Pratt & Whitney selects ANSYS as standard FEA tool

Citation

(2000), "Pratt & Whitney selects ANSYS as standard FEA tool", Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, Vol. 72 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/aeat.2000.12772cab.012

Pratt & Whitney selects ANSYS as standard FEA tool

Keywords Pratt & Whitney, ANSYS, CAE, Software

ANSYS, a provider of advanced computer-aided engineering (CAE) software solutions, reports that Pratt & Whitney has standardized on ANSYS software to help reduce analysis cycle times and advance analysis techniques.

It is reported that one of the reasons they chose ANSYS was because of its abilities in coupled-field analysis. Pratt & Whitney currently utilizes over 100 seats of ANSYS software and has steadily been growing that number over the past few years.

"The savings to P&W are very significant when one considers that an analysis can occupy an engineer's time for three weeks to six months and there are approximately 150-200 of these analyses ongoing at any point in time", said David Rootes, manager. Structures process and integration system design and component integration, Pratt & Whitney. "By optimizing our finite element analysis (FEA) tools using ANSYS thermal and stress analysis, the savings can also be realized in reduced product design cycle times allowing for the refocusing of those resources on productivity or quality enhancements."

Today, Pratt & Whitney engines power more than half of the world's commercial fleet. Every few seconds - more than 20,000 times a day - a Pratt & Whitney-powered airliner takes flight somewhere in the world. Elements of the standardization initiative include working with ANSYS as a primary tool for all engineering simulation. A key part of this effort includes the consolidation and "phase out" of other analysis tools currently in use at P&W to provide a smoother and more efficient development environment. Some of the ANSYS benefits that interested P&W included reduced thermal analysis computation times, reduced pre/post processing times, and parallel/ distributed processing.

According to Jim Cashman, president and chief executive officer, ANSYS, Inc., "We have a unique relationship and close alliance with Pratt & Whitney. Our goal is to provide our users with the tools they need to innovate their products and processes. We are excited that ANSYS, Inc. is the endorsed FEA vendor and look forward to providing improvements in engineering productivity and helping P&W become best in class."

"The ultimate design analysis system is one which can deliver answers in days, not weeks and months. This is the goal we are striving for and we are confident that ANSYS will get us there", Rootes added.