SimScale

SimScale is a Munich, Germany-based company that developed a computer-aided engineering Software-as-a-Service simulation application for performance testing, durability optimization, and efficiency. The platform provides real-time access to computational fluid dynamics (CFD), thermal simulations, and finite element analysis (FEA), available on a standard web-browser through cloud-based computing. The back-end of the SimScale platform runs on open-source codes for CFD and FEA.

• FEA: Code_Aster and CalculiX
• CFD: OpenFOAM

The program's cloud-based nature allows users to run more simulations than traditional local computer-based systems and software.

SimScale was founded in 2012 by five Technical University of Munich alumni: David Heiny, Vincenz Dölle, Alexander Fischer, Johannes Probst, and Anatol Dammer. The company was founded on bringing CAE solutions to the mass-market and to provide an alternative solution to traditional on-site local computer-based solutions, which was the industry standard through the early and mid-2000s. SimScale was officially launched in mid-2013 after a beta-phase of testing through 2012 and early-2013.

On December 2, 2015, SimScale announced the CAE platform would be made accessible for free use to "democratize" CAE and "expand the user base" of professional engineers and CAE experts to include small and medium enterprise businesses, without excluding students and product designers.

The FEA module within SimScale uses the open-source codes and solvers Code_Aster and CalculiX. These specific codes allow the linear and non-linear static/dynamic analysis of structures. Code_Aster is responsible for simulations involving damage, fracture, fatigue, geomaterials, contact, porous media, muti-physics coupling, and more. The CalculiX code has similar functions but allows users to build, calculate, and post-process finite element models.

The CFD module in the SimScale interface uses OpenFOAM, another open-source code, for fluid flow simulations for both steady-state and transient analysis.

The SimScale thermal module uses OpenFOAM for solid-solid and fluid-solid interaction issues. Code_Aster and CalculiX conduct thermo-structural analysis. Additionally, SimScale allows for uncoupled thermo-mechanical simulations, conjugate heat transfers, and convective heat transfer analysis.

The available analysis types available with SimScale include:

• Conjugate heat transfer (CHT)
• Steady-state analysis
• Transient analysis
• Thermo-mechanical simulations
• Static/dynamic analysis of structures