Simulation Tools
New insight into independent control of ionic, electronic conductivity of materials
August 14, 2012 4:19 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have discovered a new method to independently control ionic and electronic conductivities in certain solids. The method, which uses tailored acceptor-donor co-doping to bind charged native vacancies and selectively modulate ionic but not electronic conductivity, was developed by using first-principles materials simulations.
3D facial reconstruction tools “shaves” faces virtually
August 13, 2012 4:48 am | News | CommentsConventional face capturing is well established and widely utilized in the entertainment industry to capture a 3D model of an actor's face. However, up to now, no method was capable of reconstructing facial hair or even handling it appropriately. A new method developed at Disney Research in Switzerland captures individual strands of facial hair and stores them separately from the actual human face until added. Or “shaved” away.
Researchers unlock secret of the rare twinned rainbow
August 7, 2012 6:25 am | News | CommentsScientists have yet to fully unravel the mysteries of rainbows, but an international team of scientists have used simulations of these natural wonders to unlock the secret to a rare optical phenomenon known as the twinned rainbow. Unlike the more common double-rainbow, which consists of two separate and concentric rainbow arcs, the elusive twinned rainbow appears as two rainbows arcs that split from a single base rainbow.
Team aims to broaden researcher access to protein simulation
August 7, 2012 4:06 am | News | CommentsUsing just an upgraded desktop computer equipped with a relatively inexpensive graphics processing card, a team of computer scientists and biochemists at the University of California, San Diego has developed advanced GPU accelerated software and demonstrated, for the first time, that this approach can sample biological events that occur on the millisecond timescale.
Animation research could offer control of skeleton-free characters
August 3, 2012 7:45 am | News | CommentsWhile bipeds and quadrupeds have reigned supreme in CG animation, attempts to create and control their skeleton-free cousins using similar techniques has proved time-consuming and laborious. Georgia Institute of Technology researchers have found a possible solution to this challenge by developing a way to simulate and control movement of computer-generated characters without a skeletal structure, anything from starfish and earthworms to an elephant’s trunk or the human tongue.
The culprit that polluted the solar system
August 3, 2012 5:32 am | News | CommentsFor decades it has been thought that a shock wave from a supernova explosion triggered the formation of our Solar System. Material from the exploding star generated cloud of dust and gas, which collapsed to form the Sun and its surrounding planets. New work from the Carnegie Institution provides the first fully 3D models for how this process could have happened.
Simulated: Worldwide increase of air pollution
August 3, 2012 5:00 am | News | CommentsScientists in Europe have recently completed a study of global pollution levels by simulating the atmosphere using the chemical atmospheric model EMAC. The research is the first include all five major air pollutants known to negatively impact human health: nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter smaller than 2.5-?m. China, India, and the Middle East are shown to be especially at risk.
Entropy can lead to order, paving the route to nanostructures
July 26, 2012 10:42 am | News | CommentsResearchers trying to herd tiny particles into useful ordered formations have found an unlikely ally: entropy, a tendency generally described as "disorder." Computer simulations by University of Michigan scientists and engineers show that the property can nudge particles to form organized structures. By analyzing the shapes of the particles beforehand, they can even predict what kinds of structures will form.
Data visualization tool helps find the 'unknown unknowns'
July 26, 2012 3:30 am | News | CommentsA research team at the Georgia Tech Research Institute has developed a software tool that enables users to perform in-depth analysis of modeling and simulation data, then visualize the results on screen. The new data analysis and visualization tool offers improved ease of use compared to similar tools, the researchers say, and could be readily adapted for use with existing data sets in a variety of disciplines.
3D motion and common cold virus offers hope for improved drugs
July 16, 2012 6:28 am | News | CommentsUniversity of Melbourne researchers are now simulating in 3D the motion of the complete human rhinovirus, the most frequent cause of the common cold, on Australia's fastest supercomputer, paving the way for new drug development.
New simulation method avoids mesh generation, speeds process
July 15, 2012 3:28 pm | News | CommentsComputer simulations are indispensable, but standard finite element technology requires designers to carry out a time-consuming and often error-prone mesh generation step that transfers the computer-aided design (CAD) model into the simulation model. A student in Germany has just accelerated this process by directly integrating the CAD geometry into the finite element analysis, circumventing any mesh generation.
Peering into the heart of a supernova
July 12, 2012 6:32 am | News | CommentsUsing computer simulations, researchers from the California Institute of Technology have determined that if the interior of a dying star is spinning rapidly just before it explodes in a magnificent supernova, two different types of signals emanating from that stellar core will oscillate together at the same frequency. This could be a piece of "smoking-gun evidence" that would lead to a better understanding of supernovae.
Princeton researchers working at forefront of 'exascale' supercomputing
June 28, 2012 10:22 am | News | CommentsScientists at Princeton University are composing the complex codes designed to instruct a new class of powerful computers that will allow researchers to tackle problems that were previously too difficult to solve. These supercomputers, operating at a speed called the "exascale," will produce realistic simulations of complex phenomena in nature such as fusion reactions, earthquakes, and climate change.
ORNL, UTK team maps the nuclear landscape
June 27, 2012 10:38 am | News | CommentsAn Oak Ridge National Laboratory and University of Tennessee team has used the Jaguar supercomputer to calculate the number of isotopes allowed by the laws of physics. The team used a quantum approach known as density functional theory, applying it independently to six models of the nuclear interaction to determine that there are about 7,000 possible combinations of protons and neutrons allowed in bound nuclei with up to 120 protons.
X-ray vision exposes aerosol structures
June 27, 2012 9:23 am | News | CommentsResearchers at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the most detailed images to date of airborne soot particles, a key contributor to global warming and a health hazard. The discovery reveals the particles' surprisingly complex nanostructures and could ultimately aid the understanding of atmospheric processes important to climate change, as well as the design of cleaner combustion sources, from car engines to power plants.
Researchers establish structure of a new superhard form of carbon
June 27, 2012 5:38 am | News | CommentsAn international team led by Stony Brook University has established the structure of a new form of carbon. The team used a novel computational method to demonstrate that the properties of what had previously been thought to be only a hypothetical structure of a superhard form of carbon called "M-carbon" matched perfectly the experimental data on "superhard graphite."
Researchers use computer model to probe mysteries of human immune system
June 25, 2012 4:21 am | News | CommentsA new computational model developed by a team of Virginia Tech researchers provides a framework to better understand responses of macrophage cells of the human immune system. The Virginia Tech team used the Metropolis algorithm, a computer simulation technique widely used in physics and chemistry, to enumerate possible molecular mechanisms giving rise to priming and tolerance.
Technique allows simulation of noncrystalline materials
June 22, 2012 3:36 am | by David Chandler, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA multidisciplinary team of researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and in Spain has found a new mathematical approach to simulating the electronic behavior of noncrystalline materials, which may eventually play an important part in new devices including solar cells; organic LED lights; and printable, flexible electronic circuits.
Aircraft engineered with failure in mind may last longer
June 15, 2012 3:46 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsComplex systems inhabit a "gray world" of partial failures, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Olivier de Weck says: While a system may continue to operate as a whole, bits and pieces inevitably degrade. Over time, these small failures can add up to a single catastrophic failure, incapacitating the system. However, De Weck and his colleagues have created a design approach that tailors planes to fly in the face of likely failures.
Repelling the drop on top
June 7, 2012 5:28 am | News | CommentsLife would be a lot easier if the surfaces of window panes, corrosion coatings or microfluidic systems in medical labs could keep themselves free of water and other liquids. A new simulation program developed by researchers in Germany can now work out just how such surfaces have to look for a variety of applications.
Research identifies precise measurement of radiation damage
June 5, 2012 6:42 am | News | CommentsLawrence Livermore National Laboratory researchers have for the first time identified a precise measurement of the amount of radiation damage that will occur in any given material. With a full understanding of the early stages of the radiation damage process, researchers are provided with better knowledge and tools to manipulate materials to our advantage.
Nuclear weapon simulations show performance in molecular detail
June 5, 2012 6:26 am | News | CommentsU.S. researchers are perfecting simulations that show a nuclear weapon's performance in precise molecular detail. Because international treaties forbid the detonation of nuclear test weapons, tools that can accurately depict an explosion are becoming critical for national defense.
Quantum computers will simulate particle collisions
May 31, 2012 11:13 am | News | CommentsQuantum computers are still years away, but a trio of theorists has already figured out at least one talent they may have. According to the theorists, physicists might one day use quantum computers to study the inner workings of the universe in ways that are far beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputers.
How ion bombardment reshapes metal surfaces
May 23, 2012 4:28 am | News | CommentsIon bombardment of metal surfaces is an important, but poorly understood, nanomanufacturing technique. New research using sophisticated supercomputer simulations has shown what goes on in trillionths of a second. The advance could lead to better ways to predict the phenomenon and more uses of the technique to make new nanoscale products.
COMSOL releases Multiphysics Version 4.3
May 21, 2012 1:36 pm | News | CommentsMultiphysics, COMSOL’s software environment for modeling and simulating any physics-based system, recently received a major update. New capabilities in version 4.3 include three new discipline-specific add-on modules, fast and powerful meshing, a new "Double Dogleg" solver for mechanical contact and highly nonlinear simulations, and numerous user-inspired enhancements.
