Multiphysics

Advanced Multiphysics Analysis for Complex Structures

ATA has developed a high-fidelity, tightly integrated multiphysics analysis capability for performing aerothermoelastic simulations of aerospace structures.

ATA’s methods leverage a set of coupled software tools created to model the response of these structures. The approach improves upon traditional uncoupled methods by integrating computational fluid dynamics (CFD) codes with a computational structural dynamics (CSD) codes in a fully coupled fluid-structure interaction (FSI) form. We have integrated SIMULIA’s Co-Simulation Engine into multiple high-fidelity CFD codes to develop a multiphysics capability utilizing Abaqus for solving aerothermoelastic FSI problems. ATA has also developed our own structural dynamics solver and coupled it with multiple CFD codes.

High-Fidelity Aeroelasticity and Fluid-Structure Interaction

ATA has successfully applied our multiphysics capabilities to a variety of fluid-structure interaction problems, including:

Estimation of the side loads on the nozzle of the Space Shuttle Main Engine
Estimation of the dynamic response of the JSF weapons bay doors subject to unsteady aerodynamic loading
Aeroelastic stability analysis of business jet landing gear door
Flutter analysis of launch vehicle control surfaces
Assessment of launch vehicle skin panels for panel flutter
Throat erosion of a solid rocket motor nozzle

Hypersonic and Reentry Vehicles

Hypersonic flight conditions subject vehicles to extreme environments that induce severe thermal gradients and generate intense spatial and time-varying pressures and these environments are often interdependent and characterized by complex fluid-structure interactions. ATA’s multiphysics tools were created to model the response of these structures in extreme flight environments at both the global level of the full flight vehicle and the local level of critically loaded vehicle substructures. The multiphysics tools have been further extended to incorporate a material response solver for simulating the aero-thermal-chemical response of ablative materials during hypersonic flight. This state-of-the-art, fully coupled aerothermoelastic charring ablative multiphysics solver provides an increased level of fidelity for simulation of reentry bodies, thermal protection systems, and hot-structure in operating in extreme environments.

Rotorcraft Aeromechanics

ATA is active in the rotor aeromechanics community and has experience performing high-fidelity aeroelastic rotor analyses that couple CFD and comprehensive solvers (CSD) into advanced CFD/ CSD simulations. ATA is also the developer of FuselageSolver™, an open-source and freely available rotorcraft structural dynamics code that is designed to conservatively include the effect of fuselage aeroelasticity within state-of-the-art CFD/CSD frameworks while simultaneously transmitting rotor shaft loads into and out of the fuselage. By including fuselage aeroelasticity, ATA is able to analyze challenging problems, such as tail buffet induced by the rotor wake.

Methods Development

ATA is founded on breakthrough research and technology development and is an industry-leading developer of advanced fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulation methods. We have extensive experience developing CFD and CSD solvers, coupling them together, and modifying them to address customer-specific applications. We can assess your needs and develop customized solutions to address your specific applications.