Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “heterogeneous 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 1,153 records · Page 64

Multiscale Characterization of Structural Compositional and Textural Heterogeneity of Nano-porous Geomaterials

The purpose of the project was to perform multiscale characterization of low permeability rocks to determine the effect of physical and chemical heterogeneity on the poromechanical and flow responses of shales and carbonate rocks with a broad range of physical and chemical heterogeneity . An integrated multiscale imaging of shale and carbonate rocks from nanometer to centimeter scales include s dual focused ion beam - scanning electron microscopy (FIB - SEM) , micro computed tomography (micro - CT) , optical and confocal microscopy, and 2D and 3D energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). In addition, mineralogical mapping and backscattered imaging with nanoindentation testing advanced the quantitative evaluat ion of the relationship between material heterogeneity and mechanical behavior. T he spatial distribution of compositional heterogeneity, anisotropic bedding patterns, and mechanical anisotropy were employed as inputs for brittle fracture simulations using a phase field model . Comparison of experimental and numerical simulations reveal ed that proper incorporation of additional material information, such as bedding layer thickness and other geometrical attributes of the microstructures, can yield improvements on the numerical prediction of the mesoscale fracture patterns and hence the macroscopic effective toughness. Overall, a comprehensive framework to evaluate the relationship between mechanical response and micro-lithofacial features can allow us to make more accurate prediction of reservoir performance by developing a multi - scale understanding of poromechanical response to coupled chemical and mechanical interactions for subsurface energy related activities.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Fast multipurpose Monte Carlo simulation for proton therapy using multi- and many-core CPU architectures

Purpose: Accuracy in proton therapy treatment planning can be improved using Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. However the long computation time of such methods hinders their use in clinical routine. This work aims to develop a fast multipurpose Monte Carlo simulation tool for proton therapy using massively parallel central processing unit (CPU) architectures. Methods: A new Monte Carlo, called MCsquare (many-core Monte Carlo), has been designed and optimized for the last generation of Intel Xeon processors and Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors. These massively parallel architectures offer the flexibility and the computational power suitable to MC methods. The class-II condensed history algorithm of MCsquare provides a fast and yet accurate method of simulating heavy charged particles such as protons, deuterons, and alphas inside voxelized geometries. Hard ionizations, with energy losses above a user-specified threshold, are simulated individually while soft events are regrouped in a multiple scattering theory. Elastic and inelastic nuclear interactions are sampled from ICRU 63 differential cross sections, thereby allowing for the computation of prompt gamma emission profiles. MCsquare has been benchmarked with the GATE/GEANT4 Monte Carlo application for homogeneous and heterogeneous geometries. Results: Comparisons with GATE/GEANT4 for various geometries show deviations within 2%–1 mm. In spite of the limited memory bandwidth of the coprocessor simulation time is below 25 s for 10{sup 7} primary 200 MeV protons in average soft tissues using all Xeon Phi and CPU resources embedded in a single desktop unit. Conclusions: MCsquare exploits the flexibility of CPU architectures to provide a multipurpose MC simulation tool. Optimized code enables the use of accurate MC calculation within a reasonable computation time, adequate for clinical practice. MCsquare also simulates prompt gamma emission and can thus be used also for in vivo range verification.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Efficient reconstruction and validation of heterogeneous microstructures for energy applications

The digital reconstruction of microstructures is necessary for simulations in fields ranging from geology to electrochemistry, but the state-of-the-art digital reconstruction techniques often compromise between resolution and field of view. It is challenging to retain detailed microstructure information in large-scale reconstructions. Here, this study investigates different aspects of the Yeong-Torquato algorithm based on correlation functions to make it more efficient. We achieve this goal by reducing the computational complexity of the chord-length distribution function and the two-point correlation function, applying the random sphere-packing method as the initial condition, and restricting potential voxel swaps to interfaces. In addition, a novel superposition parallel scheme is introduced to aid in searching for potential voxel swaps. The algorithm proposed is validated by comparing the pore-size distributions of reconstructed 3D custom battery electrodes from a sample dataset obtained from transmission X-ray microscopy. From a sample image with 200 x 200 pixels, the code can reconstruct a 300 x 300 x 300 structure in under 22 h and reconstruct a 400 x 400 x 400 structure in 43 h with eight cores.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Architecture-Aware Algorithms for Scalable Performance and Resilience on Heterogeneous Architectures. Final Report

With the coming end of Moore's law, it has become essential to develop new algorithms and techniques that can provide the performance needed by demanding computational science applications, especially those that are part of the DOE science mission. This work was part of a multi-institution, multi-investigator project that explored several approaches to develop algorithms that would be effective at the extreme scales and with the complex processor architectures that are expected at the end of this decade. The work by this group developed new performance models that have already helped guide the development of highly scalable versions of an algebraic multigrid solver, new programming approaches designed to support numerical algorithms on heterogeneous architectures, and a new, more scalable version of conjugate gradient, an important algorithm in the solution of very large linear systems of equations.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Development of activity–descriptor relationships for supported metal ion hydrogenation catalysts on silica

With the increasing attention on single-site heterogeneous catalysts on account of their high specific activity, more effective catalyst design strategies are necessary. We demonstrate a first-principles-calculation-guided active-site design strategy for alkene hydrogenation using silica-supported single-atom single-site heterogeneous catalysts (SSHCs, i.e., M/SiO2). An activity-descriptor relationship for propylene hydrogenation was established using representative catalysts (i.e., Ga3+, Zn2+, Mn2+ and Ti4+/SiO2), correlating the computational activity descriptor (i.e., the reaction free energy of the metal hydride formation) with the experimental reaction rates. Microkinetic modeling confirmed the predicted reaction mechanisms and further explained the rationale of the activity-descriptor relationship. This relationship was then used to predict the trend of activities of a variety of isolated ions on silica, and an In3+/SiO2 catalyst was identified as the most promising candidate based on its predicted activity and synthetic feasibility. The monodispersed In3+/SiO2 catalyst was then synthesized, for the first time, and showed higher propylene hydrogenation activity than the other four single-atom SSHCs, as predicted. Detailed spectroscopic characterization (XAS, XPS, DRIFTS and DRUV-Vis) provided insights into coordination environments and oxidation states of the catalysts, as well as evidence for the hydride intermediate. The successful discovery of the In3+/SiO2 catalyst for propylene hydrogenation using the first-principles-calculations-guided design strategy opens up new opportunities for efficient development of single-atom SSHCs.

DFT↗

Assessment of ALEGRA Computation for Magnetostatic Configurations

Here, a closed-form solution is described here for the equilibrium configurations of the magnetic field in a simple heterogeneous domain. This problem and its solution are used for rigorous assessment of the accuracy of the ALEGRA code in the quasistatic limit. By the equilibrium configuration we understand the static condition, or the stationary states without macroscopic current. The analysis includes quite a general class of 2D solutions for which a linear isotropic metallic matrix is placed inside a stationary magnetic field approaching a constant value H i ° at infinity. The process of evolution of the magnetic fields inside and outside the inclusion and the parameters for which the quasi-static approach provides for self-consistent results is also explored. Lastly, it is demonstrated that under spatial mesh refinement, ALEGRA converges to the analytic solution for the interior of the inclusion at the expected rate, for both body-fitted and regular rectangular meshes.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Performance of Heterogeneous Algorithm Scheduling in CMSSW

The CMS experiment started to utilize Graphics Processing Units (GPU) to accelerate the online reconstruction and event selection running on its High Level Trigger (HLT) farm in the 2022 data taking period. The projections of the HLT farm to the High-Luminosity LHC foresee a significant use of compute accelerators in the LHC Run 4 and onwards in order to keep the cost, size, and power budget of the farm under control. This direction of leveraging compute accelerators has synergies with the increasing use of HPC resources in HEP computing, as HPC machines are employing more and more compute accelerators that are predominantly GPUs today. In this work we review the features developed for the CMS data processing framework, CMSSW, to support the effective utilization of both compute accelerators and many-core CPUs within a highly concurrent task-based framework. We measure the impact of various design choices for the scheduling of heterogeneous algorithms on the event processing throughput, using the Run-3 HLT application as a realistic use case.

Bocci, Andrea↗

Streaming data analytics via message passing with application to graph algorithms

The need to process streaming data, which arrives continuously at high-volume in real-time, arises in a variety of contexts including data produced by experiments, collections of environmental or network sensors, and running simulations. Streaming data can also be formulated as queries or transactions which operate on a large dynamic data store, e.g. a distributed database. We describe a lightweight, portable framework named PHISH which enables a set of independent processes to compute on a stream of data in a distributed-memory parallel manner. Datums are routed between processes in patterns defined by the application. PHISH can run on top of either message-passing via MPI or sockets via ZMQ. The former means streaming computations can be run on any parallel machine which supports MPI; the latter allows them to run on a heterogeneous, geographically dispersed network of machines. We illustrate how PHISH can support streaming MapReduce operations, and describe streaming versions of three algorithms for large, sparse graph analytics: triangle enumeration, subgraph isomorphism matching, and connected component finding. Lastly, we also provide benchmark timings for MPI versus socket performance of several kernel operations useful in streaming algorithms.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Theoretical Analysis of Photoelectron Spectra of Pure and Mixed Metal Clusters: Disentangling Size, Structure, and Composition Effects

A theoretical/computational description and analysis of the spectra of electron binding energies of Al 12 - , Al 13 - and Al 12 Ni- clusters, which differ in size and/or composition by a single atom yet possess strikingly different measured photoelectron spectra, is presented. It is shown that the measured spectra can not only be reproduced computationally with quantitative fidelity – this is achieved through a combination of state-of-the-art density functional theory with a highly accurate scheme for conversion of the Kohn-Sham eigenenergies into electron binding energies – but also explained in terms of the effects of size, structure/symmetry and composition. Furthermore, a new methodology is developed and applied that provides for disentanglement and differential assignment of the separate roles played by size, structure/symmetry and composition in defining the observed differences in the measured spectra. The methodology is general and applicable to any finite system, homogeneous or heterogeneous. Finally, we project that in combination with advances in synthesis techniques this methodology will become an indispensable computation-based aid in the design of controlled synthesis protocols for manufacture of nanosystems and nanodevices with precisely desired electronic and other characteristics.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Computationally Efficient Multiscale Neural Networks Applied to Fluid Flow in Complex 3D Porous Media

Abstract The permeability of complex porous materials is of interest to many engineering disciplines. This quantity can be obtained via direct flow simulation, which provides the most accurate results, but is very computationally expensive. In particular, the simulation convergence time scales poorly as the simulation domains become less porous or more heterogeneous. Semi-analytical models that rely on averaged structural properties (i.e., porosity and tortuosity) have been proposed, but these features only partly summarize the domain, resulting in limited applicability. On the other hand, data-driven machine learning approaches have shown great promise for building more general models by virtue of accounting for the spatial arrangement of the domains’ solid boundaries. However, prior approaches building on the convolutional neural network (ConvNet) literature concerning 2D image recognition problems do not scale well to the large 3D domains required to obtain a representative elementary volume (REV). As such, most prior work focused on homogeneous samples, where a small REV entails that the global nature of fluid flow could be mostly neglected, and accordingly, the memory bottleneck of addressing 3D domains with ConvNets was side-stepped. Therefore, important geometries such as fractures and vuggy domains could not be modeled properly. In this work, we address this limitation with a general multiscale deep learning model that is able to learn from porous media simulation data. By using a coupled set of neural networks that view the domain on different scales, we enable the evaluation of large ( $$>512^3$$ > 512 3 ) images in approximately one second on a single graphics processing unit. This model architecture opens up the possibility of modeling domain sizes that would not be feasible using traditional direct simulation tools on a desktop computer. We validate our method with a laminar fluid flow case using vuggy samples and fractures. As a result of viewing the entire domain at once, our model is able to perform accurate prediction on domains exhibiting a large degree of heterogeneity. We expect the methodology to be applicable to many other transport problems where complex geometries play a central role.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Computational-based catalyst design for thermochemical transformations

Future energy production and storage in the chemical and refinery industries, stationary power generation, and transportation sectors will employ a diverse suite of technologies, including renewables, such as biomass, untapped energy resources, and processes with improved energy efficiency. Heterogeneous nanocatalysts will play an ever-increasing role in these technologies. Increased precision in molecular architecture over multiple length scales and/or tailored multi-functionality will often be needed in these materials. Advances in computational-based discovery of such nanomaterials are described through examples that predict the molecular architecture of emergent catalytic materials and reveal mechanisms of colloidal metal nanoparticle growth.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Investigation of Heterogeneity Effects on Calculated Sensitivities of the ZPPR-15B Assemblies

In past years, sensitivity studies of ZPR and ZPPR assemblies were carried out with deterministic codes for several purposes, such as uncertainty estimation of calculated parameter values, cross section adjustment, representativity analysis. etc. However, these sensitivity studies used simplified R-Z models of ZPR/ZPPR assemblies where the multi-group cross section data was obtained from the homogenized material compositions of each reactor zone. The main reason for this simplification was the lack of a deterministic path able to compute sensitivity coefficients for complicated 3D geometries in transport theory. Also, each ZPR and ZPPR assembly consists of several different drawers each containing different plate types and plate arrangements and it was felt that performing sensitivity calculations with an equivalent R-Z reactor model would capture most of the feedback while the heterogeneity effects were believed to be of second order. Recently a new code, BuildZPRModel, was developed at ANL that automatically generates the inputs for cross section processing and core calculation of heterogeneous ZPR and ZPPR assemblies for 3D transport calculations. Additionally, the PERSENT code (recently developed at ANL as well) is able to carry out sensitivity calculations in transport theory on 3D geometries. With the benefit of the newly developed codes, a sensitivity study was performed for the heterogeneous model of ZPPR-15B assemblies 96 and 102 generated by BuildZPRModel. The results were compared with the sensitivities computed with the use of fully homogenized R-Z reactor models, in order to quantify the impact of heterogeneity effects neglected in the analysis performed in past years.

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS↗

CGSim: A Simulation Framework for Large Scale Distributed Computing Environment

Large-scale distributed computing infrastructures such as the Worldwide LHC Computing Grid (WLCG) require comprehensive simulation tools for evaluating performance, testing new algorithms, and optimizing resource allocation strategies. However, existing simulators suffer from limited scalability, hardwired algorithms, lack of real-time monitoring, and inability to generate datasets suitable for modern machine learning approaches. We present CGSim, a simulation framework for large-scale distributed computing environments that addresses these limitations. Built upon the validated SimGrid simulation framework, CGSim provides high-level abstractions for modeling heterogeneous grid environments while maintaining accuracy and scalability. Key features include a modular plugin mechanism for testing custom workflow scheduling and data movement policies, interactive real-time visualization dashboards, and automatic generation of event-level datasets suitable for AI-assisted performance modeling. We demonstrate CGSim’s capabilities through a comprehensive evaluation using production ATLAS PanDA workloads, showing significant calibration accuracy improvements across WLCG computing sites. Scalability experiments show near-linear scaling for multi-site simulations, with distributed workloads achieving 6 × better performance compared to single-site execution. The framework enables researchers to simulate WLCG-scale infrastructures with hundreds of sites and thousands of concurrent jobs within practical time budget constraints on commodity hardware.

Vatsavai, Sairam Sri [Brookhaven National Laborato↗

A Non-perturbative Approach to Computing Seismic Normal Modes in Rotating Planets

In this work, a continuous Galerkin method based approach is presented to compute the seismic normal modes of rotating planets. Special care is taken to separate out the essential spectrum in the presence of a fluid outer core using a polynomial filtering eigensolver. The relevant elastic-gravitational system of equations, including the Coriolis force, is subjected to a mixed finite-element method, while self-gravitation is accounted for with the fast multipole method. Our discretization utilizes fully unstructured tetrahedral meshes for both solid and fluid regions. The relevant eigenvalue problem is solved by a combination of several highly parallel and computationally efficient methods. We validate our three-dimensional results in the non-rotating case using analytical results for constant elastic balls, as well as numerical results for an isotropic Earth model from standard “radial” algorithms. We also validate the computations in the rotating case, but only in the slowly-rotating regime where perturbation theory applies, because no other independent algorithms are available in the general case. The algorithm and code are used to compute the point spectra of eigenfrequencies in several Earth and Mars models studying the effects of heterogeneity on a large range of scales.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗