CFMS to support new aerospace project

Above: Demonstration of turbulent flow field over the JAXA configuration during landing.

The £1.55 million Aero Flux project, which is part funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), the Aerospace Technology Institute (ATI) and Innovate UK, is a continuation of the successful Hyperflux++ project. It will enable the research and development of advanced high-order CFD methods, beyond baseline technologies currently used by the aerospace industry.

The three-year project, which is being led by CFMS, will develop the capability for fluid-structure interaction, broadband acoustics, accelerated time-stepping, advanced high-order mesh generation and multi-disciplinary coupling. This will address the latest aerospace requirements with a greater level of accuracy.

Combining its state-of-the-art computational infrastructure and advanced simulation knowledge and expertise, CFMS will independently evaluate, test and benchmark the methods as they are developed. Using its access to cross-sector industrial and academic partnerships and regular programme of events, CFMS will maximise the impact of the project by disseminating its outcomes, in turn promoting the UK’s ‘technology for aerospace’ engineering capabilities.

Sam Paice, Chief Operating Officer at CFMS, commented: “The development of new technologies from the Aero Flux project will offer greater flexibility and freedom in the high value design process, creating more accurate and efficient modelling tools. This will generate new opportunities, challenges and novel innovation, where physical testing of the end product will be reduced and the efficiency, speed and cost of the product development process will be improved.”

Business Minister Lord Henley said: “We have a strong history in aerospace engineering and are perfectly placed to build on our skills to manufacture cleaner and quieter aircraft. The Aero Flux project is a perfect example of the commitment in our modern Industrial Strategy to shaping the future of mobility and equipping the best people with jobs shaped by next-generation technology.”

The collaborative project will be closely supported by Zenotech, whose ZCFD product will play a crucial role in helping to improve performance in aerospace, ARA, which will oversee the development of new high-order meshing tools for industrial use and Bombardier, which will present the industrial challenge and evaluation.