Altair AcuSolve 2023 Release Notes

Highlights

  • Battery Thermal Runaway and Propagation
  • Battery Pack Modeling

New Features

Battery Thermal Runaway and Propagation
Safety is the primary concern when it comes to battery systems and battery system design. Including the action of thermal runaway and the propagation to other cells and modules in a pack is a necessary component to ensuring safe products are being designed and manufactured. AcuSolve 2023 includes the ability to model thermal runaway within battery cells as well as any propagation of this thermal event.
Battery Pack Modeling
AcuSolve 2023 extends support of single battery modules to multiple modules allowing for simulation of a full battery pack. Modules are now identified by a unique ID and numbering follows the M#S#P# format. The same electrical inputs of current, power, c-rate, and standard charging profiles are available at the battery pack level as is available at the module level.

Enhancements

Floating Monitor Surface
You now have the option of including floating surfaces from which to write output data. This extra feature all but eliminates the need to build your mesh around the surfaces you need for output. Changes to the location of the floating monitor surfaces only require moving the object in the GUI and re-exporting the input files. No more remeshing required.
Multiple Fluids with Topology Optimization
Finding the optimum flow path for multiple fluids is now possible with topology optimization. With a sequential analysis approach each subsequent fluid path can be determined within the same design space while routing around previously defined flow paths. Minimum material thickness between any two flow paths can also be specified prior to running an optimization.
AcuSolve/EDEM UDF Enhancements
AcuSolve now has access to EDEM particles’ quaternion through the udfGetEDEMData() user-defined function (UDF) call allowing you to create custom lift, drag, and torque models based on this simplified representation of their orientation in 3D space.
Classic HyperMesh CFD-based Tutorials
All tutorials based on the Classic HyperMesh interface have been removed from the help documentation.
New HyperMesh CFD-based Tutorials
One (1) new tutorial is available for the HyperMesh CFD user interface. The new tutorial is:
  • ACU-T: 6108: AcuSolve – EDEM Bidirectional Coupling with User-Defined Drag Model
New SimLab-based Tutorials
Six (6) new tutorials are available in the SimLab CFD user interface. The new tutorials are:
  • ACU-T: 2500/SL 2040: Floating Surface Monitor
  • ACU-T: 3510/SL 2171: Battery Thermo-Electric: 2S2P Module
  • ACU-T: 3511/SL 2172: Battery Thermo-Electric Pouch Cell
  • ACU-T: 3512/SL 2173: Battery Thermal Runaway
  • ACU-T: 6105/SL 2441: Single Particle Sedimentation – Effect of Lift and Torque
  • ACU-T: 6106/SL 2442: AcuSolve-EDEM Bidirectional Coupling with Mass Transfer

Resolved Issues

  • Additional information has been added to the documentation regarding solver convergence criteria and settings.
  • User-defined function (UDF) information for EDEM coupled simulations has been added to the User-Defined Function Manual.
  • The torque model for AcuSolve/EDEM coupling runs now allows UDF control.
  • An example has been added to the VISCOSITY_MODEL documentation to explain how to properly set Power Law parameters when rheometer data is available for shear thinning fluids.
  • Mass flux at outlet now only reports mass flux of Air field.
  • Issues with parent volume sets not being written to the .inp file are now more clearly reported in the .Log file.
  • An issue writing H3D and Ensight files from multiple runs has been corrected.
  • Turbulence inflow quantities are now automatically calculated for phasic inflows for the average velocity, flow rate and mass flux types.
  • The transition of smooth topology surfaces between the design and non-design volumes has been improved.
  • Restart behavior involving models with sliding mesh now exhibit a smooth transition of variable data between runs.
  • ACU-T:6102 has been updated for better performance and to add extra information about time step settings.
  • ACU-T:6104 has been updated with additional information of drag coefficient model categories and recommended time step settings.
  • The units for species flux have been updated in the documentation to correctly show.
  • AcuPrep help has been updated to include the npt and grannoslip options.
  • RESTART_OUTPUT now includes information about case_output_frequency in the Command Reference Manual.
  • Log file information about platform used has been corrected for Windows machines.
  • A scenario allowing XYZ rotation when all degrees of freedom were set to zero has been corrected.