Rune Aero has begun using an interactive virtual wind tunnel powered by Physics AI, achieving an 80% reduction in early design costs.
Key benefits of a virtual wind tunnel for designers and engineers include:
- Faster design cycles: Rapidly analyze, optimize and perform real-time interactive design changes virtually.
- Informed decision making: Reduce future technical risk by making more confident decisions with analysis of the entire design space.
- Cost effective: Start testing earlier in the design process before committing to physical prototyping and wind tunnel testing.
The digital twin technology combines Luminary Cloud’s NVIDIA CUDA-X-accelerated CFD simulations with an NVIDIA Omniverse Blueprint for real time computer-aided engineering digital twins. Engineers can observe aerodynamic effects instantly as they modify designs, compressing what once required months of iterative physical testing into a continuous, real-time optimization process.
Rune Aero’s adoption of Physics AI and the virtual wind tunnel shows how aerospace design engineers can quickly analyze many aircraft design prototypes, iterate designs and visualize the impact in real time. The results included a reduction in operating costs, doubled payload capacity and 50% lower fuel consumption.
“AI Physics models are essential for real-time interactive engineering analysis and design but require tremendous amounts of data,” said Tim Costa, senior director CAE EDA and Quantum at NVIDIA.
"It is exciting to work with aerospace companies like Rune Aero that are willing to adopt new design optimization techniques. By quickly running a large database of simulations and creating Physics AI models, Rune Aero engineers can arrive at a feasible design faster to solve important regional air transportation problems," said Juan J. Alonso, CTO and co-founder of Luminary Cloud.
“At the early stages of aircraft development, getting fast, accurate and cost-effective design feedback is essential. Luminary’s virtual wind tunnel allows Rune Aero to test configurations earlier in the process, reducing our early development costs by over 80% compared to traditional wind tunnels and enabling faster, smarter design decisions,” said Nadine Auda, co-founder of Rune Aero.
Auda continued, “Rune's optimized aircraft configuration resulting from these tests improves aerodynamic lift-to-drag ratio, combined with advanced propulsion, this doubles payload and range while cutting fuel burn by 50%, ultimately lowering operating costs for our customers."
