Digitalized from Day 1
What is your favorite CAE memory? Mine came a couple months after joining a CFD startup, Blue Ridge Numerics, as a green youngster. The setting was late 90s Charlottesville, VA.
I grew up on a hobby farm in Southern Indiana. Dug a lot of postholes, threw a lot of hay, and rode around in the back of many a pickup surrounded by chainsaws and other redneck ephemera.
My dad (RIP) thought leaving GM to be employee #7 at a software startup was a terrible idea. One day he said he'd be coming for a visit, so I decided to do something to win heart and mind. I used every last bit of CAD skill to hack together a crude pickup truck. I made it so the tailgate could be up or down. Then I ran a CFD simulation at 65 mph in both conditions.
Dad had always told me I'd get better gas mileage by leaving the tailgate down. I at least showed there was more drag with the tailgate up. He was duly excited-- and (maybe for the first time) truly grasped what I meant by that clunky phrase, Computational Fluid Dynamics. Then he leaned forward and pointed at the area behind the cab: "Yeah... look at that. That's where leaves and mulch fly around!"
I later would understand that my mesh sizing probably had given some truly questionable results. But, I experienced the power of Colorful Fluid Dynamics. Dad left a lot more supportive of my career decision.
Accomplished Mechanical Engineer | Skilled Designer | MEng & BEng Graduate
3 年Seeing is believing, whether you understand it or not.
Partner Manager at Autodesk
3 年On my 1st date with my wife Alison: Alison after some small talk: "What do you do?" Me: my company implements CFD for mere mortal engineers like myself. Alsion: Blank stare on her face...no reaction. Me: I'm guessing that you have a blow drying right? Alison: Yes, of course. Me: Well we help engineers design better things, like your hair dryer. For example, your hair dryer passes electricity through a resistance coil to create heat, we call that joule heating. Engineers using our software figure out how big that should be, how fast should the fan move the air so it's effective but also doesn't burn your hair. Alison: Aha...you're a nerd
iBase-t and our Solumina MES platform simplifies how complex discrete products are built and maintained with modern manufacturing expertise and technology.
3 年Great story! When I took the job at BRNI (inside sales), I have to admit I really had no idea what we were selling, no idea, and the learning started on my 1st day, LOL
What’s a pickup truck? Is that like a lorry?
CFD Entertainer (Retired) ˉ\_(ツ)_/ˉ Aerospace Engineer by Degree, Programmer by Practice, Blogger by Passion, Continuous Learner by Necessity
3 年In 1984 I joined General Dynamics and got involved in the ground-up development of a CFD capability. I was an applied CFD person focusing on propulsion aerodynamics - inlets and nozzles. Then as part of my classwork for my MS, I took a mesh generation course from Rich Hindman at UT Arlington. (Rich is also known for his lengthy time at Iowa State.) Rich's presentation of mesh generation in all its 3D richness was so compelling I knew that's what I wanted to do.