Can Exascale Computing Help Us Understand Extreme Materials?
Some things are difficult to understand—higher math, relationships, the appeal of reality TV—whereas other things are understood to be difficult—brain surgery, two-year olds, learning to speak Finnish. Then there’s the response of a material hit by a shock wave, which is not only difficult to understand, but trying to simulate it, even using the world’s most powerful computers, is sufficiently difficult that it currently can’t be done.
A shock wave is an extremely energetic disturbance that moves through matter at supersonic speeds. Like a flash flood tearing through a slot canyon, it arrives without warning. Matter suddenly finds itself immersed in the wild pressure and temperature maelstrom that trails the wall-like shock front. As the shock propagates through, say, a solid, it generates enormous mechanical stresses that can deform, crack, even shatter the material. Even if there is no structural damage, will the material properties be the same as they were before?
Read more: Understanding Extreme Materials