Coreform LLC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: C54-36b

Description

The Department of Energy’s (DOE) next-generation nuclear simulation tools radically improve engineers’ ability to predict the behavior of current and future nuclear reactor designs. Among other advantages, these tools are able to utilize high-performance computing (HPC) resources, enabling analysts to extend advanced modeling and simulation to the complex, interdependent multiscale and multiphysics phenomena demanded in nuclear applications. However, the orchestration and coordination between tools at different stages in the available HPC-capable advanced simulation pipeline are lacking. As a result, the potential of these resources to advance nuclear technology is hampered by the expertise required to use them effectively. To promote wider adoption and utilization of these tools and resources, it is critical to simplify and unify the user experience. This project accelerates such a workflow by creating a browser-based web interface for a flagship DOE nuclear and multiphysics simulation code and a leading nuclear-sector meshing and preprocessing software toolkit. This will allow users to prepare a model and execute a simulation directly from a local browser window while employing remote HPC hardware at every stage, providing a single, consistent, remotely-accessible interface for advanced engineering and physics computer simulation. In Phase I, modern web technologies will be used to create a single-user browser-based graphical user interface for the toolkit’s integrated preprocessing, simulation execution, and postprocessing functions. Existing capabilities for client-server operation will be augmented and tested, and the three-dimensional viewer component will be upgraded to provide web-optimized, GPU-capable rendering for the browser-based interface. In Phase II and beyond, these capabilities will be deepened and enhanced by adding support for multi-user collaboration, extending simulation execution and management functionality, and fully implementing remote-HPC handling of preprocessing, simulation, and postprocessing computations and data. The product of this effort will enable a user to mesh a CAD model, pre-process the model for analysis, launch and monitor a simulation, and post-processing and visualize the results from a single browser interface on a local workstation, while leveraging the computation, memory, and data storage of remote HPC resources at all stages of the process. By facilitating access to and fostering increased utilization of advanced modeling and simulation tools, this project promises to accelerate vital advances in nuclear engineering design, analysis, and operation for both current and future reactor designs.