Abstract

SDM solutions enable simulation engineers to work on a secure, searchable information management platform. Connectors which enable an engineer to launch their CAE application and open data files stored on the platform are an essential component of an SDM solution. The industrial simulation domain is characterised by the use of a large number of CAE solutions and solvers. Whereas organisations typically use a single CAD package for mechanical design, they may use tens or even hundreds of CAE applications and programs. As organisations pursue ever greater product performance, pushing the limits of physics and engineering, more sophisticated CAE solutions are purchased or developed. More sophisticated solvers may require specialised pre- and post-processing capabilities so continuous development of existing and new CAE application connectors to the SDM platform is required. Several versions of a connector which support different version of CAE tools are needed as upward compatibility of developments on CAE applications is not always assured. Therefore, CAE connector development is a major cost component of any SDM implementation. If SDM solutions are to become the usual way of managing simulation data, in the same way that PDM systems are the usual way of managing MCAD and ECAD data, an effective, low-cost route to the development of CAE connectors must be identified. Such a standard, C3I, was developed in 2012 but has not, as yet, achieved significant traction in industry. It is a comprehensive standard but therefore somewhat costly to develop compliant connectors. In the competitive CAE market, vendors have been reluctant to develop standard application connectors which their competitors could also use. An alternative, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), approach has been developed to enable connectors to be developed rapidly for SDM Proofs of Concept. The primary capability of the connectors is to mimic the “open-with” and “save-as” behaviour of CAE applications interacting with a Windows or Linux file system. This approach uses the standard WebSockets protocol to communicate between any web browser SDM user interface and a CAE application on the engineer’s workstation. A standardised architecture and definition of the parameters which need to be exchanged between the SDM client and the CAE application enables a MVP connector to be built very rapidly, days, by an engineer or developer familiar with the scripting language of the CAE application. Such open-source MVP interfaces can be developed and maintained by academics and students using academic licences, internal simulation methods teams or even individual engineers as well as by software vendors or systems integrators. This approach also enables connectors to be developed and shared as open-source to increase the usage of SDM in industry and elsewhere.