Ansys Buys Rocky Software

Ansys has acquired Engineering Simulation and Scientific Software Rocky DEM, S.L. (Rocky).  With this acquisition, Ansys adds Rocky, a discrete element method (DEM) tool and a team of developers, application support technicians and customer-facing staff in Brazil, Spain and the United States. The transaction is not expected to have a material impact on Ansys' consolidated financial statements in 2023.

Rocky was a subsidiary of Engineering Simulation and Scientific Software (ESSS), a long-term Ansys Channel Partner, and developer of engineering software dedicated to modeling discrete mechanics problems. Ansys’ acquisition of Rocky builds on the companies’ long-term partnership and joint particle modeling workflow announced in 2021. Rocky’s software, with specific strengths in GPU computing and applying particle methods to multiphysics simulations, is used in wide variety of cross-industry applications that involve discrete solids of any size and shape.

Particle modeling spans many industries and applications; particles can consist of medical tablets, food snacks, agriculture seeds, powders and fibers used in filtration devices.

Rocky is a DEM software package that quickly and accurately simulates the dynamic flow behavior of discrete solids and particle-laden free-surface flows in multiple industries. Rocky simulations provide insight to help reduce waste, improve product quality, increase product uniformity, predict performance and durability of equipment during operation, meet resource management, and address sustainability concerns.

“Rocky’s unique approach to discrete particle modeling empowers our customers to solve a wide variety of problems across virtually all industries,” says Shane Emswiler, senior vice president of products at Ansys. “Fully integrating Rocky into Ansys’ portfolio and welcoming its distinguished experts to our team builds upon our demonstrated success and enables Ansys to provide an even more efficient and powerful solution for our customers.”

This acquisition will ensure that Ansys customers have long-term access to high-fidelity particle modelling that is deeply integrated with other Ansys solutions to solve an expanding set of problems involving discrete particles. Incorporating Rocky technology into the Ansys portfolio will also facilitate long-term synergies in the Ansys portfolio that would not otherwise be possible, such as inclusion of Rocky into the PyAnsys framework.

“Our longstanding relationship with Ansys has not only expanded Rocky’s reach to new sectors and industries, but also given engineers access to a technology to rapidly run large, highly-realistic simulations that include accurate particle details,” says Dr. Alexander Potapov, chief technology officer at Rocky.

“The Rocky team is elated to join Ansys and further combine Rocky's state-of-the-art particle simulation capabilities with Ansys’ flagship simulations—allowing engineers to design more reliable products, slash development time, and win the race to market,” says Marcos Damiani, numerical development principal at Rocky.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.