Simulation safety: Several industries rely on Ansys software
From the final frontier to the smartphone in your hand, Ansys simulation software is used in the development of products across a wide range of industries.
The Canonsburg-based company began in 1970 as Swanson Analysis Systems Inc. with Westinghouse as its first customer. Today, it employs more than 5,500 people around the world. It was founded by John Swanson, who was an engineer for Westinghouse at the time.
“We develop simulation technology, and we provide this to our customers in all industries, whether it’s aerospace, automotive, high tech,” said Walt Hearn, Ansys’ senior vice president of worldwide sales and customer excellence. “And our customers use this simulation technology to simulate how their product will work in a virtual environment before they go and build and test it.”
Hearn used the example of vehicle testing. Crash test dummies are likely the first image that comes to mind when thinking of automotive companies crashing their cars.
With Ansys’ technology, however, even the dummies don’t have to worry about being the first guinea pig for a new car.
“An engineer would build that car in a virtual environment. They’d put it into our software to run a full crash simulation of how that car would perform virtually, so that when they actually built a physical car it would match the virtual environment,” Hearn said.
Hearn described their software as providing simulations, “through all of the core physics,” and giving customers, mechanical, liquid and electromagnetic analyses.
The simulation software is also constantly being improved. Hearn estimates the company spends 21% of its annual revenue, more than $400 million, on research and development.
“We have a ton of developers here in Pittsburgh. We have them around the world. The developers, some of them are physicists, some of them are computer scientists, some of them are mathematicians, and they develop this technology … that we then sell to our customers,” Hearn said.
Ansys breaks its software down into several different products, such as “Ansys Mechanical,” depending on the client’s needs.
Ansys’ software is applicable from consumer products to NASA missions. This range puts Ansys in a class of its own in the simulation industry, according to Hearn.
“We are number one in the simulation space. We’re the largest simulation software company in the world,” Hearn said. “No other company has the ability to solve all of the core physics.”
One the smaller side of the scale, Hearn said companies designing cell phones need an understanding how the internal components will interact with each other.
“You need to understand how the electromagnetics impact the thermal and impact the structural performance of the cell phone. That’s how you’re able to get all of this computing power in the cell phone,” Hearn said.
One of the biggest industries Ansys serves is the field of aerospace and defense.
Behind NASA’s launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in December 2021 was Ansys’ simulation technology.
“They used Ansys software to do the mission analysis for the launch of the James Webb telescope. I think that’s critically exciting,” Hearn said.
Ansys also worked with NASA on their DART mission last year. DART, or double asteroid redirection test, was the first demonstration of planetary defense technology, according to NASA.
In September 2022 NASA successfully crashed a spacecraft into an asteroid to change its course.
“Ansys technology was used on the DART mission to prove you could blow up an asteroid,” Hearn said.
While global industries continue to depend on Ansys, the company makes sure to support local charities and organizations. Some of those include the Washington branch of the Salvation Army, Washington County Community Foundation and Pittsburgh Community Foodbank.
Hearn also notes the close proximity to Pittsburgh provides Ansys with a well of engineering talent.
“Being here in Washington County where we were founded, we’re able to tap in to the top talent in the Pittsburgh ecosystem. It’s a great place to be and do business,” Hearn said.