Case Study: NASA achieves validated, award-winning water-landing simulations and improved astronaut safety with Altair ProductDesign

Award-Winning Simulation of Water Impact Ensures a Safer Landing for NASA Astronauts

NASA faced the challenge of accurately simulating water landings for the Orion Crew Module to predict dynamic loads and protect astronauts during splashdown. Because finite element (FE) models of water impact are highly sensitive to inputs like mesh density, boundary conditions and contact interfaces, NASA engaged Altair’s ProductDesign team and its HyperWorks/HyperMesh tools to develop validated simulation methods anchored to physical test data.

Altair ProductDesign built a correlated solution by reproducing test conditions (25 ft water, 13 ft air), instrumenting virtual accelerometers to match a campaign of more than 60 physical drops, and running a 20-model mesh-sensitivity matrix. The work showed mesh density as the dominant variable and identified mesh ratios that produced very good correlation with test data; Altair’s effort earned the NESC Group Achievement Award, increased confidence in predictive simulations, and directly supported improved landing-safety system design.

NASA

Thomas K. Mattingly II

Former Lunar Astronaut and Director of Space Enterprise Systems Planning & Analysis