The next dimension

TotalSim has long been associated with the successful application of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), primarily for automotive, motorsport and other elite level sport. In fact, the company’s managing director, Dr. Rob Lewis, received an OBE in 2017 for his contribution to the performance of the British Olympic and Paralympic teams, while in motorsport the company has taken the aerodynamic design lead on projects ranging from the Bentley Continental GT3, through the beautifully sculpted lines of the Lola Aston Martin V12 LMP1 to one of the most innovative cars ever to compete at Le Mans, the Nissan DeltaWing.

Now, using its in-house modified version of OpenFOAM CFD software, TotalSim has teamed up with US father and son developers at Immersive Visualization Inc. to combine ReVED virtual reality software with post-processed CFD data to give clients a fully immersive aerodynamic experience.

Being able to view 100mph streamlines, oil flows and pressure plots under the floor of a full-size racecar while it floats above your head is a fantastic experience

ReVED is an acronym for Realtime Virtual Engineering Design, and has been developed to be compatible with all major commercially available VR headsets.

Having spent the past 10 years looking at CFD images on a flat, 27in screen, and trying to show clients what their new bumper modification does to airflow using a mixture of screenshots and screen sharing applications, it was intriguing to find out what TotalSim