Exa has won the support of a number of automotive manufacturers by modeling not only their test vehicles, but the entire wind tunnel as well. This provided the automotive engineers with a true comparison between the test and analysis results. The CFD results correlated very well.

Now that CFD analysis is viewed as a valuable analysis tool, Exa is promoting analysis early in the design process.

“It’s a real ‘What if?’ tool,” says Stephen Remondi, president, CEO, and co-founder of Exa Corp. “Since you can change your model quickly, cost effectively and have confidence in the simulation, you’re able to try out more aggressive, more creative ideas in the time available.” While it’s presently in the domain of engineers and aerodynamicists, they’re working on a digital interface for designers so that 3D models will be, in effect, “sculpted” as if they were in clay.