Ansys 2023 R2: Highlights, Synergies and Interoperability with PTC and Altium

Ansys 2023 R2: Highlights, Synergies and Interoperability with PTC and Altium

This blog will explore some exciting features of the Ansys 2023 R2 release and how they connect to the PDSVISION solution for a smooth digital thread throughout the Product Lifecycle Process.

PDSVISION, as a partner of Ansys, PTC, and Altium, is excited about the synergies and interoperability enhancements this release provides in this ecosystem. Great examples include the bidirectional integration between Ansys and Altium electronics packages, which replaces import and export translation, and the Ansys SCADE – PTC Codebeamer connector, which facilitates requirements traceability.

Ansys SCADE is a suite of tools designed for safety-critical software development. It allows engineers to design, verify, and generate critical embedded software. SCADE supports Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and Model-Based Design (MBD) methodologies. PTC CodeBeamer is an application lifecycle management (ALM) and collaboration platform that offers comprehensive requirements, risk, and test management capabilities. These powerful features enable efficient workflows, enhancing the performance of engineering teams and driving industry innovation forward.

The Ansys 2023 R2 release empowers distributed engineering teams with new technologies and performance enhancements. The Ansys Discovery simulation-driven design tool in 2023 R2 continues to make digital engineering more accessible and immediate by performing live structural physics on 3D models. The release combines an exceptional range of sophisticated capabilities, performance improvements, and cross-disciplinary engineering solutions. The R2 equips organizations with advanced physics solvers, scalable GPU-based and cloud-based computing, and seamless workflows.

With the integration of Ansys advanced simulation numerics and the boost provided by high-performance computing (HPC) through graphic processing units (GPUs) and cloud computing, the latest Ansys release enables engineers and researchers in every industry to harness the transformative power of digital engineering.

3D Design with Ansys Discovery for more speed and accuracy

Ansys Discovery 2023 R2 brings exciting new features that enable users to innovate and explore product ideas faster and more accurately. Engineers and designers can now achieve both speed and precision without compromising either.

Some key highlights of the new Ansys Discovery are the Live-GX solver, Poly Meshing, and Cutter Bodies. These features allow users to maintain speed and accuracy while significantly reducing the GPU hardware memory requirements. Ansys has integrated native polyhedral meshing support, which enhances mesh quality and leads to quicker and more optimized simulations.

In traditional meshing methods, such as tetrahedral or hexahedral meshing, the elements are made up of simple shapes like tetrahedrons (3D) or triangles (2D). Polyhedral meshing, on the other hand, uses more general polyhedral elements: three-dimensional solids with flat polygonal faces (e.g., hexagons, pentagons, squares) and straight edges. The advantages of polyhedral meshing include efficiency, better representation of curved surfaces, smoother interpolation, and improved boundary representation.

The Cutter Bodies feature addresses the time-consuming and frustrating challenges associated with working on complex assemblies for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) studies. Users can efficiently subtract overlapping parts by moving the creation of fluid region details onto the GPU. Only a simple exterior fluid region is needed as input geometry.

Electronics with improved Altium ECAD integration

In the 2023 R2 release, Ansys Electronics continues to showcase its computational electromagnetics leadership.

Maxwell, the low-frequency electromagnetic field simulation solution, introduces new capabilities such as ECAD (Electronic Computer-Aided Design) integration, enabling the prediction of electromagnetic (EM) forces on ECAD to facilitate noise and vibration analysis. Time domain simulation improvements using HPC open new possibilities for magnetics and power electronics applications in consumer devices.

HFSS, the high-frequency simulation software for designing and analyzing high-frequency electromagnetic components, also brings enhancements, including integrations of the 3D Layout tool, HPC adaptive mesh refinement, and further refinements in other Electronics tools. Check out Paavo’s blog on using Ansys SIwave for Signal Integrity Analysis on Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) that you have designed in Altium ECAD.

Ansys Motor-CAD, the dedicated design and analysis tool for electric motors, comes with advanced capabilities for calculating concept level Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) for synchronous wound field machines and introduces novel hairpin winding capabilities. Moreover, cloud offerings now include Motor-CAD, available on Ansys Gateway. This enables users to run Motor-CAD/OptiSLang workflows with powerful hardware in the cloud.

Structures with powerful automation

In 2023 R2, the Ansys Structures product line delivers new features and capabilities that allow users to perform more accurate, efficient, and actionable structural simulation analyses. I am personally a big fan of Python. That’s why I am excited for PyMechanical to connect with and automate capabilities.

1. Interface with Ansys Mechanical pythonically to automate capabilities and connect with other technologies using PyMechanical.
2. Perform accurate and robust turbomachinery simulations leveraging new enhancements, including imported load support for multistage cyclic symmetry analyses, a new forced response add-on using standardized capabilities, and a new advanced nonlinear multi-harmonic solver.
3. Meshing enhancements for quality and welds.
4. Explore a variety of drop test height and angle variations, with added support to concurrently solve multiple drop test analyses with the Ansys LS-DYNA solver.
5. Create a desired local region sub-model on a Printed Circuit Board Assembly (PCBA) using the Sherlock pre-plug-in for Ansys Mechanical.
6. Export Ansys Motion‘s vibration results into Ansys Sound for acoustics analysis and psychoacoustic indicators for automotive, A&D, and heavy machinery applications.

Fluids with the power of multiple GPUs

With the 2023 R2 release, Ansys continues pushing the boundaries of performance, productivity, and capability for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations.

This release brings significant enhancements that improve performance through the multi-GPU solver, increase end-user productivity with automation and insights, and extend the capabilities to address ever-growing complexity in customer CFD applications. Not to forget the possibilities and power that PyFluent offers for users and their teams!

Here are some of the key improvements in the 2023 R2 release:

1. Unleash the power of multiple GPUs with new support for rotating components with sliding mesh, compressible flows, and Electrical Discharge Machining (EDM) combustion simulations.
2. Quickly view and edit model and solver settings, monitors, and post-processing settings without having to load the mesh – you can, for example, open a 6-billion cell case in as little as 80 seconds.
3. Access additional solver settings within PyFluent for Discrete Phase Model (DPM), radiation, species transport, new virtual blade model (VBM), mesh interfaces, and more, broadening the range of automation applications.
4. Significant aerospace application enhancements include a Virtual Blade Model, a built-in Aero-Optical workflow, and new innovations to help you take control of phenomena at hypersonic speeds.
5. Automate meshing for hydro-turbines, including the ability to mesh Kaplan and Francis turbines using Ansys TurboGrid.
6. Ansys Forte now includes a new Volume of Fluids (VOF) capability, allowing the simulation of oil injection in screw compressors and pumps.
7. Ansys Rocky introduces new post-processing capabilities featuring streamlines, flow tracers, and innovative boundary interaction statistics.

These enhancements, and more, empower users to conduct more sophisticated simulations, tackle complex challenges, and gain valuable insights to drive innovation in their CFD applications.

Materials Information that complements PTC products

Materials Information Management, Granta, Granta Materials Data for Simulation (MDS), Granta Selector, and Granta MI hold a special place in PDSVISION, and our colleague, Mikko Hinkkanen, has been presenting digital product development workflows that connect Granta with PTC Creo CAD and PTC Windchill Product Lifecycle Management and Sustainability in our conferences.

The integration of Ansys Granta with PTC Creo has been further improved in the Ansys 2023 R2 release. Designers can now effortlessly assign multiple materials from Granta, MI, to multibody CAD. Use for applications like Topology Optimization, Generative Design, and Additive Manufacturing.

Moreover, the Ansys 2023 R2 release enhances the material search experience. Granta MI now features a step-change in Granta MI UX, with improved search and filtering capabilities. Users can access larger datasets 3x times faster, and the synchronization of body assignments from Creo to Windchill is now smoother and more efficient. These improvements make it easier for users to find the needed materials and streamline their workflows within the digital product development process.

Easy workflows for optics modeling

With the 2023 R2 release, Ansys Optics brings new innovations to its industry-leading optical tools. The new Ansys Optics innovations address the needs of modern optics design and workflow optimization. Save time and money, and bring products to market more quickly.

For Ansys Optics, 2023 R2 adds Optics Launcher with self-service trials. It provides a convenient launch pad for all Ansys Optics applications and access to application gallery example files from Ansys Lumerical, Ansys Zemax, and Ansys Speos products.

Ansys Lumerical, the tool for simulating light’s interactions for designing photonic components and systems, sees powerful enhancements in the 2023 R2 release, extending usability, accuracy, performance, and functionality. GPU-powered simulations are now available in Ansys Lumerical FDTD, particularly beneficial for photonic integrated component design and metasurface applications. Users can achieve a 6x speedup using a single GPU Nvidia RTX4000, compared to a 12-Core CPU. Additionally, a new remote Python API streamlines workflows and facilitates remote job execution.

The integrated workflows with Ansys Zemax, Speos, and Lumerical Rigorous Coupled-Wave Analysis (RCWA) in the 2023 R2 release bring significant advancements to optics modeling across various scales, from nanoscale to macroscale.

Ansys Zemax is a versatile tool for simulating, optimizing, and tolerancing optical designs. Speos is a tool focused on predicting the illumination and optical performance of systems.

By combining these powerful tools, users can streamline the modeling process for optics in a wide range of applications, including augmented reality, metalens design, and end-to-end camera system modeling. The advanced post-processing methods further enhance the analysis and visualization of simulation results, providing a comprehensive understanding of optical behavior at different scales.

Ansys Zemax 2023 R2 continues the tradition of meeting users’ needs with state-of-the-art optical design and workflow optimization. Notable highlights include a faster structural, thermal, and optical performance (STOP) workflow with the FEA Symmetry Tool. You can use symmetrical load assumptions for the reduction of simulation time. Ansys Zemax OpticsBuilder 2023 R2 is supported on ​Creo Parametric. It introduces Fold Mirror Tool as a new functionality. This allows users to simulate their environment and place fold mirrors that will enable their optical product to fit tight space constraints​.

Ansys Speos 2023 R2 focuses on productivity, acceleration, and result experience for optics designers. Users can now optimize parameters, conduct design of experiments, and leverage custom algorithms for enhanced productivity. The new Speos GPU Acceleration enables ray file source simulations to run directly on the GPU, improving simulation speed. The Interactive Live Preview is a brand-new explorative workflow feature that allows designers to explore “what-if scenarios” and instantly observe changes.

Overall, the 2023 R2 release of Ansys Optics, Lumerical, Zemax, and Speos delivers a suite of powerful tools and enhancements to meet the evolving needs of optical design professionals, allowing them to achieve more accurate simulations, faster workflows, and better results for their optical products and systems.

Safety Analysis that addresses your industry-specific requirements

Ansys medini is the model-based, integrated tool supporting safety analysis for safety-critical electrical and electronic (E/E) and software (SW) controlled systems. In the Ansys 2023 R2 release, Ansys medini analyze offers more efficient and comprehensive safety, reliability, and cybersecurity analysis capabilities. Ansys has introduced a new safety collaboration platform, facilitating seamless teamwork with the new web-based Digital Safety Manager (DSM).

Here are some of the highlights of the 2023 R2 release:

1. Automotive and A&D Requirements: Ansys medini analyze now includes capabilities that specifically address the automotive and aerospace & defense requirements. Standards such as ISO 26262 (Road Vehicles – Functional Safety), SOTIF (Safety Of The Intended Functionality), ARP4761 (Guidelines and Methods for Conducting Safety Assessment Process on Civil Airborne Systems and Equipment), MIL-STD-882E (Department of Defense Standard Practice for System Safety), and ISO/SAE 21434 (Road vehicles – Cybersecurity engineering) are supported.
2. Memory and Runtime Improvements: In this release, Ansys has made improvements to reduce memory usage and runtime for large fault trees, enhancing the overall performance and efficiency of safety and reliability analysis.
3. FMEA Perspective: Ansys medini analyze provides a user-friendly interface tailored for FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) analysts. The interface hides some of the complexities, making it easier for analysts to perform FMEA tasks effectively.
4. SysML Tables: SysML Tables offers a generic means to display and edit models in a tabular format.

Overall, the 2023 R2 release of Ansys medini analyze brings significant enhancements and additions to the platform, empowering users to perform safety, reliability, and cybersecurity analysis with greater efficiency and effectiveness.

What’s next?

Would you like to know more? Would you like to give your organization the opportunity to try and experience the features of Ansys 2023 R2? Contact me using this form.

Tuomas Eerola, Business Unit Director for CAE, PDSVISION