ANSYS announced today that it has acquired the assets of Newmerical Technologies International (NTI), a premier developer of in-flight icing simulation software and associated design, testing and certification services. Terms of the deal, which closed earlier this week, were not disclosed.
Montreal-based NTI develops and markets advanced computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software and offers flow simulation services in the aerospace, architectural, automotive and marine industries. NTI's suite of state-of-the-art, specialized software can solve problems in aerodynamics, in-flight icing, heat transfer, fluid-structure interaction and wind engineering.
In-flight icing is a safety-critical aspect of aircraft design, yet is a highly complex physical phenomenon that is extremely difficult to replicate using expensive physical tests. In late 2014, the Federal Aviation Administration introduced new rules for icing standards with particular focus on the icing environments known as supercooled liquid drops (SLD) and ice crystals at high altitudes. This has impacted aircraft original equipment manufacturers, engine manufacturers and systems suppliers as they move through the aircraft certification process. Capturing aircraft icing using simulation requires highly accurate CFD and industry-proven methods and expertise for icing phenomena.
"With its SLD-ready, industry-leading FENSAP-ICE system of icing simulation tools, NTI's assets are an exciting addition to the ANSYS portfolio," said Jim Cashman, ANSYS president and CEO. "When combined with ANSYS' advanced CFD solutions, we can offer a simulation-driven solution for aircraft icing that is unmatched in the industry. This further demonstrates the ANSYS commitment to help organizations overcome aircraft certification challenges – and, more broadly, to validate complete virtual prototypes."
"With ever-increasing regulations, it is a challenging time for the aerospace industry," said Wagdi Habashi, NTI's founder. "NTI has always been extremely attentive to the needs of our clients. We believe that adding our specialty icing technology to the broad ANSYS offering will provide customers with unique, state-of-the-art technology to deal with the most complicated design challenges."
