What Is Simulation Apps?

Simulation Apps are fit-for-purpose user interfaces that drive simulation software or complete workflows such as 3-D, mesh based tools (e.g., FEA and CFD), calculation tools such as Excel, Mathematica, MATLAB, and Modelica, as well as in-house codes and scripts. They  also provide the very important configuration management to ensure the correct data, files and models are being used, which also ensures repeatability.

Simulation Apps provide a streamlined and tailored user interface that greatly reduces the software expertise requirement, while inbuilt “intelligence”, for example embedded design rules and best practices, contribute to making these apps “safe” and practical to use by these non-experts.

Equally important is the speed and ease of creating these Simulation Apps.  Specialty tools and “Low-Code Development Platforms” (LCDP) such as EASA enable the creation of Simulation Apps with little or no hand-coding, and this in turn enables those closest to the design process to build the apps rather than relying on IT developers. It is worth noting that EASA is particularly well suited for Excel based models, transforming spreadsheets into top tier modeling tools.

Increasingly, Simulation Apps are browser-based, and with authorized access into a corporate network one has access to Simulation Apps without any need to have locally installed software, eliminating yet another historical constraint of simulation and modeling.