Design Methods is an engineering firm that provides multidisciplinary engineering consulting and design services. It was created by Ubaldo Cella in 2012 with the aim to support industries and design teams with high specialized competences on aerodynamic design, CAE analysis, software development, CAD modelling, numerical optimization environment and customized design tools development.

Ubaldo Cella was born in Messina (Italy) in 1969. He graduated in Aerospace Engineering at the “Politecnico di Milano” in Italy and obtained the PhD degree at the university of Rome “Tor Vergata”. He began working in the aeronautical field in 1997 at the Department of Aerospace Engineering at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm (Sweden) where he attended the “Master’s project in Aeronautical Engineering” (addressed on aerodynamics); the research, funded by Saab Aircraft, had as object the validation of CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamic) codes and the development of a post processing software. Back in Italy, he worked for two years in the Automotive sector dealing with turbomachinery design and preliminary design software development. In 2001 he returned to work in the aerospace field with the responsibility for Piaggio Aerospace of a research project concerning the development of a NLF (Natural Laminar Flow) transonic wing. The work was carried out at the Italian Aerospace Research Centre (CIRA). The success of the project was certified, after four years of development, by three weeks of experimental tests in the DNW–HST transonic wind tunnel in Amsterdam. This work gave him the opportunity to acquire a significant expertise in aerodynamic laminar design. During the following five years he was responsible for the aerodynamic research at Piaggio Aerospace. He joined several international research projects in collaboration with leading European aircraft companies, universities and research centers. He was involved in the aerodynamic design of new aircrafts and was responsible for methodologies and design tools development, mainly based on multidisciplinary numerical optimization environments. He loves sailing and studied Yacht Design by himself and by attending short courses and seminars at several European universities. In 2010 he began working as an independent consultant and in 2012 he created Design Methods. He is currently researcher at the Department of Enterprise Engineering “Mario Lucertini” of the University of Rome “Tor Vergata”.

MADITATE, “The medical digital twin for aneurysm prevention and treatment“, Horizon 2020 ITN Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, European Industrial Doctorates (EID), Project Manager.
SHAPE, “Coupled sail and appendage design method for multihulls based on numerical optimization”, PRACE European Research Infrastructure.
RIBES, “Radial basis functions at fluid Interface Boundaries to Envelope flow results for advanced Structural analysis”, Clean Sky 7^th European Framework Program.
RBF4AERO, “Innovative benchmark technology for aircraft engineering design and efficient design phase optimisation”, 7^th European Framework Program.
FORTISSIMO, “Factories of the Future Resources, Technology, Infrastructure and Services for Simulation and Modelling”, 7^th European Framework Program.
RECEPT, “RECEPTivity and amplitude-based transition prediction”, 7^th European Framework Program.
DESIREH, “Design, Simulation and Flight Reynolds Number testing for advanced High Lift Solutions”, 7^th European Framework Program, Task coordinator.
ALEF, “Design, Simulation and Flight Reynolds Number testing for advanced High Lift Solutions”, 7^th European Framework Program, Task coordinator.
JTI Clean Sky – GRA, “Joint Technology Initiative – Green Regional Aircraft”.
CESAR, “Cost Effective Small Aircraft”, 6^th European Framework Program.
NACRE, “New aircraft concepts research”, 6^th European Framework Program.
TELFONA, “TEsting for Laminar Flow On New Aircraft”, 6^th European Framework Program, Work package leader.
VORTEXCELL2050, “Fundamentals of Actively Controlled Flows with Trapped Vortices”, 6^th European Framework Program.
PLUG & FLY, “Nuova Architettura Tecnologica e Costruttiva per Velivoli Business”, National research program.
VITAS, “Vettore Innovativo per il Trasporto Aereo Sostenibile”, National research program.