FEA simulation software chains electromagnetic, thermal and stress analysis.
Analysis Setup tool allows users to chain electromagnetics, thermal and stress analysis simulations in Opera v18. Image courtesy of Cobham.
Cobham has released a new version of their electromagnetic and multiphysics FEA software, Opera. Significant features of Opera v18 include:
- Graphical Analysis Setup tool simplifies multiphysics setup using a drag-and-drop editor
- Analytical tool to assess winding configurations like electrical motors
- Surface impedance boundary for transient electromagnetic analysis of thin elements
- Parallel processing
Opera v18 includes an Analysis Setup tool that will make it easier to organize multiphysics simulations and transient analysis.
Using the drag-and-drop tool, users can link their electromagnetic, thermal and stress analysis into a sequence or loops. At first glance, the tool sounds a lot like ANSYS Workbench or Simulia’s Isight.
Let’s say you are looking into how the deformation caused by a force, like a crash, affect the electromagnetics of an electric car’s motor. You can set up a loop that will determine the deformations based on the force, update the mesh, pass the information onto the electromagnetic simulation and repeat as needed.
Within the Opera-3d Modeler, users are given a graphical interface to organize their data and analysis. Users are able to define the analysis sequence using a drag-and-drop tool and can also define properties and parameters to control the analysis. The tool will also notify the user if their suggested order of analysis is possible. If a specific analysis is to be used multiple times, it can be saved and used in other sequences.
A Winding Tool is available in both the 2D and 3D packages of Opera. It is designed to help engineers assess the efficiency of their coil designs quickly. Using the tool they can investigate various options before moving onto the FEA and simulations. The tool consists of a wizard which will specify various configurations based on user inputs such as slot-pole combinations.
Other improvements to Opera v 18 include:
- Solve as 2D slice now standard in Opera-3D Machines environment
- Tabbed menus in Opera-2D and Opera-3D now allow keyboard shortcuts
- Menu bars replacing long drop-down menus
- English, French, Chinese and Japanese displays
- Improved links to third party package files (CATIA, IGES, NX, Parasolid, Pro/ENGINEER, Creo, SAT, STEP and SOLIDWORKS)