Airflow through several components of a jet engine is simulated on a cluster of IBM RISC 6000 

 workstations. 



large amount of computing time to recalculate 

 how changes in one part of the design affect the 

 rest of the structure. Langley scientists have 

 developed a method to streamline this part of the 

 overall process and reduce the amount of com- 

 puting time needed for each iteration. 



Researchers at NASA Lewis Research Center 

 are developing a prototype Numerical 

 Propulsion System Simulator (NPSS) that will 

 allow dynamic numerical and visual simulation 

 of engine components. The prototype is intend- 



ed to simplify the process of dynamically con- 

 necting engine component software across vari- 

 ous machine architectures. This will allow 

 industry to design, engineer, and fabricate 

 tomorrow's propulsion systems. This multidisci- 

 plinary research, coupled with the improved per- 

 formance offered by massively parallel comput- 

 ers, will greatly enhance the ability of aircraft 

 manufacturers to analyze different design 

 options rapidly and then efficiently produce 

 vehicle propulsion systems with optimal perfor- 

 mance and reduced design cycle costs. 



128 



