SimScale Resource Estimation: Planning Your Simulations Effectively

 In SimScale, resource estimation provides valuable insights into the computational resources required to run your simulation. Here's a breakdown of the key aspects:

1. Duration:

• Estimated runtime: This refers to the approximate wall-clock time it will take to complete your simulation. It considers factors like:
  • Model complexity: More complex geometries and finer meshes generally take longer to simulate.
  • Material behavior: Simulations involving complex material models or non-linear analysis can be computationally expensive.
  • Boundary conditions and loading conditions: The type and complexity of applied loads and constraints can influence simulation time.
  • Solver settings: The chosen solver type and its specific settings can impact the number of calculations required.

2. Compute Resources:

• Core hours: This indicates the estimated amount of computational power needed to run your simulation. It's typically expressed in core hours, which refers to the product of the number of CPU cores used and the total wall-clock time.
  • Higher core hours indicate a more computationally demanding simulation.
  • SimScale allows you to choose the number of processors (CPU cores) used for the simulation, affecting the total runtime and core hours needed.

Benefits of Resource Estimation:

• Planning and budgeting: Knowing the estimated duration and core hours allows you to plan your simulation workflow effectively. You can estimate how long it will take to complete the analysis and anticipate the associated computational cost (if using SimScale's cloud resources).
• Adjusting parameters: Resource estimation helps you understand the impact of different simulation settings on computational effort. You can adjust parameters like mesh size or solver settings to optimize the balance between accuracy and resource usage.
• Avoiding resource overload: By estimating resource needs, you can avoid situations where your simulation exceeds available computational resources on your local machine or SimScale's cloud platform.

Accessing Resource Estimation:

SimScale typically displays resource estimation information when you create a new simulation run. It often provides a range for both duration and core hours, acknowledging that the actual values can vary slightly depending on the specific execution of the simulation.

Important Note: Resource estimation is an approximation and can vary depending on various factors. SimScale strives to provide accurate estimates, but the actual runtime and core hours might differ slightly in practice.