Exa
EXA]

From research and development to planning and production, products and processes are increasingly taking shape in the virtual world. Today, simulation is an absolute necessity to remain competitive in product design and engineering. As such, to best optimize designs and contain development costs, engineers worldwide are trying to gain access to premium simulation software, which until now, may have been too costly to deploy internally. “At Exa, we develop, market, sell, and support cost effective software products, and provide professional services for simulation-driven design,” says Stephen Remondi, President and CEO, Exa. The Burlington, MA-based firm offers a product suite that is designed to provide a complete solution for executing the simulation-based design process.

Exa provides solutions through its core software product, PowerFLOW, an automatic fluid grid generation engine, as well as mesh preparation, advanced simulation analysis and rapid design geometry modification products. Exa’s simulation software is delivered in a client/server architecture in which the computationally intensive grid generation and simulation processes run on a centralized, massively parallel multi-processor server, while the interactive applications for simulation preparation and post-processing analysis run on desktop clients that interact with the central server. Using the PowerFLOW suite, engineers can evaluate product performance early in the design process prior to any prototype being built—when the impact of change is most significant for design and budgets. PowerFLOW imports fully complex model geometry, and accurately and efficiently performs aerodynamic, aeroacoustic and thermal management simulations.

Exa’s PowerFLOW optimization solution also combines various tools like the Preparation tool, Simulation tool, and Analysis tool that provide seamless capabilities to the customers— define design, case, and response, intuitive workflow, project execution/ optimization, and statistical analysis. The customer’s engineering teams can explore new creative solutions, make smart tradeoffs, and move to production with complete confidence. In addition, leveraging the capabilities that the cloud has brought to the technology field, the firm’s ExaCLOUD solution allows customers to gain secure, web-based access to the complete Exa simulation suite anywhere, at any time. It is a multi-user system that enables engineers to easily and intuitively manage simulation projects, collaborate seamlessly with colleagues and use any of Exa’s powerful simulation tools with just a web browser.

We develop, market, sell, and support cost effective software products, and provide professional services for simulation-driven design

Leading manufacturers trust Exa’s suite of proven simulation solutions to reduce the reliance on expensive physical prototypes and late stage design failures while optimizing the quality and performance of their products. For instance, Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), a British multinational automotive company, wanted to shift from physical to virtual engineering in its design process. To achieve this, JLR worked with Exa with its computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software—which simulates and analyzes fluid flow and heat transfer. Exa provided JLR with a technology platform that helped them successfully move from physical to virtual environment for “simulation driven design.” The strategic use of this technology provided for a more accurate analysis of performance in real-world conditions, and allowed for actionable feedback and insight on how to improve the design. Subsequently, Exa’s software was used to design and develop the Jaguar XE which has a drag coefficient of 0.26. All aerodynamic optimization was done exclusively through simulation, using Exa PowerFLOW software.

“At Exa, we don’t simply provide software—we strive to provide a complete solution,” affirms Remondi. By using the expertise of its people, and collaborating closely with customers, Exa is focused on developing applications and products designed to address specific engineering problems. “We’re excited about the R&D investments we are making in our product roadmap. Many of these initiatives focus on automation and optimization that we expect to drive further demand as they’re brought to market,” concludes Remondi.