Ansys Advantage Magazine

Engineering simulation enables companies to test and validate the performance of new products using physics-based software, replacing the old, wasteful trial-and-error method. Simulation optimizes the design of new products and gets them to market faster, with less waste and more confidence that the product will work as desired.

Ansys, the world leader in engineering simulation software, has a mission of getting its software into the hands of every engineer on the planet so they can optimize their innovative designs. Issue 1, 2022, of Ansys Advantage magazine focuses on the many ways that institutions from NASA to NASCAR to the NFL are using Ansys software for optimization.

The cover story details how NASA engineers used Ansys Zemax optics simulation software to focus the 18 mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope, producing amazing images of the early universe. The dramatic cover photo shows an engineer standing before six segments of mirror. We added a simulation of the focusing of the optics to one segment to illustrate the role simulation played in the project’s success. Once deployed in space, the 18 mirrors aligned just as the Zemax simulations predicted, producing the highest resolution images of the deep universe ever.

The issue also recounts how NASCAR developed and tested their Next Gen race car using simulation during the Covid-19 lockdowns, when they couldn’t access wind tunnels and crash test instruments. Using Ansys Fluent to simulate the aerodynamics of the innovative race car and Ansys LS-DYNA to simulate crash tests enabled NASCAR to design, test, and validate the operation of the Next Gen car in time for the 2022 season.

We also tell how KOLLIDE was chosen among the top three contenders for the NFL Helmet Challenge using Ansys LS-DYNA to maximize shock absorption in football helmets. These are just a few stories of optimization by simulation told in this issue of Ansys Advantage.