Xavier High School wins Real World Design Challenge (RWDC) National Aviation Design Competition using Mentor Graphics FloEFD technology

WILSONVILLE, USA: Mentor Graphics Corp. announced that its FloEFD computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software product was used by all state finalists in the Third Annual Real World Design Challenge (RWDC), a national aviation design competition that was held on April 16, 2011.

The 2011 RWDC National Champion is the Xavier High School Falcons team from Middletown, CT who received their first place award at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. President Obama sent a congratulatory letter to praise all of the students who participated in this year’s Challenge.

Over 3,000 high school students from across the country were given the opportunity to work on a real-world engineering challenge in a collaborative, team-based environment this year, using lessons from the classroom applied to the technical challenges faced in today’s workplace. The challenge problem, designing the next-generation airplane wing, was developed by a team of professional engineers from NASA, Cessna Aircraft Company, the FAA, and the Aerospace States Association (ASA), to evaluate how students would address the design challenges engineers face each day.

A public and private partnership, the RWDC provides tools and resources to the schools to support Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education. The Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division (MAD) donated its leading FloEFD computational fluid dynamics software to all participating schools. The aeronautical challenge required the teams to apply the software (donated by NASA, Cessna, PTC and Mentor, and others) and develop a paper on their findings, then present to a panel of expert judges. The judges then selected the finalists and winning teams.

The winning team from Xavier High School was coached by Michael Humphreys, Xavier mathematics and science teacher, and State Coordinator Christine Gemelli. The student team members are: Chris Muckle `12; Mike Leon `11; Miraj Rahematpura `12; Mario Chris `13; Giovanni Sabato `12; Andrew Moeller `12; and John Voelker `12. A team from Washington state received the second place award, followed by a team from Kansas.

“The Real World Design Challenge is a shining example of ways schools, government and industry can ensure America continues to lead in aerospace,” said Lieutenant Governor Mead Treadwell of Alaska, chair of the Aerospace States Association. “Through the Challenge, my fellow governors and lieutenant governors and I have been able to bring tremendous resources and expertise from industry to schools across the country at no cost to the students and schools.”

“We are proud of these students for participating in the RWDC since they will help shape the future of aerospace engineering,” stated Erich Buergel, general manager of the Mentor Graphics Mechanical Analysis Division. “Using Mentor’s FloEFD CAD-embedded computational fluid dynamics software for the design challenge, the students effectively demonstrated the product’s ease-of-use, accuracy, and high-performance benefits for aerodynamic analysis.”