Airbus Commercial selects Altair SimSolid in ZEROe sustainable aircraft initiative

Altair, a global leader in computational science and artificial intelligence (AI), announced that Airbus Commercial has selected Altair SimSolid – the game-changing simulation technology that performs structural analyses on fully featured CAD assemblies within minutes – in its ZEROe global initiative, which aims to create the world's first zero-emission commercial aircraft.

“Altair SimSolid is the premier simulation technology for engineers, designers, analysts, and manufacturers. It eliminates geometry preparation and meshing, which are the two most time-consuming, expertise-extensive, and error-prone tasks in conventional structural simulations,” said Sam Mahalingam, chief technology officer, Altair. “Airbus choosing Altair SimSolid further solidifies Altair as a leader in worldwide sustainability initiatives and continues the two companies' long and fruitful history of successful collaboration.”

Altair SimSolid will save Airbus' design and engineering teams time, money, and hassle. Altair SimSolid was selected because it has shown that it will reduce elementary part analysis delivery times from days to minutes, and cuts complex assembly delivery times from several months to less than one week in some cases. Additionally, Altair SimSolid's intuitive, easy-to-implement operations and interface lets users work without needing to clean geometry or prepare models beforehand. Altair SimSolid also allows Airbus's design and engineering teams to explore more design iterations in shorter timeframes, which will expedite project timelines and deliver sustainable innovations quicker.

“By using Altair SimSolid, our teams can explore more design possibilities in a simple, easy-to-implement environment,” said Christophe Brand, head of airframe methods and tools, Airbus Commercial. “By not requiring our teams to clean geometries beforehand, Altair SimSolid helps us significantly reduce delivery times and build better products. With it, we look forward to building the future of zero-emission aircraft technology.”

The ZEROe project aims to create the world's first hydrogen propulsion-powered commercial airline fleet and enables Airbus to explore a variety of configurations and hydrogen technologies that will shape the development of future zero-emission aircraft. Airbus is working towards a mature technology readiness level for a hydrogen-combustion propulsion system by 2025.