If you’ve been paying attention to the role SIMULIA plays in the 3DEXPERIENCE, then you’re likely to have heard of the term MODSIM. Dassault Systèmes defines the term as the direct integration between simulation and design engineering.
The backbone of this MODSIM strategy is the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. It offers users a unified experience that can be optimized to their given industry, role and expertise. This integrated environment is designed to improve communications between various software that is used throughout a product’s lifecycle (from CAD to CAE, test, production and more). Instead of transferring and converting models from one software to another, MODSIM technologies work on one model, offering a single source of truth for everyone working on the design.
“You can band aid and tie technology, or script it together by hand for a one-off purpose here and there,” Berry explained. “But if you’re really going to use it in a production environment and rely on those methods and technologies, again and again, you got to do it in an integrated way. And our way of doing that is to put it all on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.”
For instance, say a SIMULIA user, it needs to perform a simulation on a complex assembly. All the welds, connections and parts of the geometry need to move from the CAD tool to the simulation model. The MODSIM strategy aims to automate this traditionally time-consuming and error-prone process.
So, let’s take a look at some of the aspects of the 3DEXPERIENCE and how it relates to the MODSIM strategy.
How a Unified Simulation Experience Relates to MODSIM
The 3DEXPERIENCE has no shortage of simulation software. Some of the tools that users have access to include:
- Abaqus: for linear and non-linear structural simulations
- Fe-safe: for durability analysis and life cycle estimations
- Tosca Structure: for shape and topology optimizations
- PowerFLOW and XFlow: for Lattice-Boltzmann CFD simulations
- Dassault Systèmes mainstream CFD technology: for Navier-Stokes CFD simulations
- Tosca Fluid: for fluid flow shape optimization
- CST Studio Suite: for high and low-frequency electromagnetics calculations
- Simpack: for multibody dynamics simulations
- Wave6: for Vibro-acoustics simulations through air and water
By linking these technologies, and more, into the 3DEXPERIENCE, Dassault Systèmes can simplify the design process by offering workflows, unified experiences and seamless data transfer. It also simplifies the ability to produce multiphysics simulations which enable users to experience their designs earlier in the development process.
Berry said, “batteries, electric drive, sustainability and advanced materials, all of these challenges really need more than just point solutions. In fact, you really need a multidisciplinary approach. That’s the goal to solve those big trends and the big problems you got to have a big portfolio.”
It is these multidisciplinary workflows that connect the 3DEXPERIENCE’s vast simulation options to the MODSIM philosophy. Berry explained, that “the potential to execute some of these multidisciplinary workflows, the platform is the place where with a single data model and a single user interface. We are integrating the technology to provide it in a production environment. So, from the user point of view, you will have a big sandbox to build the kind of simulation processes, and methods, that you really couldn’t attack before as a stand-alone user.”
How MODSIM Simplifies the Automation and Optimization Workflow
“To do a multidisciplinary type of simulation you have to be able to build, manage and execute not just simulation runs and models but full simulation workflows,” said Berry.
The 3DEXPERIENCE is how Dassault Systemes, and its users, build these workflows. With this platform, users can “capture, manage, deploy, version and replay workflows that are built-in sequence or parallel using the elements of this technology,” said Berry.
Once workflows are standardized, users can automate them easier. This all starts with the whole MODSIM philosophy, integrating CAD and CAE is a large part of this standardization.
With automated workflows, users can use tools like Tosca to perform complex optimization and design space explorations. This enables users to assess more design alternatives in less time. Berry clarified, “once you have those [workflows] you can use them to do design exploration, multidisciplinary optimization, design for Six Sigma, Monte Carlo and a whole host of other studies to characterize not just a particular model but an entire design space.”
He notes that Isight is one of the tools to pay attention to during the automation and optimization process. It’s a technology suite of parameter optimization technology. He said, “it’s one of the key things we need to reduce material usage, increase performance and reduce waste in our society and our products.”
These workflows aren’t limited to Dassault Systèmes technology. Users can integrate third-party tools, like Excel, into the automated workflow. The third-party programs will be initiated during the optimization run.
To perform all these optimizations, users are going to need a lot of computational power. This is where SIMULIA Execution Engine comes into play. It can control the simulation process and distribute the workload throughout an HPC and cloud environment.
The 3DEXPERIENCE Platform Makes Customizable MODSIM Experiences Possible
“A platform is a social place for innovation and it connects different users to help bring people together to do more than they can do individually. It’s not isolating the person. It’s connecting them to the person with the right expertise,” said Berry.
By making MODSIM a reality, users can accelerate their collaboration and innovation with the use of a single source of truth, standardized workflows and tools to share knowledge with others on the team.
How one user might experience 3DEXPERIENCE’s MODSIM technology will differ from others based on their technical role, industry and experience.
“We have a set of roles that are associated with CATIA. One of them is structural performance engineer,” Berry explained. “Basically, it is Abaqus for the CATIA user. Abaqus and TOSCA are included to apply generative design capabilities. It’s not a SIMULIA role but the technology is bundled in the role for generative design.”
He added, “there is an offering that is called Structural mechanics engineer that is targeted to the SOLIDWORKS user. They can benefit from Abaqus technology that is directly associated with SOLIDWORKS. You don’t have to go anywhere to get the advantage of Abaqus’ non-linear analysis.”
As you might expect from the MODSIM strategy, all these tools, data and workflows are intimately connected. “The key is that all the technology is the same,” said Berry. “It’s not a different FEA code if you’re a CATIA user, a SOLIDWORKS user, a standalone user, or a platform user… The technology core is the same, it’s how we deliver it that differs.”
Dassault Systèmes isn’t just offering customized deliveries of its technologies based on user roles, they are also optimizing the technology on an industry-by-industry basis.
Berry noted that “industry processes are a tailored set of workflows customized for a particular industry. The technology is the same, the way it is delivered and the way we interact with the customer, to transfer the software and the knowledge on how to execute these things, that’s what makes up an industry process.”
So, what does the future hold for the 3DEXPERIENCE and MODSIM? Berry said, “we’re busy building all this technology on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. I would say that we’re not done, but we’re making pretty good progress.”
For more on the MODSIM philosophy, watch this video:
Overview of the 3DEXPERIENCE’s MODSIM technology.