Case Study: SEDS UCSD speeds up rocket engine design with Nimbix

Nimbix helps Students for the Exploration and Development of Space at UCSD speed up the rocket engine design process

SEDS UCSD, the UC San Diego chapter of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, needed a better way to run complex rocket engine simulations without relying on limited campus computing resources. Using Nimbix, along with ANSYS tools, the team tackled CFD and design challenges for its Ignus II liquid bipropellant rocket engine and needed a faster, more reliable way to evaluate pressures, flow rates, and cooling-channel performance.

With Nimbix, SEDS UCSD ran high-fidelity ANSYS Fluent simulations on virtual desktops with the computing power they needed, while also using Blender for renderings of the Colossus engine test stand. Nimbix helped the team shorten turnaround times from days to rapid simulation cycles, improve confidence in their designs, and reach an optimized engine that performed as expected on its first iteration and successful hotfire.

SEDS UCSD