There are number of new projects on the backburner that I believe would be of use to you, MVP Blog readers. So, I am very excited to introduce to you my partner for several of these projects, Dr. Sunil Acharya.

Sunil is an expert in Multiphysics Modeling and Product Development, as well as a very creative entrepreneur. Since I started talking with him a few weeks back, our list of joint ventures has been expanding exponentially. Just to give you some ideas of what will be coming up in the next several months:

- We are working on putting together a series of materials on effective engineering computer modeling, tailored specifically for industry professionals (think “Cliff Notes”). The idea is to help engineers who are working for companies that actually need to create products (as opposed to prove nebulous theories) to do their job better with the help of computer simulations.

- We are also putting together an on-line conference, that will provide technical professionals with specific tools and techniques that will help them find new jobs, get promotions or simply keep their current employment.

If you are interested in learning more about either one of those projects, please contact me at masha@mvpmodelingsolutions.com.

And now it is my pleasure to introduce to Dr. Acharya and his article: Braving a New World.

Braving a new world

I used to be fascinated with listening to the conversations of people born in the first quarter of the 20^th century. Their stories reminded me of walking from one chamber of a natural history museum to another: horses, lights, cars, phones, A-bomb… I used to think that that those experiences were one of a kind and that there will never be another generation with so many changes in a single lifetime. Read more »

Thanks to all of you who responded to my previous post on “How Much is Your Time Worth?” Not only are you keeping this blog alive, you are making it more popular by the minute! Thank you for that.

I recently became the exclusive USA distributor for EURO/CFD, a European based company that provides CAD and CAE (including CFD) simulation services. The main reason for this partnership being that my services are complimentary to EURO/CFD’s. I educate organizations on how to be more successful with computer modeling, and how to translate real-world engineering problems into computer simulations. Once specific areas and techniques are identified, and if a client wants a fast, clean, expert solution to their modeling problem, EURO/CFD will do a great job on that side. The services of MVP Modeling Solutions and EURO/CFD greatly compliment each other resulting in a happy client with a start-to-end solution to their complex engineering problem.

Since my previous post on saving time and headache with outsourcing, got such rave reviews, this week I am continuing that theme and in the spirit of my new partnership with EURO/CFD I present to you:

TOP 5 REASONS TO OUTSOURCE YOUR MODELING WORK

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Last week I had a typical conversation with a potential client. After the engineer described a problem his company was having, the conversation went something like this:

Potential client (PC): “Great! You do have an impressive background and you’re right – we have a lot of gaps that you can help us fill.”

Me: “It helps to have a pair of expert eyes look over your R&D processes.”

PC: “That makes sense. We worked with consultants before and were amazed how much time they saved us! How much would your services cost?”

Me: Describe various services. Give a range of very reasonable prices.

PC: “Oh…well the budgets are tight, the economy is bad…no one has money…I think we will try to do this in-house…”

Me: “Haven’t you been trying to do this in-house for a while now?”

PC: “Well yeah, but the budgets are really tight…so we’ll try to do it ourselves… We’ll call some vendors, read some technical papers…”

Me: “How long do you think that process will take you?”

PC: “Well, probably much longer than if you were working with us…”

Me: “And how much do you estimate that time would cost?”

PC: “Well, since we’ll just be using in-house engineering time, it would not cost us anything.”

Me: “????!!”

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An expert with 25 years of experience in the field of fuel chemistry and chemical kinetics, Dr. Pitz addresses these questions in my interview with him:

1. Why are chemical mechanisms relevant? Who should study them and why?
2. From a kinetecist point of view a mechanism can never be proven to be correct, only shown to be incorrect. What is the point of testing mechanisms against experimental data? Would they always be “incorrect” and is it better to just stick to experiments?
3. Could computations that use chemical mechanisms ever be useful?
4. What is the difference between detailed and reduced chemistry mechanisms? What do you see as being the biggest challenge in obtaining reduced mechanisms?
5. What is the biggest misconception that engineers have about chemical mechanisms?
6. What is the biggest challenge in reactive flow simulation and modeling?
7. If you had to give one piece of advice to an engineer who is thinking of adding some reactive flow modeling to his research and is looking for mechanisms – what would it be?

Dr. Pitz Bio:

Dr. Pitz received his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, under the supervision of Professor Robert F. Sawyer. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering science from Purdue University.  He has been developing chemical kinetic mechanisms for hydrocarbon fuels and alternative fuels at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory for over 25 years.  He has been using these mechanisms to study applied problems of ignition and pollutant emissions from HCCI and diesel engines, and engine knock in spark ignition engines.  For his work, he has received the Horning Award and the Cowell Merit Award from the society of automotive engineers.

(Click on “play” button to listen tot he 35 minute interview. If you are not able to listen, make sure that Quicktime plug-in is installed) Read more »