Changing the Way Engineers Work

7/26/2019 Changing the Way Engineers Work

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Changing the Way Engineers Work:Smartphones, Tablets, The Cloud, and the Future of Engineering

Dr. David Knezevic,

Institute for Applied Computational Science,

Harvard University

November 28, 2012


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Todays Presenter

Dr. David Knezevic, Lecturer,Institute for Applied Computational

Science, Harvard University

Dr. David Knezevic is a Lecturer with the Institute for Applied

Computational Science at Harvard University. He holds a Ph.D. from

Oxford University (Rhodes scholar) and prior to his position at

Harvard, he was a post-doctoral associate in the Mechanical

Engineering Department at the Massachusetts Institute of

Technology. David has expertise in a range of areas related to

computational engineering, including applied mathematics, computer

science, software development, and supercomputing.


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About ASME

ASME is a not-for-profit membership organization that enables

collaboration, knowledge sharing, career enrichment, and skills

development across all engineering disciplines, toward a goal of

helping the global engineering community develop solutions tobenefit lives and livelihoods. Founded in 1880 by a small group

of leading industrialists, ASME has grown through the decades

to include more than 120,000 members in over 150 countries

worldwide


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Feedback

Type all questions in the box at the

bottom of your screen, and we will

answer as many as possible.

All questions will be answered via e-mail.


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CHANGING THE WAY

ENGINEERS WORKSmartphones, tablets, the cloud, and the future of engineering

Dr. David Knezevic

Harvard Lecturer (School of Engineering and Applied Sciences)

Co-founder of Akselos Inc.


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Inspiration for this Webinar

ASME articles on

smartphone and

tablet apps for

engineers were

very popular

Growing interest

in the role of

mobile technologyin engineering

workflows


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Contents

Role of Mobile Technology in Engineering

Overview of Apps for Mechanical Engineers

Cloud Computing and Engineering Software

Summary


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Role of Mobile Technology inEngineering


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My Interest in Mobile Computing

In 2010, Dr. Phuong Huynh and I developed an Android

app for performing 3D FEA calculations on a smartphone

Basic idea of the app:1. Generate datasets in an Offline phase using a supercomputer

2. Load datasets onto smartphone

3. Perform 3D FEA calculations via lightweight calculations on the

phone itself

Demonstrated cooperation between mobile devices and

supercomputers to perform engineering computations


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Mobile Technology

Computation is a fundamental toolin modern engineering:

simulation, design, analysis,

Mobile apps provide a new way to deliver computationaltools to engineers, with some compelling advantages:

1. Convenience.Apps are built for very specific tasks,

hence usually have targeted and simple user interface

2. In the field.New possibilities for detailed on sitecomputations

3. Price.Apps are often free or perhaps cost a few dollars


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Mobile Technology

Also, tablets/smartphones are now sufficiently powerful

that they can usurp some of the role of computers

Lets briefly consider two areas in which hardware inmobile devices now provide impressive capabilities:

1. Storage

2. CPU


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Mobile Technology: Storage

Smartphone/tablets now have >10GB of storagestore a

whole library of handbooks in your pocket!


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Mobile Technology: CPU

Modern smartphones/tablets are powerful computers

Smartphones can now achieve ~200 Mflops, similar to

high-end desktop workstation from ca. 2005

Mobile CPUs are improving rapidly (multiple cores etc)

Workstation ca. 2005Smartphone/tablet ca. 2012


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Mobile Technology: CPU

Perspective:Comparable (in terms of flops) to the fastest

supercomputer in the world from ca. 1980

Smartphones ca. 2012

Source: Wikipedia


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Limits of Mobile Technology

Of course its also important to keep limitations of mobile

technology in mind:

1.Limits of touch interfaces and small screens. May notbe well suited to intricate engineering tasks, e.g. CAD

2. Heavy-duty computation.Mobile CPUs still far behind

state-of-the-art workstations (or supercomputers!)

3. Connectivity.Many apps rely on internet connectivity,sometimes slow/unreliable (especially in remote areas)


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Overview of Apps for MechanicalEngineers


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Overview of Apps

There is an ever-increasing number of smartphone/tablet

apps for mechanical engineering

Broadly speaking, mechanical engineering apps on the

market today can be categorized into three groups


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Overview of Apps

1. Data Lookup

2. Engineering Calculations

3. Design


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Overview of Apps

1. Data Lookup


3. Design


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Data Lookup Apps

Mechanical Reference Library

Reference for all things mechanical no need to drag

around those heavy textbooks


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Data Lookup Apps

Engineering Cookbook

Convenient reference for mechanical designers fingertip

access to frequently needed information


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Data Lookup Apps

iEngineer

The most comprehensive database of screw and bolt

information


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Data Lookup

CADENAS PARTsolutions

Enables industrial component manufacturers to deliver

their digital product catalogs, 3D CAD models, data sheets,

news, distributor locations


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Overview of Apps

1. Data Lookup


3. Design


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Engineering Calculations

Engineering Unit Conversion

A comprehensive unit conversion tool specifically designed

for engineers, scientists and students.


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Stress Concentration Factors Pro

Sometimes simple stress formulae are not enough...

[Makes it easy to calculate] a stress concentration factor.


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Thermal Analysis Approximator

Computes heat transfer coefficient based on user inputs

provides a first order approximation [of heat transfer]


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AndTruss2D

Linear static analysis of plane trusses with the Finite

Element Method


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Overview of Apps

1. Data Lookup


3. Design


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Design

AutoCAD WS

View, edit, and share AutoCAD drawings... Annotate and

revise drawings in the office, in the field, or in a meeting


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Design

FingerCAD

Draw houses, bridges, plans of apartments, mechanical

components, geometrical figures


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Overview of Apps: Summary

There is a wide range of apps that can be very useful for

mechanical engineers at their desk or in the field

Apps are available on different platforms (examples listed

above are for iOS and/or Android)

Note that all of these apps perform rather lightweight

calculations: data look-up, formula evaluation, 2D CAD

Mobile devices are not suited to heavy duty engineering

computationsbut cloud computing may change this


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Cloud Computing and EngineeringSoftware


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Cloud Computing

Cloud computing is having a major influence on

engineering software (and software in general!)

Question: What is cloud computing?

Answer:

Cloud computing is the use of computing resources that

are delivered as a service over a network (Wikipedia)

This is not a new ideae.g. mainframe computers from

the 1970s employed a client-server model


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Cloud Computing

However, technological advances have meant that cloudcomputing is now very attractivein many contexts

Cloud providers give cheap, scalable access to vast

computational resources, no local IT maintenance needed

This also fits very well with mobile computing: use the

cloud for heavy duty data processing


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Cloud Computing + Mobile

User request

sent to cloud

Result sent

back to user


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This computational model is the basis some very popular

apps today

For example, Apples Siri sends voice queries to a data

center to be processed, response is sent back to the user

With data center computing power and fast wireless

networks, this only takes a couple of seconds!

This shows that we can use mobile devices to

conveniently tap into the power of a huge data center


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This same model has been put to good use in someengineering software products

For example, Vela Systems* developed popular mobile +cloud-based software for BIM and construction management

The relatively recent convergence of cloud comput ing andmobi le com put ing w i th leaps in BIM processes and

techno logies, such as Field BIM, are revo lut ioniz ing the way

pro jects are designed and d elivered and un lock ing newvalue in the industry.

Adam Omansky, A.M.ASCE CI, CSI, CDT, Vela Systems Co-Founder

* Now part ofAutodesk BIM 360


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BIM data stored is centrally on the cloud and synced with

mobile devices, this leads to significant efficiency gains


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Cloud Computing + HPC

Another important application of the cloud is high-

performance computing(HPC)

Engineering calculations can be very computationally

intensive, e.g. 3D CFD or FEA


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Cloud Computing + HPC

These types of computations can require hours or even

days on desktop workstations

Or worse, may not even be possible on a desktop

computer due to huge memory requirements!

Therefore its natural to use the cloud to perform these

types of large-scale simulations

Such HPC services are available from CAE companies

(e.g. Altair, ANSYS, Dassault, NEi, ) or their partners


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Cloud Computing + HPC + Mobile

The next natural step is to allow access to cloud HPC

from mobile devices: democratization of HPC

For example, NEi offers a mobile app called NEi Stratus

that enables simpleFEA calculations via the cloud


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NEi Stratus only allows simple geometries (block,

cylinder, tube, etc)

This is a natural constraint: It would be very difficult to

design complex 3D geometries with a touch interface!

Akselos Inc. is developing cloud HPC software for 3D

FEA that is well-suited to touch interfaces

Key idea: Component-based models


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Connect parametrized simulation components together

to assemble 3D geometries, feasible with touch interface

Model reduction + cloud HPC gives simulation results for

large-scale 3D FEA in seconds


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Demo video:Akselossprototype software for structural

analysis


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Summary


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Changing the Way Engineers Work

Mobile devices are ubiquitous, and are playing an ever-increasing role in mechanical engineering

Apps range from data lookup or lightweight calculations

to full enterprise solutions (Vela/Autodesk, Cadenas)

Cloud computing + mobile promises a new generation ofapps for heavy-duty computing: democratization of HPC!

Current trends seem likely to continue: Open up new possibilities for in the field computation

Usurp more of the role of established workflows at the desk


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Questions?


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Thank You for

Attending!

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