Airbus forms new collaboration to improve aircraft designs

Airbus has partnered with German and French aerospace research centres DLR and ONERA respectively, to develop improved, next-generation aircraft aerodynamic designs using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) modelling.

CFD employs mathematics, physics and computational software to help design aerodynamically improved aircraft.

A computer-based technique, CFD modelling helps to accurately predict the flow of fluids such as gases and liquids in motion and is expected to allow aircraft engineer to understand the precise flow of air and interact with every part of an aircraft.

According to Airbus, it takes substantial time, computational power and cost to develop improved modelling using CFD.

The company seeks to overcome these barriers with the latest partnership.

Airbus flight physics senior manager Klaus Becker said: “We thought we could go faster and achieve more if we collaborated.

“This partnership plays an important role in securing our long-term development projects.”

In addition, the newly formed partnership intends to simulate new aerodynamic situations that have not been covered by existing CFD software.

The partnership will be benefit from DLR’s experience in designing CFD software for aircraft and spacecraft applications.

Earlier this month, Airbus signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with National Development and Reform Commission of China (NDRC) to further strengthen industrial cooperation in the areas of technical innovation, engineering capabilities and supply chain expansion.