ILLINOISROCSTAR LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 30

Description

Over the past decade, the use of multiphysics simulation – combining tools covering multiple physics disciplines together to generate advanced predictive codes – has surged as available computational power has grown. Many of these tools use “meshes” or “grids” to discretize their problem domains, and often, data must be transfered from one grid to another many times during a simulation. Many advanced tools exist to do this, but they are often usable only by experts. Further, “cloud-based”, web-enabled infrastructures are maturing quickly, and tools are needed that allow use of multiphysics capabilities through these web-enabled platforms. How This Problem is Being Addressed: The product of this project will be a free, open-source suite of grid data transfer tools, wrapped in a web-services infrastructure. The tools to be included in the product include innovative new modules, as well as existing tools restructured for use in the system. An existing, open-source DOE lab-generated toolkit will be used for some of the work, and new modules will be built in a compatible fashion so they can be returned to be included in the toolkit if desired. The resulting suite of tools will be usable for both 2D and 3D grid data transfer, will include different methodologies, and will be available either for direct inclusion in existing and new physics tools, and as a web-service in distributed web-based computational environments. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: The suite of tools to be provided will support modular use of the individual facilities through linking to multiphysics tools directly, or will support monolithic “black-box” use through a web services interface. The goal is to provide modular capabilities for advanced users with HPC/application development skill sets, and to drive multiphysics deeper into general use in communities such as small to medium engineering and manufacturing through packaging in easy-to-use, interface-friendly ways. Thus, both multiphysics code developers and common users can benefit from the advanced grid data transfer capabilities that are necessary facets of many modern multiphysics predictive simulation tools. The long-term vision is to provide web-service access to sets of multiphysics-ready tools that can work together to “script” robust capabilities that can be assembled and run on large computational resources. Key Words: web-enabled, multiphysics, grid, mesh, modeling and simulation, solution transfer