SciDAC Tools Fuel Groundbreaking Combustion Research

Using methods developed by SciDAC’s Algorithmic and Software Framework for Applied Partial Differential Equations (APDEC), computational and combustion scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have created an unparalleled computer simulation of turbulent flames. The research was featured on the cover article of the July 19, 2005 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article, written by John B. Bell, Marc S. Day, Ian G. Shepherd, Matthew R. Johnson, Robert K. Cheng, Joseph F. Grcar, Vincent E. Beckner, and Michael J. Lijewski, describes the simulation of “a laboratory-scale turbulent rod-stabilized premixed methane V-flame. This simulation, which models a full laboratory-scale flame by using detailed chemistry and transport, encompasses a domain more than three orders of magnitude larger in volume than that of any previous efforts and represents a major increment in simulation complexity." The research led to a three-dimensional combustion simulation of unmatched accuracy, a simulation that closely matches conditions found in laboratory combustion experiment. The code allows the researchers to model a flame about 12 cm in height and consisting of 80 chemical species and more than 300 chemical processes. (LBNL Press release) - July 2005

Simulations were computed on the IBM SP at NERSC

URL http://www.scidac.gov/img_results/Vflame.html
Updated: Tuesday, 28-Feb-2006 15:38:56 EST