ANSYS Releases Discovery Live for Real-Time 3D Simulation

Engineers and Designers: “I want it all and I want it now!”

ANSYS’ response: “No problem.”

Yesterday, ANSYS launched a one-of-a-kind simulation tool, coined ANSYS Discovery Live. For the first time, engineers and designers can modify and visualize simulation results in real-time (teaser video below).  

Discovery Live changes the game for design and simulation. A typical engineering design workflow is serial. An engineer or designer will take their best guess at a first design and then input this design into a simulation. This is an iterative process that repeats itself until the most optimized design is reached. With Discovery Live both design and simulation are merged into one operation. Instantaneous feedback is given by the program as the design is changed. 

By being able to incrementally change design and receive instant visual feedback, Discovery Live is letting engineers and designers instantly design, simulate, and visualize thousands of design iterations and their implications right in front of their eyes. What may have taken days or weeks in the past to receive feedback on a simulation is now being made available “live” and upfront in the design process. No more need for re-meshing and waiting on the computer to re-generate a model. 

 But how is ANSYS compressing all of this computer and visual processing time so that results are instantaneous? Answer: NVIDIA. ANSYS has partnered with NVIDIA to deliver a new simulation technology based upon the massively powerful nature of Graphics Processing Untis (GPUs). By using NVIDIA’s GPU, which helps to deliver super-computing capabilities, Discovery Live is able to unleash a new breed of simulation. Combine this computing power with ANSYS’ decades long experience and R&D efforts into Engineering Simulation and Discovery Live truly becomes a one-of-a-kind product.

Bob Pette, Vice President, Professional Visualization, NVIDIA, shared his comments on the release, stating, “ANSYS Discovery Live unleashes the power of NVIDIA GPUs and CUDA parallel computing to make the first ever real-time design environment with simultaneous visualization and simulation possible. We have a long history of working with ANSYS and look forward to our continued collaboration to advance breakthroughs in the way new products are designed and created.”

Discovery Live is also another tool that complements a trend that ANSYS calls “Pervasive Engineering Simulation”. The trend is that engineering simulation is spreading to all areas of engineering practice and ANSYS plans to provide all the simulation tools necessary to allow professionals in each practice to get it right the first time. 

Big players in the manufacturing and design industry are taking note of this release. Bob Tickel, Director of Structural and Dynamic analysis, Cummins, notes:

“Cummins is committed to analysis-led design and I believe that Discovery Live will propel us forward faster in this area. We are very impressed and we see the potential to deploy this technology globally across all our different businesses.”

Educators are taking note, as well; Professor Rajesh Bhaskaran, Swanson Director of Engineering Simulation, Cornell University, remarked:

“I see this as a valuable teaching tool as it removes the barrier of having to learn how to use a simulation tool. Educators can focus on teaching the concepts, demonstrating the physics in action and how to asses the results. Similarly students can get right to the physics and discover without having to become simulation experts first. This tool will allow true democratization of simulation.”

This new tool fits well into the future of additive manufacturing. Combine the unlimited design freedom of additive and the instant iterative simulation results of Discovery Live and the doors open for new and complex geometries. Imagine a designer being able to design and simulate a complex structural component one day and print his or her design the next. The future of 3D printing is certainly bright. Tools like Discovery Live will only enhance creativity and speed to market of new products and concepts that were once only imaginations.

ANSYS is also offering this new tool free of charge from September 7 to January 2018. Their hope is that the customer feedback received during this time, will help them to make the product even more fluid and easy to use in future releases.

Check out the official press release from ANSYS’s and the Discovery Live website for more information on how to sign up and download this software.

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