NASA Releases Powerful LAVA Software to US Aerospace Industry
For years, NASA engineers have turned to a tool called the Launch, Ascent, and Vehicle Aerodynamics (LAVA) framework to address airflow issues that could mean the difference between a mission’s success or failure. When engineers need to know how a spacecraft will re-enter or whether a new airplane wing design will create enough lift, they turn to LAVA.
NASA recently released this tool for the aerospace community.
LAVA is a computational fluid dynamics software package developed by NASA to advance critical aerospace missions, leveraging the agency’s collective expertise. It can predict how air moves around rockets, planes and spacecraft with astonishing accuracy.
The same computational tools that simulate Mars landers, predict launch environments, and optimize aircraft efficiency are now available to American researchers, businesses, and innovators.
“It’s not just about releasing software, it’s also about accelerating innovation,” said Jared Duensing, LAVA team leader at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. “When university researchers can run more complex simulations and when small businesses can optimize their designs with NASA-level precision, we’re not just sharing tools, we’re unlocking their potential. »
Big questions, quick answers
NASA has used computer tools for years to predict how air will move around new planes or simulate the thunderous acoustic environment of a rocket launch.
Imagine watching your favorite show on a slow flip phone rather than loading it over a super-fast network in crystal clear 4K high definition. This is the kind of transformation that LAVA brings to aerospace simulations. Complex problems that once took days or weeks now take place in hours.
LAVA software is also compatible with computer hardware using specialized microprocessors called graphics processing units (GPUs), which can perform many tasks at the same time and reduce power consumption compared to systems using traditional, more general-purpose central processing units. For traditionally expensive simulation methods needed for NASA’s most complex aerospace applications, LAVA has produced remarkable efficiency on NASA’s flagship GPU-based supercomputer, Cabeus.
But the real breakthrough lies in how LAVA pulls off a seemingly impossible routine. Aerospace engineers rely on “scale-resolved simulations” to capture high-fidelity renderings of phenomena that can have profound effects on missions, including pressure waves, turbulent vortices and acoustic signatures. In the past, this required a lot of resources and time. Now, LAVA operates them with modest computing resources, making them readily available and easy to produce, even for novice users.
At NASA, engineers put these capabilities into action to facilitate the launch and landing of spacecraft on the Moon and Mars while driving innovation for next-generation aircraft. When NASA needed to understand the deployment of supersonic parachutes for missions to Mars – something that cannot easily be tested in Earth’s atmosphere – LAVA provided critical information.
When engineers needed to predict the impact of ice formations on aircraft performance, LAVA provided answers on critical conditions for flight safety.
To help astronauts safely launch Artemis missions, LAVA simulated the launch of Artemis I, allowing engineers to understand the Space Launch System flight environment in detail. The release of the software means that the industry will be able to harness these same capabilities, and potentially apply them to everything from large supersonic airliners to small delivery drones and air taxis.
Three approaches, one framework
Most computational fluid dynamics software requires engineers to choose one approach, like being handed a hammer when you need a full toolbox. The LAVA framework provides three options for generating meshes, or grids of connected points, used to predict the behavior of fluids (including air) in a simulation.
This allows users to switch between meshes based on a specific problem or use multiple mesh types to compare predictions. They can also use LAVA with other analysis and optimization tools to improve designs.
Among many other NASA programs and projects, work on LAVA was supported by NASA’s Transformational Tools and Technologies project, which aims to develop new computational tools to help predict aircraft performance. The project is part of NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts program, under its Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate.
Ready to dive deeper into LAVA? Visit the NASA Software Catalog to access information and learn more about the tool’s calculation capabilities thanks to this seminar on LAVA.
