Cosmos Multi Core Usage

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Does COSMOSWorks make use of multi-core processors? The short answer is Yes, but not all the time. The figures below are a screencapture of a sight glass analysis in a pressure vessel. It involves a bolted connection and a sliding surface contact with friction turned on. During the meshing stage, only one CPU is utilized. The images show the performance during the solving of the surface contacts. My system: • Quad-core Xeon, • Running 64-bit Solidworks 2008 Office Premium. You will find the following: • the FFEPlus solver, will peak at 68% of all processors.

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The Direct Sparse solver will peak at 100% of all four processors:

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Comments: • Not all processes: Meshing, for example, is not a multi-threaded process and will still use only one processor. • Constant: As can be see from the screenshots above, the peak usage is not constant, as it progresses through the stages of the analysis. • Improvement: I while ago I ran a large analysis on a dual-core and then got upgraded to a quad-core. The numbers, as I recall them, were 80% for the dual core and 68 % for the quad-core. Since it was a very large analysis, the “valleys” between steps weren’t very frequent. The quad-core system quickly outpaced the dual-core, even though the “efficiency” number is lower. A simplified rationalization goes as follows: o 80%*2 = 160%, or about 60% faster over a single core. o 68%*4 = 272%, or about 2.7 times faster than a single core. • Productivity: Another huge advantage of a multi-CPU system, experienced by many designers & engineers who use their PC to run analyses, is that there is enough left-over power to write reports, view email, search the web, and much more, while the analysis is running in the background. This feature alone is a tremendous boost to productivity.

Please feel free to contact me with comments about this article. I have supplied these tidbits for general information purposes only and I trust that you have enjoyed reading it.

Key Design Engineering is a Canadian company that provides specialized engineering services, including: Product Design & Analysis: • FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS, ranging from small components to complex multi-body assemblies, for verification of product safety, design optimization, cycle-life analysis (Fatigue), and cost reduction. • PRODUCT DESIGN, from concept stage through to complete verification, covering such processes as: customer specification streamlining, concept generation, design review, design verification & refinement. ASME Code Calculations & Applications: • Pressure Vessel, Fittings, Piping systems, per the applicable Code: ASME VIII-1, ASME VIII-2, ASME B31.3, ASME B31.1, or the particular component design code. • Finite Element Analysis of Pressure Vessels and Fittings in accordance with ASME VIII-2, in compliance with CRN requirements and jurisdictional formatting standards. • Design Verification and drawing review to meet Code Requirements and CRN standards. • Complete Canadian Registration (CRN) service, ranging from catalogues and individual items. • Revision and Updating of CRNs.

Key Design Engineering 55 Northfield Dr. E, Suite 194 Waterloo, ON N2K 3T6 http://www.keydesigneng.com/