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  • Verification and Validation in Computer-Aided Engineering – Explained

    Computer-aided engineering (CAE) is one of the most powerful tools of the recent era, utilized in almost every field to provide efficient, cost-effective results. Conducting physical experiments for each design version is both time and cost intensive. Instead, design engineers can perform numerical studies to reduce the number of prototypes, saving a significant amount of effort,…

  • How to Create a Smarter Snap-Fit Design Using FEA

    Snap-fits are everywhere you look! Remember your indestructible Nokia 1200? It made use of a very well designed snap-mechanism to ensure the device safety through repeated falls (it also survived the acid attacks inside a fish, but that’s a completely different story). The much-loved children’s toys Lego? Snap-fit mechanism. Belt buckles. Food cans. Be it…

  • Optimize Your Ventilation System Design with CFD

    The cost and performance of any physical product are generally determined quite early on in the design process—the same holds true for ventilation system design. The stage when you begin to explore the design space and define your product concept is when the most impactful design decisions are made. After that, the rate at which…

  • Formula Student Aerodynamics – Growing Wings with CFD

    No standardized parts, unlimited airfoils, and big building spaces allow unique designs in Formula Student aerodynamics. Read eMotorsports Cologne's story.

  • Aerodynamics of Cycling Explained Through CFD

    The aerodynamics of cycling have preoccupied bicycle designers and riders alike since the early part of this century. Competitive cycling—and Tour de France in particular—is a sport where speed and minimal air resistance are everything. As much as 90% of the resistance a rider has to overcome is the aerodynamic drag. To minimize this drag, riders…

  • Pipeline Safety Assessment Against Thermal Load Using FEA

    Pipeline flexibility analysis is one of the most common applications of structural engineering. Pipes are used for transporting many products, from oil and its derivatives to water and even solids and powders, at varied temperatures and pressure levels, under an infinite number of possible geometric configurations. For this reason, each individual pipeline is subject to…

  • Air Resistance: The Invisible Enemy in Vehicle Design

    Vehicle designers, no matter if they specialize in motorsport cars, trucks, common vehicles, or even motorbikes, have to fight every day with an invisible enemy — air resistance. To put it simply, when a body moves, the air around it generates resistance in the opposite direction of the movement. For vehicles, air resistance affects the…

  • Open-Source or Proprietary Software — What Is Best for Users?

    “Is open-source software a reliable alternative to traditional proprietary engineering solutions?” That is a question many may ask themselves. Open source is a concept as old as the software industry itself. The first open-source software applications came into existence at the same time as computer machines, in the form of the basic codes that came…

  • Optimizing a Micro Wind Turbine with CFD | American Wind

    Never before has a 1-kilowatt generator been squeezed into a device just 3 inches in diameter. That is until American Wind developed its innovative micro wind turbine, which is integrated with a small, yet very powerful, generator. Still, a powerful generator doesn’t mean much in a wind turbine if it’s not able to capture the energy…

  • How a 17-Year-Old Revolutionized Airplane Cabin Ventilation With CFD

    Two years ago, Raymond Wang, a 17-year-old Canadian student, and aspiring CFD engineer, won the top prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). He took home the $75,000 Gordon E. Moore Award for solving one of the biggest problems with air travel and revolutionizing air quality inside an airplane cabin. The Engineering Problem:…

  • Increasing Manufacturing Tolerance for Disposable Pumps by 50% with FEA

    In medicine, disposable pumps are used for accurately dispensing medication, such as antibiotics, chemotherapy or pain management therapies. Allowing doctors and nurses to choose the volume and flow rates, they are very important to suit patient’s individual needs of medication for general infusion use. But the medical sector is not the only one using them,…

  • Designing More Durable Consumer Products with FEA

    Product design is a highly complex process, with multiple objectives, requirements, and constraints, all of which need to be satisfied for the final product to be successful. The product needs to be sufficiently functional, cost-efficient, and safe to use. Designing durable consumer goods can be particularly challenging, since aesthetics become an important factor, in addition…