Pedro Cobas. Head of Development Team of EcosimPro/PROOSIS
In this issue of the EcosimPro/PROOSIS newsletter, we intend to present some subjects that many of our users have had questions about and which we sometimes assumed were well understood from our courses and documentation but which we now see may actually benefit from a simpler, less technical explanation.
For example, the three types of IF used in the simulation language and that allow doing different things are presented: from the classic IF of traditional imperative programming that changes the flow of a program, to the IF that allows an equation to be changed at simulation time to the IF-INSERT that allows users to model components of variable complexities.
We also take a look at parallelism and simulation, an important subject. The EcosimPro/PROOSIS team is currently taking the first steps to introduce different parallelism techniques into the software that will enable using the full potential of current multi-core and multi-thread machines. Until now, practically the entire process ran on a thread, but the idea now is to begin exploiting the capacity to execute multiple calculations in parallel, which will reduce simulation times.
We also present here the evolution of the C++ compilers used in EcosimPro/PROOSIS over the years, showing how the latest versions are able to reduce simulation times enormously, because they generate code that is much more optimized. For example, we have noted improvements of up to 40% in simulation time between using the Microsoft Versión 6.0 compiler and its 2010 version using the same machine. We are thus recommending to all our customers that they move to this new version. You will notice the difference.
We have also taken a look at a complex subject that is familiar to anyone who has modelled systems with algebraic loops: how to best model an algebraic box with N variables. Minimizing algebraics, choosing them and selecting the residue equations area all fundamental to making a robust model: if they are not well chosen, the user is doomed to having convergence problems. EcosimPro/PROOSIS offers “help” tools in this field that are essential knowledge for any user working in this area.
Also included is a summary prepared by Alex Alexiou of the University of Athens of a paper he presented at last year’s ASME TURBO conference and which received the “Cycle Innovations Committee Best Paper Award”. The article describes a study on the performance of a counter rotating turbofan aircraft engine.
Finally, the newsletter contains a short guide to the information the tool offers about the mathematical models that are generated in partitions. We believe that it is very important to be clear about concepts like what are the inputs and outputs of a mathematical model area as well as on all the equations and the order of calculation of the model. Few tools give as much detailed information about their internal mathematical models as EcosimPro/PROOSIS do.