Electric vehicle batteries, drones and self-driving cars all get attention with the upgraded solution.
Simcenter System Simulation Solutions 2021.2 Has a Little Something for Everyone
When Siemens announced the release of Simcenter System Simulation Solutions 2021.2 at the end of 2021, there were changes made to most of the specialized parts of the software tool, as well as shifts made in the core tool itself. Attention was paid to the standard parts of the tool, and moves were made to push further into vehicle electrification, unmanned aerial vehicles and autonomous driving. The goal of System Simulation Solutions remains the same, according to the company, helping customers to fully understand a product or system from the conceptual stages and creating the best design possible.
An overview of Siemens System Simulation Solutions 2021.2.
The automotive, aerospace and marine industries continue to be major players in the simulation landscape. Specialized subtools for fluid and thermal flow, digital twins and collaboration are present as well. On the purely functional side, Amesim and Flomaster get big feature bumps.
Amesim 2021.2 Helps to Build the Better Battery
Amesim sees improvements over several of its customer industries, but for me the biggest bump is the Battery Identification Tool. Siemens has always had a strong commitment to engineers and programmers working on vehicle electrification and the belief that fast consistent innovation would move the industry. The Battery Design Studio has also been around for a few years, helping engineers to analyze and design lithium-ion batteries. The Battery Identification Tool enables users to enter several thermal and electrical parameters for a battery and then build a profile for the system.
The system information can be stored as a profile so that users can keep a specific unit for simulations. Temperature dependencies and stress levels are then generated for each new case involving this battery profile. Pulse width modulation (PWM) and permanent magnet synthesis machines (PMSM) also have new features in System Simulation Solutions 2021.2.
The aerospace and marine industries are also included in the feature improvements for 2021.2. Gas turbine design already receives considerable attention from Siemens, using multiphysics to study the airflow and temperatures about the turbine blade and the physical material of the blades at the same time. The new release of System Simulation Solutions lets users modify ambient temperatures and components to build more accurate simulation models. 2021.2 also gives some attention to cryogenic tanks and simulating green hydrogen production. New pressurization and regulation options will help users to obtain better data around the storage of low-temperature liquids.
The Flight Dynamics boosts made to the simulation tools are mostly built around unmanned aerial vehicles. The different options for simulating landings, takeoffs and lift all have a definite drone focus.
Flomaster Focuses on the Digital Twin
Flomaster has always been one of the Simcenter tools that is helpful not just for simulation and design but also to understanding what is happening to an existing physical component. Flomaster can now act as a mix of theoretical studies from simulation, digital twins of actual physical systems out in the world and Internet of Things components—which can sometimes allow a user to control that physical system.
The new 2021.2 version of System Simulation pushes the boundaries of linking a system model to a physical component and using the OPC United Architecture communication platform to let the digital twin pull data from the physical twin. Another new feature, the real-time controller, lets users perform occasional checks on the physical part to understand how accurate the digital twin really is. If a user notices that some digital twin parameters have slipped from their reality counterpart, then the simulation can be adjusted with the real-time controller. There isn’t a lot of deep information available yet regarding this controller, but I’m looking forward to learning more.
Updates to Access, Interface and Communications
The WebApp Server has some new additions to its long list of current functions. The tool already provided a fast method for users to share their simulations and digital twins with other people in the organization who didn’t have a license for Simcenter. Now, users can more easily run Flomaster and Simulink functional mockup interfaces through the WebApp Server.
System Analyst has some minor changes, most of which relate to the visual manipulation methods available to users. Those wanting to take a deep dive into data visualization have more tools to see results in three dimensions, as well as tools to view small pieces of large datasets.
Fans of change control and version control systems will be happy to see that 2021.2 looks like the start of a big push to use Git for tracking changes. Wouter Dehandschutter has a great article about a collaboration he did with a colleague, using Git to help track the different parameters and studies run for the project. Starting with this release, System Simulation Solutions looks to be using Git in conjunction with Amesim, Systems Analyst and System Architect.
Teamcenter is also woven into the 2021.2 Simulation changes. Product lifecycle management is just as important as change and revision control, and Teamcenter is positioned to help engineers get the information they need when they need it. Linking Teamcenter Simulation with Amesim and Flomaster should work almost like the WebApp tool to share milestone or gate review data with different employees.
What Does It All Mean?
This new 2021.2 revision of Simcenter System Simulation Solutions is full of changes big and small. This isn’t a disruptive upgrade and there’s enough familiarity here to make current users comfortable with the software before and after an upgrade. If you’re comfortable with the ribbon-like progression of design parameters and feature options in Amesim, you’ll probably be comfortable using that same layout in the Battery Identification Tool.
The changes and upgrades are born from a combination of big picture and micro type inputs. Super users of the software are a great resource and know its limits based on hours spent using the tools. These customers can provide input on issues already in the system and can also be a sounding board for next steps that would help these engineers better perform their jobs. At the same time that Siemens is interacting with its most connected user base, however, the company must keep an eye on societal changes.
To me, it looks like Simcenter is doing a good job of looking five to 10 years out to visualize what the engineering world might need. Working with vehicle electrification, autonomous vehicles, and unmanned aerial vehicles is a good sign that System Simulation is continuing to focus on near-future trends.
The goal of the System Simulation Solutions is optimization. That optimization might be a more precise simulation model, a result that could be obtained faster than before or the ability for more members of an organization to access work. If the broad goal of engineering is to make the world a better place, there’s evidence in this new update that these incremental changes can help engineers, designers and programmers to do their work a little more efficiently.
