External flows, drag and heat transfer at speed.
From automotive and motorsport to aerospace and flight-related flows, aerodynamic performance decides fuel burn, stability and homologation outcomes. Our portfolio covers external flows and the heat transfer that comes with them.
1 · Sector needs with respect to CFD
Aerodynamic development is iteration-limited: tunnel time and prototypes are scarce, so the sector needs simulation that resolves separated, unsteady flow accurately enough to rank design candidates before anything is built.
| REQUIREMENT | WHAT IT DEMANDS OF THE SIMULATION |
|---|---|
| Drag and lift accuracy | Force and moment coefficients resolved consistently enough that small deltas between design candidates are trustworthy, not numerical noise. |
| Unsteady separation | Wake structures, vortex shedding and separation onset need scale-resolving turbulence treatment (DES/LES) rather than steady RANS alone. |
| Thermal coupling | Brake, powertrain and battery cooling depend on conjugate heat transfer through ducts, exchangers and porous media. |
| Ground and rotation effects | Moving ground planes, rotating wheels and propellers must be modelled to reproduce on-road or in-flight conditions. |
| Tunnel correlation | Blockage, support interference and boundary-layer differences must be reconciled so simulation and experiment can be compared honestly. |
2 · Typical representative cases
Full-vehicle drag and lift breakdown with moving ground and rotating wheels, isolating the contribution of each body region to the overall balance.
Wing, diffuser and floor optimisation across ride heights and yaw angles, including sensitivity to regulatory box constraints.
Coupled internal-external study of radiator, condenser and brake cooling flows, resolving exchanger pressure drop and component temperatures.
Polar generation across Reynolds and Mach ranges, including stall onset, transition sensitivity and high-lift device behaviour.
Interaction between fuselage, nacelles, rotors and external stores, including installed thrust and interference drag.
Scale-resolving simulation to locate dominant noise sources and rank mitigation options before physical prototyping.
3 · Policy and standards verifiable through CFD
Simulation supports — and in several frameworks explicitly permits — demonstration of compliance. Acceptance criteria and validation evidence are agreed with you and the approving body before the study begins.
| FRAMEWORK | HOW CFD SUPPORTS VERIFICATION |
|---|---|
| EU 2017/1151 (WLTP) | Road-load and CO₂ determination. Aerodynamic drag is a direct input to road-load and emissions figures; CFD supports coastdown and wind-tunnel correlation and pre-screens configuration variants before the certification campaign. |
| UN ECE R51.03 | Vehicle noise limits. Aeroacoustic simulation identifies flow-generated noise sources and quantifies the effect of mitigation, complementing pass-by measurement. |
| CS-25 / FAR 25 | Large aeroplane airworthiness. Performance and handling substantiation is increasingly supported by validated CFD alongside flight and tunnel test, subject to agreed validation evidence with the authority. |
| FIA technical regulations | Bodywork and aero legality. Simulation verifies that aerodynamic devices remain inside the legality boxes and deflection limits while performance is optimised. |
A complete outsourcing solution: an engineering description of your problem, the geometry or area to analyse and the operating flow conditions are enough to start. All work is carried out by CompFlow personnel at company premises under strict bidirectional non-disclosure agreements, on in-house computing facilities including a 120-core cluster.
Engagement is project-based (predefined deliverables and deadlines) or yearly (a set number of consultancy hours). Related services: CFD Consulting · Code Development · Flow Measurements · 3D Design & Scan · CFD Training · CFD Support.