The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is teaming with the Meraka Institute's Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) to develop indigenous computational fluid dynamics software.
Dr Arnaud Malan, the CSIR's principal researcher and project leader for aeronautics systems research, says SA currently pays enormous amounts to companies abroad for CFD software and this "project will allow us to develop our own".
"We have to have the conviction that we can compete and become international players in various exciting fields and that we don't have to follow others who simply buy what is needed from abroad." He adds that by doing that "we are enriching other economies and impoverishing ourselves economically and intellectually".
Malan says the software will be put to local use and will form part of a high-performance tools set that will enable the design of complex engineering devices varying from missiles, aircraft and pebble-bed modulator reactors to biomedical applications.
"This will allow SA to become an international player in a fast-growing engineering field and a trendsetter with our own locally-developed expertise," says Malan.
Malan says the CSIR is already a national leader in CFD and computational mechanics in addition to being a recognised international player.
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