SCIENCE
Acer Servers to Assist in Designing High Performance Bikes
Acer is bringing high-performance computing (HPC) to computer-aided design and simulation in bicycle manufacturing. The Acer AT350 F2 high-end servers are used to conduct research and tests by Velocite, maker of high-performance bikes and components.
At The Cycle Show in Birmingham, UK, Velocite’s CEO, Victor Major, presented how advances in carbon fiber and aerodynamics of high-end racing bicycles can be achieved through computer aided design and simulation. Using the AT350 F2 server, Major demonstrated the air flow being run across Velocite's latest bike frame, Helios, in real time, permitting design improvements to be made during simulation, saving time and cost.
Velocite’s latest bicycle design is revolutionary for its use of computer simulation to improve aerodynamic performance. In terms of carbon fiber use, bicycle manufacturing is more advanced than car design, since the material serves as the actual structure and must hold not only shape but also the weight. In car design, carbon fiber is used like a skin, while other materials like steel or aluminum serve as the frame to hold the weight, making the manufacturing simpler.
Dr. Matthew Smith, professor at Taiwan’s National Chung Kung University, and designer of the simulation software explains, “We are able to run simulation jobs of over four million cells, much higher and to a more finite degree than standard simulation software on the market. This advance is made possible leveraging the GPU computing available in Acer servers.”
Major also commented, “Having powerful enough computing equipment to run advanced simulations takes out the guess work, and error-prone human analysis to bike design. Our goal is to eventually have a bike that defies conventional design, and gives our users a competitive edge.”
The Acer AT350 F2 tower server supports the latest Intel Xeon processors E5 family, has 24 memory DIMM slots, room for up to 16 hard drives and can support the latest NVIDIA® Tesla® or Quadro® GPUs. In addition to the bike design, Acer’s servers are used in HPC applications ranging from manufacturing, car design and simulation, to scientific research and weather modeling.
Velocite is displaying its advanced bike technology at The Cycle Show at stand number D42, held from September 27-30.