PacMar Technologies develops cutting-edge solutions as a leader in the defense and maritime industries. Founded and headquartered in Hawaii, the company has a long history in naval architecture design and analysis, with offices in Rhode Island, Maine, Virginia, Michigan, and Kansas.
PacMar Technologies utilizes simulation software to transform customer concepts into sea-ready physical prototypes to support the Department of Defense and other partners. The company’s use of STAR-CCM+ allows it to increase production speed while reducing costs and the time products take to reach the market.
Designing for the ocean
PacMar Technologies faces a unique challenge in the maritime industry. Chief Executive Officer at PacMar Technologies Dan Brunk describes the complexity of operating on or below the sea surface due to factors like waves, surf zones, currents, wind, and the behavior of incompressible fluids.
To combat the rigorous ocean, PacMar Technologies designs innovative products using software tools like STAR-CCM+ to simulate how products will operate in these conditions before manufacturing.
Innovation powered by simulation
“STAR-CCM+ gives us the ability to do very high fidelity CFD simulations in a cost-effective manner,” Chief Technology Officer at PacMar Technologies Priya Hicks said. “We’ve been able to take those simulations and compare them to real-world tests that we’ve done, or model tests that we’ve done to verify the accuracy to give our engineers the confidence that this is the right simulation capability for the problems we’re trying to solve.”
This software allows PacMar Technologies to push the code to its limits and find solutions to challenges because of the variety of information provided. STAR-CCM+ allows engineers to see forces and accelerations and even provides a visual map of pressure points and drag. Additionally, this software enables engineers to animate simulations, so they can “watch what happens to a boat as it plunges into a wave,” Director, Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering at PacMar Technologies Scott Yamashita said.
Reducing time and costs with STAR-CCM+
By leveraging STAR-CCM+ for virtual product design, PacMar Technologies creates precise prototypes for its customers. These advanced simulations decrease costs by reducing the need for multiple physical prototypes before final manufacturing. Additionally, PacMar Technologies has reduced the time needed in traditional tow tanks compared to the typical maritime industry because of the accuracy of the designs.
Even with its success with STAR-CCM+, PacMar Technologies faces challenges with this software because it is constantly pushing the code to its limits. PacMar Technologies leveraged Applied CAx’s experience with STAR CCM+ code to navigate these challenges and find solutions.
“By using tools like STAR-CCM+ we’ve been able to innovate in the marine industry,” Yamashita said. “Applied CAx provides different kinds of applications and engineering tools as they’ve gotten to know our needs, which has enabled us even further.”