Western Pennsylvania ANSYS User's Group

Spring 2004 Meeting

Date: March 25, 2004 from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm

Where:   ANSYS Headquarters, seminar room, in Southpoint, Canonsburg, PA

Directions to ANSYS office: (Note: we will be across the street from Mallett's office)

Exit off I-79 at Exit 48 (Old Exit 10A) -Southpoint/Hendersonville. Turn into the Southpoint Complex on Southpoint Boulevard. Stay on Southpoint Boulevard for 1.4 miles. Straight through at the 1st stop light, straight through at the 1st stop sign (Southpoint Golf Clubhouse), straight through at the 2nd stop sign (Technology Drive), pass the lake on your left. Turn RIGHT at the 3rd stop sign (Technology Drive), continue up the hill 0.2 miles. Then turn left onto Hillpoint Drive, go to the top of the hill, and turn right into the ANSYS parking lot.  
In the ANSYS lobby, from the receptionist's desk, the ANSYS seminar room is down the hallway to the right.

TOPIC:  Annual Student Presentations Meeting
Agenda:

9:00 - 10:00 am Socialize:  coffee, orange juice, muffins
9:45 - 10:05 am "Thermal Response of Long Core Pins:  Simulated versus Actual Results" presented by PSU-Erie seniors Eric Bowersox, Jake Kent, and Aleaha Rice.  Advisor:  Marty Dropik 
10:05 - 10:25 am "Lift Lug for a Large Equipment Platform" presented by PSU-Erie seniors Mike Artello and Doug Cardo.  Advisors: Dave Roth and Shannon Sweeney
10:25 - 10:45 am "Thermal Stress During Heat Treating" presented by PSU-Erie seniors Eric Boyd and Steven Kotvas.  Advisors: Dave Roth and Dave Johnson
10:45 - 11:00 am     BREAK
11:00 - 11:20 am "Magnets in a Tube" presented by PSU-Erie seniors Arthur Luther and Joe Bianco.  Advisor: Dave Roth
11:20 - 11:40 am "Elastomeric Dampers" presented by PSU-Erie seniors Jesse Schrock and Scott McMaster  Advisor: Bob Michael
11:40 am - noon "Design of Exhaust Engine Manifold Joint Assembly" presented by PSU-Erie seniors Dan Hallo, Jeff Pennypacker, Joe Andrawes, Shannon Pine.  Advisor:  Dr. Amir Khalilollahi
noon - 1:15 pm Lunch:  Garden Tossed Salad, Chicken Pot Pie, Buttered Sweet Corn, Assorted Sodas, Chocolate Chip Cookies
1:15-1:45 pm Ray Browell, ANSYS Inc., PPFA:  Parallel Performance for ANSYS

NOTES:
  • PPFA is an add-on product
  • two new solvers added at ANSYS 8.0: DJCG and DPCG
  • additional requirement, MPI (message passing interface) - may be available as freeware
  • much faster/more robust/req. less RAM than older DDS solver
  • at ANSYS 8.1, DPCG will have the MSAVE option (allows bigger models)
  • example presented for soultion with 12.8 million DOF's
1:45-2:15 pm Walk-through tour of ANSYS Inc. facilities
2:15 - 3:00 pm Dan Shaw, ANSYS Inc, The multi-field solver (introduced in ANSYS Multiphysics at Release 8.0) will be the coupled-field analyses method eventually implemented in Workbench Environment

NOTES:

  • ONE solid model - separate/different meshes for each field
  • each field is solved and can be repeated until convergence is reached ("stagger" loop) - all within the TIME step (Load Step/Substep) loop.
  • supports static, transient, and harmonic simulations

The powerpoint presentation on 8.0 Multiphysics is available at http://www.ansys.com/ansys/multiphysics.htm

Interesting Note:  We got into a discussion about the value of the newer elements (e.g., PLANE183 vs. PLANE82 2D planar elements, SOLID186 vs. SOLID95 bricks, SOLID187 vs. SOLID92 tetrahedral).  
In general, the recommendation is (particularly for large models): users should be choosing the newer element technology (element name > 180).  These elements are better tuned for modern solver performance and large models should solve more efficiently.  In addition, all new developments will include the newer elements while the older coding like PLANE82 and SOLID95 will remain unchanged.
3:00 - 3:15 pm Closing and Adjournment

Attendance: 26 members, 15 students