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At least 577 records · Page 32

Outcomes from the DOE Workshop on Turbulent Flow Simulation at the Exascale

This paper summarizes the outcomes from the Turbulent Flow Simulation at the Exascale: Opportunities and Challenges Workshop, which was held 4-5 August 2015, and was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Advanced Scientific Computing Research. The workshop objective was to define and describe the challenges and opportunities that computing at the exascale will bring to turbulent-flow simulations in applied science and technology. The need for accurate simulation of turbulent flows is evident across the U.S. Department of Energy applied-science and engineering portfolios, including combustion, plasma physics, nuclear-reactor physics, wind energy, and atmospheric science. The workshop brought together experts in turbulent-flow simulation, computational mathematics, and high-performance computing. Building upon previous ASCR workshops on exascale computing, participants defined a research agenda and path forward that will enable scientists and engineers to continually leverage, engage, and direct advances in computational systems on the path to exascale computing.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

US Department of Energy, Office of Science, High-Performance Computing Facility: 2023 Operational Assessment Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility

The Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF) was established to accelerate scientific discovery by providing world-leading computational performance and advanced data infrastructure. As a US Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility, the OLCF has managed the successful deployment and operation of a succession of leadership-class resources dedicated to open science. In addition to these resources, the OLCF staff continually strive to develop innovative processes and technologies, improve security, and empower users through effective allocation management and comprehensive user support and training. These efforts support the advancement of science by the OLCF users and benefit high-performance computing (HPC) facilities around the world. In calendar year (CY) 2023, the OLCF supported 1,676 users and 598 projects and exceeded all targets for user satisfaction. The facility received an average satisfaction score of 4.52 out of 5 on the annual user survey, and 94% of respondents reported a high satisfaction rate with the OLCF overall. Of the 3,619 user tickets submitted in CY 2023, OLCF staff resolved 97% within 3 business days. The facility opened Frontier to full scientific operations this year. Two projects conducted on Frontier received the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Gordon Bell Prize and the Gordon Bell Special Prize for Climate Modeling, and a third earned a nomination as a Gordon Bell Prize finalist. The facility’s previous flagship machine, Summit, gained new life and was extended through 2024 in part to help provide resources to the Integrated Research Infrastructure (IRI) projects and the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (NAIRR) pilot program. The facility instantiated an Advanced Computing Ecosystem testbed in part to support IRI workflows. OLCF made interactivity easier and more accessible to users than ever through tools like Jupyter notebooks and workflows.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Market Research Study: Applications of ASCR HPC Software

The Department of Energy (DOE)’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program has developed hundreds of software tools for high performance computing (HPC). Although many HPC hardware advances have permeated the market, such as CPUs, GPUs, TPUs and ASICs, the software developed by DOE for different HPC applications has not necessarily been mined. The DOE is interested in making its HPC software portfolio available to the public in order to maximize the value of what has been developed.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Can the United States Maintain Its Leadership in High-Performance Computing? - A report from the ASCAC Subcommittee on American Competitiveness and Innovation to the ASCR Office

The United States (U.S.) is no longer the unambiguous leader in the vitally important field of high performance computing (HPC). Japan, the European Union (EU), and China have fielded systems that are on par with our fastest supercomputers. The supply chain for everything from semiconductors to scientific software is globally distributed. Yet our economic future and security depend critically on our ability to innovate faster than our competitors, and the speed of innovation depends increasingly on large-scale computational science and engineering and thus HPC. How should the United States respond to this challenge? This report seeks to initiate a new and potentially transformative national discussion on this vital question. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program is well-positioned to make informed, targeted decisions about where the United States should cooperate and where it should compete in the global market for scientific exploration and discovery. By setting its sights on problems critical to our nation and the world, by establishing productive new collaborations, and by making strategic investments, ASCR can restore and maintain U.S. scientific leadership in the critical areas described in this report while strengthening our research infrastructure and training a large, diverse cohort of scientists. In doing so, ASCR and its scientists will pave the way for a secure and prosperous future for America. For more than 30 years, the ASCR program has provided the HPC and networking capabilities and expertise needed to support DOE’s mission to advance the national, economic, and energy security of the United States. The program now faces the challenge of developing and deploying the next generation of HPC systems and technologies, as well as supporting the application of HPC and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to a wide range of scientific and engineering research problems. Through its research and development efforts, the ASCR program must also advance the state of the art in HPC and accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and technological innovation. Fulfilling this promise will require significantly increased investments, as well as innovative policies and programs. This subcommittee is aware that we are making recommendations and calls for action at a time when federal resources are limited. We understand that a wide range of competing priorities must be balanced by the nation’s leaders and that there is a need to leverage resources in new ways and seek efficiencies in facilities and operations. However, we must not let these realities limit our imagination or silence our advocacy. The ASCR program is a key part of the U.S. research infrastructure and an important component of economic growth and U.S. competitiveness. ASCR has a responsibility to pursue its mission, including advanced scientific computing, applications of AI technologies, and the required advanced research facilities, with determination and enthusiasm. To fulfill the scientific enterprise’s responsibility to the nation, the ASCR program must not only develop and publish a clear vision with an associated list of goals, priorities, and recommendations but also demonstrate scientific leadership by consistently securing long-term funding. This will allow the program to build on its achievements to date, to realize its ambitious vision, and to make lasting contributions to the field.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

Hypergames and Cyber-Physical Security for Control Systems

The identification of the Stuxnet worm in 2010 provided a highly publicized example of a cyber attack that physically damaged an industrial control system. This raised public awareness about the possibility of similar attacks against other industrial targets—including critical infrastructure. Here, we use hypergames to analyze how strategic perturbations of sensor readings and calibrated parameters can be used to manipulate a system that employs optimal control. Hypergames form an extension of game theory that enables us to model strategic interactions where the players may have significantly different perceptions of the game(s) they are playing. Past work with hypergames has focused on relatively simple interactions consisting of a small set of discrete choices for each player. Here, we apply single-stage hypergames to larger systems with continuous variables. We find that manipulating constraints can be a more effective attacker strategy than manipulating objective function parameters. Moreover, the attacker need not change the underlying system to carry out a successful attack—it may be sufficient to deceive the defender controlling the system. It is possible to scale our approach up to even larger systems, but this will depend on the characteristics of the system in question, and we identify several characteristics that will make those systems amenable to hypergame analysis.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Uncertainty quantification in ToxCast high throughput screening

High throughput screening (HTS) projects like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s ToxCast program are required to address the large and rapidly increasing number of chemicals for which we have little to no toxicity measurements. Concentration-response parameters such as potency and efficacy are extracted from HTS data using nonlinear regression, and models and analyses built from these parameters are used to predict in vivo and in vitro toxicity of thousands of chemicals. How these predictions are impacted by uncertainties that stem from parameter estimation and propagated through the models and analyses has not been well explored. While data size and complexity makes uncertainty quantification computationally expensive for HTS datasets, continued advancements in computational resources have allowed these computational challenges to be met. This study uses nonparametric bootstrap resampling to calculate uncertainties in concentration-response parameters from a variety of HTS assays. Using the ToxCast estrogen receptor model for bioactivity as a case study, we highlight how these uncertainties can be propagated through models to quantify the uncertainty in model outputs. Uncertainty quantification in model outputs is used to identify potential false positives and false negatives and to determine the distribution of model values around semi-arbitrary activity cutoffs, increasing confidence in model predictions. At the individual chemical-assay level, curves with high variability are flagged for manual inspection or retesting, focusing subject-matter-expert time on results that need further input. This work improves the confidence of predictions made using HTS data, increasing the ability to use this data in risk assessment.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Oppenheimer Science and Energy Leadership Program (OSELP) Simulation and Computation at LANL [Slides]

Simulation and Computation plays a pivotal role in maintaining confidence in the stockpile as the approach to underwrite that confidence has changed. The need for resolution and fidelity at scale drives our need for increased computing capability. DOE/NNSA Advanced Simulation and Computing (ASC) program provides the computational surrogate for testing. ASC provides simulation-based confidence in the U.S. stockpile.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

A HUMAN AUTOMATION INTERACTION CONCEPT FOR A SMALL MODULAR REACTOR CONTROL ROOM

Many advanced nuclear power plant (NPP) designs incorporate higher degrees of automation than the existing fleet of NPPs. Automation is being introduced or proposed in NPPs through a wide variety of systems and technologies, such as advanced displays, computer-based procedures, advanced alarm systems, and computerized operator support systems. Additionally, many new reactor concepts, both full scale and small modular reactors, are proposing increased automation and reduced staffing as part of their concept of operations. However, research consistently finds that there is a fundamental tradeoff between system performance with increased automation and reduced human performance. There is a need to address the question of how to achieve high performance and efficiency of high levels of automation without degrading human performance. One example of a new NPP concept that will utilize greater degrees of automation is the SMR concept from NuScale Power. The NuScale Power design requires 12 modular units to be operated in one single control room, which leads to a need for higher degrees of automation in the control room. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) researchers and NuScale Power human factors and operations staff are working on a collaborative project to address the human performance challenges of increased automation and to determine the principles that lead to optimal performance in highly automated systems. This paper will describe this concept in detail and will describe an experimental test of the concept. The benefits and challenges of the approach will be discussed.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

A human automation interaction concept for a small modular reactor control room - 101

Many advanced nuclear power plant (NPP) designs incorporate higher degrees of automation than the existing fleet of NPPs. Automation is being introduced or proposed in NPPs through a wide variety of systems and technologies, such as advanced displays, computer-based procedures, advanced alarm systems, and computerized operator support systems. Research consistently finds that there is a fundamental tradeoff between system performance with increased automation and reduced human performance. Idaho National Laboratory (INL) researchers and NuScale Power human factors and operations staff are working on a collaborative project to address the human performance challenges of increased automation and to determine the principles that lead to optimal performance in highly automated systems. This paper will describe this concept in detail and will describe an experimental test of the concept. The benefits and challenges of the approach will be discussed. (authors)

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Simulation Center for Runaway Electron Avoidance and Mitigation (SCREAM SciDAC) (Technical Final Report)

Runaway electrons can severely damage the plasma facing components on ITER during a major disruption and pose a major risk for tokamak fusion. It has been recognized that an adequate disruption mitigation system (DMS) is essential for the safe operation of ITER. The United States is responsible for the design and implementation of the disruption mitigation system on ITER, and in July 2016 the Simulation Center for Runaway Electron Avoidance and Mitigation (SCREAM) was launched by DOE, in a joint Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) and Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) collaboration. SCREAM was a comprehensive theory and simulation SciDAC center that provided physics guidance in the avoidance and mitigation of runaway electrons, and in tandem with domestic and international experiments, helped establish the qualitative and quantitative bases for safe operational scenarios and viable mitigation techniques. The SCREAM center assembled a national team of experts in runaway electron physics, tokamak disruptions, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation, and advanced algorithms and computing. The team combined advanced simulation and analysis capability facilitated by direct participation of ASCR SciDAC institutes with theoretical models and code development by FES scientists to focus on the runaway risk for ITER and tokamaks in general. The research scope was focussed on integrated simulations of kinetic runaway electrons, including MHD and fluid models of impurity transport, within a research plan guided by theory. The specific research tasks were (1) establish the fundamental physics of runaway generation, saturation, and dynamical evolution in a tokamak; (2) examine the critical path toward runaway avoidance; and (3) investigate the viability and effectiveness of the leading candidate schemes for runaway mitigation. In all three areas, members of the team carried out scoping studies that established the readiness for rapid and critical advances, especially in the deployment and further development of large-to extreme-scale simulation tools. Our multi-pronged computational approach included (1) relativistic Fokker-Planck solvers with discretization in phase space, (2) self-consistent particle-in-cell techniques, (3) particle-based Monte-Carlo, and (4) MHD-particle hybrid simulations. Cross-check between these different methods provided an additional means for verification and further bolstered the fidelity of our physics prediction. Validation against experimental results brings confidence to the predictive capability for ITER and frequently leads to new ideas for understanding and mitigating the thermal quench driven runaway electron phenomenon.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Computer vision models and advanced TEM imaging for microstructures of irradiated AM316 stainless steels

Advancements were made in automating microscopy-based material characterization, particularly in studying irradiation effects on additively manufactured (AM) materials using machine learning (ML) and computer vision (CV). These automation efforts address the challenges of analyzing complex microstructures, accelerating the detection of irradiation-induced defects. Two CV models were developed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to enhance transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analysis of irradiated AM 316 stainless steel. The first model focused on the detection of irradiation-induced dislocation loops, which contribute to material hardening and embrittlement. These loops, categorized as faulted or perfect, were automatically detected and classified using a Mask R-CNN model trained on TEM images from both in-situ and ex-situ ion irradiation experiments. The model achieved high accuracy, with precision, recall, and F1 scores of 0.839, 0.734, and 0.776, respectively, demonstrating its effectiveness in analyzing dislocation loops in irradiated AM materials. The second CV model was developed to analyze the size and wall thickness of dislocation cells in laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) 316 stainless steel. Using a U-Net++ architecture with EfficientNet as the encoder, the model was trained on TEM images to segment and measure cell size and wall thickness.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Extreme Heterogeneity 2018 - Productive Computational Science in the Era of Extreme Heterogeneity: Report for DOE ASCR Workshop on Extreme Heterogeneity

The 2018 Basic Research Needs Workshop on Extreme Heterogeneity identified five Priority Research Directions for realizing the capabilities needed to address the challenges posed in this era of rapid technological change. This report captures the outcomes of that workshop. In the context of extreme heterogeneity, it defines basic research needs and opportunities in computer science research to develop smart and trainable operating and runtime systems, programming environments, and predictive tools that will make future systems easier to adapt to scientists’ computing needs and easier for facilities to deploy securely.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Computer Network Connection for the Advanced Test Reactor Critical (ATR-C) Facility

The proposed activity would install a computer network connection in the Advanced Test Reactor Critical (ATR-C) Facility by running conduit from the west side office area near the entry into ATR-C and pulling in four category 5E (Cat5E) cables. The proposed activity would include running the Cat5E cables and associated conduit approximately 70 ft through the corridor from the office area and through the block wall into the southwest corner of ATR-C.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

Technical Characterization and Benefit Evaluation of 5G-Enabled Grid Data Transport and Applications

This report summarizes the Year 1 work of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory’s (PNNL’s) 5G Fabricated Resource and Asset Management Encompassment for energy infrastructure (Energy FRAME) project funded by the Department of Energy Office of Science’s Advanced Scientific Computing Research Program. 5G is a breakthrough technology that enables a fully mobile and connected society, and a 5G-enabled digital continuum will be one of the critical foundations for a clean energy economy and grid modernization. In collaboration with PNNL’s Advanced Wireless Communication team and Center for Advanced Technology Evaluation team, the project team has been evaluating the system performance of 5G testbeds in the PNNL 5G Innovation Studio, and has formulated a co-simulation test case of power system transmission, distribution, and communication (T&D&C) networks considering 5G technology and high penetration of distributed energy resources. The methodology developed in the 5G Energy FRAME project can be customized to fit different future grid scenarios to evaluate multiple (dynamic) configurations (computing, sensing, communication, environment) for different stakeholders. In summary, our main technical highlights in project Year 1 are as follows: 1) Technical characterization of 5G standalone architectures, 2) Formulation of co-simulation test case of T&D&C networks embedded with 5G, 3) Initial benefit evaluation of 5G communication platform for grid use cases, and 4) Additional extended discussions on edge computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning, and high-performance computing and cloud computing adoptions. In addition, a collection of system performance data is shared through the publicly available weblink, https://www.pnnl.gov/projects/5g-energy-frame/publications

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Data-driven reduced order models for effective yield strength and partitioning of strain in multiphase materials

There is a critical need for the development and verification of practically useful multiscale modeling strategies for simulating the mechanical response of multiphase metallic materials with heterogeneous microstructures. In this contribution, we present data-driven reduced order models for effective yield strength and strain partitioning in such microstructures. These models are built employing the recently developed framework of Materials Knowledge Systems that employ 2-point spatial correlations (or 2-point statistics) for the quantification of the heterostructures and principal component analyses for their low-dimensional representation. The models are calibrated to a large collection of finite element (FE) results obtained for a diverse range of microstructures with various sizes, shapes, and volume fractions of the phases. The performance of the models is evaluated by comparing the predictions of yield strength and strain partitioning in two-phase materials with the corresponding predictions from a classical self-consistent model as well as results of full-field FE simulations. The reduced-order models developed in this work show an excellent combination of accuracy and computational efficiency, and therefore present an important advance towards computationally efficient microstructure-sensitive multiscale modeling frameworks. - Graphical abstract:.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Project Final Report: HPC-Colony II

This report recounts the HPC Colony II Project which was a computer science effort funded by DOE's Advanced Scientific Computing Research office. The project included researchers from ORNL, IBM, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The topic of the effort was adaptive system software for extreme scale parallel machines. A description of findings is included.

Adaptive Software↗

Final Report: Super Instruction Architecture for Scalable Parallel Computations

The most advanced methods for reliable and accurate computation of the electronic structure of molecular and nano systems are the coupled-cluster techniques. These high-accuracy methods help us to understand, for example, how biological enzymes operate and contribute to the design of new organic explosives. The ACES III software provides a modern, high-performance implementation of these methods optimized for high performance parallel computer systems, ranging from small clusters typical in individual research groups, through larger clusters available in campus and regional computer centers, all the way to high-end petascale systems at national labs, including exploiting GPUs if available. This project enhanced the ACESIII software package and used it to study interesting scientific problems.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗