As computing power increases, engineers know they can gain even more certainty about their designs. How?
With more data, of course.
But more data is both a blessing and a curse. While if managed well it can increase engineers’ certainty in their designs, its value is lost if their software can’t handle it. Worse, trying to manage it without the proper system can take a lot of time—time they would otherwise use for intuitive decision-making.
Case in point: The need for a new way to explore volumetric solutions
A few years ago, engineers studying the flow around a small creature’s wing (say, a dragonfly wing) might have approximated the wing dynamics as simply an air flow, yielding lackluster results. Then, computer companies increased the power of their chips. The result?
A ton of new information.
With all this additional simulation data, engineers could now get a very complex view of their overall design. Suddenly they could add a flap to that wing and study the flow around it. They could add on the brackets and slats. They could even throw in a new design for a missile turret and a navigation light.
They were excited about the possibilities that awaited them. The problem? They couldn’t use the data yet.
And that’s where we came in.
After speaking with some of these engineers, we at Tecplot realized we could make changes to one of our products—Tecplot 360—that would help engineers more quickly see and work with the many fascinating anomalies in their simulation data.
The result: Constrained slices with automated seeding of random streamtraces
Working with some of our key customers, we developed a strategy to first allow engineers to use a slice to dive into an area of their design and then allow them to generate a number of streamtraces through that flow domain to identify hidden physics.
Simulation data meets it’s match with Tecplot 360 2012
Now, the new streamtrace placement tool in Tecplot 360 2012 allows engineers to “blanket” a surface with streamtraces to identify areas of separation they might not have seen among the sea of their simulation data.
And to these engineers, the wings of a butterfly have never been more beautiful.
Click here to read more about Tecplot 360 2012 R1.