AEROSPACE

XCOR Aerospace announced today Silicon Graphics has provided an SGI Altix 3000 server for aerodynamic analysis and preliminary design of its Xerus suborbital vehicle. XCOR is developing the Xerus to take passengers and payloads to the edge of space. "We can speed up the design process while increasing flight test safety," said XCOR Aerospace Chief Aerodynamicist Paul T. Glessner. "Modeling the aerodynamic stability, control and handling qualities of the vehicle on a supercomputer takes the place of expensive and time-consuming testing. We gain a better understanding of the performance and handling characteristics of the vehicle from take-off, supersonic flight, through re-entry from space." Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulation software CFD++ from Metacomp Technologies creates a 3-D analytical model of such vehicles and analyzes the performance of that model based on XCOR design targets. The CFD analysis can simulate aerodynamic parameters such as air flow, pressure distribution which can predict vehicle lift and drag, thermal heating, and vehicle trajectory. "Metacomp Technologies is committed to being the leading provider of computational fluid dynamics tools for the aerospace and automotive industries," said Dr. Sukumar Chakravarthy, Founder and President, Metacomp Technologies. "When accuracy, reliability and speed are critical for product design, CFD++ is the software tool of choice for simulation and analysis of fluid flow, heat and mass transfer, and reacting flow problems, from very low speeds to hypersonic flows. We are always called upon to tackle the toughest CFD problems, attempted without success by other CFD software providers. Today, in the aerospace industry, the degree of accuracy and reliability required from simulations has reached new heights presenting challenges that Metacomp Technologies is eminently willing and able to help overcome." The required size and high fidelity of the Xerus simulations benefit from the large memory NUMA architecture and processing power of the SGI Altix server. Driven by Intel Itanium 2 processors and running the Linux OS, the SGI Altix server delivers the compute horsepower to solve complex large-scale problems with turn-around times that fit within design cycle requirements. The results of these CFD++ simulations will guide XCOR engineers in developing the aerodynamic shape of the vehicle, among other important design features. "The high-performance computing technology in SGI's Altix systems is ideal for a variety of engineering applications and provides unique benefits for CFD-driven advanced product development," said Dave Parry, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Server and Platform Group, SGI. "We are pleased to join with XCOR and Metacomp Technologies in the development and deployment of a new generation of vehicles for space flight."