In engineering, mastering electromagnetics is crucial.

It's the driving force behind communication systems, medical devices, sustainable energy solutions, and even heavy machinery.

However, dealing with electromagnetics can be a daunting task. Not only do you need to ensure everything will work as expected, but equally as important are regulatory requirements like the emissions of your designs or even something as simple as antenna placement.

That's where SIMULIA comes in – a powerful set of tools designed to help engineers understand, analyse, and improve electromagnetics.

1. Applications of Electromagnetics Simulation

1.1. Communication & Signal Systems

Modern communication relies on electromagnetic waves. From the most advanced smartphone with 5G and Wi-Fi 6E to the most basic garage door remote. 

Designing these systems is a significant investment for most Electronic Engineers, but often they are left to hand calculations and basic principles to determine the effectiveness of both the core circuits and the antenna designs.

With Electromagnetic Simulation, design, and virtual testing can work together hand in hand, ensuring easy design iteration without needing to go to expensive testing. 

Even basic tasks like antenna position and orientation are made significantly easier and can make use of the overall design to inform how other aspects might block or affect the signal.

1.2. Machinery and Motors

While electromagnetics is most associated with circuit boards and antennas, an often-forgotten aspect is the magnetics side. 

From every vibration motor in phones and game controllers to motor systems for electric vehicles, magnetics is an ever-present aspect in many different designs.

Electromagnetic Simulation allows us to investigate the intricacies of these systems in extreme detail, even allowing you to fine-tune the smallest aspect to ensure proper operation, increase efficiency, and get the desired effect. 

1.3. Regulatory Compliance

Devices that emit Electromagnetic Signals must adhere to regulations on their emissions. 

These regulations apply to a wide range of devices, from smartphones to gate motor remotes. 

The emissions of these devices are limited to specific frequencies, and they must not exceed certain noise levels or emit extra emissions.

Determining the noise and emissions of a device can be challenging, requiring expensive testing on prototypes and an iterative approach to meet regulatory specifications. 

However, electromagnetic simulations can simplify the process by quickly testing hundreds of designs and iterations to find the perfect solution that meets regulatory requirements. 

 1.4. Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC)

As we rely more on electronic devices, it's important to ensure they can coexist without interference. 

This is where EMC comes in - it helps address problems like crosstalk and signal noise in PCB and electronic design. 

However, issues with EMC may only become apparent once a prototype is made, and finding the source of the problem can be challenging. 

That's why electromagnetic simulation is so useful - it can prevent issues from arising and help identify solutions more quickly if they do.

2. SIMULIA – Your Partner in Understanding

SIMULIA (a product of Dassault Systèmes) is a leading provider of simulation software and services that allows engineers, researchers, and scientists to simulate and analyse complex real-world phenomena.

Within the field of electromagnetics, it achieves this through two essential roles - Antenna Placement Electromagnetics Engineer and Electromagnetics Engineer.

The Antenna Placement Electromagnetics Engineer role streamlines antenna design by assessing optimal placements without physical prototypes, while the Electromagnetics Engineer role provides access to advanced simulation technology for high and low-frequency scenarios, facilitating efficient design and electromagnetic interference management."

By offering a comprehensive suite of simulation roles, SIMULIA helps industry professionals grasp complicated engineering processes, enabling them to make informed decisions, improve designs, and conceptualise new ideas across different industries.

2.1. Harnessing SIMULIA’s Power

2.1.1. Advanced Simulation Capabilities

SIMULIA's software suite includes various simulation techniques such as finite element analysis (FEA), computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and Multiphysics simulations.

These tools incorporate state-of-the-art solvers and technologies, including the industry-standard Abaqus Solver, which is employed for vehicle and aircraft crash testing and strength analysis by major automotive and aerospace companies. 

Additionally, they feature electromagnetics tools that some of the world's leading phone manufacturers use. 

These tools allow engineers to digitally recreate real-world situations - giving them valuable insights that could be difficult or expensive to gather through physical testing.

2.1.2. Cloud Compute

Simulations represent some of the most intricate calculations that any computer can handle. 

Consequently, these simulations often demand costly computer hardware to execute them within a reasonable timeframe. This expense can act as a significant obstacle for those interested in using advanced simulation tools.

However, 3DExperience Simulation breaks down this barrier. It includes Cloud Computing as part of every 3DExperience SIMULIA license, eliminating the need for users to invest in high-end hardware.

Should users require even more computational power, SIMULIA offers a system of credits and tokens that allow them to expand their solving capabilities up to 288 cores. 

This enables them to achieve faster solving times and expedited product development cycles, ultimately bringing their products to market more swiftly.

2.1.3. Strong CAD Integration

Dassault Systems has a strong history in CAD tools through both SOLIDWORKS and Catia, and thus they’ve been able to leverage their strength in this field allowing for a smooth transition from the CAD Environment to the Simulation Environment. 

Model updates are a single-click operation, and through tools like the 3DExperience platform, revision, and data management the tools allow you to easily keep track of design changes and their associated downstream data like simulation results.

Dassault Systèmes boasts a robust track record in CAD tools, with offerings like SOLIDWORKS and Catia. 

This history has enabled them to capitalize on their expertise in this domain, facilitating a seamless transition from the CAD environment to the Simulation Environment.

Updating models is now a straightforward, one-click operation. 

Since the 3DExperience platform includes revision and data management features, users can effortlessly monitor design modifications and their corresponding downstream data, such as simulation results.

2.1.4. Multi-Domain Simulations

Many real-world challenges often involve multiple physical interactions.

For instance, consider a wind turbine where wind creates stresses on the blades or a cellphone where airflow and electromagnetics collaborate to cool its components.

SIMULIA's Multiphysics simulations address fluid-structure interaction, thermal-electrical coupling, electromagnetic-mechanical interactions, or any combination of these.

2.2. Going Beyond Electromagnetics

While SIMULIA's offerings include powerful tools for electromagnetic simulations, its capabilities extend even further:

2.2.1. Structural Analysis

The industry leading Abaqus solver allows some of the most advanced FEA capabilities to help predict how structures respond to various loads and conditions, determining their safety and reliability. 

This could range from something as straightforward as a steel structure to something as intricate as a car crash test or an airplane being struck by a bird.

It stands out as one of the most potent FEA Solvers available today, capable of handling almost any FEA problem involving nearly any material.

Additionally, advanced tools like Material Calibration enable you to extract material data from physical tests, ensuring there are no limitations on the types of problems you can solve.

2.2.2. Fluid Dynamics

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations analyse fluid flow patterns, heat transfer, and aerodynamics, influencing designs from engines to medical devices. 

SIMULIA offers a range of tools in this complex domain, with one of the key ones being XFlow. It is a Lattice Boltzman solver that excels at handling intricate fluid-solid interactions, whether it's simulating gear lubrication, the movement of tires through liquid pools, or advanced mixing scenarios.

For more extensive applications, Fluid Dynamics Engineer is a versatile solver capable of handling a wide range of scenarios. It addresses aerodynamics, wind forces, bubble formation, mixed fluids, and particle physics, making it ideal for a diverse set of use cases.

3. The Bottom Line

In engineering, electromagnetics drives progress in communication, healthcare, and sustainability.

While navigating its complexities may seem challenging, SIMULIA assists engineers in understanding, analysing, and optimising electromagnetics.

So, don't just imagine solutions – bring them to life virtually. 

Take the first step towards unlocking your engineering potential by exploring SIMULIA now!