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research in flight®

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WHAT IS FLIGHTSTREAM ?

FlightStream® is a surface vorticity flow solver designed to allow users to develop optimized designs for compressible and incompressible subsonic vehicles as well as transonic vehicles. Applications range from modeling UAVs, High-Altitude-Aerostats, high subsonic transport and military aircraft, marine propellers and under-water vehicles, wind turbines, propellers, store separation, high-lift components and more!

Equipped with the state-of-the-art unstructured surface-mesh compressible-flow vorticity solver, FlightStream® eliminates the costly process of volume mesh generation and mesh-dependency on flow-field solutions and stability. FlightStream® provides the ability to design airplanes within an optimization pipeline in a fraction of the time taken by conventional CFD solvers. FlightStream® integrates with Research in Flight’s proprietary CAD library, allowing users to import their geometries designed in any commercial CAD/CAE software (such as SolidWorks, AutoCAD, NX, CATIA etc.). The FlightStream® vorticity solver works from very small mesh sizes compared to traditional CFD solvers and serves to reduce user input in generating high fidelity surface meshes

FlightStream® is one of the most versatile and powerful aerodynamic analysis tools for aerospace, marine and alternative energy applications today.

OUR GROWING COMMUNITY OF FLIGHTSTREAM® USERS & PARTNERS

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latest news

research in flight selected for
nasa transformational tools & technologies program

august 2018

Research in Flight's proposal, "Modular Generalized Framework for Assessing Aircraft Aero-Propulsive, Stability, and Control Characteristics", has been selected for negotiation of award in the prestigious Transformational Tools & Technologies Project of the NASA Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program, Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. 

Research in Flight and Auburn University, Alabama, are offering a physics-based, high-fidelity conceptual design framework to the design-defining problem of modeling the stability and control characteristics on unconventional geometries in the emerging Distributed Electric Propulsion (DEP), Urban Air Mobility (UAM) and Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) industries. This joint proposal is geared towards using FlightStream® to attain the desired capability of physics-based methods that are higher fidelity models relative to empirical methods, yet computationally efficient and suitable to the conceptual design phase of unconventional aircraft in the UAM, DEP and UAS communities. Upon completion, the proposed research is expected to contribute significantly towards conceptual design phase modeling, simulation, and analysis capabilities of the flight dynamics, stability, and control characteristics of unconventional fixed-wing designs.

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Learn more

instant flow separation results

non-linear aerodynamics in seconds

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FlightStream® now offers users with the unique ability to predict stall, and generate post-stall results. This capability uses FlightStream® proprietary new vorticity-based separation model developed by Research in Flight. This unique capability allows users to compute non-linear loads on their simulations without any addition computation penalties to the existing linear solver. This is a perfect tool for the aircraft designer!  Capabilities include the onset of stall, prediction of CLMAX and post-stall loads. This capability has now been validated for a range of case studies. Learn about this emerging new capability and its incredible speed in predicting high accuracy results with just the surface mesh solver. The new non-linear aerodynamics works well with all our powered actuators, unsteady-solver and specialist toolboxes.

the unsteady solver

Time-dependent motion solver for the propulsion engineer.

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The propeller actuators work great when you want to simulate propeller effects in steady-state and when you want to keep the number of blade-related parameters to zero. But what if you have the blade data, and want to investigate the time-based aero-propulsive effects? No problem. Use our FlightStream® unsteady surface vorticity solver. You can create motion types and attach them to surfaces on your geometry. Use these to simulate propeller rotation and evaluate the time-dependent effects on the wing as well as the propeller blades! Since the flow solver works on a surface mesh, no advanced volumetric modeling is required from the user, but volumetric effects at any point in space around the geometry can still be evaluated using our post-processing tools!

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Modeling Jet Engines

Introducing the FlightStream® Engine Exhaust Actuator. Model engine exhaust jets without a volume mesh.

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FlightStream® allows you to model engine inlets, exhausts and engine propulsion performance during the same solver run. Application of velocity and mass-flow boundary conditions at the engine inlet and actuator-based exhaust models for jet exhaust allows you to set up a realistic aero-propulsive environment that correctly models the fluid flow.

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Velocity and mass-flow boundaries to simulate engine inlets

Jet exhaust actuators can be cascaded to include core and fan exhausts

Advanced post-processing and data analysis of engine inflow conditions

Modeling Propellers

Steady-state propeller actuators for the airplane designer.

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Modeling propellers in steady flow in using the FlightStream® relies on a propeller actuator discs model. It is designed to work with our surface-mesh vorticity solver, and the actuator discs allow for the evaluation of volumetric effects of the propeller momentum, at no reduction in solver speed and agility. Designed to be computationally complimentary, you can add as many propeller actuators as your airplane needs. Cascade the actuators on top of each other to simulate contra-rotating effects. Place them in any orientation, size or a local coordinate system. All you need is the thrust, power and RPM of the propeller to simulate the steady-state effects. This is a perfect tool for the aircraft designer!

the propeller modeling landscape in flightstream®

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See the solution accuracy

Modeling Propellers in detail

moving reference frames for modeling rotating geometries

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FlightStream® has focused tools depending on the user's needs as a conceptual aircraft designer, the propulsion engineer, maritime designers or the fundamental fluid aerodynamicist. The moving reference frame approach is designed for the propeller designers, whether in the air or underwater! A simple setup allows you to model your geometries in a rotating frame, perfectly suited for the detailed modeling of propeller design and performance. Since the flow solver works on a surface mesh, no advanced volumetric meshing is required from the user, but volumetric effects at any point in space around the geometry can still be evaluated using our post-processing tools! FlightStream also has toolboxes to allow the user to generate performance data such as propeller or turbine Thrust and power coefficients versus advance ratios, efficiencies, flow separation regions, cavitation and more!

Learn about propeller applications in FlightStream®

control surface modeling

immersed boundary solver & APPLICATIONS

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FlightStream® has a unique and innovative piece of technology, which we call the Immersed Boundary Solver. This solver mode allows you to model control surfaces immersed inside other components, as shown in the above animation, without requiring retessellation or meshing of the model. Consequently, you can simulate control surface motion for trimming, S&C and other analysis quite readily. It also makes it possible to do rapid trade studies by swapping components while keeping the rest of the geometry fixed. It is a powerful capability that harnesses the power of potential theory to provide engineering solutions for the requirements of the engineering designer. 

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automotive applications

flightstream® as used by the automotive industry for preliminary ground vehicle design

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FlightStream® is used by the automotive engineers to design ground vehicles, especially with the ability to predict flow separation, in the preliminary design phase. FlightStream® is  extremely fast and able to solve for the external aerodynamics of ground vehicles in a matter of minutes. Use FlightStream® to also generate pressure forces around vehicle components for structural analysis. FlightStream® is also capable of time-dependent solutions to model wheel rotations, ground effects and wind tunnel walls in verification studies. FlightStream® is compatible with all commercial CAD software for geometry import, making it a versatile tool for automotive applications.

pressure loads for structural components

finite element analysis using FlightStream® as the fluid flow solver.

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FlightStream® uses its incredible speed to allow the structural analysis engineer, to evaluate fluid interaction effects on their components in a rapid manner. Use FlightStream® to generate pressure forces around the component, map load distributions and moments about user-defined coordinate systems. FlightStream allows you to map its solutions from the geometry to any structural analysis geometry input file, allowing you to integrate FlightStream® into your analysis pipeline. FlightStream® is also capable of time-dependent solutions to model structural deflections. FlightStream® is compatible with all commercial structural analysis software.

validation studies

flightstream® is extensively validated with experimental data

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Learn more about our validation studies

POST-PROCESSING & DATA ANALYSIS

THE ALL-IN-ONE AERODYNAMICS TOOLBOX

Comprehensive user interface and automated workflows
Solver-integrated graphics rendering
Integrated post-processing capabilities
Get sectional load & moment distributions for each component
Plot surface and off-body streamlines
Sectional planes show slices of the fluid flow
Point-cloud flow data extraction
Abaqus integration for structural modeling
Surface flow cross-sections 

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would you like to try flightstream®?

Get your hands on FlightStream® and see how it performs for your engineering applications
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