digital tools and references
Capability: The computer-aided design viewer OneView Lite, which allows interactive viewing and manipulation of CAD models, is part of the developer's OneView application suite. That application package allows corporate users to view two-dimensional drawing data and three-dimensional model and assembly information generated by nearly any CAD system. The OneView Lite product allows all users, whether corporate or not, to look at 3-D CAD designs generated on almost any CAD system.
Hardware: PC running Windows 95, 98, 2000, or NT.
Developer: CAD Centric Systems Inc., 4055 Executive Park, Suite 425, Cincinnati, OH 45241; (513) 554-6580; fax (513) 554-6582.
Cost: Free.
Capability: The upgrade to CalculationCenter 2 offers new statistics capabilities. The addition of analytical distribution functions for standard statistical distributions allows the development of models that describe random behavior. Users can compare the models to experimental data to estimate parameters or can use them to generate random simulation data to test the likelihood of possible outcomes. The software works with formulas related to statistical function as well as with numbers. In order to help avoid mistakes in entry, the software suggests to users that they may have meant to type something else. To help users share their work over the Web, it includes support for MathML 2.0, an XML-based open standard for the use and reuse of mathematical and scientific content on the Web.
Hardware: PC running Windows 95, 98, 2000, Me, NT, or XP, or a MacIntosh OS platform.
Developer: Wolfram Research Inc., 100 Trade Center Dr., Champaign, IL 61820; (217) 398-0700; fax (217) 398-0747; www.wolfram.com.
Cost: $295.
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The
CFD thermal and flow analysis program Coolit from Daat Research Corp.
of Lebanon, N.H., includes multiple processor capability to boost the
software's processing speed.
Capability: The upgrade to the computational fluid dynamics thermal and flow analysis program Coolit adds multiple processor capability to boost the software's processing speed. When installed into a multiple processor system, the software automatically recognizes the number of processors and parallelizes the computation accordingly. The upgrade, to version 4.50, also includes new features that aid in model building and increase modeling accuracy. New shapes have been added to the component library. Tetrahedron, pyramid, and spherical cap components are now included to make possible more complex shapes and more accurate geometries than past versions allowed. Other changes include greater editing flexibility and a wider range of component characteristics than in past versions as well as customizable projections in panel views. A model for porous media is also included.
Hardware: PC running Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT, or XP.
Developers: Daat Research Corp., 7 Hanover St., Lebanon, NH 03766; (603) 448-1302; fax (603) 448-2941; www.daat.com.
Cost: $18,000 for annual license.
Capability: The Building LifeCycle Cost 5 software program is used to evaluate the long-term costs and benefits of energy, water conservation, and renewable energy projects. It allows engineers and managers to compare the lifecycle cost of two or more alternative designs to determine which is the least expensive and, therefore, more economical in the long run. It compares economic data for the alternative designs, including net savings, savings-to-investment ratio, adjusted internal rate of return, and years to payback. While the software is oriented toward building-related designs, it can be used to evaluate alternative designs for almost any project in which higher capital costs result in lower future operating costs.
Hardware: PC.
Developer: National Institute of Standards and Technology's Office of Applied Economics and the U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. S.W., Washington, DC 20585; www.eren.doe.gov/femp.
Cost: Free.
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