Knowledge Manager Captures, Manages Simulation Data and Best Practices

By DE Editors

ANSYS, Inc. (Canonsburg, PA) has announced the 2.0 release of ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager, its software solution set for simulation process and data management (SPDM). The ANSYS EKM set of applications is available for all levels of engineering from the individual engineer wanting to spend less time handling data and more time focusing on engineering to the workgroup and up to the entire enterprise.

An example of change management and version control in ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager. Image courtesy of ANSYS, Inc.

ANSYS EKM works within the ANSYS Workbench framework, the ANSYS user environment that ties together the simulation process and guides users through multiphysics analyses. ANSYS EKM provides a centralized repository where you store and manage simulation data and processes in meta data form. ANSYS EKM automatically extracts and creates simulation meta data, and you can create custom meta data. By creating and enabling a central repository for managing simulation data and processes, ANSYS EKM is said to address such real-world challenges as simulation work team collaboration, simulation data management, sharing, and reuse; as well as how to capture engineering expertise that a simulation result represents.

This screen shot depicts a custom simulation application using ANSYS EKM. Image courtesy of ANSYS, Inc.

Compared to earlier versions, ANSYS EKM 2.0 is said to offer a number of significant enhancements that simplify and speed up work,  especially for remote teams that hand off data as part of collaborative design. By managing simulation data and processes using ANSYS EKM technology,  engineering companies can more effectively leverage the full power of simulation along with the expertise of the analysts and engineers who contribute to the process, says ANSYS, adding that the result is shortened time to market and protection of intellectual property.

ANSYS EKM is a Web-based solution. It offers such capabilities as simulation data archiving and management, traceability, and audit trails; search and retrieval; report generation and simulation comparison; process/workflow automation; collaboration functionality; and the ability to capture then deploy best practices. Release 2.0 enhancements are said to allow for smarter and faster file transfers between remote locations and the ability to run simulation jobs remotely using such job submission systems as RSM, LSF, SGE, and compute clusters.

A new addition to the suite is ANSYS EKM Studio, a graphical system for defining simulation workflows for dynamic engineering simulation collaboration. ANSYS EKM 2.0 also offers a new scripting interface that enables you to create and publish custom applications templates to the Web for other users to leverage. Other improvements include automated meta data extraction and report generation for use with other CAE formats, tighter integration with ANSYS Workbench project files for performing what-if studies, extended change configuration with branching and versioning, and a new analysis project type that allows you to track input and result dependencies for simulation files.

A simulation details report for ANSYS Workbench project file as seen in ANSYS EKM. Image courtesy of ANSYS, Inc.

“Managing product data is a specialized subset of the broader product lifecycle management (PLM) vision, and it presents a whole new set of challenges to organizations that engineer products,” said Michael Engelman, vice president, business development, ANSYS, Inc, in a press statement. “ANSYS EKM software helps organizations get the right data to the right person at the right time. This is a process that is essential to successful product/process development in today’s global competitive environment.”
 
The ANSYS EKM portfolio is a scalable solution made up of Desktop, Workgroup, and Enterprise versions. You can learn more about ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager 2.0 on its web page.

Download the ANSYS Engineering Knowledge Manager brochure.

Here’s a PDF that compares the features found in all versions of ANSYS EKM 2.0.

See why DE’s Editor selected ANSYS EKM 2.0 as their Pick of the Week.