Dr. Gihan Mudalige at the University of Warwick’s Department of Computer Science have been awarded an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) ExCALIBUR research grant as part of a consortium of researchers including the Science and Technologies Facilities Council (STFC), universities of Warwick, Newcastle, Cambridge, Southampton and led by Imperial College London.

This 3 year, £2.6M project brings together communities from the UK Turbulence Consortium (UKTC) and the UK Consortium on Turbulent Reacting Flows (UKCRF) to ensure a smooth transition to exascale computing, with the aim to develop transformative techniques for advancing their production simulation software ecosystems dedicated to the study of turbulent flows. It is part of the ExCALIBUR (Exascale Computing ALgorithms and Infrastructures Benefiting UK Research) programme, aimed at delivering the next generation of high-performance simulation software for the highest-priority fields in UK research.

The project will re-engineer or extend the capabilities of four key production and research flow solvers for exascale computing: XCOMPACT3D, OPENSBLI, UDALES and SENGA+ using the OPS Domain Specific Language framework and the 2DECOMP&FFT library. It will also combine exascale-ready coupling interfaces, UQ capabilities, I/O and visualisation tools to these flow solvers, as well as machine learning based algorithms, to address some of the key challenges and opportunities on turbulence research using exascale systems.

The work will be underpinned by four high-priority use cases (one for each solver), focusing on wind energy, green aviation, air quality and net-zero combustion. Exascale computing will be a game changer in these areas and will contribute to make the UK a greener nation and achieve its net zero carbon emissions goals.

The research project begins in December 2021.