CFD Auto Market to See a CAGR of 10% Between 2017 and 2021

Shawn Wasserman posted 2017-01-17

CFD analysis for a turbocharger. (Image courtesy of ANSYS.)

A new market report from Technavio suggests that the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) automotive market will be racing past other industrial sectors. According to the report, big names like ANSYS, Dassault Systèmes, Mentor Graphics and Siemens PLM (CD-adapco) will be leading the automotive CFD pack with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10 percent between 2017 and 2021.

CFD Trends Are Catapulting the Automotive Market

The full throttle push toward using more CFD and computer-aided engineering (CAE) simulations in the automotive sector is due in large part to the pressure created by shorter development cycle times. New car designs are coming out faster than a NASCAR turns left. To keep up with the reduced lead time, engineers need to rely more on simulation and less on physical testing to take their designs across the finish line.

Another automotive trend that is growing the simulation and CFD markets is the accelerating expense of redesigns, recalls and late development error fixes. By simulating designs early, changes can be made in the infancy of a development cycle. This will save considerable amounts of time and money. In other words, CAE will help engineers reduce those pesky recalls, redesigns and nasty customer reviews. And if Volkswagen taught us anything, ignoring a design flaw and hiding it will only create more problems.

Talking about VW's ecological blunders, the reason it hit the company so hard is because the industry is shifting toward a greener market. Electric cars, hybrids and low fuel mileage are all the buzz. Audi, BMW, General Motors, Ford, Porsche, Chevrolet, Hyundai, KIA and Mitsubishi have all jumped on the environmental bandwagon.

But these technologies don't come easy. They represent months of CFD simulations reducing a vehicle's drag, and optimizing turbochargers and battery cool down. No one wants to see their Tesla or Bolt in flames.

Given the larger push in the eurozone toward green technology, it isn't surprising to see that this area was also the largest user of automotive CFD in 2016. The growth is fueled significantly by the push in these regions for stricter emissions standards leading to more CFD analysis. Additionally, the eurozone is the home to automotive powerhouses such as BMW, Rolls-Royce and Volkswagen. Needless to say, Germany and France are leading the charge.

Other trends popularizing CFD in the automotive sector include:

  • Integrated software and product lifecycle management (PLM), leading to improve development efficiency
  • Simulation In-CAD to reduce geometry modification and data transfer

CFD Vendors Are Tearing Up the Automotive Industry Track

Engine block simulation created using STAR-CD. (Image courtesy of CD-adapco.)

The report calls the CFD automotive market fragmented, so this isn't a tight race all around. It notes that leading vendors such as CD-adapco and Mentor Graphics supply fluid dynamics technology to a significant portion of the market.

In fact, some of the leading vendors even offer specific tools to this automotive space such as ANSYS' FORTE and CD-adapco's STAR-CD for engine design. This helps meet the industry's demand for simulation products that are focused on innovation, new methods and analysis to improve products within the automotive sector.

Much of the focus for automotive CFD includes electronic assemblies, multiphysics coupling with structural analysis, composites and enhanced fluid dynamics or turbulence.

The report lists the CFD leaders in the automotive industry as:

However, other CFD vendors are making a splash, including:

To learn more about the trends in the simulation space, read: Current Overview of Simulation Technology.