ANSYS AIM – The next big thing in simulation
Over time ANSYS has come up with revolutionary products that have greatly assisted the designers and engineers in testing out their products before full production. One of the new product in this list is the ANSYS AIM. This software is targeted to make the daunting task of simulation much easier and simpler for someone who is inexperienced in this sector.
Table of Contents (click to navigate)
- What is ANSYS AIM?
- ANSYS AIM and ANSYS Multiphysics
- Why is ANSYS AIM the next big thing?
- Sample fatigue assessment of a bicycle frame with ANSYS AIM
- How will ANSYS AIM and is impacting the industry?
- References
What is ANSYS AIM?
ANSYS AIM is a much simpler and straightforward simulation software by ANSYS Inc. to provide an easy to use engineering simulation platform so that anyone can test out their products. ANSYS AIM uses a pre-loaded set of templates that can be easily tweaked by the users to cater to their simulation needs. ANSYS AIM is a complete solution for the design engineering simulations with all the needed steps starting from the geometry creation to full results generation and optimizations in a unified, modern, easy to use simulation environment.
ANSYS AIM and ANSYS Multiphysics
ANSYS AIM and ANSYS Multiphysics solutions work together to deliver the user with a single yet enriched simulation experience to cater to the modern complex engineering demands. ANSYS Multiphysics help cross-functional engineering organizations to perfectly predict the characteristics and performance of complex products that are influenced by multiple physics.
According to the Director of design division in Kubert + Schmidt, Richard Krellner, for the simulations of different physical domains, for example, a static structural coupled with fluid flow simulation, their company uses ANSYS AIM as their primary method of simulation as it is an easy to use Multiphysics coupling system. Now their engineers and technicians are capable of carrying out Multiphysics simulations with minimal training in their daily work. A feat that was hard to achieve before (Wilde Analysis Ltd, 2017).
Why is ANSYS AIM the next big thing?
Ever since the inception of computer simulation to fulfill the extensive engineering prototyping demands, engineers and software developers have sought after an easy to use, unified and simplified simulation software. ANSYS AIM is one step closer to this dream. Here are some of the major reasons why ANSYS AIM is expected to be the next big thing and a must-have software in engineering firms.
- Standardized process across an organization
Unlike other simulation software, ANSYS AIM is a ‘process’ oriented simulation software from the beginning which is a crucial step in making the processes standardized. This is amplified with pre-loaded tools that allow the daily users, not just programmers, to create customized templates capturing the required steps for a given simulation. Though other top tier simulation software developers have previously tried this approach, the workflows presented by them were either too rigid or did not capture complex simulations.
- A stop to “good enough” simulation done by design engineers
The lack of simplicity and high training has always kept robust and highly technical simulation tools out of the hands of the design engineers. Simulation software for design engineers lack so much functionality and have been water down over the period, that they fail to deliver accurate and precise answers. ANSYS AIM solves this issue by providing the design engineers with an effective tool that they can just simply pick and start using without the need of high training.
- All the Multiphysics now did by one user
Multiphysics simulation involves the use of multiple simulation tools. For example, a structural solver coupled with a CFD solver. The problem with the use of multi-solvers is that the users do not have much time to learn two or more tools and even if they do, using them together is a separate set of learning curve.
Therefore, Multiphysics is usually done with several experts working together on a single project or in some rare cases, an expert in multi-tool expertise. Since ANSYS AIM is a Multiphysics
tool built from ground up with robust physics solvers, the simulation limitations automatically go away, and almost any engineer can carry out Multiphysics simulations.
- A return to home-grown automation for simulation
If you are doing computer simulations since the 80s, then you probably remember the time when the companies used to have their own tools and scripts to automate and speed up their simulation process. These tools and scripts used to be powerful and delivered huge productivity gains. With the user interface becoming mature over time and the default tools getting more powerful, the need to create your own automation tools has faded away.
Previously, to do so, you had to be a highly experienced programmer; therefore, more and more companies resorted to the default tools. However, ANSYS AIM has brought back this feature with scripting and recording for every feature in the tool with an easy to use computing language, Python.
- Enables it to be used right when you need it
This is one of the biggest design features of ANSYS AIM. Many engineers do not use simulation tools quite often because they are usually occasional users of the software and its tools. They tend to feel that the time taken to re-familiarize with the tools and software is significantly longer than it takes to carry out the simulation. In a way, they are right too. Simulation software is usually complex and demands daily practice for the users to be fluent in. The combination of different features unique to ANSYS AIM deals with this issue in a quite effective manner. It allows the users to pick it up, use it to drive their design and move onto the next task.
Sample fatigue assessment of a bicycle frame with ANSYS AIM
In this example, a bicycle frame is used to carry out the structural analysis. This example is used to demonstrate how simplified and easy it is now to simulate your product with the all-new ANSYS AIM.
The image above shows the simplified user interface of the ANSYS AIM with a bicycle frame in it. The model is ready to be tested for its integrity. The importing of external geometry in AIM is simplified, and the software can automatically detect the missing parts and update accordingly.
In this simulation, the deformation under load is carried out which is a component of the structural analysis. Therefore, we need to use structural analysis as the simulation model. To do so, the user can simply select it to form the simulation process templates present in the top-left window of the main workflow.
ANSYS AIM preloaded with fully customizable simulation templates
After selected, the user can then select the specifics for the model such as selecting the geometry option, calculation types and other details. After the specifics are set, the user can then remove the additional parts by just simply clicking on the checkboxes on the left side.
ANSYS AIM integrated geometry modeler
The user can remove the wheels, seat, pedals and handle and other unnecessary parts required for the frame testing. Once removed, the frame would look something like this.
All the unessential parts removed from the frame
Previously, meshing a 3D object required many different inputs from the users along with deep knowledge on meshing refinement to carry out the simulation with good results. In ANSYS AIM, the high-precision meshing can be carried out with a simple click of a button.
The meshing of the complete model with a simple click of a button
Precise meshing is done by ANSYS AIM
Once the meshing is done, the user then needs to select the supports and the load on the bicycle frame. The supports are the points where the frame is connected with the wheels whereas, the load is applied to the seating area.
Supports on the bicycle frame
The contact regions are automatically determined by the software.
ANSYS AIM automatically detects the contacts points
After all the pre-processing is done with simple clicks, the simulation can be done.
Full body deformation of the fatigue results
The results from the ANSYS AIM are fast, precise and pre-processing is quite simple which can be done by anyone having a surface level understanding of product simulation.
How will ANSYS AIM and is impacting the industry?
ANSYS AIM is the next big thing in the computer simulation industry. The changes and improvements bought in by ANSYS AIM allow more users within a company to have access to robust simulation tools and carry out complex simulations on their own. ANSYS AIM is designed by the largest simulation software company in the world to give its users of today and tomorrow with modern simulation tools and power to carry out the simulation on their own. It enables faster, smoother, sooner and more accurate virtual testing. We at sunglass publish ANSYS based tutorials and articles on a weekly basis. You may also check out more of our published articles. Please subscribe to get updates on our new posts.
References
- ANSYS Inc., 2018. ANSYS AIM. [Online]
Available at: https://www.ansys.com/-/media/ansys/corporate/resourcelibrary/brochure/ansys-aim-brochure.pdf
[Accessed 27th March 2019].
- Wilde Analysis Ltd, 2017. ANSYS Discovery AIM for Easy Design Simulation. [Online]
Available at: https://wildeanalysis.co.uk/software/design-simulation/ansys/aim/
[Accessed 27th March 2019].
