation changing the design
has long been the standard for computer numerically con- layout—which in essence, saves time and money?” Kim adds.
trolled (CNC) manufacturing equipment, inspection soft- Using a system such as ATOS ScanBox, she says, allows users
ware like Hexagon Metrology’s PC-DMIS Planner is built in aerospace turbine blade and automotive manufacturing
to take advantage of this new data added to CAD models. operations and others to achieve these savings.
This allows users to simply point and click on the GD&T For all the benefits that customers can realize in the
feature control frames and linear dimensions. manufacturing arena, obtaining benefits earlier in the design
“Inspection routines that took hours, or even days of rep- process still takes a different approach.
etitious work are now finished in minutes, as all the necessary “What needs to be done is improve the ways that designers
features and dimensions are created with the same mouse use the [product and manufacturing information, or PMI] capa-
click,” says Wissner. When complete, the inspection routine bility of CAD, so that what they give to manufacturing people is
is downloaded to the CMM for simple, one-touch execution more ready to use,” InnovMetric’s Soucy concludes. DE
by any machine operator (see Fig. 3).
Randy Frank is a contributor to DE. Send e-mail about this article
The Future is Now to DE-Editors@deskeng.com.
Design engineers use 3D scanners to reverse engineer a physical
part to design the tools. As a result, data quality is important, es-
pecially in aiding with the associated downstream processes. To INFO ➜ GOM mbH: GOM.com
scan parts larger than 6 ft. and/or up to about 2 tons in weight,
➜ Hexagon Metrology: HexagonMetrology.us
GOM mbH recently introduced the ATOS ScanBox 6130.
Similar to previous models, the 6130 is an industrial measuring ➜ InnovMetric Software: InnovMetricSoftware.com
cell for fully automated 3D digitizing and inspection. For more information on this topic, visit deskeng.com.

Commentary by Mehrdad Zangeneh
Optimize with Inverse Design

Y
ou hear about design optimization, and you real- of experiments (DOE), which is then used to create a surrogate
ize the world requires more efficient and reduced model through a quadratic regression (response surface model)
emissions products. Wouldn’t it be great to automate or other methods. These surrogates can then be validated—and,
your turbomachinery design optimization? You can, if accurate enough, GA can be run on them, saving computational
by using relatively new 3D inverse design technology. time as each CFD or FEA evaluation becomes a polynomial eval-
Efficiency levels for many turbomachinery applications uation. However, in general, error-free surrogate models can only
have matured in recent years, in part because of new regu- be obtained with a handful of design parameters.
lations. The introduction of computational fluid dynamics
(CFD) in the design process led to significant improvement in Enter 3D Inverse Design
performance, but further improvements are increasingly more The keys to making automatic optimization part of a commer-
difficult to achieve. The conventional design process, which cial product development are 3D geometry parameterization
is based on iterative changes to geometry, relies heavily on and the number of input design parameters. One blade geome-
previous design experience, and tends to encourage designers try parameterized by just 30 parameters requires close to 600 to
to stay within their comfort zones. This can limit design ef- 800 designs to be evaluated—just for the initial DOE database.
ficiency, making it more difficult to achieve significant break- Even with high computational capabilities, this is not something
throughs or meet demanding multi-objective/multi-point/ that allows for a design to be developed in a few weeks.
multi-disciplinary requirements of modern turbomachinery. In contrast, parameterization of the same geometry via 3D
In principle, all turbomachinery applications share common inverse design methods can be done with six to 10 parameters.
challenges, whether one looks at multi-disciplinary problems, This means only 40 to 100 designs are needed.
So, how is blade geometry parameterized via 3D inverse
design? Different approaches are used for blade geometry pa-
Automatic optimization can rameterization. In axial machines, it is customary to use some
help find solutions. of form of surface definition. By contrast, in many radial and
mixed flow applications, generally the blade angle is used to
control the camber distribution. This is done using a number
such as aerodynamic with mechanical performance, noise and ef- of control points between leading edge to trailing edge on 2D
ficiency in fans and compressors, or good suction performance. sections that are then stacked together to form a 3D geometry.
Robust design optimization must also be considered, the aim In 3D inverse design, users parameterize the blade loading,
being to make the design performances less dependent on oper- or pressure jump across the blade. The implementation is such
ating changes. Automatic optimization can help find solutions to that four to eight parameters of blade loading can cover as much
all of these design challenges. design space as 30+ parameters required when using blade shape
directly. This reduction in design parameters makes application
Weighing the Methods of surrogate model a practical reality for 3D design.
The key in using optimization in design is to explore the design When taking time and cost into consideration, 3D inverse
space as widely as possible. Gradient type methods are faster design technology proves to provide the clear advantage in
computationally, but tend to find local minima. The goal, then, achieving turbomachinery efficiency and emissions reduction
is to use evolutionary type approaches such as a genetic algo- via automatic optimization. Examples have been widely pub-
rithm (GA), which can explore the design space widely and find lished. In the pump industry, for example, Carver Pumps and
global minima of objective functions. GA also copes well with Ebara Corp. have successfully applied this method. For axial and
multi-objective criteria, and creates Pareto-optimal fronts that radial fans, papers and case studies are available for ebm-papst,
show trade-offs between different design parameters. Kitech and Daikin. Finally, McQuay presented the application
On the other hand, GA requires a large number of objec- of coupled 3D inverse design with DOE for optimization of
tive function evaluations—typically running into thousands. centrifugal compressor stage for the refrigeration industry. DE
Because many problems are multi-point, this makes the ap-
plication of GA, coupled with full CFD or finite element Mehrdad Zaneneh, Ph.D., is a professor of thermofluids at Uni-
analysis (FEA) rather expensive computationally. versity College London, and founding director and CEO of Advanced
Another alternative is to use some form of surrogate model. Design Technology (ADT). Send e-mail about this article to DE-
In this approach, a design matrix is generated by using design Editors@deskeng.com.

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April 2013 / deskeng.

FEA Idealization P.37

CPU, GPU or Both? P.45

Automated Metrology P.54

TECHNOLOGY FOR DESIGN ENGINEERING

CFD On Call Simulation drives

Victories by Red Bull Racing. Simulation by ANSYS.

Winning the Formula One World Constructors’ Championship is a monumental

Not a bad day at the oﬃce.

Minimizing component weight with advanced engineering,

only imagine. Complex Problems Require

2 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

CFD: Shaping the By Beth Stackpole

4 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

Verify and optimize your designs

DEPARTMENTS 18 Rapid Ready Tech

20 Editor’s Picks Stackpole, Peter Varhol, Pamela J. Waterman

Products that have grabbed the PUBLISHER

47 Spotlight Erich Herbert | Sales Executive (x263)

SUBSCRIBER CUSTOMER SERVICE

6 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

Accelerating the pace of engineering and science

Satellites that tango,

That’s Model-Based Design.

Dell Gets Ready to Go Private

8 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

The Soleus® - innovative prosthetic foot from College Park.

Rescale: Build Your Own Scalable

10 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

Find out more at www.Mojo3Dprinting.com/DE

Altair Engineering Unveils HyperWorks 12.0

Quality Management Folded into Teamcenter

12 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

MAKERBOT® REPLICATOR® 2 DESKTOP 3D PRINTER

Introducing CFD to Design Engineers

14 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

INFO ➜ SIMULIA, Dassault Systèmes: www.3ds.com/simulia

deskeng.com /// April 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 15

Oxford Tests ‘RobotCar’ FDA Approves CFD Simulation Helps

➜ For daily coverage on the future of engineering technology, visit EngineeringOnTheEdge.com

Faster. Stronger. Lighter.

Learn how Altair can help you design better products by

HyperWorks is a division of Altair | altair.com

ESA Considers Moon

➜ For more coverage of rapid technologies, visit RapidReadyTech.com

Simulation for Everyone

deskeng.com /// April 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 19

GeoPath CAD/CAM for Everyday Parts

InnovMetric Adds Play Inspection Tool to PolyWorks

CAD-to-Part Inspection Solution Updated

ARES Commander Edition 2013 Released

20 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

Vertical laminar ﬂow through an

From ensuring clean airflows to pre-planning heart surgery, CFD

deskeng.com /// April 2013 DESKTOP ENGINEERING 21

Tool for All

22 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com

EASTEC is produced by SME

Flow, pressure and stress

24 DESKTOP ENGINEERING April 2013 /// deskeng.com