Altair Buys Research in Flight, A CFD Specialist

Altair has acquired Research in Flight, maker of FlightStream, which provides computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software with a footprint in the aerospace and defense sector and a growing presence in marine, energy, turbomachinery, and automotive applications, Altair reports.

FlightStream is a user-friendly flow solver that bridges the gap between high-fidelity CFD simulations and the needs of engineers and designers. Its fast computational speeds and low hardware footprint, coupled with a streamlined user interface and aerodynamic solver, make it a purposeful tool for early-stage rapid design iterations and in-depth aerodynamic studies for aerospace and defence applications and beyond, Altair reports. FlightStream can capture subsonic to supersonic flows, including compressible effects and a surface vorticity capability. It leverages the strengths of panel method flow solvers and enhances them with modern computational techniques.

“Our growth in the aerospace, defence, and surrounding industries has accelerated in recent years through our best-in-class computational intelligence solutions,” says James Scapa, founder and chief executive officer, Altair. “The integration of FlightStream into our portfolio will enhance our offering with its specialised, modern, and efficient approach to meet the increasingly complex customer demands in these industries, including the urban air mobility and eVTOL sectors.”

FlightStream allows for the rapid analysis of unconventional aircraft using a unique surface vorticity, flow-separation, and viscous analysis capability for both powered and unpowered configurations. It is augmented with integral boundary layer modelling, enabling users to capture viscous effects with a level of detail that is uncommon in traditional panel method applications. This integration facilitates a more comprehensive analysis of aerodynamic performance, providing insights that are crucial for design optimization.

“We are proud to be a standard tool in the aircraft designer’s toolbox,” says Vivek Ahuja, co-founder, Research in Flight. “Joining Altair will allow us to scale and reach countless engineers seeking best-in-class, powerful, and specialised tools for faster design iterations.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.