TECHNOLOGY FOCUS
Digital Engineering
A roundup of recent advances in engineering technology. In this issue, a look at new applications in computer-assisted engineering.
GPU/CPU COMBO CUTS SIMULATION TIME
Automakers have been using advanced simulation applications for decades, since a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a car body can go through multiple iterations of design and testing in the time it would take to run a physical model through a wind tunnel. Even so, high-fidelity CFD simulations can be computer-intensive, costly, and take all day to complete.
To find a way to speed up its design cycle, Volvo Cars reached out to simulation software publisher Ansys and NVIDIA, maker of graphics chips used in everything from gaming consoles to artificial intelligence servers, to develop a new method for modeling the aerodynamics of auto bodies. Earlier this year, the three companies announced a significant breakthrough in aerodynamics simulations. Using the combination of eight NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs for the solver and CPU cores for meshing, the companies reduced total simulation run time from 24 hours to 6.5 hours, so that engineers could test multiple design iterations in a single day.
Volvo engineers were looking to improve the energy efficiency and drive range of the company’s EX90 electric vehicle. To do that Volvo Cars and Ansys scaled Ansys’s Fluent to eight NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs, which provided enough computing power that meshing only took one hour and the solver took 5.5 hours. According to a press statement from Ansys, this arrangement improved solving speed by 2.5 times compared to cost-equivalent hardware using 2,016 CPU cores.
“This breakthrough underscores how GPU-accelerated simulation can drive innovation and get products to market faster,” said Shane Emswiler, senior vice president of products at Ansys, in a statement.
FUSION MACHINE OPTIMIZED VIA MODELING
Research into nuclear fusion is accelerating at a breakneck pace. But the machines that engineers and scientists hope to use to produce clean, limitless energy are expensive to build. The best way to avoid a multimillion-dollar error is through high-quality simulation.
In July 2025, engineers at General Fusion, a startup based in British Columbia, announced that they had used simulation provided by COMSOL to design and optimize a large-scale fusion demonstration machine called Lawson Machine 26. The company had previously reported a breakthrough with this machine, having successfully compressed a large-scale magnetized plasma with lithium.
The General Fusion machine is a precursor to its commercial Magnetized Target Fusion machine, which will compress a magnetized plasma with a liquid metal liner to achieve the high temperatures and pressures needed for fusion.
Engineers at Veryst, a COMSOL Certified Consultant specializing in highly nonlinear simulation and material modeling, worked alongside General Fusion engineers to develop material models that enabled the team to accurately simulate the response of the machine’s lithium liner.
According to a press statement by Sean Teller, a principal engineer at Veryst: “We used COMSOL Multiphysics simulation with integrated experimental plans and validation to enable the team at General Fusion to quickly iterate on designs of LM26. The predictive models are critical for achieving fusion conditions on the road to viable and abundant clean fusion power.”
During the validation campaign of the models, 40 lithium liners were compressed electromagnetically using a small-scale prototype of the compression system.
General Fusion hopes to have a commercially viable fusion reactor ready by the middle of the next decade.
SIEMENS ACQUIRES ALTAIR ENGINEERING
In a move to add it its portfolio of software for the industrial simulation and analysis market, Siemens acquired Altair Engineering Inc. earlier this year. The purchase valued the company at around $10 billion.
The acquisition of Altair is part of Siemens’ effort to increase the company’s digital revenue share, the company said in a press statement. In addition, the company is making R&D investments into such strategic areas as software, AI-enabled products, connected hardware, and sustainability.
“With the completion of the acquisition of Altair as well as the recent expansions of Siemens’ factories in California and Texas, Siemens has now invested over $100 billion into the United States in the past 20 years,” Siemens said in a press statement. “Integrating Altair’s capabilities in the areas of simulation, HPC, data science, and AI enhances the ability of Siemens to drive more efficient and sustainable products and processes.”
PRINTING A REPLACEMENT SHOULDER BLADE
A team of experts from industrial software provider PTC and Stockholm-based advanced manufacturer Hexagon created a fully customized scapula implant for a 16-year-old cancer patient. The team utilized state-of-the-art additive manufacturing and medical imaging to design and produce the titanium implant tailored precisely to the patient’s anatomy.
The experts from the two companies scanned the tumor and surrounding bone and then printed a life-size anatomical model to assist in preoperative planning. At the same time, engineers at Hexagon designed a custom 3D-printed implant using PTC Creo software to provide anchorage for the remaining muscle stumps and to reconstruct the glenohumeral and acromioclavicular joints.
“Bioactive printed implants are the future of implants,” said Solomon Dadia, head of the hospital’s surgical innovation unit, in a press statement. “These implants interact with tissues to optimize their survival in the body, ensuring a perfect fit and promoting tissue growth.”
BAE, RHEINMETALL START STRATEGIC COLLABORATION
Shifts in the strategic posture of the United States has many of its military allies scrambling for locally sourced defense technologies. That’s especially true in Europe, where pressure to increase defense budgets and fear of overreliance on American weapons systems have governments looking to beef up European manufacturers.
That motivation might be part of the rationale behind a strategic collaboration between Bohemia Interactive Simulations (BISim) and Rheinmetall AG. The two defense contractors aim to develop simulation solutions for modern combat training, integrating two of BISim’s products into firing and combat simulators to train the German Army’s Medium Forces.
Rheinmetall is the largest German arms manufacturer and produces armored fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers. BISim was spun off from the Czech video-game developer Bohemian Interactive and is now a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems, the British aerospace and defense contractor.
The aim is to put BISim’s software into hardware developed by Rheinmetall to provide a training and mission-planning platform.
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