simulation - Teratec · 2020. 11. 6. · Autodesk, Creo from PTC, and TopSolid from Missler, etc. Simulation 360 from Autodesk is encouraging democrati-zation, with cloud access,

supplement to 3325 . april 4 2013 . not to be sold separately

simulation the french touch

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Pour en savoir plus : www-ccrt.cea.fr

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industrielleLocalisé dans le Très grand centre de calcul du CEA (TGCC),à Bruyères-le-Châtel (Essonne), le CCRT offre à ses partenairesla puissance de calcul nécessaire à leurs simulations, et les

L’INNOVATION

LES PARTENAIRES ACTUELS DU CCRT :Areva, EADS/Astrium, EDF, Ineris, L’Oréal, Snecma, TechspaceAero, Thalès, Turbomeca, Valéo sont partenaires du CCRT ainsique les quatre pôles de recherche du CEA (sciences de la matière,énergie nucléaire, applications militaires et sciences du vivant).

Airain,calculateur du CCRT(200 Teraflops).

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très haute résolution surl’Europe - Ineris.

Simulation numérique dela combustion dans un foyer

de turbomoteurd’hélicoptère - Turbomeca.

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compétences des équipes du CEAdans toutes les disciplines scientifiquesliées à la simulation numérique.

Simulation de lacombustion ultralow émissions du

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Nouvelles approchesphysiques pour simulerintensivement des

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editorial

O ur know-how is unquestioned, but it is stillfar from common knowledge. France is a landof digital simulation and high performance

computing, a champion even. But who knows about it?Here are some of the facts: Bull has built three of theworld’s 20 most powerful supercomputers, making itthe number-two global manufacturer in 2012 after IBMand the only European company in the field. Esi Groupis a 40-year-old French company that has retained theagility of a start-up while becoming the leader in crash-simulation software and virtual prototyping. CGG (formerlyCGG Veritas) can align 12 petaflops of computing powerto process geophysical data on underground hydrocarbonreserves using its own software. There are at least ninecomputing centers open to small companies and theFrench government is now investing in new pay-per-usecomputation tools through Bull or SystemX, the newtechnical research institute. Well ahead of open sourceinnovation and competitive clusters, French industrialistswere already partnering with government research centersto develop Scilab open source digital computation softwareto ensure their independence from American proprietarytools. Our outstanding French researchers have alwaysbeen on the cutting edge, withthe conception of Grid 5000,they gave themselves a platformfor grid computing with morethan 8,000 cores, the only oneof its kind in the world, desig-ned to test innovations usingparallel distributed processing.Every year, without any fanfare,state-run and university researchlaboratories spin off promising simulation start-ups inevery area: health, environment, transport, energy and,of course, computing. But who knows about all this? Wedo. And so will you when you’ve read this special issueon simulation made in France, with articles by expertjournalists on the editorial staffs of L’Usine Nouvelle andIndustrie et Technologies. Don’t keep this information toyourself. Pass it on by circulating this issue as widely aspossible. It’s the best way to convey our French expertiseand resources to the audience it so justly deserves. ❚❚

Every year, state-run and

university laboratories spin

off promising start-ups

in every area.

France, a hidden landof simulation

AURÉLIEBARBAUX

L’USINE NOUVELLE I N° 3325 SUPPLEMENT I APRIL 4 2013 3

Président-directeur général : Christophe CzajkaDirecteur général délégué : Julien ElmalehDirecteur de la rédaction : Thibaut De JaegherCoordinatrice éditoriale : Aurélie BarbauxPremier secrétaire de rédaction : Guillaume DessaixDirection artistique : Eudes BulardOnt participé à ce numéro : Dorothée Coelho (secrétariatde rédaction) ; Carol Müller (maquette)Supplément de « L’Usine Nouvelle » n° 3325du 4 avril 2013 (commission paritaire n° 0712T81903)Ne peut être vendu séparément.Une publication du groupe Gisi, Antony Parc II -10 place du Général-de-Gaulle - BP 20156 - 92186 Antony CedexDirecteur de publication : Christophe CzajkaImpression : Roto France Impression 77185 LognesPhoto de couverture : CNRS

TECHNOLOGY•No manufacturing without computing...................ÿP. 4

INTERVIEW• Gérard Roucairol, president of the Académie

des technologies and the Teratec association......ÿP. 7

CALCULATION• A french scientific exception ...........................................ÿP. 8

SPIN-OFFS• 35 start-ups made in France..........................................ÿP. 12

SUCCESS-STORY• ESI Group, the start-up spirit .........................................ÿP. 22

PORTFOLIO• Seeing reality trought data.................................................ÿP. 24

SUPERCOMPUTING•A collaborative french expertise.....................................ÿP. 30•Centers open to companies..............................................ÿP. 32

ON-DEMAND SOFTWARE•Smart computing in the cloud........................................ÿP. 34

COMPONENTS•The complexe issue of composites..............................ÿP. 38

PLATFORMS•Multiphysics: how to model complex systems....ÿP. 40

SIMULATORS•Learn by piloting at Thales................................................ÿP. 42

sommaire



enquêtesFRENCH SIMULATION

4

Simulation tools are an essential addition to designtools. Everything can be simulated, whether tooptimize performance, predict lifespan or promoteinnovation.BY PATRICE DESMEDT

Technology

NO MANUFACTURINGWITHOUTCOMPUTING

Mechanics calculation of compressible fluids on airplanes (Inria).

A nything is possible. “We can simulate anything,in any industry”, says a forthright Patrice Gommy,SGI’s director of marketing for southern Europe.

This manufacturer sells supercomputers to the biggestusers of simulation software. “The first consumers, suchas the automobile, aeronautical and nuclear industries,and researchers, have been joined by the biomedical andnanotechnology industries”. We know how to simulateeverything about a plane, including its flight performance.But simulation is also taking root in some unexpected places.For example, at Procter & Gamble, to develop their Pringlespotato chips; at electrical appliance manufacturers, to checkstability of functioning robots or the safety of electric fryersfilled with hot oil; or at a sports equipment manufacturer,to monitor the performance of sports shoes.

Alexis Lapouille, director of computing at Aero ConceptEngineering (ACE) adds: “Simulation has entered a new era,although many people were initially cautious towards oreven suspicious of simulation and only used it for research,it is now widely used in industry, especially for separatestudies. Today, we are even heading towards multi-physics IN

RIA


5L’USINE NOUVELLE I 3325 SUPPLEMENT I APRIL 4 2013

GROWTH MARKETsimulation. Industry is pragmatic and regards simulation as atime-saver during product development.” “It is often combi-ned with a tool for finding out whether or not a part is goingto break,” observes Delphine Genouvrier, director of productsimulation at SolidWorks. “In reality, not many productsbreak. Simulation is primarily needed to help innovation.”

Three factors encourage the use of simulation. First, whena product absolutely must succeed (aeronautical, nuclearand medical products). Secondly, ensuring compliance withnorms, whether checking hearing aids to make they arenot distorting sound or the resistance of grain silos, andlastly, to obtain reductions in mass and lessen developmenttime. Automobile manufacturers are trying to reduce fuelconsumption and combat extra weight cars have acquiredover the years. A decrease in weight that must be accom-panied by a resistance at least equal to the shock. Mobilephones need to withstand being dropped and seat coveringson public transportation need to resist vandalism such asripping and graffiti.

The end of computation officesEngineers have no shortage of tools for their work, with

a range of specialized products: Fluent from Ansys, Flow-master distributed by EnginSoft, PAM-Crash and VA Onefrom ESI Group, Simulink from MathWorks, Nastran fromMSC Software, NCSIMUL from Spring Technologies, etc.Furthermore, general computer-aided design (CAD) softwarealso includes adaptive modules: Catia and SolidWorks fromDassault Systems, NX from Siemens PLM, Inventor fromAutodesk, Creo from PTC, and TopSolid from Missler, etc.Simulation 360 from Autodesk is encouraging democrati-zation, with cloud access, pay-per-use and an interface withbuilt-in simplified access. The widely used SolidWorks alsohas various modules. “Building simulation into CAD toolsmakes innovation easier”, observes Delphine Genouvrier.“Product designers can start simulations easily from theirCAD tool. There is no longer the need to use an externalproduct requiring adaptation, which is synonymous withwasting time and the risk of data loss. We believe thatsimulation should be done in the design office and not inthe engineering office next door.”

Efficient software is boosted by breathtaking developmentsin computer performance. This has been further accelera-ted in recent years by the use of graphics processing units(GPUs) as calculators. Silkan, which was created by mergingtwo start-ups, HPC Project and Arion Entreprise, offers an‘application in a box’ solution with hardware and softwareto speed up calculations. But this improved performancehas just shifted the problems. Discussion about computingpower is no longer about time (a night, an hour, etc.), but

A new problem has arisen : access

to data ; hence the need for results

processing software.

SOFTWARE AND SERVICES

Global simulation market

+ 14 % per year over the next five years

13 principal developersAltair Engineering ; Ansys ; Autodesk ; CD-adapco ; Comsol ; DassaultSystèmes ; ESI Group ; LMS International ; MathWorks ; MSC Software ;PTC ; Samtech ; Siemens PLM Software

SUPERCOMPUTING

3,676 petaflops of peak cumulated power in the five machinesof the GENCI partnership (state, CEA, CNRS)

Global Supercomputer market(in billions of dollars)

49 %IBM

22 %Hewlett-Packard

6 %Cray

5 %Dell

2 %Fujitsu

15 %Other (including Bull)

1 %SGI

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0.4 billion dollarsFrench market

3.5 billion dollarsGlobal market

Market shareBy constructor for the first semester of 2012

Total market in Europe

4.5 billion euros of turnover in supercomputing in 2012 *

350 million euros for in the cloud HPC services in 2015 *

TRAINING

Market for military virtual training

9.03 billion dollars

Market for civil aviation training

3.2 billion dollars

RECHERCHE

500 million in european financing for the Human Brainsimulation project for a period of ten years

2011

2016

10.314


6

SIMULATION IS EVERYWHERE

AS IN ANCIENT ROMETHE ROMAN CANOPY AT LE PUY-DU-FOU

The director of Le Puy-du-Fou theme park hasdevised a stadium canopy, like those in ancientRoman amiphitheaters, to protect spectators fromthe sun. It was designed by the design andengineering company SDEI using Soildworks, theCAD software from Dassault Systèmes, which wasalso used for simulation. The wind-resistance workwas done by Meteodyn, a software vendor andresearch consultancy. Designing this completelynovel canopy was complicated by the fact that SDEIhad to take account of existing structures andcomply with safety regulations for equipmentintended for the public. Without simulation tools,Yves Biret, director of products and computing atSDEI Ouest, would never have convinced theinspection body of the system’s compliance. ❚❚

CONSTRUCTION MYSTERYTHE PYRAMID OF CHEOPS

How did the Egyptians construct pyramids?This question has given rise to manymore or less bizarre answers, which havealways come up against insuperable obstacles. Thearchitect Jean-Pierre Houdin devisedan innovative solution focusing on a rampinside the pyramids. To confirm his hypothesis,he modeled the construction site usingsimulation tools from Dassault Systèmes.This included materials’ physical features, theeffect of the pyramid’s own weight on itself,as well as modeling of mechanical systemsused during construction. This software enabledhim to prove that his theory was correct.The construction of the Pyramid of Cheopsis no longer a mystery. ❚❚

THE BEST AERODYNAMIC SHAPEPRINGLES POTATO CHIPS

Pringles are the progeny of digital simulationon several accounts. Their complex hyperbolicparaboloid shape contributes to theirattractiveness, while also preventing themfrom breaking in their can. Thousands ofcalculations were required to develop thisperfect shape, which was changed afterthe first production tests. Since the Pringlesblew off the production line, their aerodynamicshape was revised. Simulation was also usedto optimize their thickness. Procter & Gamblewanted them to be as thin as possible, whilealso able to withstand salt addition withoutswelling up. Eventually, the manufacturersuccessfully optimized its production whilealso providing customers with a sensory treat. ❚❚D

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rather about the proliferation of simulations that are nowavailable. This vast quantity of results then needs to beanalyzed and used wisely.

Today’s software works on increasingly precise geometryand models can be easily modified. “In the 1990’s, youhad to go back to the model, revise the meshing and checkeverything”, reminisces Hugues Drion director of the manu-facturing division of Autodesk France. “Simulation was onlyused by big industries. Today, it is widespread and usedincreasingly for predictive work”.

Results analysisA new problem has arisen: access to data; hence the need

for results-processing software. Car manufacturers work onwhole components and use stochastic software to analyzeresults. It is impossible to view the results, as there are toomany of them. Aircraft manufacturers have opted, along withtheir sub-contractors, to simplify the problem by breakingit down into simpler parts. Humans have a role to play in

spotting red herrings. “If you want to optimize a structure,you need to understand physical phenomena. Software is nota black box that does whatever it wants. Simulation is verypowerful, but it can bog things down”. Explains Yves Biret,director of product design and computing at the design andengineering company SDEI Ouest.

Simulation does not claim to be absolutely accurate. “Itis not indisputable,” states Patrice Gommy. “But scienceis not indisputable. Many design offices ask if simulationis accurate. We should not be having this discussion.” ForAlexis Lapouille, “Digital simulation remains mathematics. Itis an approximation of what reality might be like, obtained byimposing simplifying conditions. The engineers who designsimulations significantly impact on the quality of results. Inthe field of aerodynamics, wind tunnels still play a decisiverole.” Yves Biret is even blunter: “You should never have blindfaith in software, but rather analyze the results for coherence.Software is very good at applying stupid mistakes.” The goodnews? Machines still need human beings.❚❚

7L’USINE NOUVELLE I N° 3325 SUPPLEMENT I APRIL 4 2013

“Simulation is becoming a key tool in

innovation. If we want to relocate factories

in France, it is essential to integrate

digital design and manufacturing.”

For Gérard Roucairol, president of the Académiedes Technologies and the Teratec Association,simulation is a key element of innovation.By combining digital technology with design andmanufacturing, we can relocate industry in France.INTERVIEW BY THIBAUT DE JAEGHER AND PATRICE DESMEDT

Interview“SIMULATION ISA FACTOR INCOMPETITIVENES”

in which computing power is developed by accumulatingresources. The cloud is part of that dynamic.

Now that remote access has been standardized, thissolution can be offered to a broad market using a differentbusiness model: pay-per-use. Small companies can thusaccess high performance computing. The problem thenbecomes one of skills. That is the real issue today.

Can simulation become an industrythat counts in France?

Simulation is becoming a key tool in innovation and com-petition because it enables shortcuts in design cycles. It istherefore a major factor in acquiring a competitive edge. Thedesign cycle is where added value is produced. If we want torelocate factories in France, it is essential to integrate digitaldesign and manufacturing. And even if we are in a periodof breaking away from traditional machine architecture,manufacturers using simulation shouldn’t wait for the newmachines to get started. The French have to adapt now,even if the new frameworks force them to revise all theirprogram codes. This is one of the challenges France faces.Fortunately, we are in a good position to do this because wehave our own manufacturer – Bull – and start-ups like Kalray,a spin-off of STMicroelectronics and the AEC, working onthese topics. Kalray has just completed a 256-core processorfor embedded IT applications.

If you were to make an appeal to French manufacturers,what would you say?

Design and manufacturing can no longer be separated fromthe overall chain of integration. To me, that is absolutely es-sential. The integration process has to be expanded to includedigital models and simulation tools. French manufacturershave to succeed in simultaneously reinforcing integration inthe value chain and modernizing their facilities. ❚❚

Where does the French talent for simulation come from?Originally, the interest came from a number of graduates

of the French School of Applied Mathematics, founded byJacques Lions, who focused on the finite element method.Their research was concerned primarily with applications,particularly in fluid mechanics. Engineers who, in turn, havemade a significant transfer of knowledge to industry tookup the movement.

What exactly is the role of simulation in industry?Today we are seeing a wide diversification of simulation

applications. In addition to the aerospace and automotiveindustries, it is increasingly used in healthcare and mul-timedia, as well as in the field of big data with a differentdata-driven approach to simulation. In these areas, resear-chers learn by producing statistical models of processes thatwe do not fully understand, processes that may be infinitesuch as human behavior. These diversified uses have ledto a diversification of the players involved. And in this newwave of players, we are seeing smaller companies. But justbecause your company is small doesn’t mean the problemsit has to solve are small.

How can small companies gain access to the supercomputersrequired for simulation?

The solution lies in mutualizing. We have entered an era

PASC

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La simulation,un moyen d'accroitre

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8

Calculation

A FRENCH SCIENTIFICEXCEPTIONThe supercomputers of the future are opening up unprecedented possibilities for simulation.They are also forcing us to rethink mathematical models and digital methods.BY THIERRY LUCAS

CNR

S



This sampleof 100 millionlight-yearsillustrates theformation of thegreater strucutresof the universe(CNRS).

A million billion instructions per second and a thou-sand times more by 2018. Supercomputers are sopowerful they can simulate everything or almost

everything, from blood flow to the operation of a nuclearweapon. And even how the universe was formed fromthe Big Bang to the present, which is currently being attempted by a team of scientists from the Paris Observatory, theNational Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and UniversitéParis-Diderot at the Laboratory of the Universe and Theories(LUTH). To perform its calculations, the research unit is usingthe Curie supercomputer (2 petaflops) located at the offices ofthe Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) in Bruyères-le-Châtel,France. Running a supercomputer requires a mathematicalmodel capable of simulating the phenomenon to be explored,along with software capable of achieving optimal use of themachine’s resources. Both requirements signify vast areas forresearch, as the ever-increasing power of these computersopens up new fields for simulation calling for software thatruns on tens of thousands of simultaneous processors.

Multi-scale and massive parallelismDigital simulation is based on equations that describe the

phenomenon to be simulated and the methods to solve them.“French research continues to rank high in the field of appliedmathematics, as demonstrated by the Fields medals awardedto Cédric Villani (2010) and Pierre-Louis Lions (1994),” assertsGrégoire Allaire, professor of applied mathematics at ÉcolePolytechnique. Mathematicians make up a large percentageof new recruits at the National Institute of Research in Com-puter Science and Control (INRIA). “The simulation teamsbring together mathematicians and computer scientists thatare also application-oriented,” explains Jean Roman, DeputyScientific Director in charge of “applied mathematics, com-puting and simulation.”

Structural mechanics in the automotive and aerospaceindustries has long relied on simulation. Although a “tradi-tional” discipline, it remains a research topic. Optimizationis now undergoing rapid development. This no longer meanscalculating to verify that a design partcorresponds to specifications, but rathercarrying out dozens of calculations ite-ratively to arrive at the best possibleshape. The research work of GrégoireAllaire, a specialist in shape optimi-zation, has thus culminated in a joint

project between EADS, Renault and software publisher ESIGroup to develop software that produces optimized structures.

Today, simulation plays an important role in every majorresearch project, from elucidating the operations of thebrain to storing nuclear waste, and from nanomaterials tothe future ITER thermonuclear reactor. In all these areas,simulation specialists are faced with a challenge best de-scribed as ”multi-scale“. Until now, different models enabledresearchers to simulate what was happening on differentscales (microscopic or macroscopic), for example, at the levelof an individual neuron or of a cognitive function. The aimnow is to combine these models. Consequently, the propertiesof porous materials such as cement or schist can only beunderstood using a multi-scale approach. An internationallaboratory, set up in 2012 by the CNRS and MIT, is presentlyworking on this very topic. The same type of problem arises inthe study of underground nuclear waste storage. But in thiscase, the multiple scales must also take the time factor intoaccount: a microscopic phenomenon may have a larger-scaleeffect if one is thinking in terms of thousands of years. InFrance, the MoMaS research group working on mathematicalmodeling and digital simulations related to nuclear wastemanagement has been focused on this particular subject forthe last ten years.

Another key point of simulation is parallelism. “We no lon-ger have a choice, it has become a requirement,” emphasizesVictor Alessandrini, one of the managers of the Maison de laSimulation, a joint laboratory involving AEC, CNRS, INRIA,Université d’Orsay and Université de Versailles-Saint-Quen-tin-en-Yvelines. The laboratory helps researchers take advan-tage of supercomputer potential. Software that can adapt tobreakdowns that are statistically inevitable when millions ofprocessors are involved will be required for machines of thefuture. “Parallelism on a massive scale calls into questionalgorithmic and digital methods,” says Jean Roman. A labo-ratory shared by the INRIA and the University of Illinois in theUnited States has been dedicated to solving these problemssince 2009. Optimal operation of parallel systems will allow

researchers to carry out multi-scaleand multi-physical simulations that upuntil now were impossible. They willalso produce equally unprecedentedquantities of data that will have to bemanaged and processed. Science too,is entering the age of big data. ❚❚

“French research continues

to rank high in the field

of applied mathematics.”Grégoire Allaire, professeur at École polytechnique


10

Modeling attempts to pierce the secrets of neurons.

F rom 2013 to 2023, more than 80 research insti-tutes participating in the European Human BrainProject will attempt to elucidate how the human

brain works. Headed by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale deLausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, the project is expected toreceive a billion Euros in funding. “Simulation, which is nowomnipresent in the neurosciences, is a very important part ofthe Human Brain Project,” declares Alain Destexhe, leaderof the computational neurosciences team at the NationalCenter for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France. Severaltypes of brain modeling will be implemented. Detailedsimulation of neural networks, each modeled with its specificmorphology and physiology, will be carried out by EPFL inline with its own project known as “Blue Brain“. This partof the project, which will demand the most computationalpower and memory capacity, will be performed at Germany’sJülich Supercomputing Center. Other teams will simulatesimplified neurons but on a larger scale. The French teamsin the project will focus on simulating certain areas of thebrain such as the visual cortex. “Our approach is morephysiological, with models combining experimental resultsand theory,” explains Alain Destexhe. A mixed approach willalso be used at NeuroSpin, the center for research on brainimagery at the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to studycognitive functions (decision-making, spatial navigation,etc.). Finally, the huge quantities of data generated by theproject, resulting from experimentation such as simulation,will necessitate the development of tools capable of managingimmense databases and consulting them. ❚❚

S ubterranean modeling is something specialistsin gas and oil exploration know how to do. Butprojects for underground CO2 storage – to avoid

rejecting this greenhouse gas into the atmosphere – posespecific problems. “The models must be predictive, becauseit is necessary to estimate the evolution of a storage reservoirover a period of up to a thousand years,” explains FrédéricRoggero, a simulation specialists at IFP Énergies nouvelles(IFPEN). Several time scales are taken into account: a fewdozen years of underground carbonic gas injection, theevolution of the site after it closes and its sealing integrity(the guarantee against leaks). In fact, geological storagepresents the whole spectrum of simulation problems. Thesystem is also multi-scale in space, because it must mimicthe reservoir and its possible impact on the environmentat a distance of up to several hundred kilometers. Further-more, the simulation must combine various phenomena:hydrodynamic (gas flow), chemical (the reaction of the gasin contact with rocks) and geomechanical (the evolution ofrock properties). Finally a statistical approach is used to testthe consequences of unforeseen events. Some models developed with input from laboratory experiments are currentlyin operation and have been validated at storage sites suchas the one in Sleipner, Norway. At IFPEN, parallelization isunder way to adapt the codes to computers that will enableintensive use of the models when the industrialization ofCO2 storage eventually takes off. ❚❚

EUROPE’S HUMAN BRAIN PROJECTUNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN BRAIN

GEOLOGICAL CO2 STORAGE PROJECTING1,000 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE

Evaluation of a storage sitecontains many factors(leaks, type of subsoil, etc.)



“When digital simulationreaches its limits, we goback to experimentation.”

PATRICKWAGNER,wind tunneldivisiondirectorat OneraSimulation, indispendable in mastering nuclear fusion.

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I n 2020, the prototype of the ITER nuclear fusionreactor, now under construction in Cadarache,France, is expected to produce its first plasma, an

ultra high temperature mixture of ions and electrons confi-ned by magnetic fields. To understand and control what ishappening, digital simulation plays a decisive role. Withone major challenge: how to invent mathematical modelsand digital methods that can be run only on supercompu-ters that will not be ready until 2018! Researchers havebeen grappling with the task for years, notably in Francewith the team currently developing Gysela software (AEC,INRIA, universities) to simulate the plasma at the core ofthe reactor. “We are striving for exascale,” explains VirginieGrandgirard of the AEC, alluding to the computers that willreach exaflops, i.e. 1,000 times the power of the largestmachines in use today. Which presupposes running theprogram on tens of thousands of core processors (a partialtest on 65,000 cores was conducted in 2012 on the Curiecomputer at the AEC). But dividing the work by limitingcommunication between processors remains problema-tic. To top it off, the teraoctets of data generated by eachsimulation will have to be managed and transmitted. TheFrench compare their results with those of the Europeanteams at EPFL and the Max Planck Institute. And they arepresently working on a program to reproduce the plasmaclose to the reactor walls. The calculations are less complexbut difficult to carry out by parallel computation. Finally, thetwo programs will have to be joined together to simulatethe whole process. ❚❚

THE ITER FUSION REACTORAN UNPRECEDENTED MODELING FEAT

Onera, the French aerospace lab, is makingintensive use of digital simulation, but it is stillresorting to experimental simulation. Why?These two tools are complementary.Digital simulation reaches its limits whenit becomes difficult to write the equationsfor the physical phenomenon to bemodeled. Typically, in certain areas of fluidmechanics involving the study of turbulentor supersonic flows on the wing edge,the equations are highly complex and hardfor mathematicians to solve. Even withimproved digital codes, it would takeextraordinary computing power to processsuch complexity.

Does that mean computers are going to killexperimental simulation?Far from it. The United States, for example,which originally opted for the all-digitalroute, is now reinvesting in wind tunnels,the large installations we use to studythe airflow around a model aircraft.Experimental simulation presents its ownchallenges, however. First, the experimentmust faithfully reproduce future flightconditions. Second, to run it,improvements in metrology are necessaryto develop new sensors and take the biaseslinked to the measurement environmentmore fully into account.

What is the future of simulation?It will necessarily involve more frequentcombined use of both types of simulation.They enhance each other through cross-fertilization. In the case of the Onera studyon engines with contra-rotating propellers,the results of the experimental simulationsare enriching the digital codes. Withoutthis hybrid effort, it will be difficult todevelop breakthrough technologies. ❚❚


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Vive la recognition! Almost all our Frenchsimulation experts come from public or nationaluniversity laboratories.BY AURÉLIE BARBAUX

Spin-offs

35 START-UPSMADE IN FRANCE

STATE-OF-THE ARTDISTRIBUTIONUsing Grid5000, a computing grid with morethan 8,000 core processors, Frenchresearchers are experimenting with innovativesolutions for scientific calculation.BY THIERRY LUCAS

M ore than 8,000 core processors are operatingin ten different locations in France. French researchers have a virtually unique instrument to

test innovations in distributed parallel computing thanksto the grid of computers, made up of clusters of PCsconnected by the Renater Network (1 Gbit/s). “Grid5000enables new concepts and algorithms to be validatedin all the software layers from network protocols up toapplications,” says Frédéric Desprez, scientific directorof Grid5000, which is funded by Inria (National Institutefor Research in Computer Science and Control), CNRS(National Center for Scientific Research) and universities.Computing grids are an “economical” way to access high-powered calculation.

Remote access and pay-per-useA grid is a boon to many disciplines such as physics, biology, cosmology, cryptology or database management. Butrunning software efficiently on a distributed infrastructurerequires innovative IT tools capable of managing paralleltasks assigned to thousands of central processing unitsor cores. In this regard, Grid5000 is designed to make lifeeasier for users. In order to test what they have developed,researchers reserve remote access to computing resources.Their software applications are then deployed with asimple click. Better still, if the program “crashes” – whichis not unusual in the research phase –, the system is auto-matically rebooted via the network, without having to callthe system manager. “From the start, we were doing cloudcomputing without realizing it,” explains Frédéric Desprez.Grid5000 has succeeded in setting up a genuine test bedfor reproducible experiments comparable to what is donein physics, but quite new in the IT field. It creates anenvironment conducive to projects, including theoreticalones, which rely on a validation tool. Similar offers exist,for example the one proposed by Amazon web services.However, according to Grid5000 promoters, the Frenchsystem has the advantage of guaranteeing network perfor-mance and hence experiment reproducibility. Accordingto Frédéric Desprez, Grid5000 has inspired a counterpartin the United States called FutureGrid, currently fundedby the National Science Foundation. French researchersare understandably proud of their grid, which has sincegiven rise to several start-ups specializing in distributedcomputing. ❚❚



Reducingmachining timeis one of thekey objectivesof softwaredesignedby SpringTechnologies.

M achining, assembly, flow, navigation, buckling ofthin shells, human vision, new medicines pollutantdispersion, waste treatment, wave propagation,

complex embedded systems, electronic chips and telecomnetwork design, multiphysical complex systems, microscopicvision, nanoworlds, heat optimization, power grid behaviorand automobile crashes. The list goes on: virtual reality,optimized calculation, reproducing 3D images of organs,neurological modeling, 3D displays, crowd simulationand serious games. This catalogue, reminiscent of Frenchpoet Jacques Prévert’s surreal “inventory”, reflects the richpotential of the 35 French nuggets of simulation we haveunearthed. Most come from public laboratories or researchinstitutes and elite engineering schools. Three are offshootsof INRIA, two of the Systems Analysis and ArchitectureLaboratory (LAAS) at France’s National Center for ScientificResearch, two others of Mines ParisTech and another twoof École Centrale de Lyon. Other experts are from ÉcoleCentrale de Nantes, École Polytechnique de Nantes, INSAin Lyon, Inserm, Télécom ParisTech, the Center for Scientificand Technical Building (CSTB) and Université de Cachan.These spin-offs, most of them less than 10 years old, havea good chance of maturing, like Spring Technologies, Corysand the ESI Group, which is celebrating is 40th anniversarythis year [see page 22]. Even if it means joining together tobecome stronger competitors in international markets. ❚❚D

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MECHANICS, DESIGN

SPRING TECHNOLOGIES OPTIMIZESMACHINE TOOLSSpring Technologies has just celebrated its 30th anniversary.The company, now a well-established machining simulationsoftware publisher, has developed a successful internationalstrategy and today one third of its 9 million Euros in revenuescomes from exports. It has a hundred employees and officesin Germany, Switzerland, China and the United States. SpringTechnologies has always sought to anticipate the needs ofcomputer-controlled machine-tool users and has turnedmachine tool management into realistic simulation synony-mous with saving adjustment time. Messier-Bugatti-Dowtyfor example, has reduced the machining time of titaniumparts for its undercarriages by 20%. Spring Technologiesboasts a client portfolio of famous companies such as Alstom,Areva, DCNS, Eurocopter, Safran, Snecma and Valeo. It hasalso forged ties with various machine-tool manufacturers.When buying a machine, a manufacturer can immediatelybegin preparing production and scheduling, well before thedelivery of the machining unit. “It is quite possible to do thiswith a special machine,” emphasized Gilles Battier, Chairmanand CEO of Spring Technologies. “NCSimul software canpredict the machine’s specifications.”

IMMERSION PROFESSIONALIZES VIRTUAL REALITYSet up in 1994 by Christophe Chartier, Immersion, a Bor-deaux-based company, has become a major player in virtualreality. Its stereoscopic visualization rooms – walls of veryhigh- definition images and immersive environments –provide a realistic rendering to enhance simulation tools.Such rooms are found at PSA, Renault, Airbus, LVMH, theAEC, etc. Immersion is currently participating in the leadingEuropean research projects on virtual and augmented reality.It posts revenues of 5.4 million Euros and has 27 employees.

KINEO CAM DIRECTS ROBOTSKineo CAM, a spin-off from the National Center for ScientificResearch Laboratory of Systems Analysis and Architecture(LAAS-CNRS) in Toulouse, was taken over by Siemens inOctober 2012. In the meantime, its software for calculatingrobot movements has won the recognition of all the world’smajor automobile manufacturers, before being adoptedby the aerospace industry and manufacturers of precisionrobots for the nuclear industry. Kineo CAM sales reached 2.8million Euros in 2011 and the company currently employsa staff of 14 people.

HYDROCEAN DIGITALIZES NAVIGATIONHydroOcean’s hydrodynamic simulation tools are used todesign high-performing boats as well as wind and tidalstream turbines. The fledgling enterprise in Nantes, star-ted in 2007 by Erwan Jacquin, is a spin-off from the fluidmechanics laboratory of École Centrale de Nantes, withwhich it has developed a technological partnership. In2011, HydroOcean recorded 1.275 million Euros in revenue


14

and employs 17 people. Its customers include DCNS, STXEurope, Multiplast, Technip and Total.

STRUCTURE COMPUTATION PROVIDES ACCESSTO SUPERCOMPUTINGBy proposing a software suite for hosted new generationstructural analysis, Structure Computation allows anycompany to access the power of the supercalculators andexpertise at LMT-Cachan. The 2009 start-up is a jointventure led by Jérémie Bellec, PhD in structural analysis, inpartnership with the Cachan laboratory to fill the gap betweenthe structural analysis solutions available in the world ofresearch and those used in the business world.

EC2 MODÉLISATION GUIDES COMPANIESWhen it first started up in 1998, EC2 Modélisation carriedout studies on the buckling of thin shells. Today, the com-pany, set up in collaboration with INSA in Lyon, is performingengineering studies using digital simulation in mechanics,thermomechanics, heat science and fluid-structure interac-tion for customers including the AEC, Air Liquide, EADS,DCNS, Peugeot and EDF. EC2 Modélisation also works inpartnership with laboratories in the public sector (INSA,Institut Carnot, etc.) as well as the private sector (Macanium,OptiFluides, etc.)

Digisensoptimizesmedicalimagingsystems withan integrated3D function.

HEALTH

DIGISENS DEMOCRATIZES TOMOGRAPHYIN MEDICAL IMAGINGA spin-off from INRIA set up in 2002 in the French Alps,Digisens is considered the first company in the world tomarket software combining high performance computingwith graphics processing. Using digital x-rays of an organ(tomographies), its software is capable of reconstructing largeimages in 3D and analyzing them. Digisens thus enables itsclients – research institutes and European and Americanmanufacturers – to optimize their scanner-type systemsusing x-rays or electronic microscopes.

RHENOVIA PHARMA UNDERSTANDSBRAIN DISEASESRhenovia Pharma, founded in 2007, is the combined resultof the expertise of Serge Bischoff, a PhD in neurobiologywith a background in the pharmaceutical industry, and theresearch work of a professor of neurosciences at a Californiauniversity. Its modeling technology reproduces the cellularand molecular mechanisms of the brain and of neuraltransmission. It also determines which areas of the brain toblock or activate in the treatment of neurological diseases.Its simulators allow laboratories and biotech companies tocut down on the long, costly animal experiments required todevelop their medicinal products. Finally, it helps actors inthe agri-food business, such as Sodiaal Candia, to emphasizethe beneficial properties of certain foods for health. “Weare also working with the French Armament agency on

simulating neurotoxins in order to identify antidotes,” addsSerge Bischoff. An acknowledged global leader in centralnervous system biosimulation, Rhenovia Pharma, based inMulhouse, employs 11 people. The company has reachedthe breakeven point and is now preparing a second round ofinvestment (2.5 million Euros) to accelerate its development.It aims to triple its current revenue of 900,000 Euros withinthe next five years.

BRAIN VISION SYSTEMS SIMULATESHUMAN VISIONWhat happens when an electronics engineer with experienceat Matra collaborates with a research biologist at Inserm?Answer: “bio-inspired” perception systems. When thesystem is embedded in an electronic board, it is capable ofperceiving and acting like a brain. Brain Vision Systems, aParisian company that has attracted the interest of Philips aswell as the AEC, was founded in 2006. It has just unveiledits latest development: the Binobot robot, equipped withbinocular vision similar to the human field of vision. Thesystem can be embedded in all types of robots or vision andcontrol applications, particularly for service robotics.

LIXOFT MODELS MEDICINAL PRODUCTDEVELOPMENTLixoft, set up in 2011 in Orsay, began by working withstatistical data from research carried out by INRIA. Soon itwas receiving support from pharmaceutical laboratories allover the world such as Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. Toprocess masses of data from tests on humans and animals,the start-up developed Monolix software. It now striving tobecome a benchmark player in modeling and simulatingmedicinal product development. D

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OptiFluides,an expert inatmosphericdispersionwith Fluent.

ENVIRONMENT

OPTIFLUIDES TRACKS POLLUTANTSSpecialized in fluid mechanics, the young engineering firmOptiFluides was founded in June 2011 by Nicolas Boisson,a former engineer at Rhône-Poulenc. The company, based inLyon, uses Fluent software to study atmospheric pollutantsand conduct research in the area of renewable energies.Fluent is a digital method that combines 3D models andmeteorological data to assess, for example, the output ofa wind turbine when its blades are covered with insects orit is located in the wake of another turbine. The companyhas four employees. One third of its revenue is generated byenvironmental activities, and the rest by modeling industrialprocesses for the aviation industry, healthcare, etc.

SILLAGES ENVIRONNEMENT VISUALIZESATMOSPHERIC POLLUTIONA spin-off in 2009 from laboratory work in fluid mechanicsand acoustics at École Centrale de Lyon, Sillages Environne-ment is specialized in modeling the atmospheric dispersionof pollutants. Services include integrating data on pollutantdischarges (chemical, microbiological or radioactive) to assessthe dispersion of pollutant plumes emitted by industrial sitesand determining building air quality. Incubated by Crealys,the company is part of the Seth group, which is comprisedof four SMEs specializing in air-related disciplines.

GEOMOD MAPS ELECTROMAGNETICWAVE PROPAGATIONPredicting human exposure to sound and electromagneticwaves is one of the challenges taken up by the softwarepublisher and distributor Geomod. The company, a specialistin land and marine geomatics (collecting, processing anddisseminating geographical data), has been co-developinga software suite named Mithra with the Center for Building

Science and Technique since 2005. The tool simulates thepropagation of electromagnetic waves throughout an entirecity and calculates the impact of adding repeater antennasor reducing power.

DATAPOLE SCALES WASTE MANAGEMENTSet up in 2010, Datapole (five employees) has developedsoftware known as Prediwaste to forecast waste manage-ment activity. Its distinctive feature lies in compiling specificcriteria such as weather, daily waste production and the localconsumption of mass-market products by 3, 500 families.This information is transformed into waste production data(e.g. the amount of plastic) for each region. The companycan then help local authorities and private operators adjustthe size of their teams, collection and processing facilitiesto correspond as closely as possible to real needs and thereby reduce costs. “These resources are too often scaled tohandle extreme events rather than to meet a service qualityobjective. Our approach consists in scaling down facilitiesand logistical flows to normal levels while maintaining theability to predict and adapt to occasional spikes in activity,”explained Frédéric Gagnaire, head of the Parisian start-up.Datapole has been conducting two experiments with itssoftware since late 2012: one with the City of Paris, the otherwith the Intercommunity Household Waste Syndicate (Siom)in the Vallée de Chevreuse. The first is expected to last oneyear, the second three years.

TRINOV OPTIMIZES INDUSTRIAL WASTETrinov, a young Parisian company founded in 2007 by DanDassier, formerly with IBM, has developed online softwarecalled Nova to optimize waste management in industry,building and publics works, etc. The tools provides graphicmapping of how waste is produced at a site and proposesthe best waste recovery solution for each category (feedingwaste back into the production process, selling secondaryraw materials, etc.). Trinov intends to expand its model tothe scale of an entire region.

Mithra-Suitesoftwaresimulateswavepropagation inan entire city.



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ELECTRONICS

COFLUENT DESIGN SIMULATES COMPLEXEMBEDDED SYSTEMSA spin-off from Polytech Nantes in 2003, CoFluent Designpublishes the simulation software developed at the school.The programs are designed to simulate complex embeddedsystems, taking all the data and the range of operatingsituations into account to improve their quality. The com-pany, which has 15 employees and posted revenue of534,000 Euros in 2011, boasts clients such as Nokia, RIM,Canon, Thales, Siemens and Nokia Siemens Networks. Asign of its potential: The company was taken over by Intelin August 2011.

DOCEA POWER PUTS COMPUTER CHIPS ON A DIETFounded in 2006, Docea Power publishes software toanalyze, model and simulate the power and thermal beha-vior of chips and electronic systems. The goal is to helpmanufacturers control the thermal behavior and energyconsumption of their circuits right from the design phase.Its software, designed in partnership with R&D centerssuch as Imec (Belgium) and CEA-Leti (Grenoble, France),now equips a dozen customers including Ericsson andMicroelectronics. The company plans to double its currentworkforce of 20 by 2015.

SYSFERA PROVIDES ACCESS TO COMPUTING-SIMULATIONSet up in 2010, SysFera simplifies access to computation andsimulation resources. Its software, called Diet (Distributedinteractive engineering toolbox), is derived from researchconducted by Inria’s Graal team at École Normale Supérieure

de Lyon. The original idea: to transform access to serversinto an on-demand service. Researchers and engineers nolonger have to concern themselves with complex questions ofresource reservation. When an application is launched froma remote workstation, Diet selects the machines best suitedto execute it. The second advantage of Diet software is toenable optimized use of computing resources by mutualizingthe infrastructures in a grid. “It can group together severalrequests on a single server and balance the machine loads,virtually increasing the capacity available to users,” explainsDavid Loureiro, Chairman and CEO and a co-founder of thecompany. The IT manager knows how the servers are used,who is using them and what they are used for.” Diet currentlysupplies ten clients including Electricité de France. Locatedin Lyon, SysFera employs 14 people and generated nearly 1million Euros in sales in 2011.

SILKAN OPTIMIZES CRITICAL EMBEDDED SYSTEMSA spin-off of the 2012 merger between HPC Project andArion Entreprise, Silkan focuses on the simulation of criticalembedded systems. It uses internal and external technolo-gical building blocks to develop tailor-made solutions forhigh-performance modeling and simulation. The systemscover the entire life cycle of the product, from the designstage to testing, use and maintenance. They meet the needto ensure operational reliability in areas such as defense,aviation, energy, etc. The company also provides rapidfinancial modeling systems for banking. Par4Amm is one ofits key technological building blocks. Developed jointly withMines ParisTech and Télécom ParisTech, it is an open sourceplatform that parallelizes the calculation code to optimizecomputer processing. The company has 70 employees andten customers, among them Airbus, Arcelor-Mittal, Eurocop-ter, PSA and Safran. Thanks to its two-digit growth, it hopesto reach revenue of 20 million Euros by 2013, comparedwith 8 million in 2012.

REDWAY3D VISUALIZES 2D AND 3D IMAGESFounded in 2004, Redway3D has developed a 2D and 3Dgraphic engine compatible with all Intel, AMD and Nvidiaprocessors. Compared with the solutions of competing CAOsoftware vendors, its REDSDK software tool improves displayquality in real time and provides a photographic rendering ofcomputer-generated images. Missler Software has integratedit in its TopSolid software suite. Airbus is using it in its main-tenance simulator. The company, which became profitable in2006, has six employees and has already sold twenty softwarelicenses. Meca Distribution is also one of its customers.

QOS DESIGN ANTICIPATES TELECOM NETWORKSSet up in 2004, QoS Design offers tools for service qualityassessment, simulation, planning and telecom networkdesign. Its software suite, Nest (Network engineering andsimulation tool), is backed up by 25 years of research at theLAAS-CNRS laboratory in Toulouse, in partnership withmanufacturers. Its originality lies in its unique technique ofdifferential traffic modeling and hybrid simulation enablinglow-cost network quality control.

CoFluent develops virtual electronic components.

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CHEMISTRY

ENERGY

FLUOREM EXAMINES FLUIDSIt is no accident that Fluorem, located in Ecully near Lyon,has acquired the expertise to produce digital simulations offluid flows in cars and planes. Founded in May 2000, thecompany is a spin-off from the Laboratory of Fluid Mecha-nics and Acoustics at École Centrale in Lyon. Its softwaresolutions, which reduce design time and experimentationcosts, have won over groups such as Areva, Airbus, Totaland Valeo. Fluorem’s distribution network now extends tothe whole of Europe.

THE COSMO TACKLES COMPLEX SYSTEMSYoung but ambitious, The CoSMo Company, which startedup in June 2012, has designed a solution for modeling andsimulating complex systems ranging from new compoundsfor the pharmaceuticals industry to urban development. TheCoSMo is part of the Veolia Innovation Accelerator program(VIA), dedicated to spotting and rolling out the most promising eco-technologies. In September 2012, the companyjoined the IT Future of Medicine consortium, which groupstogether players in the pharmaceutical and IT industries.

SCIENOMICS MODELS THE MICROSCOPICScienomics invites customers to plunge into the microscopicworld in order to understand the macroscopic world usingsoftware adapted to a wide variety of industries includingautomotive, defense, agri-food and chemicals. The company,which posted 1 million Euros in revenues in 2012, is thefruit of an encounter between Xenophon Krokidis, a PhD inmathematical physics, and Joerg-Ruediger Hill, a PhD in che-mistry. They crossed paths at Accelrys, the American software

CORYS DUPLICATES THE EPRIn November 2012, Corys commissioned the first simulatorof a third-generation EPR nuclear reactor in Flamanville.Delivered to EDF, the tool replicates the control center. Itcovers ordinary working operations as well as incidents andaccidents, simulating both the reactor’s technical parame-ters and the organizational and human factors. Four otherEPR simulators are currently under production in Franceand China. This is the best-selling product of the CorysCompany, set up in 1989 in a joint venture between EDFand the AEC (of which it is a spin-off). In 2011, it posted30 million Euros in sales and 2 million Euros in profits.Corys’ growth stems from rail simulation as well. Its 2012contracts include 44 simulators of driving tilting trains forQueensland Rail in Australia. The company also won thecontract to simulate the metro network in Rio de Janeiro,Brazil. Today, Corys boasts 500 simulators in use across theworld. To support the new projects, the company plans toincrease its current workforce of 230 employees by hiringsome 20 engineers in 2013.

IZUBA ENERGIES GIVES HEAT SCIENCE A BOOSTIzuba Énergies has developed Pleiades+Comfie, a softwareset for dynamic simulation of building heat. Comfie, itscomputing core developed by the Center for Energy EfficientSystems (CES) at Mines ParisTech, accurately simulates heatstorage in buildings and materials in roughly one minute.A formidable tool to surf the wave of bioclimatic buildingsand RT 2012 heating regulations resulting from the GrenelleEnvironment Conference in France.

publisher specializing in biotechnologies, and decided to setup their own business in March 2004 in Nancy. “We spentthe first years developing our solution using free software,”recalls Xenophon Krokidis. “But in 2008, when our productwas ready for the market, we lost numerous contracts dueto the economic crisis.” Nevertheless, Scienomics has builtup a clientele of prestigious groups such as BASF, BP, Shell,ENI, Solvay and TetraPak. The company, which employs 10people, plans to double its sales within the next three years.To reach this goal, it expects to hire a new sales team, maketargeted acquisitions and forge partnerships with softwarepublishers to mutualize sales offers.

NANOTIMES SIMULATES THE INFINITELY SMALLGraphene, carbon nanotubes, nanostructured particles…all these materials, which display complex behavior, havenumerous applications in industry, such as nanorobots,molecular reagents and molecular circuits. These potentialapplications encouraged Nanotimes to develop a rangeof software for laboratory simulation and visualization ofmicrophysical experiments. Set up in 2004 in Toulouse,Nanotimes is an outgrowth of co-founder Michael Magoga’sdoctoral thesis.

Reproducingthe infinitelysmall – here acell membrane– can servea variety ofindustriesfrom defenseto automobilemanufacturing

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HUMAN AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

GOLAEM STIMULATES CROWDSSet up in 2009 at the initiative of an Inria research team,Golaem offers software capable of reproducing realisticcrowd movements, showing thousands of people interactingwith their environment. It signed its first contract with theFrench railway company SNCF to simulate the behavior ofpassengers between trains and platforms. Golaem has alsodeveloped a simulator for national defense and its software,GolaemCrowd can be integrated with Autodesk Maya tocreate crowd shots for animated films and special effects aswell TV commercials.

SERIOUS FACTORY ANIMATES 3D CONFIGURATORSThe company, founded in 2007 by William Peres, a formermanager at Dassault Systèmes, has developed softwarecapable of simulating and configuring any type of productas well as visualizing it in an interactive and immersive 3Dmode in its final environment. Its software tools use the CADdata of customer design offices with applications rangingfrom industry (Dassault, Renault, Peugeot, etc.) to real-time“serious games”. Serious Factory has 20 employees and postsannual revenues of 1.1 million Euros.

6MOUV DEMOCRATIZES FLIGHT SIMULTORSEstablished in Toulouse, 6Mouv is seeking to democratizecustomized flight simulators with affordable solutions star-ting at 150,000 Euros. Its products rely solely on softwaredeveloped in C++ language and do not reproduce mechanicalcockpit movements. Certified by the FAA and the AESA (theU.S. and European air safety organizations), its product offeris addressed to helicopter and airplane manufacturers aswell as professional pilots in training. The simulator standsout by its graphic realism (with a resolution of up to 6,000

x1,920 pixels) and models the pilot’s environment andobstacles (bridges, wind turbines, etc.) with a photometricresolution (60 cm) based on IGN and satellite data. Eurocop-ter selected the company to simulate its Écureuil model. TheFrench army also uses the products of the Toulouse companyat its base in Salon-de-Provence to train pilots on TB20single-engine models from Daher-Socata. The company’sChairman and CEO, Bernard Claudinon, former director oftechnical and commercial divisions at Matra Marconi Space,is also a co-founder of Gibcom Multimedia, which publishes3D video games. Within four years, 6Mouv aims to reach10 million Euros in sales compared with 1 million today.

MADEACONCEPT SURFS THE WAVEThe surfing simulators invented by MADEAconcept, foun-ded in 2009 by three water sports fans, send water underan inflatable mat to reproduce the sensations enjoyed bysurfers and other boarding adepts. Its advantage: a controlsystem that projects water while taking into account theuser’s movements, thereby saving energy. The Buthiersleisure activity center in the Paris region is equipped with aMADEAconcept simulator. ❚❚

POWERSYS PROVIDES FOR NETWORK TRANSIENTSAlready a distributor of software for electrotechnical equip-ment simulation, Powersys changed gears in 2011 whenit took over the development and marketing of EMTP-RV.Owned by EDF, Hydro-Quebec and other major utilitiescompanies, EMTP-RV simulates the way power systemscope with rapid transients like lightning impacts. Workingwith software developers, the Powersys team is responsiblefor accelerating the dissemination of EMTP-RV worldwide.

RAYCREATIS GREENS ARCHITECTUREA subsidiary of the HPC-SA group, RayCreatis, based inToulouse, publishes ArchiWizard, software to simulate 3Denergy profiles of buildings in real time. Intended for archi-tects and engineering firms, ArchiWizard is a tool for compu-ter-assisted building design combining eco-energy efficiency,architectural innovation and comfort. Its integration intoarchitectural CAD facilitates dialogue among players in thebuilding industry to help achieve the bioclimatic efficiencyrequired by 2012 heat regulations.

6Mouv and its ultra-realistic flight simulators have been adopted by the French army.

For ten years, a community of contributorshas been developing Scilab software,which offers hundreds of mathematicalfunctions (optimization, statistics,systems control, signal processing, etc.)as well as 2D and 3D graphics. Scilab isan open source software tool that canbe downloaded free of charge, but it isalso used by the Cnes and majormanufacturers such as Astrium, Sanofi,Arcelor-Mittal, etc. Initiated at Iniria,Scilab is continuing its development in

Scilab Entreprises, a company set upin 2010 to provide professional servicesto users (consulting, deployment,development, migration). Graduatesof École Polytechnique and École Centraleare flocking to join, among them ClaudeGomez, the general manager, who oversawthe R&D team of the Scilab consortiumstarting in 2003 and then its head from2008 to 2011. Denis Ranque, formerchairman of Thales, is on the boardof directors of Scilab Entreprises. ❚❚

Scilab open sourcedigital computation

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22

“As our competitors complexified their

analytical software, we were simplifying our

predictive simulation models by specializing

them according to test category.”Alain de Rouvray, Chairman and CEO of ESI Group.

The French group ESI is among the world’s topspecialists in virtual prototyping. The story behindits success.BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS PREVÉRAUD

Success storyESI GROUP:THE START-UP SPIRIT

reach the same result, and simulation, which creates digitalmodels that are recalibrated through iterative tests carriedout on physical prototypes,” recalls Alain de Rouvray. It wasan innovative approach at the time, allowing them to improveproducts faster with fewer prototypes, even limiting tests toreduced scale. The manufacturers in charge of French civiland military nuclear programs were the first to recognize thepotential benefits. For ten years, ESI consulting and servicesfocused almost exclusively on this sector.

Simplified simulationBut simulating a plane crashing into a nuclear power plant

was not unlike a car hitting an obstacle, and manufacturersasked the group to apply the simulation techniques to theirindustry. ESI decided to launch the study of automobilecrashes in the early 1980s and published PAM-CRASH,which soon became standard simulation software. “As ourcompetitors complexified their analytical software to coverevery possible case, we were simplifying our predictivesimulation models by specializing them according to testcategory. All models are false, but some of them can beuseful, provided you understand the circumstances and theacceptable limits of simplification,” sums up Alain de Rou-vray. The new simulation project required the collaborationof more than 250 international university teams and tech-nology procurement.

Today, after thirty-five years of development, the groupboasts a full range of models and solvers that can be chainedtogether to produce virtual prototypes. “And that does notmean managing files, but integrating a real knowledge ofphysics, materials and disciplines in a platform that can beadapted to customer practices.” Manufacturers immediatelysaw the advantages. Volkswagen has renewed its three-yearcontract for the eighth time with a clear strategy in mind:by 2018, the brand plans to develop its energy-efficient andtherefore light, multi-material vehicles using virtual proto-typing. Similarly, the Chinese aircraft manufacturer Avic,which aims to surpass Boeing and Airbus, has set up a jointventure with ESI Group to “virtualize” its laboratories andmanufacturing and transformation processes. Looking backon the group’s forty-year history, the Chairman concludes:“We achieved what we set out to do in terms of innovationand we succeeded in persuading our customers that ourapproach was sound.” ❚❚

F orty years old this year and still showing a start-upspirit. That’s the best way to sum up ESI Group,the French leader in digital simulation and virtual

prototyping. Yet, the company’s key figures belie this description, with slightly more than 1,000 employees world-wide and revenues of around 100 million Euros in 2012.The story begins with four doctoral students in engineeringat the University of California at Berkeley in the UnitedStates. Led by Frenchman Alain de Rouvray, the group’scurrent Chairman and CEO, they discovered computerizedscientific calculations. Their reaction was unanimous: “Foronce, we would be able to calculate things that resembledwhat we needed instead of having to simplify so that wecould do the calculations by hand.” Their Ph.D.s in hand,they settled in France and started up ESI. “We realized thefundamental difference between analysis, which consistsin applying formulas found in reference books to try and

D.R

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PAM-Crash, the industrystandard for automobile

crash simulation software.

Usine-3325-Spe-Simulation-Sig-03Version-Anglaise

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Heureusement,il existe des moyens de sécuriser le Cloud.

Les technologies Intel® au coeur de votre Cloud garantissentun environnement de confiance pour vos données et vos applications.Exigez la tranquillité.

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La sécurité de votre Cloud ne devrait pas être une préoccupationIntel intègre la sécurité au coeur de ses processeurspour vous offrir bien plus que de la performance.


Portfolio

SEEING REALITY THROUGH DATAIn simulation, a picture is not worth a thousand words, but it does makephysical and biological phenomena speak.BY AURÉLIE BARBAUX

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24

25

Simulation of a falling marble to improve the treatment of a surface (ESI Group).

Simulatingautomobiles,calls formechanics, butalso passengercomfort(ESI Group).

How do wavespropagatein a city?Results withMithra-Rem(Geomod).

In what way do plantsreact to light in theirenvironment?Answers with the Ciradand Imagis projects(Inria).

L’USINE NOUVELLE I 3325 SUPPLEMENT I APRIL 4 2013


26

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Protein shown innanoscale,courtesy of Samsonsoftware (Inria).

What are theconsequencesof a bird strike onan engine?(ESI Group).

Study of aerodynamicflow on a TGV train(Alstom and ESI Group)

Digital factory with Dalmia (Dassault Systèmes).

Staging of an avatar performing maneuvers aboard a frigate (DCNS).


27

High pressure aluminum die casting (ESI Group).

Virtual childbirth (GE Healthcare).

How dosubmergedanodes react tocorrosion?(Comsol).



28

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Practicing goalkicks, nothingsimpler (Inria).

In their CAVE virtual reality room, PSA installed the Holobench, a reduced scale device for working on driving skills in augmented reality (PSA).


29

The Sigran programoffers maritimepiloting, with enhancedgeographicalinformation (DCNS).

Studying driving on uneven surfaces, thanksto this giant simulator (DLR Institute).

The best in aquaticequipment testing(Madea Concept).



30

Originally driven by the demands of the Frenchnuclear industry, supercomputing is now beingadopted by industry as a whole.BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS PREVÉRAUD

Supercomputing

A COLLABORATIVEFRENCH EXPERTISE

The AEC is home to Tera-100, the first European supercomputer to exceed petaflops.

T here is no need to go as far back as the 1966 Com-puting Plan to find examples of French expertisein supercomputing; we can point to at least five

examples in recent decades,” declares Hervé Mouren, headof Teratec, the European center of expertise in high perfor-mance digital simulation. The five examples, he claims, arethe Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Bull, ESI Group, anetwork of specialized companies and the French Schoolof Applied Mathematics. Together they formed a breedingground for the development of a quality offer in high per-formance computing (HPC).

Through its civilian and military assignments, the AECdeveloped expertise in digital simulation, which it has continued to display as a global specialist for more than 30 years.“We developed our new skills after the French governmentannounced the end of its nuclear weapons testing in 1995.We had to validate a weapon without testing it – a «first »in the scientific world,” explains Jean Gonnord, head of theComputer Simulation and IT Project simulation in the AEC’sMilitary Applications Department (DAM). This body alsorecognized the benefits of opening up to the outside world to D

.R.

enquêtesTETIERE -BASE LINE DROITE


The task of the Compagniegénérale de géophysique (CGG)formerly CGG Veritas is to describethe geology of the subsoil in orderto detect potential hydrocarbonreserves. The job involves thegeneration, recuperation, andmanagement of enormousamounts of seismic data. Tomanage it, the French groupvaunts a computing capacity of12 petaflops, and 70 petabytesof data storage. “Our calculationpower is handled internally.

We have about 40 treatmentcenters, worldwide”, explainsLaurent Clerc, IT director forprocessing and reservoir services.“To significantly accelerate certaincalculations, we use graphicprocessing units. To optimize thecooling of our densest materials,we rely on liquid immersioncooling technology.” In thiscontext, CGG has signedpartnerships with global IT firmssuch as IBM, DELL and videogame company Nvidia. ❚❚

CGG aligns 12 petaflopsto explore the earth

our language will take into account the specificities of themain application families and of various types of target archi-tectures to make the adaptations transparent for the user.”

Scilab Entreprises another by product of Inria research, hasbeen offering open source libraries of digital computing since2010 [read box page 20]. “Our software, which natively usesmassive amounts of parallel HPC, was downloaded more than700,000 times last year and our installed database exceeds amillion users in multiple areas of industry as well as services,”Christian Saguez, company vice-president, says proudly.

Optimized simulationsSilkan offers a toolkit for creating and integrating simulated

solutions using HPC to support design, operation, main-tenance and dismantle complex systems. “We use HPC toaccelerate and optimize the processing of very large modelsand manage test programs requiring tens of thousands ofsimulations,” asserts Jacques Duysens, COO at Silkan. Thecompany enhances its expertise through partnerships withFrench laboratories (Inria, École Centrale de Paris, MinesParisTech) and American universities. The platform is alsoused internally to develop tailor-made simulators using HPCto process very large models realistically in real time.

And that’s not all. Distene works on software componentssuch as mesh technology entering the HPC chain. “Our pro-

share its strategic know-how in high performance simulationwith major French manufacturers.

The transformation of Bull some ten years ago led thecompany into the area of supercomputers. “We already hadexpertise in hardware manufacturing, but we made rapidprogress through our partnership with the AEC and the intro-duction of co-design to define an architecture adapted to spe-cific application needs,” acknowledges Jean-Pierre Panziera,manager of Bull’s HPC product strategy. CNE Architecture tookadvantage of standard Intel processors to reduce costs as wellas development cycles. It takes 12 to 18 months to design amotherboard, but a processor requires three to five years ofdevelopment work. Hardware is not everything, however, andBull has since become an expert in developing software toimprove systems operation.

The masters of HPCAnother important aspect, which has made a difference, is

keeping the systems from overheating. “Five years ago, it tookas much energy to cool the processors as to run them. Threeyears later, the ratio had dropped to one-third (for cooling) andtwo thirds (for computing). Today, 95% of our energy is usedto operate the systems and only 5% to cool them, because wereplaced the fans circulating air by far more efficient pumpscirculating water,” Jean-Pierre Panziera adds.

The change has had a decisive impact on the operating costsof data centers requiring 5 MW and soon 10 MW. Bull’s realsystems expertise has made the company the only manu-facturer in Europe today capable of producing mainframecomputers. This is an essential asset for France, in view ofthe growing trend towards co-design, i.e. defining architec-tures and their hybrid variations to meet the needs of majorcustomers, which facilitates a local presence. And Bull doesnot plan to stop there. The company now wants to launchservice solutions for HPC applications in the cloud, such asits Numminov project.

The development of application software plays an importantrole in improving HPC, which the French software publisherESI Group, now the global leader in virtual prototyping,has amply demonstrated [see article page 22]. But thereare other French companies working in the field that havealso achieved world-class expertise. Caps Entreprise, forexample, has succeeded in using research conducted byInria (Rennes) to develop a directive-based programminglanguage that optimizes the operation of standard codeson computing architectures involving graphic processingunits (GPU). “What we do is mark – as unobtrusively aspossible – the parts of standard code that can benefit fromGPU acceleration,” explains François Bodin, the company’stechnical director. The approach, developed in 2007, is nowthe focal point of the OpenACC consortium, which is workingon its standardization. It calls for highly technical know-howin code compilation, parallel computing and optimization.OpenACC has only one competitor (in the U.S.), and it plansto bring out a new generation of products this year. “Untilnow, we have been working in a generic way on computingcodes, which may have to be adapted depending on theirapplication” Mr. Bodin notes. “With the new generation,

CGG ownsforty treatmentcenters to aidin discoveringpotentialhydrocarbonreserves.


32

ducts are the fruit of 30 years of research in close collaborationwith Inria. They have been integrated in all the computingsoftware of the major publishers specializing in simulation.Our aim is to become the market standard in mesh generation,like Acis or Parasolid in the area of 3D modeling engines forCAD,” states Laurent Anné, a cofounder of Distene.

In the area of application software, Numtech proposessoftware aided by HPC for the simulation of atmosphericpollution to monitor and forecast air quality. “Our softwareis used by manufacturers to check emissions at industrialsites as well as by regional authorities to monitor air quality.The use of HPC enables clients to process large models withthe precision of ten meters in cities,” notes Pierre Béal, thecompany’s general manager. Once again the know-how ispartly derived from Inria, but it also stems from partnershipswith Université de Clermont-Ferrand, the National Centerfor Scientific Research, École Centrale de Lyon and theUniversity of Florida.

Further evidence of the predominance of France’s expertiselies in its outstanding School of Applied Mathematics. Signifi-cantly, France has won 11 Fields medals since 1936, the mostrecent awarded to Cédric Villani in 2010, whereas the UnitedStates boasts 12 and Russia nine. The school is supported bythe French School of Electronics and Computer Processing,also reputed for its research excellence.

France’s HPC players intend to take advantage of the arrivalof cloud computing through projects such as Numminovled by Bull and Oxalya, now taken over by the OVH Group,planned for 2013. The objective is to make high performancecomputing available to small companies. And the final proof ofFrench leadership in the field: all three major European HPCprojects are managed by French experts: ETP4HPC, by Bulland the AEC; EESI, by Total; and Prace, by Catherine Rivière,Chairman and CEO of Genci. ❚❚

Intel and the CEA getready for an exaflopicfuture

The Exascale computing research(ECR) laboratory set up in 2010will soon to be housed by Teratec.With a staff of over 30 people,working closely with Europeanresearchers to produce computersa thousand times more powerfulthan those available today. ECR isthe fruit of a partnership betweenthe AEC, Genci, Intel and theUniversity Versailles Saint-Quentin (France). It specializes in

two areas of research: first,to facilitate the migration oftraditional or existing open sourceapplications to exascale, alongwith those produced by industryand academic partners.Second, to develop and offeran environment of toolsand methods to optimize theinteraction between theapplication layer and thecomputer in view of exascale. ❚❚

CENTERS OPENTO COMPANIESSupercomputing platforms are sproutingup all over France, putting digital simulationin reach of business, particularly smalland medium sized companies. Some areavailable through research collaborationswith public laboratories. Others arecommercially oriented or receive governmentfunding through the “invest for the future”program. A tour of France’s operationalsimulation sites.BY RIDHA LOUKIL

CAPS COMPUTE LAB

Implementation date 2009 by CapsEntreprise

Equipment Supercomputer Bull NovaScalewith 10 Nvidia acceleration servers

Access Package or payment à la carte

Web site www.caps-entreprise.com

CSPPalois Simulation Center

Implementation date 2010 by CS, Turbomecaand the urban community of Pau

Equipment Supercomputer hybrid GPU – CPU

Access On demand with priority to SMEs andR&D from consortium partners



HPC@LRLanguedoc-Roussillon high performancecomputing center

Implementation date 2010

Place University of Montpellier 2

Equipment IBM hybrid supercomputer

Access Free for local public or privateresearchers

Web site www.hpc-lr.univ-montp2.fr

CALMIPMidi-Pyrénées supercomputing center

Implementation date 2007, 10% open toregional businesses

Equipment SGI Hyperion

Access Pay-per-use

Web site www.calmip.cict.fr

CISNAAutomotive supercomputing and digitalsimulation center

Implementation date 2009

Place Automobile Institute

Equipment Bull Supercomputer

Access Reserved for members

Web site www.institut-automobile-du-mans.fr

CRIHANHaute-Normandie center for data processingresources

Implementation date 1991. New calculatoracquired in 2011 with the Ecole centrale de Nantes

Place Technopole du Madrillet (Seine-Maritime)

Access Pay-per-use

Web site www.crihan.fr

CCRTComputing and technology research center

Implementation date 2003. Open in 2012 tothe CEA and industry

Place Supercomputing center at CEA (TGCC)

Equipment Bull Airain supercomputer

Access reserved for partners

EXTREME FACTORY

Implementation date 2010, by Bull

Equipment Bull supercomputer withNvidia graphic accelerators

Access By reservation or pay-per-use

Web site www.extremefactory.fr

Rouen

14teraflops

Les Clayes-sous-bois

170teraflops

Bruyères-le-Châtel

200teraflops

Le Mans

1,5teraflops

Rennes

42teraflops

Montpellier

20,5teraflops

Pau

2,5teraflops

Toulouse

38,5teraflops

Reims

6teraflops

ROMEOChampagne-Ardenne computing center

Implementation date 2002.Opened in 2007 to regional businesses

Place University of ReimsChampagne-Ardenne (Marne)

Equipment Linux-Windowscomputing cluster, installed in 2010 byBull with Microsoft

Access Payment à la carte

Web site www.romeo2.fr


34

Higher computing power and lower costs – this is whatcloud computing can offer. Software vendors havedeveloped technology components to enable cloud-baseduse of their computing and Product LifecycleManagement (PLM) solutions.BY JEAN-FRANÇOIS PRÉVERAUD

On-demand software

SMART COMPUTINGIN THE CLOUD

I t is the dream of all industries to reduce costsand delays in development. Software componentsdeveloped by ISVs (Independent Software Vendors)

to offer cloud solutions in High-Performance Computing,Product Lifecycle Management, Application Lifecycle Mana-gement and Services Lifecycle Management (HPC, PLM, ALMand SLM) could help them achieve this goal. These softwaresolutions provide access to almost infinite computing power.In addition to addressing the issue of peak workload periodsor making it possible to communicate with partners on groupprojects – already a lifesaver in itself – the cloud gives smallbusinesses an opportunity to design products faster thanthey could with their own proprietary tools, and best of all,they only pay when they use the service.

HPC on demandThe field of scientific computing can be expressed in an

optimal manner through cloud computing. “This is what weoffer with Extreme Factory, our HPC on-demand solution,which provides a proprietary portal to businesses, givingthem access to computing tools using the software and toolsthey want, to address regular or periodic needs in terms ofworkload peaks,” explains Bull Group Cloud Computingdirector, Bruno Pinna. This offer will be extended to SMEsvia the Numinnov project – prepared in collaboration withthe French Caisse des dépôts et consignations (CDC) – whichaims to create independent cloud-based HPC services in2013 that will operate at European level. Besides high-per- A

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“Extreme Factory, our HPC on-demandsolution, provides customers with aproprietary computing portal where theycan use the software and services they like.”Bruno Pinna, Bull Group Cloud Computing director

“We are committed to helping businessesavoid some of the disadvantagesof the cloud such as dependence on cloudhosting companies.”Marie-Christine Oghly, executive director of Micado

By using Altair Engineering’ssimulation platform HyperWorks,automotive industry supplierBorgWarner has improved itsturbochargers.

industrial groups and SMEs want top-notch services withperformances that are guaranteed in terms of quality anduptime, as well as data security and resilience. And in thatarea, there is still a lot to be done,” declares Gérard Rou-cairol, CEO of Teratec, the European Technopole dedicatedto computer simulation and High-Performance Computing[see interview, page 6].

Another concern is confidentiality. In this respect, thepredominance of American-owned datacenters raises ques-tions. Subject to the Patriot Act, the law obliges disclosureof data stored on their servers to American authorities –ifthey so require– for domestic security reasons. In order toavoid having to abide by this law, the French State launchedthe idea of a sovereign cloud. Dassault Systèmes sought toparticipate in this project on two separate occasions in 2011,before abandoning it in April 2012. “These projects will goahead without us, due to differences of opinion concerningthe business model to be set up and the dispersion ofgovernment subsidies, which hinder the emergence of astrong French presence,” declared regretfully the ISV’s vicepresident of corporate communication, Pierre Marchadier.

Shared accessThis setback did not discourage the ISV. In 2011, it invested

in the creation of Outscale, a start-up that provides privatecloud software geared towards the automotive and aerospaceindustry. “We also participated in the creation of AirDesign,part of the BoostAeroSpace project. It is an interface thatenables partners to share a private working environment, andprovides SMEs with tools and methods that are approved byAirbus, with High-Performance Computing systems, storageand security.” Dassault Systèmes also plans to announcethe possibility of accessing CATIA and SolidWorks on atemporary basis in SaaS mode (Software as a Service), andsubsequently offering access to ENOVIA, SIMULIA and DEL-MIA via Nvolve. Siemens PLM Software is less ambitious,in that it only provides its technical PLM tool, Teamcenter,in cloud mode via their certified IBM, Microsoft or Amazon

formance computing services, SMEs will be able to accessoffers from 25 partners in a secure environment. This offercould be provided by ISVs involved in the project.

In terms of price, moving to the cloud should mean inves-ting half as much money on equipment, which representsapproximately 25% of the cost of a PLM project. On theother hand, its impact on spending in terms of software andservices is estimated to be less significant.

However, potential cloud users still tend to adopt a wait-and-see attitude, despite its promising aspects. “As is thecase for all emerging technologies, new approaches andworking methods will have to be invented in order to optimizeits potential,” says François Coste from NAFEMS France.NAFEMS is an organization that assists businesses in theirchoice of computer simulation technologies. There are alsosome prejudices to be overcome. One of these concernsthe quality of the tools. “Industries don’t want a low-costcloud computing solution such as Amazon offers. Both large


36

Turbomeca, when its computers were over-loaded. Above all, it has provided support forLaBS. This project has greater economic via-bility and will eventually be commercialized.An industrial consortium driven by Renault,but also including Airbus, Bombardier andAlstom carries laBS. It provides on-demandaccess to computational aero-acoustic codes,of particular interest to the car industry forprotruding fittings such as rear-view mirrorsand fittings inside vehicles. LaBS started in2009 and will end in June of 2013. It maycontinue in other areas of technology, suchas aerodynamics, electric motors and ther-mal science. In any case, PSC is ready to hostthem. Initially launched with a processingcapacity of 2.5 teraflops, it now boasts over10. [See chart on page 33]. ❚❚

CALCULATING AERONAUTICS AND CARS IN PAUPau Simulation Center opened in February 2010 the result of a partnership between Turbomeca, the Community&Systems group (CS) and the urban community of Pau. It hosts multiphysics R&D projects on aeronautics and cars.

P au Simulation Center (PSC) admit-tedly has not had as many users aswas anticipated. Opened in Februa-

ry 2010, the result of a partnership betweenCommunity & Systems specialist (CS) Tur-bomeca and the urban community of Pau.

The computing center was supposed toprovide the region’s SMEs and SMIs withcheaper, on-demand access to simula- tiontools that are usually too expensive for busi-nesses of this size. Unfortunately, «Therehas not been the demand we expected, andit’s not for want of commercial prospection,»says François Roudot, director of the HPCand digital simulation offer at CS, whichruns the center. Nevertheless, PSC has notstood idly by. From the outset, its purposewas to host computing research for the

Aerospace Valley cluster, more particularlythe Osmoses project that ended in 2011.The primary aim of this project was to deve-lop a collaborative multiphysics simulationplatform for aeronautics [see page 40]. “Itinvolved developing intermediate softwareto combine various computational codes,”explains François Roudot. This has beenachieved in part, even though at this timeOsmoses is not fully operational. Althoughonce rejected, a second R&D project, calledMosart is needed if the sector’s businessesare to obtain real on-demand access tothis technology. The project is expectedto be presented again at the clusters’ nextproject call.

PSC has also been used for in-house com-puting needs at CS, and from time to time at

The digital simulation software developped by LaBS should be commercialised this year.

C-S

offers. “This is a technical and operational certification thatwe follow up with local service providers such as Orange,SFR or Atos,” explains Christophe Iffenecker, the CEO ofSiemens PLM Software France.

In addition to security problems, another subject forconcern is the system’s reversibility, in the event of wantingto go back to an in-house solution or find a new cloud host,as physical control of the data is lost when using third-partysystems. “We are developing working methods to enablebusinesses to avoid some of the disadvantages of the cloud,”

explains, Marie-Christine Oghly, executive director of Micado,an association dedicated to PLM-friendly, collaborativedigital engineering solutions. “We try to make them moreuser-friendly and limit their dependence on cloud hostingcompanies. We are committed to promoting transparencyin terms of access: access to support for skills they cannotafford to maintain on an in-house basis; to quality assurancefor simulations and data tracking.” These changes couldturn the tide in favor of cloud computing for those industrialengineering departments yet to be convinced. ❚❚

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La simulation,un moyen d'accroitre

sa compétitivitéEnginsoft votre solution


38

PAM-RTM software, a specialized solution for challenges in modeling.

The structure of composites makes themdifficult to model. Digital simulation of compositesis required to develop their industrialization.BY OLIVIER JAMES

ComponentsTHE COMPLEX ISSUEOF COMPOSITES

Productionsimulationdesigned bythe ESI Groupfacilitatesthe designof largecomponents.

improve the performance of composites. For example,advance determination of mechanical stress zones wouldenable fibers to be put in the right places.

Optimizing polymerization and injectionSizing is an acute problem in aeronautics. “Generally

speaking, industrialists oversize their composite compo-nents,” says Laurent Delsart, director of composite par-tnership projects at Dassault Systèmes. This safety marginresults in additional expense and means that the properties ofthese materials cannot be turned to full advantage.” Modelingcomposite polymerization kinetics –resin cooking– and moldinjection would be beneficial since these processes involvemany chemical reactions and thermal phenomena. The issuesat stake are controlling spatial distribution of materials andreducing gas-bubble formation. Here too, digital simulationwould improve performance.

“We also need to simulate how industrial equipmentbehaves,” claims Christophe Champenois, director of thedepartment of polymer and composite engineering at theFrench Technical Centre for Mechanical Industry (CETIM).For example, modeling helps ensure correct temperatureand pressure homogeneity in press molds and autoclaves.The requirements for greater production rates means modelsare being developed that take into account the interactionsbetween materials and tools. The aim is to discover theideal cycle times for producing a given component. Integra-ting all these parameters should result in a more accuratedescription of the finished component: its geometry, fiberdirection, porosity, etc.

Software vendors are constantly adapting to the require-ments of industrialists. Dassault Systèmes has developed aPLM software platform adapted to composites, incorporatingevery stage of a product’s life cycle: from design to simula-tion to production. The ESI Group is marketing a versionof PAM-RTM, its production simulation software. This willenable accurate modeling of very large components, suchas wind-turbine blades or large aeronautical parts. The nextstage for Airbus is developing a program able to model anentire aircraft and not just some of its components. This isa real challenge. ❚❚ [FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2010]

T here can be no composites without simulation.After an era marked by empiricism, full-scale testsand small-scale production, composites must be

digitally modeled. This is because, unlike metals, they areheterogeneous and anisotropic. In other words, they havea complex fiber and resin-structure and their mechanicalproperties vary according to the direction of stress. Anotherparticularity is that composite materials are designed at thesame time as the components themselves.

The wide choice of resins, number of material layers,direction and type of fiber, offers an almost infinite range ofoptions. The ever-increasing size of components manufac-tured only aggravates the problem. “A lot of data is neededto describe how composites behave,” confirms PatrickDe Luca, director of composite solutions at ESI Group,a software vendor. But simulation offers real economicbenefits. At the material-design stage, modeling can help

D.R.

Tester, comprendre et créer les futursproduits de manière virtuelle et réaliste.

Prise en compte du comportementphysique des matériaux

Intégration des procédés & processus

Expérimentation des futurs produitsen 3D grâce à la réalité virtuelle.

PIONNIERLEADERET

DU

PROTOTYPAGEVIRTUEL

Crédit photo : courtesy of Volkswagen AG

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Bypassing the prototype stage during thedesign phase requires simulation solutionsthat take into account every physicalphenomenon applied in a system.BY AURÉLIE BARBAUX

PlatformsMULTIPHYSICS:HOW TO MODELCOMPLEX SYSTEMS

Comsol handlescomplex small sizecomponents,here a Rzeppatype joint.

relative motion) are generally well understood. Nevertheless,a rigorous technological approach requires multiphysicscoupling and simulations taking into account interactionsto be implemented as soon as the model is constructed.For several reasons, this is easier said than done: algorithmdesign, available calculation capacity, and the scarcity ofinterdisciplinary expertise among engineers carrying outthese simulations.

However, progress is being made. There are already modelsintegrating two physical parameters that are considered tobe fully developed. Coupled structure/fluid systems havebeen in large software publishers’ catalogues for severalyears, although they do not always employ the best method.The iterative solution, which uses a sequence of loops tofeed results from simulating one physical parameter intocalculations for the next, is well mastered. “But this methodwas crude, we needed more accurate and better integratedmultiphysics solvers,” explains Jacques Duysens, who isassistant director of the HPC project in Montpellier, France.He previously ran the System@tic competitiveness cluster’sIOLS research program, which closed in 2008.

Interfacing solversThe industry has tried to develop strong couplings, in other

words algorithms integrating different physical parametersinto the same model, or models optimizing data exchangebetween solvers. The first of these two solutions is compli-cated. This is especially because meshes used to model thestructural deformation of materials are usually nothing likethose needed to simulate fluid flow. The trend has thereforebeen towards developing platforms that optimize interfacesbetween solvers. But it is taking a long time to develop them.Dassault Systèmes, which tested an initial fluid/structuresimulation prototype in 2005, only began marketing itsstructure/fluid mechanics platform in 2010.

Comsol, a Swedish software publisher, has been offeringthis type of multiphysics simulation platform for over twelveyears. It is suitable for small systems or straightforward geo-metry. Despite a toolbox very well stocked with multiphysicsmodels, the software has its limitations. For example, it doesnot cope well with fast dynamics, such as those occurring incar crashes. The good news is that the computing capacityrequired to run calculations sometimes taking several daysto converge is now widely available.

With existing supercomputers, all that’s left is to processthe immense quantity of data generated by these calculations.A new discipline, called SLM (Simulation Lifecycle Manage-ment), has arisen to put simulation results to industrial use.The first tools are available. ❚❚ [FIRST PUBLISHED IN 2010]

I ndustrial reality is complicated! Lab-on-a-chip,ultrasonic machining, airbags, radioactive wastestorage, aquaplaning, composite materials and

mechatronics are all fields and applications involving severalsimultaneous physical phenomena: mechanics, hydraulics,acoustics, electricity, magnetism, chemistry, and even bio-logy. Each of these autonomous physical phenomena has itsown laws and simulation models, which with perhaps theexception of tribology (the science of interacting surfaces inD.R.

Programme complet et inscriptions sur : http://evenements.infopro.fr/usinenouvelle/Contact : Lamia ALILAT • e-mail : [email protected] • Tél. : +33 (0)1 77 92 99 06

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Navigating rivers and canals requiresexpertise. What could be better than usinga simulator to learn how to maneuver agiant-size barge? “The prototype is ready.All we have to do now is decide how to sellit,” declares Mehdi Sbaouni, president ofReviatech, a small company specialized indesigning 3 D simulators. The company,set up in 2008, earned its stripes bydeveloping a tool for DCNS to teach trashbin ejection from a submarine! As part ofthe OSE project for river transport trainingusing an informed virtual environment,Reviatech partnered with the CompiègneUniversity of Technology (UTC), and

doctoral candidate Loïc Fricoteaux.The project was designed from anexisting navigation simulator, to whichan innovative module was added forcustomized training. The system observesthe aspiring bargemen, taking intoaccount their steering, navigation errorsand stress levels. A decision-makingmodule with visual aids and audiomessages allows apprentices todetermine the best maneuvers in realtime. The scientific goal: to strengthenaction- perception feedbackbetween humans and their informedvirtual environment. ❚❚

A simulator for apprentice bargemen

The SimLead simulator mobilizes leadership abilities.

The aerospace and defense group improvesthe individual and collective performance of itsmanagers through a serious game inspiredby one of its f light simulators.BY CHRISTOPHE BYS

SimulatorsLEARNING BY PILOTINGAT THALES

Reviatech’s virtual 3D navigation makes learning safe.

Puma and a Gazelle. One of the captains coordinates themission by issuing orders via a headset, which will be theonly means of communication during the game.

Though participants enjoy themselves, the real aim of thetool is operational, which is why it was developed by theThales training center from one of the group’s flight simu-lators. “We didn’t want to reproduce life in the workplace,”explained Karine Le Joly, manager of HEC Executive Educa-tion, which partners the game. “When you take people outof their comfort zone and interrupt their ordinary routine,they can step back and examine their behavior.”

Concrete challengesThe rescue scenario is adapted to the managers’ demands.

The training program is divided into a half-day of missionsand a half-day debriefing session with the pedagogical team.For Patrick Hertrich, “The game is very good at reproducingthe challenges facing project teams.” Now when he selectshis team members, he pays attention not only to skills “butalso to personalities.” 600 middle managers and 200 topexecutives from Thales have spent time in the SimLeadcockpit. Executives from the BNP and Nissan as well. Stras-bourg Airport recently began offering company team-buildingsessions in its Boeing777 simulator. Knowing how to bankhas become a new imperative for managers. ❚❚

A t the controls of my helicopter, when it startedsnowing I could feel my stress level go up,” recallsPatrick Hertrich. The legal affairs manager at

Thales Optronics is neither a pilot nor a volunteer weekendemergency responder. He has just played SimLead, a flightsimulator developed by Thales to train its executives andmanagers. The recreational tool plunges players into vir-tual crisis situations to teach skills such as handling stress,leadership, communication, dividing up work within teams,defining strategy, etc.

To test the software, we’re off to Thales University, thegroup’s training center in Jouy-en-Josas. A room has been setup in the basement to recreate the atmosphere of a helicoptercockpit. Three participants will be playing the roles of captain,pilot and navigator. Philippe Flandin, a former army captain,is the game leader, performing the role of Prefect of the VarDepartment, instructing the team down to the smallest detailon how to proceed as quickly as possible to rescue civiliansthreatened by flooding. The team has two helicopters, a

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Campus TERATEC: Tel. +33 (0)9 70 65 02 10 • [email protected] • www.teratec.eu2 rue de la Piquetterie - 91680 Bruyères-le-Châtel - France

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Documents

simulation - Teratec · 2020. 11. 6. · Autodesk, Creo from PTC, and TopSolid from Missler, etc. Simulation 360 from Autodesk is encouraging democrati-zation, with cloud access,