Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “high performance parallel computing”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,063 records · Page 59

Hexagonal Geometries in MPACT

The MPACT code is a high-fidelity light-water reactor analysis code using whole-core pin-resolved neutron transport calculations on modern parallel-computing hardware. MPACT uses the 2D/1D method to solve 3D neutron transport problems by decomposing the problem into a stack of 2D slices, each of which is solved independently using the method of characteristics (MOC). The slices are then coupled axially using the P3 nodal expansion method (NEM-P3) for the 1D axial calculations. MPACT also employs the coarse mesh finite difference (CMFD) method to accelerate calculations. This manuscript details work supporting advanced reactor designs using hexagonal pins and hexagonal assemblies such as the VVER-1000. If performed correctly, MOC is geometry agnostic. However, MPACT previously had optimizations in place for Cartesian geometries, specifically in the modularization and current calculations. Sections 2 and 3 detail the changes made to MPACT to support MOC and CMFD calculations on hexagonal geometries. Section 4 reports results demonstrating solution consistency for problems run with and without CMFD acceleration, results demonstrating solution consistency when run in serial and parallel, and pincell results using the Monte Carlo code, McCard’s benchmark results.

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS↗

Multiscale Modeling of Deformation, Fracture and Failure of Fusion Materials and Structures Final Report

The main objective of the research performed at UCLA under grant number DE-FG02-03ER54708 was to develop a physical understanding of the underlying mechanisms that control high-temperature deformation and fracture of fusion structural materials. The key aspect is the synergistic interaction between thermo-mechanical damage phenomena (e.g. creep, fatigue, and fracture), and irradiation damage phenomena (helium and hydrogen bubbles, and irradiation-induced defects). Another thrust area of the research was on the development of constitutive equations for the mechanical behavior of irradiated structures in fusion components (mainly the First Wall and Plasma-Facing components), and in utilizing them in descriptions in large-scale Finite Element Modeling of fusion structures. A parallel experimental effort on thermo-mechanical and plasma-induced damage is designed to validate and confront the developed theoretical and computational predictions. The models have been experimentally validated through experimental tests in simulated plasma transients on specially-designed W samples. This grant started at UCLA on November 14, 2003 and has had successive continuations till November 14, 2017. Research performed under the grant was to develop a range of hierarchical models for the post-elastic deformation, fracture and failure of fusion structural materials. The developed multiscale modeling approach has been based on rigorous mathematical, physical, and computational methods at the forefront of computational materials science. At the fundamental and smallest length scale (nm-μm), we developed advanced rate theory and Monte Carlo approaches to model microstructure evolution, non-equilibrium phase transformations, and dislocation-defect interactions. Microscopic and mesoscopic models of radiation hardening, ductile-to-brittle-transition, post-elastic deformation, plastic instabilities, and fracture processes are based on Dislocation Dynamics (DD) and Grain Growth Dynamics (GGD). At the continuum level, we focused on modeling fracture and failure mechanisms for Virtual Integrated Testing (VISTA), and for understanding the limits of both materials-by-design versus structural component design through advancing the new approach of multiscale-multiphysics. The overall research has been strongly coupled with the U.S. national experimental program to ascertain and verify the range of investigated phenomena. In the following, we give a summary of research progress supported by this grant since its inception till November 14, 2017. Detailed research results are available in our publications, listed in the publications section of this report.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Dynamics of Laterally Propagating Flames in X-Ray Bursts. I. Burning Front Structure

We investigate the structure of laterally propagating flames through the highly stratified burning layer in an X-ray burst. Two-dimensional hydrodynamics simulations of flame propagation are performed through a rotating plane-parallel atmosphere, exploring the structure of the flame. We discuss the approximations needed to capture the length and timescales at play in an X-ray burst and describe the flame acceleration observed. Finally, our studies complement other multidimensional studies of burning in X-ray bursts.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

MILC staggered conjugate gradient performance on Intel KNL

We review our work done to optimize the staggered conjugate gradient (CG) algorithm in the MILC code for use with the Intel Knights Landing (KNL) architecture. KNL is the second gener- ation Intel Xeon Phi processor. It is capable of massive thread parallelism, data parallelism, and high on-board memory bandwidth and is being adopted in supercomputing centers for scientific research. The CG solver consumes the majority of time in production running, so we have spent most of our effort on it. We compare performance of an MPI+OpenMP baseline version of the MILC code with a version incorporating the QPhiX staggered CG solver, for both one-node and multi-node runs.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Preface to the Special Issue on TOUGH Symposium 2015

The TOUGH Symposium 2015 was held in Berkeley, California, September 28-30, 2015. The TOUGH family of codes, developed at the Energy Geosciences Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), is a suite of computer programs for the simulation of multiphase and multicomponent fluid and heat flows in porous and fractured media with applications in many geosciences fields, such as geothermal reservoir engineering, nuclear waste disposal, geological carbon sequestration, oil and gas reservoirs, gas hydrate research, vadose zone hydrology and environmental remediation. Since the first release in the 1980s, many modifications and enhancements have been continuously made to TOUGH and its various descendants (iTOUGH2, TOUGH+, TOUGH-MP, TOUGHREACT, TOUGH+HYDRATE, TMVOC...), at LBNL and elsewhere. Today, these codes are used worldwide in academia, government organizations and private companies in problems involving coupled hydrological, thermal, biogeochemical and geomechanical processes. The Symposia, organized every 2-3 years, bring together developers and users for an open exchange on recent code enhancements and applications. In 2015, the Symposium was attended by one hundred participants, representing thirty-four nationalities. This Special Issue in Computers & Geosciences gathers extended versions of selected Symposium proceedings related to (i) recent enhancements to the TOUGH family of codes and (ii) coupled flow and geomechanics processes modeling. In this special issue, a paper by Jung et al. provides a new base version of TOUGH, TOUGH3. This latest version addresses the computational robustness and efficiency needed for the increasing complexity of the simulated processes and the growing size of model domains. Moreover, it consolidates the serial and parallel versions into a single code, hence, inconsistencies between different versions are less likely to occur, and code maintenance and development become more efficient. Finsterle et al. present a review of the capabilities of iTOUGH2 and illustrate the workflow of an integrated simulation-optimization framework. Liu et al. present an approach to reduce the computational cost of performing Bayesian inverse modeling and demonstrate their approach using a synthetic experiment simulated with TOUGH2. Regarding the mesh generation process, the paper by Doughty presents a generalization of the grid-generation algorithm embedded in TOUGH2 (MESHMAKER) to create one-column grids with fractal dimension, useful for representing flow through fractures or highly heterogeneous media with fractal geometry, and also for inverse methods. Sentís and Gable present a module to interface the open source code Lagrit with TOUGH2, that assists in the processes of mesh generation and model setup, and that can be particularly useful for complex geometries and large models. Bonduà et al. present a pre-processing tool (VORO2MESH) that features a full 3D Voronoi approach for structured and unstructured grids, and an enhanced post-processor (TOUGH2Viewer) for the visualization of 3D Voronoi grids. The literature review shows that coupled fluid flow and geomechanics has gained increasing attention in the last years in many geosciences fields. In this context, several codes of the TOUGH family have been successfully coupled with geomechanics software. The paper by Rutqvist presents a review of some of these TOUGH-based geomechanics models, of which the TOUGH-FLAC simulator – presented for the first time in the TOUGH Symposium 2003 – is well-known worldwide and has been used in a large variety of applications, encompassing the application domains of the TOUGH codes. Blanco-Martín et al. present an extension of TOUGH-FLAC to the finite strain framework, motivated by the existence of large strains associated with rock salt deformation in the context of heat-generating nuclear waste disposal. Following a paper published in the Special Issue of the TOUGH Symposium 2012 in this journal, Kim et al. present the current status of the TOUGH-RSBN simulator for coupled hydro-mechanical modeling of hydraulic fracturing using a discrete fracture network approach, and present some validation and demonstration cases. Rinaldi and Nespoli present TOUGH-SEED, an injection-induced seismicity modeling approach using TOUGH2 and a geomechanics stochastic model, and apply it to the Basel EGS project. Finally, Rinaldi et al. use the PEST protocol implemented in iTOUGH2, combined with TOUGH-FLAC as the forward model, to perform inverse modeling for the In Salah CO2 demonstration site in Algeria. Using pore pressures and InSAR displacements as observations, this approach allows for a multi-physics joint inversion and takes advantage of the inverse capabilities of iTOUGH2 (parameter estimation, sensitivity analysis, uncertainty estimation …), applied to coupled fluid flow and geomechanics. On behalf of the members of the TOUGH Symposium 2015 Organizing Committee, I hope that this collection of papers will provide the readers of Computers & Geosciences with a recent view of the capabilities of the TOUGH family of codes, as well as with current modeling research domains in the geosciences. Last but not least, I would like to express my gratitude to all the reviewers who kindly contributed to this Special Issue, as well as the Journal staff who have made this publication possible.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗

Benchmarking of massively parallel phase-field codes for directional solidification

We present a detailed benchmark comparing two state-of-the-art phase-field implementations for simulating alloy solidification under experimentally relevant conditions. The study investigates the directional solidification of Al-3wt%Cu under high-velocity solidification conditions and SCN-0.46wt% camphor under microgravity conditions from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) DECLIC-DSI-R experiments. Both codes, one employing finite-difference discretization with uniform mesh and GPU-acceleration (GPU-PF) and the other one employing finite-element discretization with adaptive-mesh and CPU-parallelization (PRISMS-PF), solve the same quantitative phase-field formulation that incorporates an anti-trapping current for the solidification of dilute alloys. We evaluate the predictions of each code for dendritic morphology, primary spacing, and tip dynamics in both 2D and 3D, as well as their numerical convergence and computational performance. While existing benchmark problems have primarily focused on simplified or small-scale simulations, they do not reflect the computational and modeling challenges posed by employing experimentally relevant time and length scales. Our results provide a practical framework for assessing phase-field code performance as well as validating and facilitating their application in integrated computational materials engineering (ICME) workflows that require integration with realistic experimental data.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Exploring the Use of Novel Spatial Accelerators in Scientific Applications

Driven by the need to find alternative accelerators which can viably replace GPUs in next-generation Supercomputing systems, this paper proposes a methodology to enable agile application/hardware co-design. The application-first methodology provides the ability to come up with design of accelerators while working with real-world workloads, available accelerators, and system software. The iterative design process targets a set of kernels in a workload for performance estimates that can prune the design space for later phases of detailed architectural evaluations. To this effect, in this paper, a novel data-parallel device model is introduced that simulates the latency of performance-sensitive operations in an accelerator including data transfers and kernel computation using multi-core CPUs. The use of off-the-shelf simulators, such as pre-RTL simulator Aladdin or multiple tools available for exploring the design of deep neural network accelerators (e.g., Timeloop) is demonstrated for evaluation of various accelerator designs using applications with realistic inputs. Examples of multiple device configurations that are instantiable in a system are explored to evaluate the performance benefit of deploying novel accelerators. The proposed device is integrated with a programming model and system software to potentially explore the impacts of high-level programming languages/compilers and low-level effects such as task scheduling on multiple accelerators. We analyze our methodology for a set of applications that represent high-performance computing (HPC) and graph analytics. The applications include a computational chemistry kernel realized using tensor contractions, triangle counting, GraphSAGE and Breadth-first Search. These applications include kernels such as dense matrix-dense matrix multiplication, sparse matrix-spare matrix multiplication, and sparse matrix-dense vector multiplication. Our results indicate potential performance benefits and insights for system design by including accelerators that realize these kernels along-side general purpose accelerators.

AI, codesign, Accelerated Computing, Modeling and ↗

On the Strong Scaling of the Spectral Element Solver Nek5000 on Petascale Systems. In: EASC '16 Proceedings of the Exascale Applications and Software Conference 2016, Article No. 5

The present work is targeted at performing a strong scaling study of the high-order spectral element fluid dynamics solver Nek5000. Prior studies such as [5] indicated a recommendable metric for strong scalability from a theoretical viewpoint, which we test here extensively on three parallel machines with different performance characteristics and interconnect networks, namely Mira (IBM Blue Gene/Q), Beskow (Cray XC40) and Titan (Cray XK7). The test cases considered for the simulations correspond to a turbulent flow in a straight pipe at four different friction Reynolds numbers Reτ = 180, 360, 550 and 1000. Considering the linear model for parallel communication we quantify the machine characteristics in order to better assess the scaling behaviors of the code. Subsequently sampling and profiling tools are used to measure the computation and communication times over a large range of compute cores. We also study the effect of the two coarse grid solvers XXT and AMG on the computational time. Super-linear scaling due to a reduction in cache misses is observed on each computer. The strong scaling limit is attained for roughly 5000-10,000 degrees of freedom per core on Mira, 30,000 - 50,0000 on Beskow, with only a small impact of the problem size for both machines, and ranges between 10,000 and 220,000 depending on the problem size on Titan. This work aims at being a reference for Nek5000 users and also serves as a basis for potential issues to address as the community heads towards exascale supercomputers.

Offermans, Nicolas↗

End-to-end GPU acceleration of low-order-refined preconditioning for high-order finite element discretizations

In this article, we present algorithms and implementations for the end-to-end GPU acceleration of matrix-free low-order-refined preconditioning of high-order finite element problems. The methods described here allow for the construction of effective preconditioners for high-order problems with optimal memory usage and computational complexity. The preconditioners are based on the construction of a spectrally equivalent low-order discretization on a refined mesh, which is then amenable to, for example, algebraic multigrid preconditioning. The constants of equivalence are independent of mesh size and polynomial degree. For vector finite element problems in H(curl) and H(div) (e.g., for electromagnetic or radiation diffusion problems), a specially constructed interpolation–histopolation basis is used to ensure fast convergence. Detailed performance studies are carried out to analyze the efficiency of the GPU algorithms. The kernel throughput of each of the main algorithmic components is measured, and the strong and weak parallel scalability of the methods is demonstrated. The different relative weighting and significance of the algorithmic components on GPUs and CPUs is discussed. Results on problems involving adaptively refined nonconforming meshes are shown, and the use of the preconditioners on a large-scale magnetic diffusion problem using all spaces of the finite element de Rham complex is illustrated.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Scalable Data-Intensive Geocomputation: A Design for Real-Time Continental Flood Inundation Mapping

The convergence of data-intensive and extreme-scale computing enables an integrated software and data ecosystem for scientific discovery. Developments in this realm will fuel transformative research in data-driven interdisciplinary domains. Geocomputation provides computing paradigms in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for interactive computing of geographic data, processes, models, and maps. Because GIS is data-driven, the computational scalability of a geocomputation workflow is directly related to the scale of the GIS data layers, their resolution and extent, as well as the velocity of the geo-located data streams to be processed. Unique in high user interactivity and low end-to-end latency requirements, geocomputation applications will dramatically benefit from the convergence of high-end data analytics (HDA) and high-performance computing (HPC). The application level challenge, however, is to identify and eliminate computational bottlenecks that arise along a geocomputation workflow. Indeed, poor scalability at any of the workflow components is detrimental to the entire end-to-end pipeline. Here, we study a large geocomputation use case in flood inundation mapping that handles multiple national-scale geospatial datasets and targets low end-to-end latency. We discuss benefits and challenges for harnessing both HDA and HPC for data-intensive geospatial data processing and intensive numerical modeling of geographic processes. We propose an HDA+HPC geocomputation architecture design that couples HDA (e.g., Spark)-based spatial data handling and HPC-based parallel data modeling. Key techniques for coupling HDA and HPC to bridge the two different software stacks are reviewed and discussed.

Liu, Yan↗

SU-E-T-486: In Vivo Skin Dosimetry Using the Exradin W1 Plastic Scintillation Detector for Passively Scattered Proton Beam Therapy

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy and usefulness of plastic scintillation detectors used for skin dosimetry of patients undergoing passive scatter proton therapy. Methods: Following an IRB approved protocol, six patients undergoing passively scattered proton beam therapy for prostate cancer were selected for in vivo skin dosimetry using the Exradin W1 plastic scintillator. The detector was calibrated on a Cobalt-60 unit, and phantom measurements in the proton beam with the W1 and a calibrated parallel plate ion chamber were used to account for the under-response due to high LET at energies used for treatment. Measurements made in a heated water tank were used to account for temperature dependence. For in vivo measurements, the W1 is fixed to the patient’s skin with medical tape in the center of each of two laterally opposed treatment fields. Measurements will be performed once per week for each patient for the duration of treatment, for a total of thirty six measurements. The measured dose will be compared to the expected dose, extracted from the Eclipse treatment planning system. The average difference over all measurements and per-patient will be computed, as well as standard deviations. Results: The calibrated detector exhibited a 7% under-response in 225 and 250 MeV beams, and a 4% under-response when used at 37 °C (relative to the response at the calibration temperature of 20 °C). Patient measurements are ongoing. Conclusion: The Exradin W1 plastic scintillator detector is a strong candidate for in vivo skin dosimetry in passively scattered proton beams as PSDs are water equivalent and very small (2mm in diameter), permitting accurate measurements that do not perturb the delivered dose. This project was supported in part by award number CA182450 from the National Cancer Institute.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Parallel Computing for Module-Based Computational Experiment

Large-scale scientific code plays an important role in scientific researches. In order to facilitate module and element evaluation in scientific applications, we introduce a unit testing framework and describe the demand for module-based experiment customization. We then develop a parallel version of the unit testing framework to handle long-term simulations with a large amount of data. Specifically, we apply message passing based parallelization and I/O behavior optimization to improve the performance of the unit testing framework and use profiling result to guide the parallel process implementation. Finally, we present a case study on litter decomposition experiment using a standalone module from a large-scale Earth System Model. This case study is also a good demonstration on the scalability, portability, and high-efficiency of the framework.

Yao, Zhuo↗

Parallel Hybrid Metaheuristics with Distributed Intensification and Diversification for Large-scale Optimization in Big Data Statistical Analysis

Important insights into many problems that are traditionally analyzed via statistical models can be obtained by re-formulating and evaluating within a large-scale optimization framework. The theoretical underpinnings of the statistical model often shift the goal of the solution space traversal from a traditional search for a single optimal solution to a traversal with the purpose of yielding a set of high quality, independent solutions. We examine statistical frameworks with astronomical solution spaces where the independence requirement constitutes a significant additional challenge for standard optimization methodologies. We design a hybrid metaheuristic with specialized intensification and diversification protocols in the base search algorithm. We extend our algorithm to the high-performance-computing realm using the Stampede2 supercomputer. We experimentally demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm to utilize multiple processors to collaboratively hill climb, broadcast messages to one another regarding landscape characteristics, diversify across the solution landscape, and request aid in climbing particularly difficult peaks.

Cho, Wendy K. Tam↗

Optimizing End-to-End Big Data Transfers over Terabits Network Infrastructure

While future terabit networks hold the promise of significantly improving big-data motion among geographically distributed data centers, significant challenges must be overcome even on today's 100 gigabit networks to realize end-to-end performance. Multiple bottlenecks exist along the end-to-end path from source to sink, for instance, the data storage infrastructure at both the source and sink and its interplay with the wide-area network are increasingly the bottleneck to achieving high performance. In this study, we identify the issues that lead to congestion on the path of an end-to-end data transfer in the terabit network environment, and we present a new bulk data movement framework for terabit networks, called LADS. LADS exploits the underlying storage layout at each endpoint to maximize throughput without negatively impacting the performance of shared storage resources for other users. LADS also uses the Common Communication Interface (CCI) in lieu of the sockets interface to benefit from hardware-level zero-copy, and operating system bypass capabilities when available. It can further improve data transfer performance under congestion on the end systems using buffering at the source using flash storage. With our evaluations, we show that LADS can avoid congested storage elements within the shared storage resource, improving input/output bandwidth, and data transfer rates across the high speed networks. We also investigate the performance degradation problems of LADS due to I/O contention on the parallel file system (PFS), when multiple LADS tools share the PFS. We design and evaluate a meta-scheduler to coordinate multiple I/O streams while sharing the PFS, to minimize the I/O contention on the PFS. Finally, with our evaluations, we observe that LADS with meta-scheduling can further improve the performance by up to 14 percent relative to LADS without meta-scheduling.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Flexible User-Defined Domain Decomposition in Kilometer-Scale E3SM Land Model Simulation

The Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) Land Model (ELM) has been extended to kilometer-scale (km-ELM) resolutions, enabling high-fidelity simulations of terrestrial processes at 1 km x 1 km grid spacing. In ELM, domain decomposition partitions the computational domain across processors, ensuring efficient parallel execution. Currently, round-robin decomposition is applied, providing a straightforward way to distribute computational workload. As ELM continues evolving at the kilometer-scale (km-scale), particularly with integrating lateral flow modeling, decomposition strategies must also account for the increased workload and data movement. This paper introduces a flexible user-defined domain decomposition framework, allowing users to customize domain partitioning based on application requirements. The impact of different decomposition strategies is evaluated across various applications concerning computation, communication, and I/O. Results demonstrate that while 1D partitioning yields superior I/O performance, k-nearest neighbors (KNN) clustering effectively reduces inter-process communication overhead. This study lays the groundwork for scalable partitioning in large-scale land surface simulations, enhancing next-generation Earth system modeling.

Wang, Dali [ORNL] (ORCID:0000000168065108)↗

A Comparison of Classical and Aggregation-Based Algebraic Multigrid Preconditioners for High-Fidelity Simulation of Wind Turbine Incompressible Flows

This paper presents a comparison of parallel strong scaling performance of classical and aggregation algebraic multigrid (AMG) preconditioners in the context of wind turbine simulations. Fluid motion is governed by the incompressible Navier--Stokes equations, discretized in space with control-volume finite elements and in time with an inexact projection scheme using an implicit integrator. A discontinuous-Galerkin sliding-mesh algorithm captures rotor motion. The momentum equations are solved with iterative Krylov methods, preconditioned by symmetric Gauss--Seidel (SGS) in Trilinos and $\ell_1$ SGS in hypre. The mass-continuity equation is solved with GMRES preconditioned by AMG and can account for the majority of simulation time. Reducing this continuity solve time is crucial. Wind turbine simulations present two unique challenges for AMG preconditioned solvers: the computational meshes include strongly anisotropic elements, and mesh motion requires matrix reinitialization and computation of preconditioners at each time step. Detailed timing profiles are presented and analyzed, and best practices are discussed for both classical and aggregation-based AMG. Results are presented for simulations of two different wind turbines with up to 6 billion grid points on two different computer architectures. For moving mesh problems that require linear-system reinitialization, the well-established strategy of amortizing preconditioner setup costs over a large number of time steps to reduce the solve time is no longer valid. Instead, results show that faster time to solution is achieved by reducing preconditioner setup costs at the expense of linear-system solve costs. Standard smoothed aggregation with Chebyshev relaxation was found to perform poorly when compared with classical AMG in terms of solve time and robustness. However, plain aggregation was comparable to classical AMG.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Evaluation of pre-training large language models on leadership-class supercomputers

Large language models (LLMs) have arisen rapidly to the center stage of artificial intelligence as the foundation models applicable to many downstream learning tasks. However, how to effectively build, train, and serve such models for many high-stake and first-principle-based scientific use cases are both of great interests and of great challenges. Moreover, pre-training LLMs with billions or even trillions of parameters can be prohibitively expensive not just for academic institutions, but also for well-funded industrial and government labs. Furthermore, the energy cost and the environmental impact of developing LLMs must be kept in mind. Here, in this work, we conduct a first-of-its-kind performance analysis to understand the time and energy cost of pre-training LLMs on the Department of Energy (DOE)’s leadership-class supercomputers. Employing state-of-the-art distributed training techniques, we evaluate the computational performance of various parallelization approaches at scale for a range of model sizes, and establish a projection model for the cost of full training. Our findings provide baseline results, best practices, and heuristics for pre-training such large models that should be valuable to HPC community at large. We also offer insights and optimization strategies for using the first exascale computing system, Frontier, to train models of the size of GPT-3 and beyond.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Theoretical study of the CO 2 –O 2 van der Waals complex: potential energy surface and applications

A four-dimensional-potential energy surface (4D-PES) of the atmospherically relevant carbon dioxide–oxygen molecule (CO 2 –O 2 ) van der Waals complex is mapped using the ab initio explicitly correlated coupled cluster method with single, double, and perturbative triple excitations (UCCSD(T)-F12b), and extrapolation to the complete basis set (CBS) limit using the cc-pVTZ-F12/cc-pVQZ-F12 bases and the l –3 formula. An analytic representation of the 4D-PES was fitted using the method of interpolating moving least squares (IMLS). These calculations predict that the most stable configuration of CO 2 –O 2 complex corresponds to a planar slipped-parallel structure with a binding energy of V ~ –243 cm –1 . Another isomer is found on the PES, corresponding to a non-planar cross-shaped structure, with V ~ –218 cm –1 . The transition structure connecting the two minima is found at V ~ –211 cm –1 . We also performed comparisons with some CO 2 –X van der Waals complexes. Moreover, we provide a SAPT analysis of this molecular system. Then, we discuss the complexation induced shifts of CO 2 and O 2 . Afterwards, this new 4D-PES is employed to compute the second virial coefficient including temperature dependence. A comparison between quantities obtained in our calculations and those from experiments found close agreement attesting to the high quality of the PES and to the importance of considering a full description of the anisotropic potential for the derivation of thermophysical properties of CO 2 –O 2 mixtures.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗