Simcenter
Simcenter 3D software
Address complex engineering challenges by enhancing simulation efficiency. Simcenter 3D is one of the most comprehensive, fully-integrated CAE solution for complex, multidisciplinary product performance engineering.
SIMCENTER
Mechanical simulation
Predict mechanical performance of detailed product designs across multiple physics disciplines, such as structures, acoustics, motion and more. Efficiently pre- and post-process your simulation models quickly for accurate and fast simulation solvers so you can spend more time engineering innovation.
Simcenter mechanical simulation
Model the complexity, reduce prototypes
Use mechanical simulation tools to:
- Predict mechanical performance across multiple physics domains reducing reliance on physical prototypes
- Speed the simulation process to rapidly evaluate product performance and iterate on designs
- Simulate accurately and reliably with industry-leading solvers for computational performance and scalability
- Streamline complex, multiphysics analyses through integrated simulation tools
Explore Simcenter mechanical simulation products
Simcenter has the tools you need to predict the mechanical performance of your products. Browse the complete Simcenter Mechanical tool lineup.
Simcenter mechanical simulation capabilities
FE pre/post-processing
The simulation process includes steps for model preparation, often called pre-processing, and results analysis, often called post-processing. Pre-processing steps include importing, defeaturing and cleaning up CAD geometry, creating the finite element (FE) mesh, defining loads and boundary conditions as well as solution parameters. Pre-processing is often the longest, most time-consuming step in the simulation process.
Simcenter offers the tools you need to reduce the time you spend preparing analysis models and spend more time evaluating results. Quickly move from multi-CAD geometry data to a complete, run-ready analysis model using unique tools for CAE geometry editing, comprehensive meshing, FE assembly management, multi-CAE solver environments, and fast simulation results post-processing and reporting. Efficiently pre- and post-process your simulation models quickly for accurate and fast simulation solvers so you can spend more time engineering innovation.
Structural analysis
Understanding how a component or product assembly reacts under stress or vibration is critical in any industry. However, as products and materials become increasingly complex, engineers need tools that go beyond linear-statics analyses. Simcenter provides the structural analysis software you need to simulate a wide range of applications all within a single user environment. You no longer need one tool for linear statics, another to study fatigue, and yet another for nonlinear analysis. As a result, engineering departments can consolidate structural analysis tools, and you only need to know a single user interface.
Structural dynamics
Most machines and vehicles experience vibrations and other excitations that can impact their structural performance. Historically, physical testing methods were used for understanding the structural dynamics of various products. However, testing is costly and time consuming, and perhaps not very feasible with large structures like aircraft or ships. Simulation has become a key technology in understanding the structural dynamics of automobiles, spacecraft, jet engines, ships, electronic devices and industrial machines.
Simcenter offers a comprehensive solution to understand, analyze and improve the response when a system is subjected to dynamic loading. Simcenter builds on over 50 years of dynamics analysis experience to offer you the ability to efficiently understand and avoid excessive vibrations and stresses. Dedicated capabilities are available for noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) engineering, rotor dynamics and correlation.
Acoustic simulation
Are your customers expecting quieter products? Are competitors gaining ground by using sound quality as a differentiator? Will tighter noise regulations impact your product sales? Would you like to decrease the time spent on predicting sound fields or shave off weeks on complex jobs like engine run-ups?
Acoustic software helps you conquer these challenges. Simcenter offers interior and exterior acoustic simulation within an integrated solution that helps you make informed decisions during the early design stages so you can optimize your product’s acoustic performance. A unified and scalable modeling environment combined with efficient solvers and easy-to-interpret visualization capabilities enables you to quickly gain insight into the acoustic performance of your product.
Durability and fatigue analysis
Undoubtedly the most challenging task for durability engineers is designing fail-safe components and systems in the most efficient manner. System parts with insufficient fatigue strength may cause permanent structural damage and potentially life-threatening situations. Mistakes can cause product recalls which negatively influence not only the product but the overall brand image. Shorter development cycles and ever-increasing quality requirements have stretched test-based durability approaches to the limits. Evaluating and refining the durability performance by simulating, using durability software methods, is the only valid alternative.
Simcenter gives you access to state-of-the-art fatigue analysis methods that enable you to perform fatigue life prediction analyses quickly and accurately accounting for realistic loading conditions.
Motion simulation
Understanding the engineering performance is challenging for intricate mechanical systems, like wing flaps or landing gears, sliding sunroofs or suspensions, or photocopiers and other mechanisms. Motion simulation uses multibody dynamics to calculate the reaction forces, torques, velocities, acceleration and more for mechanical systems. You can directly convert CAD geometry and assembly constraints into an accurate motion model or create your own multibody model from scratch. The embedded motion solver and robust post-processing capabilities allow you to study of a broad range of mechanism behaviors.
Tire simulation and testing
The tire is a complex and highly non-linear vehicle component that has a significant effect on the behavior of a vehicle. As the number of vehicle models on the market continues increasing, so does the number of possible use cases that need to be tested and validated. This fact, in combination with the need for reduced development times, calls for ever more simulation instead of physical vehicle testing.
Modeling tire performance requires a lot of expertise and specialization. For this purpose, Simcenter offers engineers scalable and customized solutions. The ultimate goal is simulation to accurately represent tire forces and moments, so they can be propagated to various vehicle performance simulations.
Materials engineering
Companies are increasingly turning to composites and other advanced materials in order to reduce weight, increase strength and improve efficiency. However, the time and cost to develop and certify a new material can be prohibitively high, resulting in slower adoption of these novel materials. Additionally, advanced materials often behave in ways that are difficult to predict, resulting in longer time and higher cost to bring new products to market. Simcenter offers multiscale material simulation software to help you identify where, when and why a material may fail at the microstructural level. Performance at the material microscale level is then linked to overall part and system performance using that material. Simcenter also helps engineers optimize their material to avoid failure and reach target performance. Using Simcenter, engineers can bring new materials to market faster, at lower cost, and with more confidence that their design will perform as expected.
Thermal simulation
Thermal management is a major consideration for a wide range of products, including industrial machinery, automobiles and consumer electronics. The objective of any thermal management solution is to maintain a product’s temperature within a range that is optimal for performance. Accomplishing this may require the removal or addition of heat, either passively or in an actively managed fashion, and this can be evaluated using thermal simulation software.
Simcenter includes comprehensive, best-in-class thermal simulation capabilities that can help you understand the thermal characteristics of your product and subsequently tailor your thermal management solution for optimal performance.
Multiphysics
An uncomfortable truth about modern engineering is that there really are no easy problems left to solve. In order to meet the demands of industry, it’s no longer good enough to do a bit of CFD or some stress analysis. Complex industrial problems require solutions that span a multitude of physical phenomena, which often can only be solved using simulation techniques that cross several engineering disciplines.
Simcenter can help you streamline multiphysics simulation so that you can more accurately simulate real-world conditions.
Additive manufacturing build simulation
Additive manufacturing (AM) is changing the way products are made. New revolutionary machines and processes are rapidly pushing AM from the prototype environment onto the production floor. The additive manufacturing capabilities in Simcenter help you predict distortions and defects before parts are printed, thereby reducing the number of test prints and improving the quality of the final print.
Occupant safety simulation
Occupant and pedestrian safety are critical design aspects. These aspects determine whether a vehicle can be homologated. Therefore, thorough prototype testing needs to be done before a vehicle can go to market. However, this testing is expensive and can cause significant delays, especially when problems are discovered. For this reason, vehicle manufacturers try to save prototyping time and cost by doing upfront research and analysis using simulation.
Read more about occupant safety simulation
Design space exploration and optimization
To stay ahead in the innovation race, engineers need to be able to quickly predict the outcome of design changes on the real-world performance of their product. Engineering simulation provides an excellent way for you to cost-effectively evaluate how your products will perform under expected operating conditions.
Design exploration and optimization solutions take simulation to the next level yielding new, innovative product designs that result in exceptional performance.
Flexible pipes, hoses and cables
Many machines often have hoses or electrical cables that need to route through a moving machine, and it’s important to know how those cables and hoses will move during operation. Will the hose kink? Will electrical cables bend or break?
Simcenter can help you answer these questions and more.
