The 2021 SIMULIA Champions come from locations around the world, as well as from a variety of industries. Several of them have agreed to share their stories about how they are using simulation and what led them to the engineering field.

​​​​​​​Dr. Venkat Perumal is a Senior Principal Engineer – CAE at Stryker Global Technology Center in India. His job involves structural and computational mechanics, as well as building computational infrastructure like cloud computing to enable path simulation for R&D. He works out of Stryker’s R&D Center, and also oversees an extended simulation team based in Bangalore.

Dr. Perumal was exposed to SIMULIA technology, in particular Abaqus, shortly after his graduation from the Indian Institute for Technology Chennai as he began his career in automotive R&D. He used the software for material modeling, automotive weld joint analysis, and some nonlinear structural mechanics modeling including plastics and elastomers. He then moved to the United States to pursue his doctoral degree and continued to use Abaqus to understand the modeling of lightweight materials.

Part of the way through his career, Dr. Perumal switched from the automotive to the healthcare industry, starting by developing diagnostic devices with Siemens. He used a lot of simulation to drive innovation and reduce the manufacturing costs of these devices, and then his journey continued to Stryker where he now develops medical devices such as implants.

“These implants are critical devices to ensure patient safety, so I’m quite thrilled to see the opportunity of using simulation for these components,” he says.

He believes that one of the most important attributes a new engineer can have is an openness toward learning. He also recommends staying up to date with technology, which is changing at every moment, and developing skills that can be used in real-life situations to benefit society.

In addition to Abaqus, Dr. Perumal has been using SOLIDWORKS since 2012 for design, simulation and finite element analysis. With the use of modeling and simulation, he says, engineers can help healthcare professionals to improve their treatment procedures and patient care. Abaqus plays a large role in both modeling and evaluating the performance of complex medical devices.

“I think the sort of standard or tool to go to for such applications is Abaqus, because of its robust material modeling, nonlinear and explicit modeling capabilities,” he says.

What excites him about his work is being able to understand and meet the unmet needs of the healthcare industry. He is proud to say that his company’s products help to rebuild the lives of patients, and in the future he hopes to become an accomplished R&D leader who helps drive objective-based research to advance technologies that help uplift people’s lives and standards.

Simulation will certainly continue to be a part of Dr. Perumal’s ongoing journey, as it has been an integral part of his journey so far.

“I love simulation because it helps in visualizing a better picture of a product or a process, and it better informs the performance of the devices,” he says. “Eventually it helps accelerate R&D innovations and reduces cost and time to market.”

Outside of work, Dr. Perumal enjoys spending time with his family and has recently taken up mountain biking.