Advanced computational technology for product design: aerospace and non-aerospace applications

摘要

The science of physical systems computation, which involves solving appropriate mathematical models using state-of-the-art computer hardware from graphics workstations to supercomputers to massively parallel architectures in simulating various physical processes, has progressed dramatically over the last 30 years. Many aerospace developments from the current Space shuttle to the future reusable launch vehicles (RLV), and other air vehicles such as advanced fighters, commercial airplanes and helicopters, have critically benefited from this computational technology in reducing the design-cycle cost and time to market. While the initial push for this computational technology development has been primarily from the defense sector, increasingly it is being applied to commercial product development. This paper provides several examples of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Computational Electromagnetics (CEM) technology to aerospace products and outlines several examples of the role of computational simulation in non-aerospace commercial products.