Ahead of the Curve: Engineering Simulation for Computers of the Future

Modelling and simulation is a key element of research, development and design in engineering generally; it assists in the creation and optimisation of tools and methods across industries from aerospace to manufacturing to biomedical. Despite the significant supercomputing power available today, we are still surrounded by problems of great societal and economic significance with a complexity far beyond the reach of modern computation. Examples include direct numerical simulation for turbulence on real-life scales (e.g. an entire aircraft), patient-specific digital drug trials, accurate weather prediction over months, rather than days. Emerging technologies and exascale supercomputers will greatly improve our simulation capability, and there are several EPSRC and EU funded projects addressing the challenges to simulation on these systems. In the not-to-distant future however, quantum computers promise to revolutionise the information age and, accordingly, the potential for simulating complex engineering problems. While exascale systems may calculate at a quintillion flops, quantum computers may be theoretically unlimited in clock speed, hindered instead by matters such as information transmission time. Practical quantum computers in mainstream use remain many years away, and while there is a concerted effort in hardware development (in research and industry), comparatively little attention is being paid to numerical algorithm development for engineering simulation on these new devices. This project addresses this oversight by exploring the amenability of popular contemporary numerical algorithms to quantum computing. Algorithm comparisons will be carried out on emulated quantum systems and, if possible, algorithm enhancements suggested for a better fit to future non-deterministic architectures. A key deliverable will be the first framework for practical numerical algorithm development for quantum machines for use by engineers in modelling and simulation in the coming decades.

This project is forward-thinking, risky, and speculative, and so, at least in the short term, the areas of impact are likely to remain mostly academic in nature. Academic impact will be facilitated through collaborative visits with leading research centres for quantum computing in the UK, including members of the NQIT hub. These visits will be in addition to conference participation at international quantum computing conferences, and together will increase the likelihood of project success by allowing further expert input and scrutiny. Industrial impact will be initiated (in preparation for future bids/projects) through visits and knowledge exchange with relevant UK SMEs and multi-nationals, facilitated through existing University collaborative links and University business liaison. As this project is speculative in nature with returns anticipated over a longer time-frame than usual, school liaison and outreach are deemed particularly important impact activities. Given that it will likely be several decades before the research undertaken herein is used practically by the next generation of engineers, it may be those who are sat in school classrooms today who end up being the main users and beneficiaries of project findings.