Summer holidays are over for many of us and we are preparing for a new business season, a new school semester or a new research project. And because everyone needs a smooth back to work accommodation, let’s see some simulations which are not completely focused on industrial applications but on creative ideas. Don’t be fooled, though, they all have a strong engineering analysis at the basis.
Below you’ll find a selection of creative simulation ideas performed with the SimScale 3D CAE software. Some you might find funny, but in the end, they can still be applied to real-world applications, opening a practical or research perspective.
Some of the projects are simulation ideas proposed by SimScale team members for the SimScalator internal contest. Other ones are from the users, all available in the Public Projects library. the free public platform where anyone could test their own CAD model by editing solid mechanics, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, particles, or acoustic simulation templates.
So here it is, a compilation of solid mechanics, CFD, thermodynamics or particle simulations.
1. Particle Analysis in an Hourglass
A long time before the mechanical or electronic watches, humanity was using a very simple tool for time measuring: hourglass. We all know it. It is still used, especially in locations with special climates, such as saunas or greenhouses. But how many of us have wondered which are the physical processes that control the leaking sand with such great precision that time from the successive reversal of the hourglass is always the same?
The answer is simple: sand spill duration is dependent on the quantity and size of the inner hourglass neck. We have here a very nice example of particle analysis in a turning hourglass performed on the SimScale simulation platform. In this YouTube video, you can see how the simulation results show the linear velocity of the particles, depicted on a logarithmic scale.
2. Impact Between a Bowling Ball and Pins
How many of us go out with colleagues on Fridays for a beer and playing bowling? And how proud we are every time after knocking all pins down on a strike… Below you can watch a 5-second video showing the impact between a bowling ball and the pins in a SimScale simulation.
3. Airflow around a Football
Earlier this summer we booked many evenings to see our favorite matches from the UEFA EURO 2016 Championship. Some of us also make time to play a football game with friends, trying to apply to the ball those special effects specific to big players like Cristiano Ronaldo or Thomas Müller.
Let’s see here a special CFD analysis of the airflow around a football. This project demonstrates how SimScale can be used to assess the aerodynamic behavior of sports equipment. In this case, a football is investigated with regards to the turbulent behavior of the surface pattern.
The simulation results show that the surface pattern significantly affects the turbulent structures in the airflow around the ball. This influences the trajectory and the stability of the ball and is one of the reasons why the surface patches should be constantly optimized.
4. Hydrodynamic Performance of a Dolphin
I do not think there is someone who doesn’t like dolphins. Some of us have admired them during this summer vacation in water parks. The luckiest have seen them jumping in the warm sea waters. But dolphins are at the same time a rich topic of research.
Here is a simulation project perfomed by one of our users, studying the effects of the free surface on the hydrodynamics of a dolphin swimming close to the water surface.
5. Toilet Flushing Simulation
And finally, one quite funny but with industry application potential simulation. A SimScale team member chose to perform a toilet flushing simulation for the SimScalator challenge. Maybe a funny simulation idea, but with very serious implication for toilet equipment optimization. The simulation performance is based on a multiphase flow analysis focusing on the shear stress on the inner toilet surface.
The SimScalator is an internal competition that aims to encourage all the SimScale team members (with or without engineering background) to perform original simulations based on the free resources provided on the SimScale platform and to share their experiences and improvement suggestions with the rest of the team. Every month the winners receive a special trophy that they can keep on their desk for 4 weeks until the next session of the SimScalator.
Also, you can prove your originality running creative simulations on SimScale. You are free to use any of the existing templates on SimScale Public Projects to improve the simulations results or can import your own CAD file and start your simulation from scratch.
We are looking forward to seeing your simulation ideas live!
Originally published at www.simscale.com on September 14, 2016.
