Why numerical analyses

Any product requires verification during its design spiral and its verification may be complex and expensive, depending on the use the object is intended for. In case of verification of devices intended to interact with a fluid, the costs can be significant. Furthermore it is not always possible to investigate every aspect of this interaction.

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a relatively recent technology that, like most of the numerical techniques computationally expensive, has linked its development to the growth of the power of computational resources. With CFD it is possible today to study problems ranging from incompressible multiphase fluid to hypersonic aerodynamics. Examples of problems commonly studied with CFD techniques in various fields of engineering are:

Aerospace

  • aircrafts aerodynamic performance
  • stall characteristics estimation
  • re–entry into the atmosphere
  • nozzles performance
  • aeroelasticity of structures

Automotive

  • vehicle aerodynamics
  • interaction between vehicles in relative motion
  • performance of cooling systems
  • internal cabin conditioning

Engines

  • turbomachinery performance
  • dynamics of combustion
  • thermal exchanges

Marine

  • performance of planing and displacement hulls
  • vessel dynamic in rough sea
  • manoeuvring
  • sails aerodynamics

Benefits of using CFD

CFD technologies are not just “virtual” test benches, wind tunnels or towing tanks. They are a very powerful “design tools” which, as well as they allow you to speed up the design process, help to explore the design limits. The benefits arising from the use of CFD are the possibilities to:

Piaggio P1XX
  • virtually verify the performance of the project;
  • investigate the design’s conceptual validity;
  • effectively increase the performance;
  • stimulate innovation by speeding up the design process;
  • reduce the development and certification costs;
  • reduce the costs of experimental verification;
  • investigate aspects that are not experimentally searchable.

How we can support you

Design Methods has expertise deriving from the use, over two decades, of CFD commercial and research codes in the aerospace field. The type of CFD analysis we offer are:

  • steady and unsteady;
  • compressible and incompressible;
  • laminar and turbulent;
  • mono and multiphase (two or more fluids that interact each other);
  • mono and multiframe (frames in relative motion);
  • 6DOF (six degree of freedom bodies dynamics);
  • fluid-structure interaction.