Event Success: Highlights from the AIAA Aviation Forum

The AIAA Aviation Forum stands as a premier event in the aviation industry, offering comprehensive coverage across the entire spectrum of aviation business, research, development, and technology. The forum is renowned for its rich technical content, expert speakers, and vast networking opportunities. This year, it was co-located with Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery (ASCEND) for space technologies and held in Las Vegas, bringing together nearly 3,000 participants from around the globe. 

Papers, Papers, Papers 

With over 1,000 technical presentations covering more than 20 aviation and aeronautics research topics, the AIAA Aviation Forum provided attendees with a wealth of information on the latest innovations. These presentations addressed critical areas such as high-fidelity simulations, automation in pre-processing, and breakthrough advancements in numerical discretization. 

Hearing from the Experts 

The forum featured an impressive lineup of speakers and panelists who are proven business leaders and innovators. Their insights touched on the rapidly evolving landscape of aviation and space technologies, reflecting their deep understanding and forward-thinking perspectives. 

Making Connections and Expanding Perspective 

One of the standout aspects of the AIAA Aviation Forum is its ability to bring together a diverse group of nearly 3,000 participants from government, academia, and industry. This gathering provided a unique opportunity for attendees to expand their networks and gain new perspectives. 

Cadence had the honor of participating at this event, showcasing our computational fluid dynamics (CFD) portfolio through various activities, including booth demonstrations, technical talks, a HUB presentation, workshop participation, and a Cadence CFD networking reception.  

Here’s a detailed recap of our successful participation and the key takeaways from the forum. 

Cadence at AIAA Aviation Forum 

HUB Presentation 

On July 31, Frank Ham, Vice President of Research and Development for CFD solvers, delivered a HUB presentation within the exhibition hall. The session drew a large audience from the aviation and ASCEND communities. Frank’s talk focused on the breakthroughs in high-fidelity CFD, particularly innovations in mesh generation, numerical discretization, and accelerated computing - specifically showcasing Cadence Fidelity CFD software and the Cadence Millennium CFD Supercomputer. 

Networking Reception: A New Era of CFD Powering the Future of Aviation 

The Cadence CFD networking reception, which took place on August 1, brought together companies involved in commercial and military aircraft, spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as well as A&D contractors, suppliers, service providers, research institutes, universities, and more. 

The event commenced with a keynote address by Professor Parviz Moin, the founding director of the Center for Turbulence Research and the Institute for Computational and Mathematical Engineering at Stanford University. He opened his talk by stressing the crucial role of CFD in the design of various fluidic systems, particularly due to the turbulent behavior of fluid flows in engineering and geophysics. Professor Moin shared an insightful anecdote from the aircraft industry, underscoring the importance of model accuracy over sheer computing power in making predictions. He highlighted the importance of high-fidelity methods in managing turbulence, pointing out that their accuracy continues to improve alongside advancements in computing technology. Furthermore, he noted that recent developments in turbulence modeling since 2015, and the outlook for 2024, indicate that high-fidelity simulation is unlocking new predictive capabilities for CFD through the integration of high-fidelity methods and GPU acceleration.

Professor Moin’s keynote was followed by a visionary talk by Ben Gu, Corporate VP, Research and Development, Intelligent Multiphysics System analysis at Cadence, showcasing our pivotal role in advancing computational software through the integration of design, system analysis, and pervasive intelligence. 

Ben Gu emphasized Cadence’s strategic acquisition of BETA CAE as a significant step toward enhancing engineering and design analysis across multiple sectors, allowing the company to enter the structural analysis market. This initiative aligns with Cadence’s Intelligent System Design strategy and reinforces its leadership in engineering solutions.

He also highlighted that Cadence’s foray into CFD is exemplified by its contributions to Formula 1 racing simulations, which have significantly improved simulation efficiency. A high-quality mesh generated by Cadence’s innovative meshing solution leads to 4X faster solver runtimes, enabling engineers to quadruple CFD simulations for aerodynamic optimization. He further added that Cadence has partnered with major GPU suppliers to enhance CFD simulations, achieving a remarkable 9X increase in throughput and a 17X reduction in energy usage. 

Ben also highlighted the Millennium Supercomputer which is optimized for multiphysics applications and enhanced by advanced GPUs and proprietary solvers to facilitate scalable and adaptable deployment in both cloud and on-premises environments. 

Attendees at the Cadence CFD networking event enjoyed a demonstration of the unique technical features of the Cadence Fidelity CFD software and the Millennium CFD Supercomputer, as well as an exclusive sneak peek of the upcoming Release 24.1 of Fidelity. 

Technical Presentations

At the AIAA Forum, Cadence showcased two technical presentations, which were well received. The topics were:

• Best Practices and Mesh Convergence on the Extruded Imperial Front Wing with Cadence Fidelity CFD LES Solver (Formerly CharLES by Cascade)
• Computational and Experimental Investigation of Dornier 228 Aerodynamic Performance Prediction in High-Lift Configuration

Key Takeaways

The event reinforced several crucial lessons and takeaways, particularly related to Fidelity software and the Millennium Supercomputer:

• Accelerated Pre-processing: Automation significantly speeds up pre-processing and mesh generation.
• Flexible Meshing Solutions: The comprehensive suite of Fidelity meshing features offers the most flexible and controllable solutions for high-quality mesh generation.
• Predictive Accuracy: Cadence CFD tools can predict lift, drag, onset of stall, and flow separation with same-day turnaround for full-flight configurations of commercial aircraft.
• Cost-Effective Simulations: Full combustor simulations can be run in hours, predicting thermo-acoustics, combustion instabilities, and pressure fluctuations accurately at 10X lower cost compared to CPU simulations.
• Aeroacoustics Prediction: Accurate predictions of super- and subsonic aeroacoustics can be obtained within hours, with results matching experimental data within a few decibels.
• GPU-Accelerated Solvers: Industry-first GPU-accelerated Fidelity LES solvers expand the simulation-addressable flight envelope to new regimes.
• Millennium Supercomputer: The powerful capabilities of the Millennium Supercomputer, a GPU-accelerated high-fidelity CFD turnkey solution, enable 100X design optimization throughput.

Stay tuned for more updates and innovations from Cadence. If you haven't explored our Fidelity CFD software and our Millennium CFD Supercomputer yet, do so now to take your CFD projects to new heights.

Ready to transform your simulations? Book a demo