GoCart®

Aircraft aerodynamics analysis and design

GoCart tutorials & related documentation

GoCart is a CFD aerodynamics analysis tool powered by NASA’s Cart3D. The GUI provides a seamless interface to Cart3D’s command line executables. GoCart is designed to the needs of the engineer and maximizes Cart3D’s automation and computational power for ease-of-use when simulating high-speed flow. GoCart also quickly analyzes aircraft concepts at various flight conditions and quickly displays those results to reveal performance characteristics and profiles. Even experienced users of Cart3D find that GoCart makes analyzing aircraft concepts easier and faster.

What’s included in GoCart Software? A lot!

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  • GUI interface for CART3D workflow, from geometry input to mesh preparation then to the Euler flow solution and finally to post-processing.
  • Supplementary access to the underlying command-line version of Cart3D through the command prompt or terminal interface with pre-configured environment variables for effortless launch.
  • Improved geometry handling and input options, including:
    • Native .tri files from sources like Vehicle Sketch Pad (OpenVSP).
    • RAGE input files.
    • CAD integration using STEP and STL files.
  • Geometry modification on component-by-component basis for parametric analyses like control surface deflection effects.
  • Geometry diagnostics and repair capabilities to ensure efficient workflow.
  • Mesh generation visualization tools to rapidly view changes to computational mesh.
  • Simplified boundary condition workflow to enable flow field analysis in the presence of aircraft engines – with or without inlets.
  • Flow simulation options such as target Cl matching, angle of attack or Mach number sweeps, or simple stability derivative generation to perform a variety of aerodynamic analyses.
  • Post processing options including a flow solution viewer to visualize surface contours and cut planes. There are force and moment calculations integrated directly inside GoCart for quick investigation of simulation results.
  • Native generation of solution files for import into Tecplot 360 and Tecplot Chorus.

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GoCart tutorials & related documentation

Release Notes

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Our most recent version of GoCart is v1.0.4 (03/28/2014).

For a copy of the most recent release notes, click here.

What's New in V1.0.4

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  • Embedded contextual help menus in each panel. Click on the “?” icon to bring up.
  • User can launch Tecplot from post-processing menu and load cut planes from post-processor. Available on Mac, Windows, and Linux.
  • Bug fixes for usability. RAGE launches on all platforms.

Known Issues

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  • Mac OSX version requires X11 to be installed to utilize STEP geometry importer.
  • Installation issues have been experienced for windows 7 operating systems installed from certain OS images downloaded online.

Supported Platforms

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  • Windows 7 (64-bit)
  • Mac OSX 10.6 and later (64-bit)
  • Linux CentOS 6, Ubuntu 12, and openSUSE 11/12

Minimum System Requirements:

2 GB RAM