Here at SimScale we have been hard at work on this release. Now, after much discussion, improvement and customer feedback, we are excited to finally share the results: Introducing the SimScale Workbench 2.0!
The new and improved SimScale workbench was built entirely from scratch on the latest, state-of-the-art technology stack, with the goal of drastically improving user productivity by decreasing loading time and increasing interaction speed. With this update, the SimScale web-based CAE platform is now as fast and interactive as a desktop application, while taking advantage of the unlimited power of the cloud. Furthermore, the new solution stack sets the stage for major new updates and features that are already in development and will be released in the coming months.
In addition, the latest release from SimScale introduces some fundamental changes to the overall user experience, making the SimScale Workbench 2.0 the most advanced, yet user-friendly simulation interface version ever created by the company. Let’s delve deeper into what has changed:
Streamlined User Interface
Compared to the old version, with the SimScale Workbench 2.0, the viewer takes up significantly more screen real estate, becoming the heart of the interface.
To improve the overall user experience, the settings panels now ‘float’ on top of the viewer, reserving as much space as possible for visualization. Together with a new model color scheme—which preserves the original CAD coloring if possible—and a translucent render mode, interaction with the model has been made significantly more efficient.
One Tab Layout
SimScale’s vision includes making engineering simulation as intuitive as possible. With the previous workbench, the meshing, simulation and post-processing steps were separated into three different tabs. The new version, on the other hand, consolidates the entire workflow into a single tree, helping users set up their projects faster and easier by following a straightforward, step-by-step approach, from top to bottom.
We’ll be bringing further improvements to the workflow tree in the near future. Stay tuned for more updates!
CAD-Based Simulation Setup
A third major change is the possibility for users to carry out a simulation directly on a CAD model. In practice, this means the user can now set up a complete simulation directly on their geometry with less exposure to mesh generation—something that will particularly help novice users to successfully simulate faster. The added benefit of this approach is that, in the case there is a need to change or refine the mesh, all settings and assignments will be kept.
For now, meshing is still required, however, simulation on a CAD model is already possible for a few simulation types.
Miscellaneous
So far we’ve covered the most noticeable changes to the workbench, but there are a host of further improvements that will be released alongside. Read on to learn more about a few additional highlights.
Original CAD Names
In the past, trying to identify the correct parts or faces of your geometry was a tedious and time-consuming task, due to an undescriptive naming convention in the scene tree.
The new SimScale CAD Kernel, besides being more reliable, now allows us to display the original name of your geometry and each individual part, making assignment and debugging work easier. This is just one of the many pre-processing improvements we will be releasing over the next weeks.
Incompressible and Passive Scalar
The analysis types ‘Incompressible’ and ‘Passive Scalar’ have been merged. Now passive scalars can be simply added to a standard incompressible analysis.
Settings Are Persisted on Analysis Type Change
Eager to run a different type of analysis on an existing project? Don’t worry, in the new workbench, there is no need to restart the simulation setup from scratch. Previously, a change as simple as switching the turbulence model would clear the complete simulation setup. Now the workbench tries to retain the complete setup, making changing your analysis type accessible with basically one click.
New Table/Formula Widget (Beta)
You can now create a table directly in the workbench. CSV files can still be uploaded and also edited directly in the new widget.
New Post-Processor
One of the more significant changes to the SimScale workbench is our redeveloped post-processor infrastructure. While still in the early beta phase, in comparison with the previous post-processor (based on ParaViewWeb), the new infrastructure has many new functions, and all indicators look promising in terms of performance and interaction speed. This makes the new post-processor our best bet for a future-proof solution. Stay tuned for more improvements to be released on a daily basis.
The new SimScale post-processor was already announced at the end of August. Find out all the details and what we have planned for the future here.
