SCIENCE

Alhad Joshi, Director of Software Consulting Services of the Enterprise Solutions group at Altair Engineering, Inc., will speak at the "Developing a Design/Simulation Framework" conference provided by Collaborative Products Development Associates, LLC on April 6 in Atlanta. The conference brings together leading industry experts to discuss what is being done to further a standard framework employing common terminology, to integrate and optimize the divergent specialist activities currently fragmenting design efforts. Joshi notes that more and more companies are leveraging their PDM systems as the primary repositories of CAE data, and that this approach poses unique challenges: The PDM data model must support CAE; the CAE data model can be complex; there is an immense variety of CAE applications and data types; many CAE simulations need access to physical test data for input and correlation; and data management discipline is not typically part of the CAE culture today. Despite these challenges, Joshi will illustrate one approach for managing CAE data in traditional PDM systems that provides a seamless integration in the native work environment. At Altair, Joshi is responsible for building solutions that capture best- practices in the product development and CAE domain. He directs the development of commercial CAE and process data management solutions, including overseeing product development for HyperWorks Process Manager, HyperWorks Data Manager, HyperWorks Assembly Manager and HyperWorks Report Server. Joshi was recently published in 2PLM, an electronic industry magazine. His featured article suggested how PDM systems used for managing CAD data could be leveraged to manage the CAE process as well. The article can be read in its entirety at http://www.johnstark.com/2PLM181.html . Joshi earned a master's degree in mechanical engineering from Ohio University, and a bachelor of technology degree from IIT in Bombay. As part of the conference, CPDA will discuss the findings of its research project titled "Developing a CAE Data Model for Design & Simulation Frameworks." The report defines a CAE Data Model and takes a look at the current state of CAE Data Models. Case studies highlighting leading-edge users such as Airbus, BMW, Boeing, and Visteon are included. The researchers will discuss a proposed solution and its necessary components.