b'Engineer Innovation | AerospaceFigure 3: Certification by analysis at TLG starting with the aerodynamic database generation with Simcenter STAR-CCM+,mapping results to NASTRAN with DLM and the final aeroelastic model in NASTRANCFD works best for moderate angles ofCFD is not a one-trick pony forHeres a scenario: Imagine a new attack and detailed flow-fieldcertificationradome is fixed onto the aircraft. To investigations. Modifications and additions to existingcomply with regulations, the type certified aircraft will affectmanufacturer now has to prove that if Large databases can be run inregulations. Taking older airframes tothe structure comes off the airplane, it Simcenter STAR-CCM+ today at athe limits of the flight envelope withwill separate safely without impact. fraction of the cost and schedule ofnew modifications is hazardous,Good luck breaking off a radome in legacy methods and wind tunnelexpensive and time-consuming. Theflight test! Similar challenges exist in testing, says McComas. That was notFAA allows CFD as a means to show theproving icing on the new structure possible only a decade ago.compliance of the original aircraftdoesnt affect compliance and hasnt changed due to modifications.operational safety. With elastic computing and cloudCompanies like TLG Aerospace have licensing, there is no technicaladopted this wholeheartedly, utilizingThe only feasible option here is to use limitation to running large numbers ofCFD to generate supporting data anda validated analysis to show the CFD cases simultaneously. TLGarguments to show compliance.structure meets safe separation criteria, Aerospace is also able to regularly runsays McComas. For TLG Aerospace, large, fully detailed simulations, withIn the past, engineers had to go toSimcenter STAR-CCM+ has all the tools most models running in under an hour,test without any question for anybuilt in to do these calculations without no matter their size, something whichmodifications done. Now CFD providesother third-party software. was not previously possible. the data to try and eliminate some test requirements, says McComas.In addition, the onslaught of new, Using elastic computing with AWS, TLGinnovative aircraft such as drones and Aerospace saves 75% of the total costOther CFD applications in certificationair taxis, military aircraft, the born-per CFD simulation. The technologyinclude pressure loading on secondaryagain supersonics and others will also behind this is the Amazon EC2 Spotstructures, fairings, antennas andbenefit from certification by analysis. Instances, an Amazon offering toradomes, ice accretion, air-data system utilize unused computing capacity onlocation, internal flows, winglets andThe C in CFD stands for certificationthe AWS cloud at steep discounts.more.Simcenter STAR-CCM+ has contributed For TLG Aerospace, Simcenter STAR-CCM+ has all the tools built in to do these calculations without other third-party software.Andrew McComas Engineering Manager and Aerodynamicist TLG Aerospace34'