Aerodynamic simulation on the machine you already have
Design-stage aerodynamics does not need a cluster. It needs a fast answer on the designer's own desk, and Apple Silicon is fast enough for that.
- 1.
The gap
Full CFD packages are built for certification runs: a licence, a queue, a cluster and someone whose job is the solver. That is the right tool for the last run before a design freezes.
It is the wrong tool for the first twenty runs. A designer comparing three variants of a fairing needs a result in minutes, in a tool they can open themselves, or the comparison never happens and the shape gets chosen by argument instead.
- 2.
What is under the hood
DragAero is a native macOS application: SwiftUI and a Metal viewport on top, with a native Apple Silicon build of the open-source SU2 solver and gmsh meshing underneath. Nothing is uploaded and nothing is queued. The geometry stays on the machine.
- Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes, Spalart-Allmaras or SST turbulence
- Incompressible and compressible runs
- Pressure map, streamlines and a live read on lift, drag and residuals
- macOS 14 or later, Apple Silicon
- 3.
Three steps to a run
Open an STL file, set the speed and the angle of attack, and run. The mesh is generated for you. The numbers move while the solver works, so a run that is going nowhere can be stopped in the first minute rather than the twentieth.
- 4.
Where it fits, and where it does not
It fits early comparison and sanity checks: which of these shapes is better, and is this number roughly where I expected. When a variant is chosen, the geometry goes on to a validated solver or a wind tunnel, with the obvious mistakes already removed.
It is not a certification tool and we do not present it as one.
Questions
- Does it need a cluster or an internet connection to solve?
- No. The solver runs on the Mac itself. The geometry is never uploaded.
- Which machines does it run on?
- macOS 14 or later on Apple Silicon. There is no Intel build.
- What does it cost?
- It is free during the beta. Request a key by e-mail and use it until the paid release, when beta keys expire.
- Can I trust the numbers for a certification submission?
- No. Treat it as a design-stage comparison tool. Take the chosen variant to a validated solver or a wind tunnel for anything that has to be signed.