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SIMULATIONS FOR CERTIFICATION
Modeling & Simulation
In 1995, Lawrence Livermore, Sandia, and Los Alamos, with the help of the
National Nuclear Security Administration, created the Advanced Simulation
and Computing (ASC) Program. The principal objective of this program
is to use the most advanced computational methods to help ensure the
safety and reliability of the nation's nuclear weapons stockpile.
To carry out this objective, researchers use ever-evolving supercomputers
to analyze and predict the performance, safety, and reliability of
nuclear weapons. The results of such simulations are used to certify
weapon functionality.
The three national laboratories are working with computer manufacturers
and five of the nation's major universities: California Institute of
Technology, Stanford University, University of Chicago, University
of Illinois, and University of Utah.
Among the Most Powerful Computers in the World
The three laboratory partners have developed capabilities designed
to share huge amounts of data over great distances. These capabilities
allow simulations to be conducted on a computer at one laboratory while
the results are analyzed at another. The Los Alamos ASC supercomputer,
Q, is rated as the second fastest computer in the world. The 20-TeraOps
Q machine is about 6,000 times faster than the fastest supercomputer
of 1990, and can store more than 20 times the information content of
the Library of Congress.
It is located at the Nicholas C. Metropolis Center for Modeling
and Simulation, a facility dedicated in May 2002. |
SUPERCOMPUTERS
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