Engineering projects don’t fail because someone forgot to simulate a part—they fail when the wrong problem gets solved, or when the simulation doesn’t match reality. Whether it’s a turbine under load, a heat sink in a tight space, or a component exposed to high-speed airflow, today’s products require more than isolated analysis.
They demand a combination of FEM software and CFD software, working together.
At SDA Software, we’ve helped teams across industries use Siemens simulation software tools to answer the questions that really matter:
- Is this design safe under real loading conditions?
- Will it perform under airflow, heat, or vibration?
- Can I explore and optimize without running a dozen prototypes?
When engineers run into these kinds of questions, the right engineering software becomes a critical part of the solution—not for the sake of the software itself, but because it helps them see what’s happening inside their design.
The Problem: Physical Prototypes Don’t Tell the Full Story
Physical testing is expensive. Worse, it doesn’t always explain why something is happening. Test data can show a design is overheating, deforming, or stalling under flow—but it won’t always explain what to change.
With simulation software that includes both finite element analysis software (FEA software) and CFD computational fluid dynamics software, engineers can run virtual tests earlier in the design process. They can simulate loading, stress, airflow, turbulence, and thermal conditions—before the first prototype is built.
But only if the tools match the problem.
When Structure and Fluid Interact
In many real-world designs, structures and fluids affect each other. Consider examples like:
- Air flowing over an aircraft wing
- Coolant moving through a battery pack
- Exhaust gases passing through a heat exchanger
- Water impacting turbine blades
- Electronics under forced convection cooling
These aren’t isolated mechanical or fluid problems. They’re coupled physics challenges. One simulation tool isn’t enough—you need both FEM analysis software and CFD fluid dynamics software to fully understand how your product behaves.
Two Tools, One Workflow
Siemens tools are purpose-built for these challenges:
- Simcenter 3D: A powerful FEM software platform used for structural analysis, vibrations, fatigue, thermal conduction, and more. It’s used to answer questions like: Will this deform, crack, or resonate?
- Simcenter STAR-CCM+: A leading CFD computational fluid dynamics software platform used for flow, heat transfer, and fluid behavior. It handles everything from laminar flow to combustion and multi-phase simulations. It answers questions like: How will this flow? Where does heat build up? What’s the pressure drop?
Together, these tools give you both sides of the equation—fluid and structure. They share data, materials, geometry, and meshing software capabilities. That means engineers can simulate how pressure affects structural integrity, or how structural deformation changes flow patterns, without rebuilding the model from scratch.
Simcenter STAR-CCM+ includes high-fidelity solvers that handle a wide range of flow types—from subsonic to hypersonic—and support reacting flows, thermal radiation, and multiphase systems. It is ideal for modeling scenarios like underhood thermal performance, marine hull resistance, or electronics cooling using conjugate heat transfer. The software also provides hybrid multiphase capabilities and advanced turbulence models, allowing engineers to simulate spray cooling, liquid film behavior, or transient thermal shocks with high precision.
Simcenter Femap is a CAD-agnostic, solver-independent FEM analysis software platform widely used for detailed structural, thermal, and dynamic simulations. Engineers rely on it for nonlinear materials, vibration response, and thermal stress modeling across industries such as aerospace, automotive, heavy machinery, and satellite systems. It integrates closely with Simcenter Nastran and provides advanced mesh control, geometry abstraction, and idealization tools to simplify complex assemblies while preserving accuracy.
Together, STAR-CCM+ and Femap support multi-physics workflows in a consistent simulation environment. Engineers can transfer pressure fields, thermal gradients, or deformation data between tools without remeshing or recreating geometry. This integration eliminates manual steps and improves simulation speed and reliability across fluid-structure interactions.
Why Meshing Software Matters
One of the most overlooked aspects of simulation is the quality of the mesh. A poorly constructed mesh can compromise accuracy, slow down solve times, or even lead to non-converging results. Siemens engineering software includes robust meshing tools that offer a strong balance between automation and user control.
Whether you’re preparing a structural model in Simcenter 3D or setting up a complex fluid domain in STAR-CCM+, the meshing software allows engineers to manage detail where it’s needed most. Adaptive refinement makes it possible to capture sharp gradients without bloating the entire model. Local controls help engineers focus resolution on specific features like inlets, fillets, or high-stress corners. For fluid simulations, boundary layer resolution is essential, and Siemens’ tools handle this with layered meshing techniques that maintain solver efficiency and flow accuracy.
For engineers working with complex geometries—especially in aerospace, automotive, or energy systems—this level of meshing precision is essential. It allows simulations to run faster, solve more reliably, and reflect reality more closely.
Solving Real-World Engineering Problems
The combination of FEM and CFD is about solving practical problems such as:
- Predicting deformation due to aerodynamic pressure
- Preventing thermal failure in high-power electronics
- Understanding vibration caused by pulsating fluid flow
- Improving performance of rotating machinery like fans or pumps
- Reducing weight in structural designs without compromising integrity
In Washington, DC and across the country, we see teams in aerospace, defense, electronics, and transportation regularly face these kinds of issues. They don’t always need more simulation software—they need the right tools connected to the right workflows.
Integrated Simulation Software That Scales
Simulation software needs to support more than isolated analyses—it must scale with the way engineers actually work. Both Simcenter 3D and Simcenter STAR-CCM+ are designed to handle that scale. Whether you’re modeling structural performance, fluid dynamics, or thermal interaction, these tools allow you to explore design variations without rebuilding your workflow from scratch.
For teams running complex design studies or analyzing performance across multiple conditions, automation and repeatability matter. With support for scripting, batch execution, and high-performance computing, engineers can run extensive simulation campaigns efficiently. This makes engineering software not just a design tool, but a core part of your development process.
Using CFD software like Simcenter STAR-CCM+, engineers can simulate a wide range of fluid scenarios—from turbulence to thermal mixing—while parametric control and optimization features make it easy to test and compare results. On the structural side, Simcenter 3D scales to large models and integrates directly with CAD and system-level environments, streamlining setup and post-processing.
Whether you’re a small team developing a single product or an enterprise-level group managing entire product lines, scalable simulation software ensures that your tools grow with your demands—without compromising consistency or accuracy.
About SDA Software
At SDA Software, we specialize in helping engineers in Washington, DC and across the country integrate simulation tools into their real-world workflows. As a Siemens expert partner, we provide direct support, training, and onboarding for teams adopting finite element analysis software, computational flow dynamics software, and other tools in the Siemens Simcenter portfolio.
Our goal is simple: help engineers solve hard problems with the right simulation software, with no unnecessary complexity. Just tools that work.
Solve the Problem, Not Just the Model
Engineering is about building products that work. The combination of FEM software and CFD software helps engineers get there faster, with more confidence and fewer costly physical tests.
With Siemens’ simulation suite—and support from SDA Software—you can tackle problems where structure, flow, and heat interact. Whether you’re designing aircraft components, energy systems, or electronic enclosures, the right tools help you find the answers that matter.
Need help finding the right simulation tools for your business?
Talk to the engineers at SDA Software. Our experts deliver industry-leading engineering solutions to aerospace, energy, industrial machinery, and other businesses in Washington, DC, Los Angeles CA, and across the country. We’ll help you cut through the noise and build a simulation strategy that works.
