Career Synopsis

Michael A. Clapp, BEng (Hons)

Since graduating from the University of Sheffield in 1985, with a Bachelor of Engineering Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Michael Clapp has spent 22 years in the CAE industry.  His first role involved performing heat transfer calculations on Nuclear Transport Flasks using a UKAEA finite element code.  After working for a brief period performing finite element stress analysis calculations for GEC Ruston Diesels he moved to Structures and Computers (STRUCOM), who were the UK Support Distributor for the ANSYS, general purpose finite element analysis software, in early 1989.   After initially specialising in the heat transfer applications of ANSYS he was in an ideal position to take ownership of the sales and support of the FLOTRAN CFD package, once a partnership between the two packages was agreed in 1990.  By the time of the demise of STRUCOM in 1997 the role had changed to that of Multi-Physics Consultant as ANSYS had absorbed FLOTRAN into its core product and introduced a range of coupled field capabilities.

In August 1997 Michael Clapp founded Blue Ridge Numerics Limited, as the European Distributor of the CFdesign, finite element computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software written by Blue Ridge Numerics, Inc. of Charlottesville, Virginia.  After five years of growth this company had reached a point where it needed further capital, to fulfil the rapid expansion ambitions of the US Company, so it was purchased by Blue Ridge Numerics Inc. in late 2002.  The appointment of a European Sales Director led to Michael Clapp taking on the role of European Technical Director to lead the technical support and application engineering functions for the European team.  By the end of 2006 the European operations had grown to include 13 staff in three countries; distribution partners throughout the rest of Europe and over 200 customers.

UpFront Engineering Simulation Limited was founded by Michael Clapp in October, 2007 to provide Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) services using the CFdesign software from Blue Ridge Numerics.  Services offered include project related simulation work, training courses and CFdesign Implementation Services.

Michael Clapp has been a member of the NAFEMS CFD Working Group since its formation in the early 1990's