International Newsletter vol.45 2011/4
4.28.2011 FORUM8 Co., Ltd. http://www.forum8.com/
New Product Information - Engineer's Studio'R) 2D Ver.2
Engineer's Studio(R) 2D Ver.2 Ver.up
Software for in plane 2D frame analysis
Price : US$2,100 /Free version up Release schedule : April 2011 Structural Analysis / Section Analysis
Engineer's Studio(R) 2D supports 2D in plane structural analysis. It is a reduced version of the Engineer's StudioR 3D product. This revised version includes three new features : 1. Input of cross-section shapes. 2. Section design checks. 3. Moving load influence line analysis for the railway design codes of Japan, in particular the train load "E load" type. Items 1 and 2 are chargeable upgrades and item 3 is covered by maintenance contracts.
Input of section form
In the previous version, the section geometry was not entered. Just numerical section properties sufficient for the analysis were input. (e.g. area A and second moment of inertia I). In this version, these properties can be calculated automatically from the input geometry. Various common section types are supported including rectangle, oval (lateral), oval (longitudinal), circular, I beam, T beam, double T beam, box beam, and a hollow circular beam (Figure 1). The cover and effective height for common reinforcing patterns for each section type can be input (Figure 2).
The graphical view of the model optionally shows the 3D solid models create by extruding the section geometry along the beam. This is useful for verification of input (Figure 3). In addition, the self weight of the structure can optionally be calculated from the section geometry and material properties and applied as an automatic load case.

Figure1 : Section geometry types

Click the image for a larger picture.
Click the image for a larger picture.
Figure2 : Input of section geometry and reinforcement Figure3 : Frame model structure diagram and solid model display

Section design checks.
A section design check feature is available for reinforced concrete sections as an option in this version. The checks include shear capacity, minimum reinforcing, allowable bending stresses, ultimate moment capacity and average shear stress in accordance with the Japan specification for highway bridges. 2D in plane analysis is used and as such all design checks are uniaxial in their nature. The uniaxial nature simplifies the user input and printed reports compared to the biaxial checks done in the full 3D analysis program. (Figure 4).
The calculated stress values etc are normalized by permitted values as per the code and a quick overview for all checks is available on the result form.
If the normalized ratio exceeds 1.0, it is shown in red as NG. Sorting by the normalized ratio is supported to quickly identify critical areas of your structure. (Figure5).

Click the image for a larger picture. Click the image for a larger picture.
Figure4 : Input form for section calculations Figure5 : Section calculation results summary

Moving load influence line analysis for railways.
Engineer's Studio 2D supports a live load influence line analysis feature as an option. This calculation supports moving groups of point loads (axles) in conjunction with a trailing uniformly distributed load. This permits modeling of the train live load "E load" type in Japan codes. (Figure 6).
Click the image for a larger picture.
Figure6 : Train load (E load type) and influence line
(Up&Coming 2011 Early Spring Issue)
New Product Information - UC-win/Road Ver.5.2 Italian Version
Engineer's Studio(R) for Students Ver.up
3D Plate Dynamic Nonlinear Analysis
Price : US$105 Release date : December 2010 Dynamic nonlinear analysis
Engineer's Studio(R) for Students is the students' version of Engineer's Studio(R). It is provided for students' personal study only. The difference from Engineer's Studio(R) is described below.

License
The license is provided only for an individual student. The student must prove that they belong to an academic institution including a university or professional school. The license is managed by a network authentication method via the internet. The user needs to have constant access to the Internet.

Use for non-commercial purpose only
It is prohibited to use this product for commercial purposes including but not limited to design and analysis.

License effective period
The license is valid for one year. It includes all product revisions during that time. The license will automatically cease to function after this period. To continue usage after this the license must be updated.

User support
The license does not include user support via telephone or e-mail. An online users' forum is provided as a means of obtaining assistance. See the "Engineer's Studio(R) Users Forum" below.
Overview of feature
Engineer's Studio(R) for Students is a 3D FEM analysis program that has been developed completely in-house. It includes preprocessing, calculation engine and post processing (Figure1/2). Civil and Architectural structures can be modeled with a variety of element types. Static and dynamic analysis can be undertaken. In addition, there is a wide range of material nonlinear element types and specific models within each element type.

Click the image for a larger picture. Click the image for a larger picture.
Figure1:Result example of plate element analysis
(Wall=plate element, Column=fiber element)		 Figure2: Model example of frame element
(steel arch bridge)

Both material nonlinear and geometrical nonlinear (large displacement analysis) analyses are possible and these two effects can be modeled simultaneously. Fiber elements are supported. This is the element type that was used in the blind analysis contest (Note1). Mindlin plate elements are supported and in addition to material linear analysis the Maekawa nonlinear constitutive law of reinforced concrete (distributed crack model) developed in the concrete laboratory of Tokyo University is supported.
Design features are also included and the student can gain experience in design including influence line analysis (for live load), reinforcing level checks, allowable stress calculations and ultimate strength checks for both shear and flexural actions.

Note1) The analysis result of "Engineer's Studio(R)" won the E-Defense Pre-analysis Contest of Full scale RC Pier Earthquake Resistance Experiment!
Sharing information via the User Forum
Users can freely share information with each other via the User Forum (http://es101bbs.forum8.co.jp/). This is an unofficial site and our Engineer's Studio(R) Development Team will occasionally post on it. The users can post on the site after login while their license is valid. The site is available for viewing only in the absence of a license. If you wish to login to the User Forum please contact our sales staff.
Click the image for a larger picture.
Figure3 User Forum Engineer's Studio(R) User's Forum
(Up&Coming 2011 Early Spring Issue)
New Product Information - UC-win/Road Ver.5.2 Replay Option


Kinect(TM) Sensor HARDWARE INFORMATION
2011-No.2

　■ Introduction

The Kinect sensor is based on range camera technology developed by the R&D company PrimeSense. The sensor contains a VGA camera, a 3D scanner, 4 microphones and a base including a tilt motor. The 3D scanner consists of an infrared laser (frequency slightly below red light) that projects continuously a dot pattern, not visible to the human eyes (wavelength about 780nm), but can be detectable using a night vision camera (Figures 1.a and 1.b).

Figure 1.a: picture in night vision mode of the Kinect sensor in front of a black wall Figure 1.b: zoomed view of the dot pattern projected on the wall

　The Kinect sensor uses the infrared camera to estimate the distance between the sensor and each dot, resulting of a depth map of the environment. The figure 2 shows the camera output (Figure 2.a), the depth map (Figure 2.b) and the combined pictures (Figure 2.c).

Figure 2: Depth map of the environment over imposed on the camera feed
Figure 2.a: VGA camera output Figure 2.b: depth map of environment Figure 2.c: camera output and depth map
　

Kinect Capabilities

- motion capture (tracking of up to six users) and gesture recognition to allow the user to control the interface by gestures

- face recognition to identify the user and automatically select previously saved settings

- voice recognition for voice commands

- a rotating base to adjust the tilt angle of the sensor for an optimized tracking.

　■ UC-win/Road and Kinect drive

We used the OpenNI API (Open Natural Interaction, http://www.openni.org/) to interface the sensor with UCwin-Road, which allow the user to experience the driving simulator by using only his/her bare hands. From a standing or sitting position, the user holds his hands closed just like he is grabbing a "virtual wheel" (Figure 3).

This pose is the best fit for a natural driving as it is very close to the actual driving feeling.

Figure 3 :Kinect Drive (Neutral position)
　

After the calibration process, the user takes control of the car.

By turning the virtual wheel, the user can steer the car in the left direction or right direction (Figure 4.a).
Figure 4.a:  Kinect Drive (Left turn)

　The speed control is quite simple: the user moves his arms forward to accelerate and pulls them backwards to brake (Figure 4.b).

Figure 4.b:  Kinect Drive (Braking)

　Currently the calibration process is made manually but we are developing an automatic adaptive version to make the interface even more simple to use.
※Company name, products name are registered trademarks or trademark of their respective companies.
New Product Information - UC-win/Road Education Version

ちょっと教えたいお話 　　スーパーコンピュータ／HPC
  • スーパーコンピュータは、一般的なPCやサーバと比較してはるかに高い演算性能をもっており、 大規模な気象・災害予測、計算科学、物理シミュレーションなど、さまざまな分野での研究・開発などにおいて欠かせないツールとなっています。現在、神戸市のポートアイランドで整備が進められている次世代スパコン「京」は、完成予定の2012年に世界第1位となることを目標にしています。
　HPC とスーパーコンピュータ
　HPC（high-performance computing）は、単位時間内の非常に計算量の多い処理を指して用いられる用語です。このような計算処理は、大規模な気象・災害の予測、分子・材料の研究、ゲノム情報解析などの医療・生命科学、騒音・音響・流体（水・風・熱など）などの解析、各種大規模実験の事前実験化（衝突実験・物理実験など）や宇宙科学の分野などでシミュレーション・可視化の際に用られます。

　HPCを行う手段としては、超高速処理が可能なコンピュータであるスーパーコンピュータ（以下、スパコン）を使う方法が一般的です。スパコンに明確な基準はありませんが、概ねその時代の一般的なPCやサーバと比較して、はるかに高い演算性能（1,000倍以上）を持ちます。現在、文部科学省では1.5テラFLOPS（=1秒間に1.5兆回の計算性能）以上の性能を持つコンピュータをスパコンとして位置づけています。

　一般的なPCとスパコンの大きな違いは、処理を並列で実行できる点にあります。前者は、1つの命令に対して1つの処理を実行しますが、システム中に数十から数十万個のプロセッサが搭載されているスパコンは、多数の計算を並行して実行することで超高速化が実現できる構造となっています。

　このように、スパコンでは、一般のPCで処理できないような大規模な気象・災害予測、計算科学、物理シミュレーションなど、幅広い分野における計算を行うことができます。コンピュータ上の計算でさまざまな現象を再現するシミュレーションは、理論、実験に次ぐ第3の手法として、あらゆる研究開発において欠かせないツールとなっています。

　2010年11月現在、スパコン世界上位500位までのランキング状況（TOP500）では、中国の天津国立スパコンセンターの「天河１号A」が世界最速となっており、約2.6ペタFLOPS（1ペタ=1秒間に1京回の計算性能）を達成しています。TOP10には中国の国産スパコンが3位にもランクインしているほか、米国製（6台）、フランス製のものもランクインしています。

　日本では、東京工業大学のスパコン「TSUBAME2.0」（NEC/HP製）が4位を獲得し、第33位に日本原子力研究開発機構、第42位に東京大学物性研究所、第54位には2002～2004年の間、世界最速であった（独）海洋研究開発機構の「地球シュミレータ」が続いています。

建設が進む“京”（計算科学研究機構）、
FOCUS とは渡り廊下で接続される		 FOCUS 内に設置が進むスパコン


　次世代スパコン　京速コンピュータ「京」
　　現在、独立法人理化学研究所によって、次世代スパコン（京速コンピュータ「京」）の整備が兵庫県神戸市のポートアイランドにて進められています。「京」は、現在世界最速の約4倍となる10ペタFLOPS級の性能を実装し、完成予定の2012年に世界第1位になることを目標としています。

　この次世代スパコン「京」が建設される神戸市のポートアイランド第2期エリアは、医療・バイオ系の企業や研究所および市民病院（移転）、最先端医療センターを集約することによって医療産業都市を目指しています。また神戸大学、兵庫医療大学、神戸夙川学院大学、神戸女子大学の4つの大学も建設中で、学術研究拠点として発展することも期待されています。

　フォーラムエイトでは、2012年4月に次世代スパコン「京」に隣接して建設される「高度計算科学支援研究室　（財）計算科学振興財団（FOCUS）」内に“スパコンクラウドサービス研究室”を開設し、15テラFLOPS（=1秒間に15兆回の計算性能）以上のスパコンを利用したサービスの提供を開始する予定です。将来的には、2012年スタートの次世代スパコン「京」の活用ができるようサービスの高度化を目標としています。

スパコンを利用したフォーラムエイト提供予定サービス
  • 3DVR クラウドサービス“VR-Cloud（TM） サービス”
  • UC-win/Road、CG ムービーサービス
  • 解析支援サービス、“スパコンオプション”
  • 解析クラウドサービス、“Engineer's Studio(R) for SaaS”
  • 騒音音響スパコン解析、シミュレーションサービス
  • 風・熱流体スパコン解析、シミュレーションサービス

Conferences, training and seminars
Upcoming Events
Overseas Training and Seminars

Seminars in Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul will be held on the following schedule.

Venue:
Shanghai - Shanghai Seminar room (FORUM8 Technology Development(Shanghai) Co., Ltd)
Seoul-FORUM 8 Korean Office

Seminar Date City
UC-win/Road VR   May 6th, 2011 Shanghai 
July 5th, 2011 Shanghai 
July 6th, 2011 Seoul 
UC-win/Road Advanced June 2nd, 2011 Shanghai 
June 3rd, 2011 Seoul 
UC-win/Road SDK May 17th, 2011 Shanghai
June 16th, 2011 Seoul 
Engineer's Studio(TM),
Engineer's Studio(TM)(2D))		 July 21st, 2011 Shanghai 
July 22nd, 2011 Seoul 
VR-Studio(TM) June 22nd, 2011 Seoul
September 2nd, 2011 Shanghai 
September 9th, 2011 Seoul 
VR-Cloud(TM)
 July 27th, 2011 Shanghai 
July 28th, 2011 Seoul 
Dynamic analysis July 14th, 2011 Shanghai 
July 15th, 2011 Seoul 
Allplan May 18th, 2011 Shanghai 
May 19th, 2011 Seoul 
UC-1 Introduction June 9th, 2011 Shanghai 
June 10th, 2011 Seoul 
xpswmm June 24th, 2011 Shanghai 
Design Builder July 1st, 2011 Shanghai 
July 2nd, 2011 Seoul 
EXODUS / SMARTFIRE May 10th, 2011 Seoul
June 17th, 2011 Shanghai 
September 21st, 2011 Shanghai 
September 22nd, 2011 Seoul 
Participation Fee
Participation Fee Free

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