NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) Activity TI-22-01730 modernized the legacy CEA2 Fortran code into CEA v3, a Fortran 2008 object-oriented package with modern language interfaces and expanded thermodynamic data.
Aug 21, 2026
10d agoKey Details
- Modernized legacy procedural Fortran CEA2 code into Fortran 2008 with object-oriented data structures, stricter typing, and thread-safe solver architecture
- Introduced subroutine interfaces supporting Python, C, MATLAB, Excel, and Fortran for automated design pipelines and parametric sweeps
- Expanded thermodynamic database to include green propellant constituents (ADN, HAN, LMP-103S) and sustainable aviation fuel candidates (n-Butanol)
- Added modeling features including negative reactant amounts, inert hydrocarbon fuel representations (RP-1, Jet-A, JP-series), and analytic total derivatives
- Delivered an 800-fold runtime reduction for large multi-case parametric sweeps, completing 108,500 cases in 1.11 seconds compared to 15 minutes in CEA2
- Preserves backward compatibility with legacy command-line workflows and CEA input files