 |
| Flow
past a diesel engine valve. |
In the 1990s, scientists from several
national laboratories developed a
framework for simulating fluid flow
in a complex, moving geometry using
a method of overlapping grids. Known
as Overture, this work demonstrated
that carefully engineered software
frameworks improve the efficiency
and ease of development of large parallel
software systems used to study important
physical systems such as combustion.
Because of its object-oriented design,
Overture reduces code duplication,
encourages interoperability of application
software, and simplifies the learning
curve for new computational methods.
The architecture provides flexibility
to address a wide range of applications
that involve simulations in complex
moving geometry on serial and parallel
computers. Advantages include broader,
more in-depth research into numerical
methods for scientific and industrial
applications. Lawrence Berkeley, Lawrence
Livermore, and Los Alamos national
laboratories participated, along with
the Courant Institute.
Scientific Impact:
Overture, available on the World Wide
Web as an open source, has greatly
simplified the development of scientific
simulations in complex geometries.
It has enabled worldwide research
collaborations in a variety of areas,
from simulation of the combustion
of reactive fluids for diesel engine
simulation to studies of the mechanisms
for nutrient uptake by plant roots.
Social Impact: The
software approach developed here forms
the basis for calculations of fluid
flow with important implications for
diesel engine design and other combustion
problems, aerodynamics, and chemical
processing. These processes are important
elements of the Nation's energy supply.
Reference: D. L
Brown and W. D. Henshaw, "OVERTURE:
Object-oriented tools for solving
CFD and combustion problems," in High
Performance Computing 1998, Grand
Challenges in computer Simulation,
A. Tentner, ed., pages 21-26, The
Soc. for Computer Simul. Int'l, 1998.
URL:
http://www.llnl.gov/CASC/Overture/
Technical Contact:
Daniel A Hitchcock, Mathematical,
Information, & Computational Sciences
Division, 301-903-6767
Press Contact: Jeff
Sherwood, DOE Office of Public Affairs,
202-586-5806
SC-Funding Office:
Office of Advanced Scientific Computing
Research |
