ESI Unveils Visual-Environment 5.5 for Virtual Prototyping

Visual-Environment offers a flexible and open engineering framework where applications and interfaces covering multiple simulation domains can be easily implemented. Thanks to a cycle of 2 yearly production releases, ESI customers benefit from an ever evolving platform, adapted to the needs of various industries.

This latest release delivers notable new features, addressing specific requirements for the automotive industry. Among these are a rapid Model Checker, a Barrier Positioning tool and a Model Compare tool. The latter – offered in Visual-Crash PAM and Visual-Crash DYNA, dedicated environments for crash simulation – is a quick and intuitive tool to compare two iterated models and identify variations on the basis of set criteria (ID, name, area, volume, mass and properties). The differences can then be visualized and copied from one model to another. This amounts to a drastic gain in time and efficiency as engineers no longer need to browse iteration data manually. The increased productivity observed when using this Model Compare tool is estimated between ten and twenty fold.

Comparing two iterations with Model Compare

“Dow uses Visual-Crash DYNA to develop and deliver innovative solutions,” said Mansour Mirdamadi, Senior Engineering Leader, Dow Automotive Systems. “The model browser and compare tool in the latest release 5.5 allows our engineers to obtain multiple versions of LS-Dyna input decks, identifying changes made to the full vehicle model rapidly, thereby helping us deliver optimized products to our customers.”

Visual-Environment 5.5 also includes improvements to existing applications such as Visual-Viewer for injury report, in line with new US NCAP vehicle safety regulations. Indeed, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has updated the US NCAP rating program, including changed injury criteria and additional tests.  This new rating will apply to vehicles built in 2010 onwards, based on a new overall vehicle safety score combining front, side and rollover programs. The animation speed within Visual-Viewer has been adapted to meet ever increasing performance targets, true batch mode execution is now fully supported, and the usability of plot windows is substantially improved. In addition, the differences in contour values between two models can be checked using Model Compare.

Finally, version 5.5 extends the capacity to interface with different ESI software solutions within Visual-Environment as it now provides an integrated environment for Composite and Electromagnetic simulations: Visual-Composites for composite structure manufacturing, in response to OEMs increasing use of composite materials; and Visual-CEM for virtual electromagnetic testing, with a special focus on full 3D modeling of metallic structures animated by external plane waves (computation of RADAR Cross Sections for instance).

Thanks to the integration of Visual-Environment in their engineering processes, industry leaders gain in productivity for model setup and post-processing.

“At ESI, our mission is to help our customers gain time and save money with a full Virtual Prototyping platform. We’ve reached another significant milestone with the release of Visual-Environment 5.5”, said Anitha Nanjundaswamy Rao, Platform Product Manager, ESI Group. “The enhancements and new features of this release allow our customers to develop better products faster, thus helping them to experience an increase in productivity coupled with a reduction in costs”.

For more information, visit www.esi-group.com/simulation-systems-integration/visual-environment

About ESI Group

ESI is a world-leading supplier and pioneer of digital simulation software for prototyping and manufacturing processes that take into account the physics of materials. ESI has developed an extensive suite of coherent, industry-oriented applications to realistically simulate a product’s behavior during testing, to fine-tune manufacturing processes in accordance with desired product performance, and to evaluate the environment’s impact on product performance. ESI’s products represent a unique collaborative and open environment for Simulation-Based Design, enabling virtual prototypes to be improved in a continuous and collaborative manner while eliminating the need for physical prototypes during product development. The company employs over 750 high-level specialists worldwide covering more than 30 countries. ESI Group is listed in compartment C of NYSE Euronext Paris.

For further information, visit www.esi-group.com.

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Additional News

May 6 - ESI Reinforces Welding Simulation Suite with Visual-WELD
Jan 15 - ESI Unveils Visual-Environment 5.5 for Virtual Prototyping
Dec 21 - ESI Announces Keynotes for Global Forum 2010
Dec 4 - ESI Releases Sheet Metal Forming Simulation Suite 2009
Oct 29 - ESI Releases Welding Simulation Suite v2009
Oct 28 - ESI Joins PT-Grid Project for Plasma Modeling, Simulation
Oct 22 - ESI Celebrates 20th Anniversary of PUCA Conference
Oct 2 - ESI Releases CFD-ACE+ Suite V2009.2
Sep 8 - ESI Germany Celebrates 30th Anniversary
Aug 25 - ESI Opens Training Center in Bologna, Italy
Jun 8 - ESI Partners with Ecole Polytechnique on Composite Mold CAE
Mar 25 - ESI Subsidiary Mecas Gets ISO 9001:2000 Certification
Feb 6 - ESI Releases WELD PLANNER for Preliminary Design, Planning
Jan 13 - ESI Acquires Mindware Engineering
Jan 13 - ESI Ships WELD PLANNER for Finite Elements Simulation
Dec 10 - ESI Releases CFD-ACE+ V2009.0
Oct 30 - ESI Partners With COMEX NUCLEAIRE for R&D
Sep 23 - ESI Releases PAM-STAMP, PAM-TUBE 2G 2008

Source: Material used in press releases is often supplied by external sources and used as is.