Whitepapers

What to Expect When Working with Rand SIM More than Software Blood flow device companies around the world choose to work with Rand SIM because, in addition to providing expert guidance on the selection, implementation, and use of Ansys software, our team brings 200+ years of combined experience using CFD for biomedical product design. Our hands-on work enables us to provide insight and best practices that other software providers simply can't. Two Options: Consultive or Collaborative Some companies want to outsource the simulation activities to external experts and others want to bring the skills in house. In either situation, Rand SIM can help. Our team has extensive experience with both options and follows the same proven process to ensure each customer gets the information they need for their specific situation. Our Proven Process Whether a company wants to design an impeller blade for optimal DFM, determine the feasibility of a current design, or evaluate the performance of a design in a virtual clinical trial environment, we follow the same process to predict performance based on prescribed metrics, including efficiency and risk factors that may lead to device failure in the field or in the patient. 1. Discovery – We work with each client to ensure that simulation fits their needs from both a design and business perspective and that the simulations are performed at the right time and in the right manner to achieve their design and business goals. "The last thing we want to do is force simulation into a stage where it isn't necessary," said Chris Smith, CFD Manager, Rand Simulation. 2. Evaluation – Instead of jumping ahead, we take time to evaluate the information learned during Discovery to determine the steps necessary to get the answers to the desired questions at the appropriate cost level. "We don't want to overcomplicate things," said Dan White, Medical CFD Specialist, Rand Simulation. 3. Execution – In any engagement, we are always working with the client to ensure that goals for the project are met, acting as an extension of their team and not a black box where they give inputs and see outputs. This is done by leveraging historical product knowledge, design constraints, and pain points from the client in tandem with our knowledge of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, numerical simulations, and best practices in design to ensure the most cost effective and informative approach to the simulation is taken. When we are engaged in collaborative consulting, we take this one step further and show the client how we came to the conclusions for the simulation setup and bring them into our thought process, teaching them the fundamentals necessary to begin dissecting problems in a similar way themselves. Once the simulation method is solidified, depending on the nature of the engagement, we either perform the simulations through our HPC, analyze the results, and form conclusions, or we work side-by-side with the clients' team, teaching them how to bring the simulations and expertise inhouse. 4. Closing – For purely consulting engagements, we pull our design recommendations into a report and review the details with the client to make sure they understand what we did, how we set up the CFD analysis, the assumptions we made, and the implications of the results. For collaborative engagements, we follow the same process, and we show them how to do exactly what we did in the software, how we came to specific conclusions and assumptions, and how we made simplifications to the model, so they can bring those skills in house and execute projects to a similar degree of professionalism and accuracy. 5. Support – To ensure clients get the value expected, our team stays in constant contact for several months to preemptively answer questions. Once a strong level of understanding is achieved, clients are transitioned to our traditional support system, which includes access to our expert technical staff via email, phone, text, or chat.

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