Beyond Aero Accelerates Aerodynamic Design for Next-Generation Aircraft

The Computational Cost of Aerodynamic Optimisation at Scale

Beyond Aero, based in the aerospace hub of Toulouse, France, is developing next-generation aircraft powered by hydrogen-electric propulsion - delivering zero-emission aviation without compromising performance. Optimising aerodynamic performance requires balancing lift (CL) and drag (CD) across a wide range of operating conditions, directly impacting range, energy consumption, payload capacity, and overall system efficiency.

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Achieving this through high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) creates a severe bottleneck. Simulations cost between $200 and $10,000 per run and require hours of engineering setup. Across a full development program often exceeding 50,000 simulation cycles, this is prohibitively expensive and slow. Engineering teams are forced to limit the design iterations they evaluate - constraining the broad exploration that finds truly optimal configurations.

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ROM-Based Modeling on Structured CFD Data - Millions Saved Per Program

Beyond Aero used Key Ward to shift from simulation-heavy development to a data-driven aerodynamic modeling approach. Using existing CFD data, the team trained a reduced order model (ROM) capable of predicting key aerodynamic metrics - lift (CL) and drag (CD) - from structured simulation data. This model was integrated directly into the design and optimisation process, enabling engineers to evaluate performance instantly rather than running full CFD for every iteration. Key Ward structured and operationalised the simulation data, allowing models to be trained in minutes and reused across workflows.

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Engineers explore the design space with the ROM, identify high-impact regions, then apply high-fidelity CFD selectively where accuracy matters most. Results: thousands of dollars saved per design iteration, resulting in multi-million-dollar savings per program, and hundreds of engineering hours saved per iteration by eliminating repetitive simulation setup. Real-time aerodynamic performance evaluation enabled faster iteration throughout the program.

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What the Full Case Study Documents

The full case study documents the ROM training and validation approach with visualisations showing ROM-predicted pressure fields compared directly to physics-based solver results, the measured cost per simulation run before and after, the design space coverage achieved within the same compute budget, and the hybrid workflow logic. If your aerospace engineering program is constrained by CFD cost or turnaround time, the methodology documented here is directly applicable.