Intelligent Light’s Applied Research Group

'Advancing the State of the Art in Computational Fluid Dynamics and Accelerating Customer Projects '


Dr. Earl P. N. Duque Heads Team of High Impact CFD and HPC Experts to Deliver Solutions to the Toughest Challenges in Industry and Research



Intelligent Light has expanded its reach and ability to help CFD practitioners by establishing the Applied Research Group headed by Dr. Earl P. N. Duque. The impact of the Applied Research Group is already being felt on the leading edge of CFD and will advance the state of the art in CFD for years to come. Beneficiaries of the work include Intelligent Light customers, users of the FIELDVIEW CFD post-processing software and the CFD community in general. The group’s capabilities have already been demonstrated in its collaborations and contracted efforts with a number of HPC users, and through its contributions to the academic community via research collaborations at leading universities and national research laboratories.

“Our customers have looked to us for years to provide expertise and custom development to support their individual challenges and needs. The Applied Research Group (ARG) has been formed to assist the world’s most demanding CFD practitioners in industry and research,” said Steve Legensky, General Manager at Intelligent Light. “This work will benefit Intelligent Light customers and partners who have come to expect so much from the steady, reliable development of the FIELDVIEW family of CFD post-processing products.”

“We have embraced this opportunity to contribute at the cutting edge of CFD with determination,” continues Legensky. “In the mission of the ARG our customers’ success is paramount. The structure allows us to contribute and participate in CFD in roles that deliver hands-on experience with the real problems faced in working environments. We have maintained a structural separation that ensures that FIELDVIEW development continues at full strength and is not affected by our research activities and work on custom projects. This separation is essential to delivering on our product commitments and ensuring the continued quality and reliability of FIELDVIEW products that thousands of customers worldwide depend on every day.”

Advancing the State of the Art in CFD and Speeding Implementation

The Applied Research Group is a team of CFD and computer science experts who possess the experience and deep expertise required to collaborate with leaders in CFD around the world. The extensive list of researchers available to Dr. Duque makes for quick deployment of resources to attack the most demanding short, medium or long term project. The team is available to work on a contract basis for customers and partners facing challenges that include the development of new CFD methods & techniques, and effective deployment of new features and technologies. The creation of the group allows Intelligent Light to be highly responsive to customer needs while protecting the integrity of FIELDVIEW software development.

FIELDVIEW users are already utilizing the Applied Research Group to solve cutting edge CFD problems and develop workflows that exploit capabilities existing within their organization and within FIELDVIEW products. At Solar Turbines (a subsidiary of Caterpillar), the ARG is collaborating on the development of new techniques in combustion modeling. At Proctor and Gamble, it is developing improved workflow automation tools, while at Bechtel/Bettis Atomic Laboratory, it has developed new data management tools that promise to improve engineers’ productivity. All these contract funded projects make extensive use of the FIELDVIEW product line and the expertise available through Dr. Duque's research staff of practicing CFD experts and computer scientists.

Dr. Duque and his colleagues continue to develop new computational methods and post processing techniques that lead the research fields, especially in computational aero-mechanics and aero-acoustics of vertical lift aircraft and wind turbines. A project was recently awarded a 5-year contract as part of the US Army’s Vertical Lift Rotorcraft Center of Excellence (VLRCOE) at Penn State.

Funded research continues to advance the state of the art in CFD post-processing, visualization, and data management. SBIR contracts executed with NASA and the US Army are already delivering results in product directions and technology, work that directly benefits all FIELDVIEW users.

World Class Leadership

This powerful team is lead by Earl P. N. Duque, Ph.D. He is a widely respected researcher and developer with deep expertise in exploring and addressing tough problems in CFD. He comes to Intelligent Light from academia where he was a tenured Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Northern Arizona University. Prior to his time at the university, he was a lead in the Rotorcraft CFD Applications group at the US Army Aeroflightdyamics Directorate located at Ames Research Center. During that time he was awarded the Lichten Medal from the American Helicopter Society for his pioneering CFD studies on the helicopter rotors used on the US-101 Helicopter (the United States President’s new helicopter), and the Army Superior Civilian Service Medal for his lead role in the use of CFD to study aeromechanics problems on the Apache-Longbow and Comanche Helicopters. He was one of the principle investigators on the DARPA Helicopter Quieting Program where he helped to architect revolutionary physics-based aero-acoustics/aero-elastic methods to be used to design quieter helicopters. His colleagues on that project included leading aero-mechanics and aero-acoustics experts from Georgia Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Duque continues as the leading expert on the application of CFD to the study of Wind Turbine Aeromechanics. Most recently, he has formed a funded research effort with Sandia National Laboratory, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pennsylvania State University to study the aero-acoustic behavior of new wind turbine designs. “In my 20 years in the industry, I’ve had access to ‘bleeding edge’ HPC systems. From the Cray 2 at NASA Ames’ NAS building, to my own white box systems, and to the latest systems at the DoD MSRCs, my computations rely upon HPC systems,” summarizes Dr. Duque about his experience with HPC systems.

Legensky is enthusiastic when speaking of the ARG leader. “Dr. Duque is the ideal leader for this diverse team. His rich expertise, broad network of collaborators, and extensive project management experience are helping the Applied Research Group execute high quality work that meets the needs of some of the world’s most demanding customers. His intellect and integrity serve the group well and the respect in the CFD community is the result of years of productive research and effective teamwork.”

“It is a perfect opportunity to lead an Applied Research Group that operates at the nexus of leading edge research and the practice of CFD,” said Duque. “The Intelligent Light team is truly first rate and the customers have a long history of depending on the company to deliver on its commitments. As a long time user of FIELDVIEW myself, I am pleased to be able to perform work that pushes the boundaries of CFD technology and benefits the broad community of FIELDVIEW users.”

Responding to Customers and the needs of the Global CFD community

With expert team members in the US and Europe, and with new resources coming on line in Asia-Pacific region, Intelligent Light can support customer needs for short term implementation projects as well as long term research ventures. The combined capabilities of Intelligent Light’s Product Development Team and Applied Research Group are a potent enabling force in Computational Fluid Dynamics.

About Intelligent

Light Intelligent Light, located in Rutherford, New Jersey, was founded in 1984 with a mission to provide the scientific and engineering community with the best possible tools for understanding data and communicating results. The company provides CFD post-processing and big data visualization capability, under the industry leading FIELDVIEW brand, to thousands of HPC users in the aerospace, automotive and general manufacturing industries. Their unique development team is composed of CFD experts, computer scientists, and visualization experts focused on listening to clients and delivering products that meet their needs.

FIELDVIEW and FIELDVIEW eXtreme are trademarks of Intelligent Light. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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