Case Study: Air Force Institute of Technology achieves full-flight qualification for an F-16 spare part in 30 days with nTopology

Air Force Institute of Technology designs F-16 clamp 2x stiffer in 30 days with nTopology

The Air Force Institute of Technology participated in a challenge from the U.S. Air Force’s Rapid Sustainment Office to redesign a critical F-16 aircraft hydraulic tube clamp. The legacy part, which suffered from failures and was costly to manufacture and store, needed a stronger, more durable design that could be rapidly deployed. nTopology was selected to help overcome these limitations of traditional manufacturing.

Using nTopology's design automation, topology optimization, and simulation capabilities, the engineering team created a new, integrated clamp design. The nTop platform enabled rapid iteration through reusable workflows and automated smoothing of the geometry. The final design, which achieved full-flight qualification in under 30 days, was twice as stiff, 5% lighter, and showed a 50% reduction in peak stresses compared to the optimization results.

Air Force Institute of Technology