WARR Rocketry How WARR Rocketry Simulations Took Off with NVIDIA Hardware
Results That Move Rockets
About the client
HPC Meets Rocketry
AMBER and WARR: Transforming aerospace simulations with high-performance computing
WARR (Scientific Workgroup for Rocketry and Spaceflight) is the student aerospace team at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). The team develops cutting-edge rocketry, satellite, and space robotics projects and has achieved multiple international competition wins, including top placements at the European Rocketry Challenge in 2023 and 2024. These successes have made WARR one of Europe’s most accomplished student aerospace groups.
To keep pushing the boundaries of student-led space engineering, WARR needed simulation infrastructure that could keep pace with increasingly complex rockets and ambitious flight profiles.
Challenges
Why WARR Needed On-Prem HPC
Understanding the roadblocks to faster, more accurate rocket design
Insufficient Compute Power
WARR’s complex CFD and FEA simulations routinely pushed their existing hardware beyond its limits. Engineers often had to simplify geometries or fall back to external university clusters, introducing long queue times and limiting access. In-house, they were restricted to partial models – such as simulating only one-eighth of a rocket cross-section – which capped the quality of insight they could gain from each run.
Prohibitive Simulation Times
On personal workstations, a single cooling-channel flow simulation could run for more than 7 hours and still risk crashing due to insufficient memory. Long runtimes turned every design decision into a bottleneck; engineers either waited overnight for results or avoided running the simulations they really wanted to see.
Limited Fidelity and Accuracy
Because of memory and compute limits, WARR relied on coarse meshes and symmetry assumptions, missing critical non-symmetric effects around fins and control surfaces. Key aerodynamic properties such as drag and pressure drop often had to be estimated from handbook curves instead of computed directly, reducing confidence in design data.
Hindered Design Iteration
Slow, fragile simulations meant that analysis followed design instead of guiding it. Only major design steps justified a full simulation, and testing multiple variants wasn’t realistic. This delayed feedback loop slowed innovation and limited opportunities to optimize structures, cooling channels, and overall vehicle performance.
Built for full-geometry CFD and FEA, faster runtimes, robust workflows, and room to grow
AMBER`s Solution
Powering WARR Rocketry with a Turnkey HPC Stack
Built for full-geometry CFD and FEA, faster runtimes, robust workflows, and room to grow
To remove the bottlenecks, AMBER delivered a turnkey on-premises GPU server tailored to WARR’s simulation workloads. The dedicated system is equipped with NVIDIA A40 GPUs (48 GB per GPU), high-core-count CPUs, generous system RAM, and fast SSD storage to accelerate both pre- and post-processing.
Integrated into the university network but reserved for WARR, the new server provides queue-free access for the team while keeping project data under their control. The system is designed to scale as WARR’s needs grow, allowing more GPUs or additional nodes to be added later.
AMBER also delivered the surrounding software environment and operational know-how: job templates, tuned scripts, and remote access workflows that make it easy for students to submit, monitor, and analyze simulations from their own machines. Continuous monitoring, updates, and expert support ensure the cluster remains reliable and performant over time.
With this foundation in place, WARR can now run full-geometry, high-resolution rocket simulations in-house – transforming CFD and FEA from occasional validation tools into everyday design instruments.
Reasons for the NVIDIA A40
- GPU memory headroom
- Multi-GPU throughput
- CFD/FEA optimized
- Local data control
- Queue-free capacity
- Remote, multi-user access
- Built to scale
- Enterprise-grade reliability
Benefits
From Estimates to Evidence
Full-fidelity simulations and faster iteration for lighter, more reliable rockets.
Accelerated
Iteration
With the new GPU server, a CFD cooling-channel simulation that previously took more than 7 hours on a workstation now completes in roughly 20–22 minutes: about 19× faster. This shift allows engineers to test multiple design variants in a single afternoon and move from overnight batch jobs to same-day decision-making.
Full-Geometry
Fidelity
Instead of slicing rockets into symmetric segments, WARR now runs full-geometry models with up to ~45 million cells. High-fidelity simulations capture shocks, fin-body interactions, and complex turbulence across the entire vehicle, providing a far more realistic picture of aerodynamic loads and cooling behavior.
Queue-Free
Control
Because the A40 server is dedicated to WARR, the team owns its own schedule. Jobs start when needed, without competition from other departments or external clusters, which keeps development cycles predictable and supports continuous learning.
Lighter Parts,
Higher Efficiency
Accurate load and pressure data allow WARR to design leaner structures and optimize cooling and propulsion systems. Engineers can remove unnecessary safety margins, reduce weight, and improve overall efficiency while maintaining confidence in structural integrity.
Reliable
Flight Predictions
Transonic and supersonic behavior can now be modeled at the required resolution, tightening drag and stability estimates and improving apogee predictions. Mission planning becomes more precise, reducing uncertainty in performance envelopes and flight trajectories.
Team-Wide
Productivity
Standardized job scripts, remote workflows, and reliable runtimes have turned HPC into a daily habit across the team. New members can ramp up quickly, and experienced engineers spend more time on engineering decisions and less on wrestling with infrastructure.
Testimonials
Voices from WARR & AMBER
Insights on the impact of NVIDIA A40 GPUs for student rocketry.
