When the winners were announced for the 9th International Submarine Races (ISR) at the end of June, there was one seeming incongruity.

Among the well-known engineering universities from the United States, Canada, Mexico and the United Kingdom was a high school – Sussex County Technical School in Sparta, N.J. Sussex took home first prize for innovation among the 26 human-powered submarines in the competition, and third place in best overall performance.

Four major factors can be attributed to Sussex’s unusual success: a talented and motivated group of students; experience gained from the school’s previous two entries in the competition; an instructor and project manager who served as an engineering officer on a nuclear-powered submarine; and the use of advanced digital design and engineering tools, especially CFdesign upfront CFD software.

“I don’t think you are going to find too many high schools delving into computational fluid dynamics at this level,” says Chris Land, the instructor and project manager. “Our kids are gaining some real knowledge of how upfront CFD works within the design process.”

The need for CFD
Sussex realized that it had a need for CFD based on its ISR experiences in 2005 and 2003, coupled with Land’s work toward a masters degree in mechanical engineering at the Stevens Institute of Technology.

During the 2006 school year, Terry O’Connor, who peddled Sussex’s UmptySquatch II entry in the 8th annual ISR competition, began working on a senior project to redesign the sub’s propeller system and increase speed. At the same time, Land was studying fluid flow as part of his masters’ program.

“I told Terry that there must be software that can help us do CFD analysis,” says Land. “We saw an ad for CFdesign and it seemed like a good fit: It is integrated with Solid Edge, which we are using for CAD, and the software’s developer, Blue Ridge Numerics, was open to working with us.” Read full story

Simulation Images

Team Photos