SBIR-STTR Award

This project addresses the need for reliable and efficient strategies for simulating the complex turbulent flows produced by next generation energy-related technologies, such as modern ground and air vehicles, flow control devices mounted on modern car and truck configurations that aim at substantial drag force reduction, wind and hydro turbines, among others- Understanding and accurately predicting such complex flow phenomena are essential aspects of modern efforts aimed at reducing energy consumption in existing technologies and in promoting new energy-lean technologies of the future- The over-arching goal of this SBIR project is to offer Vorcat, Inc-’s breakthrough Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technology in an HPC cloud environment so as to extend its current reach and foster adoption- In particular, the cloud app(s) proposed here addresses the problem of advancing current capabilities for designing next generation energy and automotive technologies through developing reliable and efficient means for simulating turbulent flows about complex settings- The growing availability of Cloud supercomputing allows VorCat to bring its unique accuracy and reliability to a wider range of CFD users, including small and medium-sized businesses for whom large scale computing in CFD has heretofore been too costly or technically difficult to pursue- The benefits of this project to all segments of industry include cost and time savings in developing new products, better engineering, enhanced safety and the exploration of advanced concepts that are too difficult or dangerous to study with physical experiments- The focus is on energy and automotive related flows and applications that Vorcat employs for validation and go-to-market purposes- Development of the Vorcat technology has provided and continues to provide opportunities for engineering students and postdoctoral researchers to engage in the solution of difficult scientific problems- Finally, Vorcat can provide considerable benefit to society both domestically and inter- nationally by helping in the accomplishment of such specific goals as creating more fuel efficient and safer ground and air vehicles and designing strategies for responding to environmental hazards as well as more general goals as in developing and optimizing new energy-related technologies-

The over-arching goal of this SBIR project is to offer Vorcat, Inc.'s ("Vorcat") breakthrough Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technology in a High Performance Computing (HPC) cloud environment so as to extend its current reach and foster adoption. The cloud app(s) proposed here addresses the problem of advancing current capabilities for designing next generation automotive and wind-turbine technologies through developing reliable and efficient means for simulating (and thereby reducing the energy consumption associated with) turbulent flows about complex settings. Ultimately, the same platform can be extended to solve a myriad of turbulent flow design problems whose solutions are required to optimize and protect critical civil and military infrastructure. In Phase I, testing and validation of our source code were performed on automotive configurations, including the Cronuz, an electric concept SUV developed by APPLUS+IDIADA (“IDIADA”), Vorcat's software distributor in the EU. We demonstrated that by selecting a small number of run parameters that dictate solution resolution, even a non-expert user will be able to employ the code for their applications as no guess work, intervention, or tweaking in real time is needed - all problems are treated in a consistent manner. Given the present shortage of experienced fluid mechanics engineers in a strong high technology driven economy, Vorcat’s solution offers big potential productivity gains for companies’ hiring newly graduated engineers. In Phase II, several improvements to and extensions of the code will be developed so as to construct and launch an App that is robust, fast, and reliable, unlike any product that is offered in the automotive sector. In order to achieve optimal results, Vorcat partnered with HyperComp and Nimbis Sevices, two US companies that will serve as subcontractors: HyperComp will develop a simplified gridding-tool App customized to Vorcat’s specs and Nimbis will host and sell Vorcat’s and HyperComp Apps on Vorcat’s virtual store in the cloud. This will allow us not only to offer users pre-processing, processing, and post-processing capabilities in one place, but also to simplify and streamline the entire process. Lastly, in Phase I, we reached a joint effort agreement with IDIADA to customize and extend the core technology to meet the needs of the automotive CFD market. Based on many years of experience in automotive CFD, IDIADA’s managers have elected to team up with Vorcat to meet said objective and become Vorcat’s exclusive distributor of the resulting software in the Automotive OEM market. IDIADA’s investment is estimated at $800K: Vorcat will be utilized, (i) in a funded Ph.D. program and, (ii) as a high-fidelity tool in the EU commission’s UPSCALE project that aims at improving CFD simulations through Machine-Learning/AI paradigms. This in-kind contribution by IDIADA has strong synergy with our Phase II plan and, if it progresses as planned, it will allow us to aim at launching an additional, second App in the Phase II time frame. The candidate App will target wind/hydro-turbine flows and it can be used in planning the optimal placement of turbines in wind farms, an application already tested and validated in past work.