High-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation is used to measure the
performance of products and components in almost every manufacturing sector, from aircraft and power stations to replacement heart valves and air-conditioners. As an essential tool in the design process it reduces or eliminates expensive physical testing, increases confidence in product performance, and reduces financial and safety risks.
There are three barriers for companies (and especially smaller companies) looking to fully exploit CFD in their design processes. Typical CFD applications demand large amounts of computer hardware and expensive software licences. They take hours (and sometimes days) to deliver results. Thirdly, high levels of expertise are required to configure the inputs and interpret the outputs.
The Zenotech team will address these barriers by combining an innovative service delivery business model exploiting Cloud Computing; a proprietary technique which is proven to give a 20-fold reduction in run times; and a novel software architecture that allows users to efficiently customise the software to suit their specific application.
This will result in a substantial reduction of the costs and complexity of CFD within the
engineering design process. End-users will therefore have access, in some cases for the first time, to simulations that will reduce their costs, risks and time-to-market, while increasing their performance, flexibility and margins.
The Commercialising On-Demand Engineering Software (CODES) project will validate our approach with three companies (from large, medium and small enterprises) in the automotive, civil and renewable energy sectors. This project will verify performance in terms of affordability, functionality and security. We will refine our service ecosystem model to inform our commercial plans and provide feedback on the technical development priorities.