Barcelona, 1 February 2022 – The NextSim project (CODA: Next Generation of Industrial Aerodynamic Simulation Code), funded by the European High-Performance Computing Joint Undertaking and supported by the research and innovation programmes of Spain, France and Germany, is working to develop the next generation of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools for extreme-scale parallel computing platforms. The tools will be designed to enable the aerospace industry to solve problems currently out of reach within the constraints of balancing accuracy versus computational load.
With an overall funding of almost €4M, NextSim focuses on further developing an advanced aerodynamic solver called CODA to run simulations on today’s High Performance Computing (HPC) clusters as well as on upcoming extreme-scale parallel computing platforms. The aim is to demonstrate that a series of aeronautical test cases that are currently unfeasible from an industrial point of view because of their high computational costs can be solved more effectively with CODA. This will eventually result in improved CFD capabilities that can be employed when aiming to design aircraft that are more fuel-efficient which produce less greenhouse gas emissions.
NextSim´s work will contribute to the realisation of the European Technology Platform for High Performance Computing (ETP4HPC) strategic agenda by advancing the technological capabilities of CFD to take advantage of HPC technology. It will also increase the innovation potential of the European aeronautical industry through the use of advanced HPC infrastructures, applications and services.
“NextSim supports the European Union´s long-term strategy of achieving climate neutrality,” said project coordinator and senior researcher at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Oriol Lehmkuhl. “Using state-of-the-art simulations, we are able to help design aircraft with lower environmental impact. Furthermore, our methods will help develop a rapid design cycle for aircraft manufacturing, reducing costs significantly.”
About NextSim
NextSim is a three-year European-funded project that runs from 1 March 2021 to 29 February 2024 with a budget of almost €4M. Its international consortium is composed of five reference European research centres in Europe: Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-Spain), Office National D’etudes Et De Recherches Aerospatiales (ONERA-France), Deutsches Zentrum Fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR-Germany), Centre Internacional de Mètodes Numèrics a l’Enginyeria (CIMNE-Spain) and Centre Européen de Recherche et de Formation Avancée en Calcul Scientifique (CERFACS-France); one leading university: Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM-Spain); and one large company in the aeronautical sector: Airbus (France).
