If you had to guess how much a jet engine costs, what would you say?
$10,000?
$100,000?
$1 million?
The truth is that jet engines can cost significantly more than that — between $10 million and $40 million. And that price tag poses some significant challenges when it comes to testing.
You see, before a jet engine can start moving aircraft through the sky, it must pass a number of different tests. Not only does it need to be able to operate in various weather and temperature conditions and meet certain performance standards, it also needs to be able to meet requirements for withstanding an accident.
According to the FAA, aircraft collide with birds more than 17,000 times per year in the United States alone. That’s more than 40 times every day. Because these bird strikes are so likely — and potentially deadly — the government requires jet engine manufacturers to certify that their engines can withstand a bird strike and still retain enough functionality to allow the plane to make an emergency landing.
But the testing required to obtain this certification can be very costly. Every time an engine fails a test, the manufacturer is losing between $10 million and $40 million.
What manufacturers need is a way to conduct testing without ruining a bunch of jet engines.
That’s where high performance computing (HPC) comes in.
Simulated Testing with HPC
Today’s HPC systems allow jet engine manufacturers (as well as other kinds of manufacturers) to develop highly realistic models. They can then run those models through a variety of simulations to see how the engine will perform under various conditions.
Two different kinds of simulations are particularly important for this kind of testing. Finite element analysis (FEA) shows how a physical object will respond to interaction with forces, such as vibration, heat, or contact with another object. This is the type of analysis that automotive manufacturers use to see how the body of a car will deform in different kinds of collisions. And in our bird strike example, FEA can show how the collision will affect the blades and other components in the engine.
The other important kind of simulation is computational fluid dynamics (CFD). In the aerospace industry, CFD predicts the drag, lift, and other forces that will affect an airplane in various conditions. Back to the example again, CFD can show how quickly the plane will fall out of the air — and how well the pilot will be able to control it — after a bird strike.
The beauty of these kinds of simulations is that engineers can perform virtual tests over and over again in an HPC environment without the high cost of damaging a physical engine. In theory, engineers can actually get a better idea of the capabilities of their jet engines than they ever could with real-world testing.
Andrew Cusick, who works in HPC Managed Services for DXC Technology, explained “Our HPC services help sophisticated jet engine manufacturers design better products, which in turn boost consumer safety. Next-generation engines will likely require much less physical testing due to the accuracy and validity of simulation data, which is now suitable proof of performance. So much so, that today, simulation data is used for regulatory certifications.”
Managed Services for HPC
DXC Technology offers managed IT services to customers in more than 70 countries around the world. Those customers include manufacturers who make jet engines, passenger cars, and even nuclear submarines that need to be tested on HPC systems.
DXC Technology partners closely with Dell Technologies, which provides the high-performance computing infrastructure that makes the advanced simulations possible.
“HPC is like a highly tuned Formula One racecar,” explained Cusick. “DXC Technology is like the pit crew for HPC built on Dell Technologies infrastructure. We help ensure success by tailoring the architecture and providing proven, experienced support based on customer needs.”
Together, Dell and DXC enable DXC customers to accelerate engineering innovation and solve complex design and validation challenges. They help replace multi-million-dollar physical tests with HPC tests, which deliver faster results and allow more testing at much lower cost.
“The alignment of Dell Technologies and DXC Technology is transforming HPC use cases and outcomes in some of the most stringent, high-stakes industries in the world,” said Cusick. “Enabling better design of jet engines, automotive developments, and defense systems through HPC is something we take great pride in doing. Having Dell Technologies as our ally creates next-level possibilities for HPC, our customers, and people around the world.”
To learn more about the HPC partnership between Dell and DXC Technologies, read the case study or watch this video that provides more details.