Get hyped and/or Xcited for the latest simulation updates from Altair and Siemens.
Welcome to Engineering Paper, bringing you the latest design and simulation software news. Today we’ll go over two big simulation updates from one big company.
First up, Altair has released Altair HyperWorks 2026. The developer says its flagship simulation platform is now faster, more intuitive, and more multiphysical.
Altair highlighted six “key innovations” of HyperWorks 2026:
- AI-powered design and simulation: HyperWorks continues to offer Altair PhysicsAI, a tool that uses AI to predict simulation results from historical data. In the 2026 release, Altair has expanded PhysicsAI support for vectors and smoothed-particle hydrodynamics.
- Enterprise-scale pre-processing and model assembly: Altair says large, complex assemblies will load and update “almost instantly” in HyperWorks 2026, and that model building, meshing, and connector creation are also significantly faster.
- Integrated multiphysics simulation: Improved solver performance and domain coupling in HyperWorks 2026 means faster and more accurate multiphysics simulations, according to Altair. In particular, users should notice improvements in motor and system design, reliability testing for electronics and batteries, and electromagnetic simulations.
- Automation, collaboration, and connectivity: HyperWorks 2026 adds more Python and API support and better visualization and plotting tools.
- Realistic particle, fluid, and material behavior: Altair says new modeling approaches in HyperWorks 2026 better capture the behavior of bulk materials, particle interactions, and high-temperature effects.
- Intuitive design and motion exploration: HyperWorks 2026 has new comparison and motion modeling tools that Altair says will make for more flexible design exploration. That includes new implicit modeling and warp-map tools, multi-window analysis for side-by-side comparison of results, and more.
Altair HyperWorks 2026 is now available. You can see more release highlights on Altair.com.
Altair, recall, is now part of the Siemens ONE Tech Company hivemind (speaking of which, anybody else watching Pluribus? You should). Here’s the second simulation update from that Unum.
Siemens launches Simcenter X Advanced
Siemens has announced what it says are significant updates to Simcenter X, the cloud-based version of its simulation suite (anytime you see an X trailing a Siemens software brand, it means it’s the cloud version; occasionally this branding backfires).
Siemens first launched Simcenter X in May 2024. At the time it supported only Simcenter STAR-CCM+, Siemens’ CFD software. The latest update, which Siemens refers to as Simcenter X Advanced, now includes more of Siemens’ simulation portfolio.
In addition to STAR-CCM+, Simcenter X Advanced supports Simcenter Amesim for mechatronic system simulation, Simcenter HEEDS for design exploration and optimization, Simcenter 3D for multidisciplinary simulation, and Simcenter Femap for finite element analysis. Siemens says these applications are tightly integrated in Simcenter X, sharing a single named-user license and common token pool with built-in data management through Teamcenter X (Siemens’ cloud-based PLM software).
“By unifying our multiphysics and optimization technologies and enhancing them with robust data management, collaboration capabilities, AI-driven guidance and design exploration, we’re empowering every engineer to accelerate innovation that matters, reduce complexity and make smarter decisions faster — anytime, anywhere,” Jean-Claude Ercolanelli, senior VP of simulation and test solutions at Siemens Digital Industries Software, said in the press release.
You can read more about Simcenter X in this Siemens blog post about the new update, or this other Siemens blog post about Bear Grylls.
One last link
In last week’s Engineering Paper I wrote about the launch of Comsol Multiphysics 6.4. My colleague Martin Rowe, senior technical editor of EE World Online, provides a few more details in Comsol v6.4 enhances simulations, including electromagnetics.
Got news, tips, comments, or complaints? Send them my way: [email protected].
