What simulation software do you all use, and in what way?

AustralIan

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Jan 2013
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Leipzig, Germany
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Bonus question: do you get that odd feeling when you hear the words "industrie 4.0 digital twin" where you cringe at the buzzwords but also kind of agree that a reasonable simulation is a good idea?
 
Mathcad, but only because I have been using it since Mathcad 3 in the early 1990s. I have so many Mathcad files about so many topics. Second, Mathcad usually looks good when displayed or printed in pdf format.
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=38d8YUttc3Q
I wouldn't bother to get the new Mathcad prime. I would start again with python.

Now I have Mathematica, my Mathcad is obsolete but it still does 95% of what I need to do. Mathematica is more complete but it takes more programming. The learning curve is steeper.

Maple is good too. I bought Mathematica instead of Maple.

I would also consider python. It is free. There is a complete package called Anaconda. There is a YouTube channel called APMonitor that explains how to use python in different applications. I would learn python before Scilab or Matlab.
 
For discrete manufacturing operations "we" use the Simul8 product. By "we" I actually mean a consulting firm that really knows how to use it, with results and predictions that have been accurately verified in practice.
 
GNU Octave (MATLAB clone) for general math sims, SALOME + EDF Code_Saturne for flow (CFD). Haven't needed to yet but for multiphysics would use Elmer. For FEA, Code_Aster.
 
I wonder if AustralIan is asking about "Simulation", or "I/O Simulation".

I err on the side of simplicity, just using an I/O simulator, such as PICS.

All I want a simulator to do is automatically provide Valve and Pump feedbacks, for example, and let me drive the analog signals etc. as required during testing.

We had one guy who put a PICS project together that attempted (and it did very well) to simulate as much as possible, including such esoteric functions as heat loss over time from vessels and pipework.

It sounded like a good idea at the time, but it got in the way of testing the process sequences, for example it was not easy to "go back to step 147" to retest something after a software change.

When testing, you don't want to have to wait for vessels to heat up (built into the simulation), you just want to punch in the numbers and observe the PLC code responses.

I guess it depends on what you want your "simulator" for.....
 

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