Abstract

Democratization, Templatization, and Optimization are currently topics of high interest in the simulation community. Democratization is the effort to allow those who are not specialists in simulation to use simulation tools in their daily work, moving the simulation closer to the consumer. Templatization is a common tool of democratization, where a simulation specialist develops a simulation template for others to use. The template addresses key simulation decisions, allowing the end user to populate the template with information specific to their project. This presentation will discuss how a templatized, democratized process was implemented on a real world project. Simplifying assumptions were evaluated for impact on accuracy. The reduced complexity model required fewer decisions and inputs from the end user and allowed rapid solutions on standard workstations. Existing automation tools were used to assist the end user with setup focusing their effort on scoping loads and constraints to the appropriate geometry. A limited training was developed to provide adequate background to the users and help them understand the limitations inherent to the templatized model and focus on the post processing required for their application. At the project level, the simulation plan was modified to allow for the democratized analysis while also providing higher fidelity analysis by simulation specialists at key points in the process. The outcomes and business impact of the effort were greater than expected. The design team estimated that the iterative simulation portion of the project moved three to four times faster than prior projects, providing significant benefits to project schedule. Moving the simulation work closer to the designers and engineers reduced the delay associated with handoffs and waiting in queue for priority. The faster pace of iteration also led to increased optimization and improved understanding of their design space. There were a few misses in the process which are discussed and their causes identified. Beyond the financial impact, the effort has led to more trust and is contributing to the institutional discipline necessary to ensure that simulation is properly applied by democratized users. While the approach covered here was launched as an experiment and is still being refined, the successes realized thus far are driving expansion of the approach to other projects and design teams.