High performance computing and computational aerodynamics in the UK

Abstract

The establishment of the UK Applied Aerodynamics Consortium in 2004 brought together many of the UK’s leading research groups to tackle challenging aerodynamic problems on the national computing facility, HPCx. This paper provides a brief history of some early pioneers of numerical simulation and highlights some key contributions to development in parallel processing that laid the foundations for today’s researchers. The transition from vector to massively parallel processing is discussed from a UK viewpoint along with technological barriers that could have a significant impact on future systems. Solutions to these barriers are already being sought and the paper discussed some of the novel technologies that may be deployed in the future. In its short history, the consortium has made substantial progress and this is briefly discussed with several highlights that illustrate the scientific output. Although a number of challenges are identified, particularly with respect to developing a comprehensive visualisation capability, the consortium is well placed to build upon its initial success.

Computational fluid dynamics and virtual aeroengine modelling

“…For around the last five years, while the original statement of Moore's law (that the number of transistors that can be included on an integrated circuit board will double approximately every two years) has continued to be true, this has no longer been reflected in increases in processor clock speed due to the higher power consumption required. As noted by Emerson et al [10], power and cooling requirements can lead to lifetime running costs in excess of the cost of the system itself. To avoid this "Power Wall", the computing industry has been increasing performance by designing multicore CPUs, with the aim being to double the number of cores with each new This move to multicore chips was carried out much earlier by the computer graphics industry with current graphics cards already having 128 cores.…”

“…The current state-of-art in CFD and its importance in aerospace engineering are further illustrated in themed editions of The Aeronautical Journal and the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, with introductory articles by Emerson et al [10] and Tucker [11]. The first of these journal editions describes some of the research undertaken within the UK applied aerodynamics consortium (UKAAC) for HPC, utilizing the national computing facility HPCx which had 1024 IBM POWER5 processors.…”