WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, VT — Concepts NREC announced today the successful completion of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project through the Department of the Air Force AFWERX program that advances cooling and secondary flow design capabilities across the entire Agile Engineering Design System® (AEDS).
The project resulted in a series of new modeling and analysis capabilities, with initial functionality available in the current release of AEDS and additional capabilities planned for release in November 2026.
Completed between June 2024 and March 2026, the project addressed the need to enable engineers to incorporate active cooling and secondary flow paths earlier and more accurately in the turbomachinery design process while maintaining an integrated workflow from meanline design through analysis.
Two stage radial compressor case with 4 leakage paths shown in AxCent®
"Cooling and secondary flow paths play a critical role in turbomachinery performance, yet they have often required disconnected analyses, simplified assumptions, or are ignored completely" said Melissa Seib, Senior CAE Software Product Manager at Concepts NREC. "This project allowed us to bring these capabilities directly into our CAE software, giving engineers a more connected workflow and better insight into how these flow paths influence overall machine performance."
One stage axial turbine with rotor and stator leakage paths shown in AxCent®
As part of this effort, Concepts NREC developed new capabilities that give engineers the ability to:
Create secondary flow paths using both predefined templated leakage paths and fully customizable freeform leakage paths in both meanline products and in AxCent.
Predict leakage flow more accurately using a new labyrinth seal model with support for stepped seals.
Generate 3D geometry that enables meshing and CFD analysis for secondary leakage paths.
Perform cycle analysis with purpose-built branches and components that model primary and secondary flows together using the newly developed CYCAL software module.
Connect cooling and secondary flow analysis from meanline design through 3D geometry creation, CFD analysis, and cycle analysis within the Agile Engineering Design System®, including new integrations with CYCAL and CTAADS.
Among the project's technical achievements was the development of a new labyrinth seal model that enables more accurate prediction of leakage flow in radial and axial turbomachinery. The model has been validated through a comprehensive study, the results of which were accepted for presentation at ASME Turbo Expo 2026 in Milan, Italy.
"Projects like this give us the opportunity to solve engineering problems that have implications well beyond a single software release," said Mark Anderson, Chief Technology Officer at Concepts NREC. "The research completed through this effort advances our underlying modeling technology, creating a foundation for more accurate and integrated turbomachinery analysis for years to come."
Labyrinth step seal in AxCent®
CYCALTM
About AFWERX
As the innovation arm of the DAF and a directorate within the Air Force Research Laboratory, AFWERX brings cutting-edge American ingenuity from small businesses and start-ups to address the most pressing challenges of the DAF. Headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, AFWERX employs military, civilian and contractor personnel executing an annual $1.4 billion annual budget. Since 2019, AFWERX has awarded over 10,400 contracts worth more than $7.24 billion to strengthen the U.S. defense industrial base and drive faster technology transition to operational capability. For more information, visit: http://afwerx.com.
About Concepts NREC
Concepts NREC is the only independent company in the world with end-to-end capabilities to take turbomachinery products from concept to reality. For more than 65 years, Concepts NREC has been at the forefront of turbomachinery design and innovation, providing engineering services, design software, CAM software, precision manufacturing, assembly, testing, training, and installation. Headquartered in the USA, our mission is to provide the cutting-edge turbomachinery products, tools, and solutions the world needs for a sustainable future.
About the Agile Engineering Design System
Concepts NREC’s Agile Engineering Design System® is a complementary suite of programs for Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) that covers the entire design process — from preliminary sizing through fluid dynamics and mechanical stress and vibration analysis. Final designs can be easily imported into our industry-leading CAM software, MAX-PAC™, to create efficient 5-axis machining strategies.
To learn more, visit our website at www.conceptsnrec.com.
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