Industries
Aerospace & Defense Simulation
Aerospace simulation in the cloud, from drones to airliners
SimScale runs aerospace simulation across CFD, FEA, thermal, and electromagnetic analysis in one AI-native cloud platform, so OEMs, suppliers, and air-mobility start-ups can validate aerodynamics, structures, and thermal management from a browser.
Aerospace validation is too slow, too expensive, and too hardware-dependent. SimScale moves simulation to the cloud so teams iterate faster without wind tunnels or HPC.
How SimScale benefits Aerospace & Defense
Cut wind tunnel and HPC costs from your aerospace program
Validate aerodynamic and structural design entirely in the cloud — build aerodynamic databases across hundreds of configurations in parallel.
Move validation earlier in the design cycle
Engineering AI automates meshing and setup, so design engineers can test wing, fuselage, and drone airframe concepts earlier, giving teams more design iterations before the first hardware commitment.
Scale simulation across teams, suppliers, and consortia
Browser-based access and real-time collaboration let OEM-supplier pairs and consortium partners review CFD and FEA results together, without VPN, file transfers, or time on shared workstations.
Simulation built for aerospace
All physics on one platform: CFD, FEA, thermal, EM
Validate external aerodynamics, structural integrity, avionics thermal management, and antenna integration without leaving the platform — no tool switching, no data translation, no rebuilding geometry for each physics domain.
Physics AI cuts solve times from hours to seconds
Trained on high-fidelity simulation data from prior runs, Physics AI predicts performance across new geometries in milliseconds — aerodynamic, thermal, or structural. Reserve full solver runs for final validation; iterate freely up to that point.
Cloud scale for aerodynamic database generation
Run hundreds of configuration variants in parallel — angles of attack, control surface deflections, Mach numbers, flight conditions — and feed the results directly into flight dynamics models. What used to require weeks of wind tunnel scheduling or queued HPC runs executes concurrently in the cloud.
Proven across the aerospace portfolio
From fixed-wing airliners to medical-delivery drones, SimScale covers the breadth of aerospace simulation primes, suppliers, and air-mobility innovators run every day.
External aerodynamics and aero database build-up
Run CFD simulations on fuselage, wing, BWB hull, and control-surface configurations. Build aerodynamic databases for flight-control simulation and stability analysis across angles of attack and flight conditions.
Drones, UAS, and eVTOL aerodynamics
Predict rotor performance, drag, lift, and flight stability for drones and eVTOL vehicles. Run 360° wind comfort analyses to find safe landing and take-off sites in urban environments.
Propulsion: turbomachinery, fans, and rotors
Run CFD on compressor and turbine stages, ducted fans, and rotor arrangements with MRF and sliding-mesh rotation. Generate performance maps and validate impeller geometry across pitch, chord, and blade count.
Structural integrity and landing gear FEA
Validate worst-case loading on retractable landing gear, airframe panels, and joining methods using nonlinear FEA. Catch fatigue and stress concentrations before the first prototype.
Vibration, modal analysis, and aeroelastic response
Predict natural frequencies, resonance modes, and flutter risk on wings, control surfaces, rotor blades, and actuator linkages. Identify structural dynamics issues before metal cutting.
Aerospace electronics and avionics thermal
Run conjugate heat transfer on avionics, transceiver modules, and densely packed electronics with Peltier devices, heat pipes, and forced-convection cooling.
Industry-specific case studies
Aerospace and air-mobility teams use SimScale to validate designs faster and reduce dependence on physical testing.
See all solutionsMulti-physics validation from concept to build-ready
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"It was the first time using SimScale — it essentially validated a project every time from idea to end result that it was physically possible to build."
36 wind directions assessed in a single run
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"CFD simulations are used to determine the ideal landing location for the drone near a hospital. The ability to conduct full 360° wind simulations in a single analysis significantly reduced the time required."
Hundreds of thousands saved in prototyping costs
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"We spent the last year at Outbound building a 1/8th-scale prototype of our BWB airframe. SimScale has been fundamental in allowing us to conduct aerodynamic accuracy and structural testing for our new production-ready aircraft."
Related resources
How Drone Teams Use CFD and FEA Simulation to Ship Faster
Discover how four drone teams slashed design time, cut costs, and unlocked breakthrough aerodynamic gains by moving cloud-based simulation to the start of development.
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FAQs
New to aerospace simulation or evaluating SimScale? Here are the questions we hear most.
ContactSimScale covers fixed-wing aircraft, BWB hulls, drones, eVTOL and UAS, rotors and propulsion, landing gear and structural assemblies, avionics and transceiver modules, and high-altitude compressible flow. CFD, FEA, thermal, and electromagnetics run in one project.
No. SimScale runs in the browser. There's no install, no VPN, no on-prem HPC to maintain. Outbound Aerospace validated a BWB airliner demonstrator on a $1M budget without buying wind-tunnel time or HPC hardware.
Yes, in the preliminary and conceptual design phases. Aerospace teams use SimScale to build aerodynamic databases, evaluate control-surface configurations, and reduce the number of wind-tunnel hours needed.
Yes. Aerospace work needs aero, structural, thermal, and electromagnetic coupling on the same geometry. SimScale runs these in one platform with shared meshes and a single results store, so an aero-structural BWB analysis or an avionics thermal study stays in one project.
Yes. SimScale runs at enterprise scale with SSO, role-based access, audit trails, and centralised quality control. Tecnalia onboards non-CFD engineers in one hour; Outbound Aerospace runs the full BWB aerodynamic database in the platform. Procurement, IT, and security review packs are available on request.
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