Platform: Underpinning Technologies for Finite Element Simulation

Our team specialises in the development of finite element methods to computationally simulate fluid flow, particularly low Mach number, transient, separated fluid flows in complex geometries and in the presence of strong multiphysics coupling. These models can be used to make predictions and answer scientific questions in problems ranging from blood flow through an arterial bypass graft to the flow over components of a Formula 1 racing car to explaining how the ocean circulates or predicting the response of the Earth's climate to increased CO2 in the atmosphere. What unifies these flows is that they have common features, such as vortices, that occur across a huge range of sizes and times; these features have a critical effect on the phenomena being studied.

The range of these problem means that to address grand challenges such as the flow of blood in the numerous arteries of the human body, over a full Formula 1 car or the interaction of a massive array of tidal turbines, it is necessary to combine state-of-the-art modelling techniques with the capability to run models on massively parallel supercomputers.

In recognition of the recent changes in computer hardware, this platform will enable the group to promote the next generation of developers to provide general purpose software that takes advantage of cutting edge computer science to enable effective use of parallel computers using emerging hardware in a way that is accessible to fluid modelling experts as well as computer scientists. Hence this platform brings together a team of computer scientists and computational engineers in a fundamentally multidisciplinary project, with the dual aim of providing flexible, internationally respected and widely adopted software libraries, and of training young researchers in this emerging area.

This proposal has potential for high-impact with a direct route to applications both in science and in industry. This proposal directly targets the barriers to impact that prevent sophisticated computational modelling techniques from finding widespread application in industry and science. Software tools developed in the platform will support systematic, flexible mapping from the science and engineering "business requirements" of a computational modelling project right down to the gates and wires of a computational simulation.

Academic and industrial users of computational fluid dynamics software will benefit from this research since the outputs of the platform will give them access to robust performance-portable implementations of advanced methods. This includes our own industrial collaborators from Fujitsu, BAE Systems, Airbus, McLaren Racing, Rolls Royce, Arup Consulting, Atlantis Resources, SERCO, EDF, British Energy, AMEC, NDA, Shell, BP, Thales, Babcock & Wilcox, and HSE/NII. The next challenge for computational fluid dynamics is to become part of the digital economy as a replacement for physical prototyping for many of these industries, offering the prospect of massively-reduced design costs, as well as time to market since it enables companies to bid for contracts based on full knowledge of costs and performance potential. These savings and improvements in technology can be passed on to the public. We also collaborate with public sector research centres such as the National Oceanographic Centre in Southampton and Liverpool, and the British Antarctic Survey, for whom the improved modelling capability will enable them to better inform government policy on energy and the environment. The public would also benefit from any improvements in weather forecasting through links with the UK Met Office Parallel Dynamical Core project.

We will ensure the impact is maximised by holding a stakeholder input workshop at the start of the project, by engaging with our industrial partners on the steering board, and by placing our researchers on short internships aimed at disseminating our ideas and software and collecting industrial user needs.