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Next-generation key to solving partial differential equations makes it possible to run far more ‘what-if’ analyses while building fewer physical prototypes. Charles Clarke explains.
When using software tools to analyse and replace diseased bone or predicting friction and flow around a swimsuit in the pursuit of speed, engineers are working with the complex behaviour of matter, where one set of variables depends directly on another.
The key to such calculations is to solve the partial differential equations that describe the situations and the way they react in their environment.
Until now, the finite element method has been used to solve these equations. Now a new method is creating a computational environment where the equations for any physical phenomena can be accessed and fully coupled without limitation, and applied to the geometry of the system's components.
Called multiphysics simulation, this makes it possible to run more 'what-if' analyses while building fewer physical prototypes. This ability to solve the fully coupled set of equations in a single, fast simulation is the real breakthrough.
Tim Morris, chief executive of independent FEA industry body
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