nTop acquires cloudfluid and integrates fast CFD simulation into computational design

The US software company nTop has acquired the German computational fluid dynamics (CFD) specialist cloudfluid. The integration of cloudfluid’s GPU-based CFD technology into nTop’s computational design platform is intended to accelerate the development of high-performance products. Especially in areas such as aerospace, turbomachinery and defence, the combination of optimized flow simulation and generative design promises new possibilities for product development.

Traditional CFD simulation is a computationally intensive process that requires complex mesh generation and involves long computing times. This often makes iterative design processes, where quick adjustments need to be made, impractical. Cloudfluid has developed a GPU-native solver technology that does not require conformal meshes, enabling more accurate flow analysis in less time. By integrating directly with nTop’s implicit geometry kernel, engineers can now simulate fluid flows faster and significantly shorten optimization cycles.

“We are hyper-focused on building software that helps engineers go from requirements to design as fast as the latest computing processors allow—that’s the power of computational design,” said Brad Rothenberg, CEO of nTop. “One of the biggest bottlenecks has always been solving the physics—it takes time to mesh and converge on a solution. cloudfluid solves this by integrating directly with our implicit modeling core, bringing CFD into the iterative computational design loop. With the acquisition of cloudfluid, we’re not only expanding our capabilities in CFD—we’re also strengthening our internal expertise to accelerate future integrations with other best-in-class tools.”

The extended platform of nTop opens up new possibilities in the development of flow-optimized components. Especially in the aerospace industry, where aerodynamic efficiency is crucial, the faster design process could drive the development of innovative engine components, thermal management systems and aerodynamic surfaces. In addition, the generation of high-quality simulation data provides a better basis for machine learning in digital twins and design optimization.

At the Computational Design Summit in Los Angeles in June, nTop will provide further insights into the integration of cloudfluid and show how computational design and accelerated flow simulation are transforming product development.