Engineering Grad School: MBA vs. MSE?

Great article in this month's Mechanical Engineering magazine. It gets into the heart of making the decision about continuing to grad school after engineering school. It is a really good article. It gives an unbiased view of the pluses and negatives of two separate paths. Definitely a must read for new graduates.

I have been out of grad school for a number of years and found the article very interesting. I look back on my decision to take the master's in engineering path as one of the smarter decisions that I made early in life. At the time, quite frankly, I was just looking to stay in school as long as possible. I was having a great time in engineering school while paying the bills bartending all through college. The thought that I would be able to sleep until noon, attend grad classes in the late afternoon and not have to pay for it, was a no-brainer for me.

I didn't appreciate it at the time, but graduate school taught me some of the advanced fundamentals of fluids and heat transfer, but most importantly, it taught me how to take a conceptual project from idea to completion. It was also my first exposure to CFD. I dabbled in small development projects, tons and tons of lab testing and a fair share of "traditional" CFD. Although, I am not sure that at the time, it was fair to call it traditional. It was simply cutting edge at the time, but way out-dated by today's standards.

It really gave me a great appreciation for "the process" of simulation. I really believe it kick started my career path into Upfront CFD. I am looking forward to what the future brings both for me and for things to come in the Upfront Simulation movement.

I always thought about what would have happened if I decided on an MBA instead? Looking forward to hearing others experiences.

Philadelphia gets the nod from MLS for 2010

Super excited that Philadelphia has been announced as the 16th expansion team of the Major Soccer League in the US. This has been a long time coming. A supporter's club was formed early last year. Many of the charter members lobbied really hard to position our (sometimes misunderstood) great city as a perfect spot for an expansion team. Philly is a great sports town, I think we just get a bad rap.. (ok, we did throw snowballs at santa - I think he was asking for it!)

One of the coolest things is the new proposed pitch (stadium). Above is one of the proposed designs. I am really looking forward to season tickets. It looks like a fantastic venue right along the river.

We are still awaiting the name and team colors. I assume that will take some time. I really hope they stick with a more traditional (european) name. Philadelphia A.C. would work as the Athletics played here many years ago in the American League (baseball). For some reason, however, I think that "Liberty" will be in the name. Just a hunch. Philadelphia Liberty? I hope not. Liberty F.C., maybe! Liberty United, might be a stretch.

As for colors? Who knows - I know the supporters club has a light blue/yellow scheme. Regardless, I am excited. Looking forward to 2010.

An Underground Subway Stop is a Great Platform for Upfront CFD

HVAC applications keep popping up more and more. Anything from new construction of "green" buildings to retrofitting 100 year old subway systems.

Here is a model I worked on recently that allowed us to optimize the airflow inside an existing subway station. We were able to try a variety of what-if scenarios -- with and without cars, with and without people as well as various heat loads (best and worse case scenario).

CFD Guys Can Build Structures too...& Vice Versa

We had our first snow storm in Philadelphia this week. Nothing major, 3-4", but way more than we have had all year. Al Gore is definitely on to something with his Global Warming message. Things are definitely changing. Here is a shot of yours truly trying to impress my daughter with our first snow man of the year. Luckily, her expectations are not that high.

We talk about the role of the engineer evolving over the last few years. Many of us are required to wear multiple hats and multi-task (seems to be the buzz word lately). Many organizations have adopted Structural FEA simulation over the last 10 years or so. I think it is a safe bet that many of these same engineers have flow and thermal issues as well. Actually, I can guarantee it. These same engineers could just as easily include Upfront CFD into their current process. Currently, I bet they are either barely getting by without it or really not getting their moneys worth by out-sourcing. I have written in a prior post that Upfront CFD is actually easier than Structural FEA.

If this is ringing true to you, I'd suggest you go a little googling on Upfront CFD. Have a heart to heart chat with a sales guy out there. Get a sense for how easy it would be to bring this technology in house and really set your products apart from your competition.

Who's Driving IRONCAD?

An article was recently published highlighting the New Features of the latest release of IRONCAD. I love learning about products like this. They have been around for along time, so there must be enough room in the market for everyone. I always placed them in the same category as Kubotek (CADKEY), Alibre, VX etc... Not sure it's fair to classify them in the same group?

But based upon what I've read, appears to have a ton of really cool features. The U/I above looks modern, lots of drag & drop etc. I would really like to hear from users out there who are driving IRONCAD. Not sure how it stands up to the mainstream systems, like SolidWorks, Inventor etc. But after browsing their gallery, pretty clear that users are modeling some pretty cool things. I've always been a fan of the smaller guy out there. They typically have a pretty solid product with a devoted user base. I'd like to hear from some of you...

PLM is the Theme of Wildfire 4

The term "PLM" has been around for a number of years. I used to view it as a smoke and mirrors type of marketing campaign. I never really understood it, until recently. I used to always view the CAD market as high end (old, clunky, yet powerful) vs. mid-range (new, super cool, 90% functionality). I really didn't get the high end market. I figured alot of it had to do with legacy installations and complicated relationships at large organizations. But the more you dig into it, there is some method behind the madness. It is more than just modeling products and tracking them via a vault system for PDM. There is the interaction with ECAD data, routing & tubing but more importantly it is the "lifecycle" of the design. Not sure I can really put words around what that means, but I think I get it. Check out the New Features in WF4, it should shed light on what I am saying.

We have been partners of PTC for a very long time. We have been fortunate to see Pro/Engineer evolve substantially over the last few years. Having access to all of the CAD systems is a real treat. We are able to get our hands on the releases ahead of time and provide feedback to the developers. I have been driving WF4 for a few months now. To see a video of how to perform an Upfront CFD analysis with Wildfire 4, click here.

Pump Issues are International

Traveling through Sweden this week and stopped in to visit a pump company. I love seeing the processes of companies across the world. The culture is certainly different, but the problems are universal. NDA's are near and dear to my heart, so we obviously can't divulge any trade secrets. But it amazes me that the problems from company to company are exactly the same. Regardless of the CAD tool used, industry being served or the type of device. Pump guys have one or more of the following issues.

1. Maximize efficiency
   


2. Minimize torque
   


3. Eliminate cavitation
   


4. Optimize flow patterns (in the volute and impeller)
   


5. Improve their current process by saving time and money.

Efficient Design is the Key to Success

I mentioned Desktop Engineering Magazine in my last post. There is a great article by Amy Rowell that discusses the importance of design. The point is that it is extremely important to push the envelope on design regardless of the industry you serve. Pushing the envelope can mean many things. For some, it may involve the industrial design department, others may need to tweak a % or two to gain extra efficiency and others may need to ensure that their thermal management can accomodate the latest and greatest coming from the EE's. No better example of a company that pushes the envelope than Apple. They have raised the bar so we now expect them to "wow" us. Difficult position to be in for a company, but they are certainly reaping the benefits.

We speak to many engineering manager's all over the world everyday that acknowledge the fact that competition is tough and they would like to expand their foothold on the market. Unfortunately, they are already stretched thin and are struggling to keep up with the demand of their existing products. It is doubtful that hiring additional engineers is on the shortlist. So, doesn't it make sense to optimize the efficiency of your existing team? I know people are cringing as this is the perfect time for a sales pitch. Bear with me.

Today's engineer is multi-tasking. Time management is probably the biggest obstacle. Personally, I go through an exercise of jotting down where I spend my time each day. No fancy tools, just pen and notebook. I try to see where I am wasting time, not necessarily spending the most time. I am trying to identify tasks or areas that can be eliminated or automated.

So, where does Upfront CAE come into play? Begin to look at your process. Are you spending time, building and testing? Is it a fast and inexpensive process? I doubt the answer is yes. Are you spending time supporting customers after the fact because your products are failing in the field? Are there areas of your new designs that you really think would have an impact, but there just isn't enough time in the day to try them? If the answer is not an definitive, NO, then you should at least talk to somone about Upfront CAE.

To start, my advice, ask the sales guy how he envisions incoporating Upfront CAE into "your" process? Often, we get very tied up in how software works click for click. This can be a huge time sink. It is important to understand how it can be implemented first. The rest, usually falls into place.

Desktop Engineering Magazine is Awesome!!!

Busy week, quick post. Desktop Engineering Magazine is one of my favorite magazines. There is an online version as well as the hard copy. I love having everything digital, but there is quite alot to be said for the glossy images that come out each month. Greatest thing, it's free. Go check them out.

The Downhole Drilling Industry is Ideal for Upfront CFD

Sitting around on a Saturday afternoon, flicking through the channels and stumbled upon a show on "Deep Sea Drilling". Pretty sure it was on the Discovery Channel. Having done a fair amount of work over the last two years in the Oil & Gas industry, I was intrigued. It was awesome. I think the majority of us take energy sources for granted. We just expect that it will always be there. But considering the fact that a good majority of the oil and gas drilling is done on the bottom of the ocean floor, many miles off the coast and in some cases miles under ground, the technology required is fairly sophisticated. The conditions are pretty harsh and the challenges are endless.

For every minute that a rig is not operating, the cost is tremendous. So, the reliability of the equipment is key. On the fluids side of the world, the issues are endless.

1. Cavitation
2. Erosion
3. Optimizing pressure drop
4. Optimizing flow patterns
5. Reducing flow impingement

Actually, the above issues are all related. Upfront CFD is a perfect fit for this world. Traditional CFD has been in this market for a number of years. But, quite frankly, having a "CFD Specialist" on staff is becoming a thing of the past. Certainly, there is a need for them in some of the companies out there, but the "multi-tasking" engineer is more the norm. He/she needs to get quick insight on the flow characteristics of his designs, have the ability to make a tweak to the CAD model, compare and repeat. This process has to be quick, intuitive and reliable.

Check out the video of a tri-cone bit. This is a very common design that is used in drilling the holes to extract the energy source. This device is 1000's of feet under ground with high pressure fluid being blasted through to wash the debris back up to the surface. This video shows the traces of the fluid in the hole as well as the pressure contour of the flow inside the bit. This is just one of the many components in this world that are reaping the benefits of Upfront CFD. Take a minute and Google "downhole drilling", pretty amazing industry.