Multi-Physics Modeling & Simulation Tools

CFDRC has experience developing and applying multi-physics modeling and simulation technologies to solve complex, multi-disciplinary problems of national significance. We also have considerable experience utilizing, adapting, and integrating Government-developed codes and commercial tools with our own software applications to provide highest fidelity solutions for our customers.

Name (Developer/Owner) Description CFDRC Applications
CFDRC Proprietary Tools
Unified Flow Solver (UFS) Adaptive Cartesian Grids
Adaptive Algorithm Coupled continuum and rarefied flow solver capable solving flows in all regimes with no volume grid generation requirements and minimum user input.
  • Predicting aero coefficients for missile debris fragments
  • Lunar lander plume/soil interaction
  • Hypersonic vehicle design
  • Micro-UAV design
NanoTCAD Nanotechnology CAD tool with 2D/3D Device Simulator that predicts effects of extreme thermal and radiation environments on electronic systems down to components at the submicron level
  • Extreme environment (high & low temperature) effects on spacecraft electronics
  • Radiation Hardening By Design
  • Single event modeling with nuclear reactions & 3D ion tracks
CoPhy DoD Open Source Multi-time, multi-space, multi-scale and multi-physics modeling & simulation for Computational Physics
  • Vibration and structural dynamics of MEMS devices
  • Computational chemistry and biology modeling & simulation
MDICE Multi-Disciplinary Integrated Computing Environment – allows dynamic coupling of legacy codes for real-time multi-disciplinary analyses
  • Fluid-structure interaction associated with inflatable aerodynamic decelerators (ballutes) for aerocapture
  • Aircraft flutter, buffet, and LCO analysis
MDICE Thermal MDICE compatible solver for heat transfer analyses, thermal-fluid and thermal-structure interfaces, and relevant surface boundary conditions
  • Coupled simulations with CFD and CSD solvers for aero-servo-thermo-elastic analysis of high speed, high altitude vehicles
Firefly Combustion solver with chemical kinetics, capable of auto-generation of global mechanisms for efficient modeling & simulation
  • Rocket engine combustion instability analysis
  • Flame stabilization and ignition studies
Name (Developer/Owner) Description CFDRC Applications
Government Developed Codes
AVUS
(AFRL) 		Air Vehicle Unstructured Flow Solver capable of handling both structured and unstructured grids for CFD
  • Coupled with Lockheed proprietary codes to perform aero-elastic analysis of JSF
DAC
(NASA JSC) 		for predicting vehicle aerodynamics and aero-thermodynamic environments in rarified, or low-density, gas flows.
  • Coupled in MDICE for aero-elastic simulation of thin film ballute aerocapture systems to study fluid-structure interaction in hypersonic flows
DPLR
(NASA ARC) 		Data Parallel Line Relaxation code is a 2D/axisymmetric and 3D structured grid finite volume Navier-Stokes software for computation of supersonic and hypersonic flows in chemical and thermal nonequilibrium.
  • Aerothermodynamic analyses of Orion CEV, predicting thermal environment in gaps surrounding interface seals
FUN3D
(NASA LaRC) 		Unstructured-grid flow solver for fluid dynamic simulations spanning incompressible flow to transonic flow
  • Coupled in MDICE for aero-elastic simulation of thin film ballute aerocapture systems
LociCHEM
(Mississippi State University) 		Finite-volume flow solver for generalized grids that uses high resolution approximate Riemann solvers to solve finite-rate chemically reacting viscous turbulent flows such as liquid rocket combustion analysis
  • Developed fully coupled radiation capability in Loci-CHEM for liquid and solid plume thermal environments
  • Multi engine propulsion system evaluation and assessment of aerothermal environments
OVERFLOW Navier-Stokes flow solver for structured grids using Chimera-overset grid systems.
  • Coupling OVERFLOW to Vorticity Transport code for rotorcraft flow field analysis
Name (Developer/Owner) Description CFDRC Applications
Comemrcial Tools
ABAQUS
(Dassault Systèmes) 		General purpose FEM software with integration of implicit and explicit FEA capabilities designed for high-performance parallel computing environments
  • Coupled with FUN3D and CFD FASTRAN using MDICE for analysis of thin film ballute systems for hypersonic re-entry simulation
CFD-ACE+
(Originally developed by CFDRC and now owned by ESI Group) 		Multi-physics solver capable of coupled simulations of fluid, thermal, chemical, biological, electrical, and mechanical phenomena. Numerous aerospace & defense applications including:
  • Liquid propellant sloshing and thrust oscillation in Ares 1 upper stage
  • Multi-phase thermal control system design
CFD-FASTRAN
(Originally developed by CFDRC and now owned by ESI Group) 		Coupled density-based compressible CFD flow solver with moving multi-body dynamics, finite rate chemistry, and thermal modules Numerous aerospace & defense applications including:
  • Ares 1-X Launch vehicle stage separation
  • Multi-moving body separation for Aircraft Ejection Seat design
  • High speed, high altitude plume flow analysis
FLUENT
(ANSYS) 		General purpose CFD solver with adaptive and dynamic mesh capability
  • Ullage Settling Motor flow analysis and propellant grain design for Ares 1-X Upper Stage
MATLAB
(MathWorks) 		High-level language and interactive environment that enables computationally intensive tasks.
  • Developed 6-DOF missile interceptor flight simulation
  • Coupled with CFD FASTRAN for Ejection Seat design
NASTRAN
(MSC software) 		Finite element analysis structural software for simulating stress, dynamics, and vibration
  • Coupled CFD/CSD simulation using NASTRAN and CFD codes to predict onset of flutter in blended-body wing UAV
RCAS/
(ART Inc.) 		Multi-disciplinary software designed to analyze performance, loads, vibration, and aerodynamics of rotorcraft.
  • Investigation of parallel scalability of CSD codes with application in the RCAS framework
SimuLink
(MathWorks) 		MATLAB compatible environment for multi-domain simulation and Model-Based Design for dynamic and embedded systems.
  • Developed control laws for active flight controllers to dampen aeroelastic effects for UAV SensorCraft designs
AERO-F
(CMSoft Inc.) 		Domain decomposition based parallel 3D Euler and Navier–Stokes solver featuring a combination of finite volume and finite element discretizations on unstructured tetrahedral meshes
  • Coupled with MDICE and AERO-S to perform F-16 flutter and F-35 buffet modeling & simulation
AERO-S
(CMSoft Inc.) 		Suite of structure and thermal modules capable of linear and geometrically nonlinear static, sensitivity, vibration (eigen), and transient FEA
  • Coupled with MDICE and AERO-F to perform F-16 flutter and F-35 buffet modeling & simulation