ATLAS Detector, 3D version

‘Every great advance in science has issued from audacity of imagination’ – John Dewey.

Nowadays, mankind tackles new challenges within the R&D industry. One of the leading places is hold by particle physics and its ambitious project to explain phenomena of the material universe and its origins.

The European Organization for Nuclear Research is the place where people started the quest to find this explanation by constructing the Large Hadron Collider, including its large scale detectors called ATLAS and CMS (ATLAS is 45m long, 25m high, it weighs about 7,000 tons which is almost the Eiffel Tower weigh!). It required high engineering excellence in different areas, but as a major in 3D design, I want to talk about the assembly parts.

The ATLAS collaboration gathered 169 partner institutes from 37 countries with over 3,000 physicists and engineers. Quite a lot of people huh? Everything started by developing 3D assembly of the detector which took 10 years and consisted in 10,000,000 sub-assemblies and parts.

3D visualization made a huge impact in calculation of heat transfer for cooling, simulation of stress and dynamical 3D modeling of installation (which in reality is one of the main concerns for engineers). How to place large and complex assemblies below 100m with 50mm clearance?

To give you an idea, the video below shows you a simulation of a 220 tones End Cap Torroid installation. In reality, lifting down such a heavy baby needs a special approach, like stopping it every five meters in order to reduce and avoid its swinging, which could cause significant damage to the surrounding assemblies.

This is a new field of engineering activity, called nuclear engineering, and it has no major ties with the traditional auto, aerospace or ship building industries. Basic difference is, in nuclear engineering, there are no standards. Thus, 3D design plays a major role as assembly or installation process is unique and based on ‘know – how’.

Does it make you feel dizzy? ^^

Best,

Nikoloz

Nikoloz Sharmazanashvili Works at the European Organization for Nuclear Research as a Project Analyst and CAD designer

CATIA is launching a visualization contest on Facebook: post your realistic rendering image to win an Apple iPad 2!

This contest is open to everyone that enjoys creating beautiful images using original 3D models so come and demonstrate your creative skills and vote for the best rendering images!

You will have two chances to win. You can either be selected by the fans on Facebook or be chosen by the CATIA jury composed of experts.

The contest will run through the 1st of August until the 9th of September. But if you post your images early, you are likely to gain more votes and increase your chances to win an Apple iPad 2 so hurry up guys!

Just as a reminder, here are the pics from the 2009 edition and what the winners said about the contest!

Good luck!

Xavier

Do you know the difference between Lifelike Experience and Sustainable Development? Well, the first one is in 3D, while the latter is about 3Ps! If you’re reading this blog I assume you know what 3D is about As for 3Ps, it stands for “People, Planet, Profit”. And when you combine the two, you get what’s needed for sustainable innovation.

Now the trick with sustainability is that it can quickly become very complex. Let’s just take as an example a simple bottle of shampoo… PLM software to the rescue!

Sooo? Is it clearer now?

Best,

Aurélien

Aurélien Blaha is a Marketing Analyst at Dassault Systèmes.