Case Study: SE Corp. achieves rapid NASA Vehicle Assembly Building safety analysis with SolidWorks Flow Simulation

Helping NASA evaluate safety hazards with SolidWorks Flow Simulation

SE Corp., founded by Sean Stapf, is an engineering analysis consultancy that was tasked with assessing safety hazards for NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) after a potential rocket fuel ignition. To meet the challenge of modeling large, complex multiphysics phenomena quickly and affordably, SE Corp. used SolidWorks products—specifically SolidWorks Simulation Premium and SolidWorks Flow Simulation—to perform parametric CAD-integrated CFD and structural/thermal analyses.

Using SolidWorks Flow Simulation and Simulation Premium, SE Corp. produced grid-independent CFD solutions of exhaust gas behavior and thermal radiation across multiple VAB configurations in just 24 hours, leveraging smart elements to reduce mesh size (about 200,000 elements versus millions) and shorten solution time. The SolidWorks-based results allowed NASA to identify the most hazardous bays, calculate personnel egress times and safe standoff distances, improve emergency planning, and earned SE Corp. NASA’s Space Flight Awareness Team Award.

SE Corp.

Sean Stapf

Owner/CFD Analyst