Simulation Tools
Team assembles first complete map of Antarctic ice flow
August 18, 2011 11:02 am | News | CommentsWith the help of billions of data points captured by European, Japanese and Canadian satellites to weed out cloud cover, solar glare and other blocking features, NASA-funded researchers have created the first complete map of the speed and direction of ice flow in Antarctica.
DNA construction software saves time, resources and money
August 16, 2011 10:38 am | by Lynn Yarris | News | CommentsA number of software programs exist to facilitate recombinant DNA technology, one of the principal tools of modern biotechnology. But only one identifies which DNA construction strategy would be the most cost-effective: the Joint BioEnergy Institute’s j5 program.
Simulations forecast pipe fractures
August 15, 2011 4:31 am | by Jennifer Chu, MIT News Office | News | CommentsA computer model that tests automobile components for crashworthiness could also be of use to the oil and gas industry, according to researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT's) Impact and Crashworthiness Laboratory, who are now using their simulations of material deformation in car crashes to predict how pipes may fracture in offshore drilling accidents.
Join the hunt for the Higgs boson
August 11, 2011 9:26 am | News | CommentsCERN is looking few good FLOPS it can leverage to run more simulations of high-energy particle physics. These simulations, which are submitted to a central database from the user’s home computers, will provide scientists with theoretical references for measurements obtained at accelerators like the Large Hadron Collider.
Business Analytics Meets Post Processing
August 11, 2011 5:11 am | by Scott Imlay, PhD, CTO, Tecplot Inc., Bellevue, Wash. | Articles | CommentsSimulation analytics software combines the best of business analytics and post-processing tools for better designs based on CAE simulations.
Molecular Modeling Simulates Savings
August 11, 2011 4:58 am | by George Fitzgerald, PhD, Accelrys, San Diego, Calif. | Articles | CommentsSimulations using quantum mechanics and molecular force fields prove instrumental in developing ideal biosensors.
Simulating Soldier Safety
August 11, 2011 4:46 am | by Simulia, Providence, R.I. | Articles | CommentsARDEC engineers use Abaqus simulation software to analyze and improve strength of armor subjected to blast waves.
Oceanic crust recycles itself much faster than previously thought
August 10, 2011 12:29 pm | News | CommentsAccording to the latest studies of volcanic samples, rock of the oceanic crust, which sinks deep into the earth due to the movement of tectonic plates, reemerges through volcanic eruptions after around 500 million years. Geologists had thought this process would take about 2 billion years.
Computers synthesize the rush of fire to go with graphics
August 10, 2011 10:46 am | by Bill Steele | News | CommentsRapid movement of heated gases generates the high-frequency sounds that are important to a convincing computer animation, such as that of a fire-breathing dragon. Cornell University researchers are finding ways to digitally create sounds that conventional recordings sometimes can’t supply.
Navy-funded flight dynamics app proves popular
August 4, 2011 4:49 am | News | CommentsA mobile phone app that teaches players about flight dynamics has been downloaded more than 33,000 times in the three weeks since it was launched, the Office of Naval Research reported Tuesday. Developed with partner Iridescent, the app focuses on the dynamics of bird flight and how it relates to Navy technology.
Earth's two moons? It's not lunacy, but new theory
August 4, 2011 4:45 am | by Seth Borenstein, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsSome astronomers are calling it the “big splat”. A computer model now shows how about 4.4 billion years ago two moons orbiting the Earth at last came together, morphing into one body over the course of about a day. Not everyone is sold on the theory, however.
Cyber-network to be world’s biggest digital R & D resource
July 28, 2011 1:16 pm | News | CommentsSeventeen institutions officially joined forces last week to link computers, data and people from around the world to establish a single, virtual system, called XSEDE, that scientists can interactively use to conduct research. The National Science Foundation-funded effort will build on the high-performance computing ground broken by TeraGrid.
Satellite captures 2011 Heat Wave in infrared
July 28, 2011 8:36 am | News | CommentsThose of us who haven’t found an ice cap to hide under in the United States have likely felt the heat from the now infamous “dome” that’s been moving across the country. NASA’s Aqua spacecraft has recorded a series of movies that track the movement of the heat wave that has sent temperatures up to 10 C warmer than normal.
Famed fossil isn't a bird after all, analysis says
July 28, 2011 8:28 am | by Malcolm Ritter, AP Science Writer | News | CommentsAnalysis of fossil traits suggests that the famed Archaeopteryx , long considered the evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds, is not really a bird at all. Chinese scientists, comparing hundreds of anatomical characteristics with other species, determined that the “first bird” has more in common with another dinosaur that became famous in the move Jurassic Park .
OSC lifts OSU land speed racer toward 400-mph goal
July 22, 2011 6:27 am | News | CommentsA team of engineering students at The Ohio State University’s (OSU) Center for Automotive Research (CAR) recently began running aerodynamics simulations at the Ohio Supercomputer Center (OSC), one of the first steps in the long and careful process of designing, building, and racing the fourth iteration of their alternative-fuel streamliner.
Ocean rising may continue even after warming stops
July 18, 2011 12:48 pm | by Daniel Stolte | News | CommentsResearchers have found that melting ice sheets contributed much more to rising sea levels than thermal expansion of warming ocean waters during the Last Interglacial Period. The results further suggest that ocean levels continue to rise long after warming of the atmosphere levels off.
1888 Edison recording may be first talking doll try
July 15, 2011 9:06 am | by Josh Lederman, Associated Press | News | CommentsBerkeley Lab researchers have recently recovered a 123-year-old recording made by Thomas Edison that is believed to be the world's first attempt at a talking doll and may mark the dawn of the American recording industry.
Geo-immersion tech allows virtual travel in real time
July 11, 2011 1:11 pm | by Miles O’Brien | News | CommentsUpon first glance, USC’s Cyrus Shahabi’s maps contain the typical landmarks we've become accustomed to seeing on Yahoo or Google Maps. But a closer look reveals maps pulsing with images of moving cars, scenes of bustling people, and shifting colors of changing traffic patterns, all in real time. The concept of geo-immersion is beginning to blend the real and virtual worlds together.
Scripps researchers discover new force driving Earth's tectonic plates
July 6, 2011 12:23 pm | News | CommentsScientists who study tectonic motions have known for decades that the ongoing "pull" and "push" movements of the plates are responsible for sculpting continental features around the planet. Now, evidence has been presented to support the idea that hot spots of magma plumes from deep in the Earth could propel plate motions around the globe.
Pushing the boundary with high carbon emission scenarios
July 5, 2011 5:01 am | News | CommentsUS and Swiss researchers have, for the first time, modeled a climate system with extremely high carbon emissions in an attempt to test the boundaries of the current computer simulation programs that inform us.
Neutrons, simulations reveal details of bioenergy barrier
June 16, 2011 6:21 am | News | CommentsA first of its kind combination of experiment and simulation at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory is providing a close-up look at the molecule that complicates next-generation biofuels.
The best animators know their physics
June 14, 2011 7:07 am | News | CommentsPhysicist Alejandro Garcia, a professor at San Jose State Univ., advises DreamWorks animators on how to create believable characters. With physics in mind, he and other scientists help animators make people walk right, dragons fly right, and explosions look real.
New method simplifies complex fluids for the first time
June 2, 2011 1:26 pm | News | CommentsA European research team has developed a microscopic theory that describes the interactions between the various components of a complex polymer mixture. Now that it has been experimentally proven by physicists through neutron scattering, the technique can be used to describe difficult fluids and draw realistic conclusions about the liquid’s behavior on the macroscopic scale.
A hot body could help ships reduce drag, save fuel
June 2, 2011 8:04 am | News | CommentsIn revisiting the 255 year-old Leidenfrost effect, which describes how a liquid produces an insulating vapor layer when contacting a solid hotter than its boiling point, researchers at the University of Melbourne and the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia have found a new way to reduce drag on large ships.
Randomness rules in turbulent flows
June 2, 2011 7:57 am | News | CommentsRecent studies of turbulent flow phenomena by a Johns Hopkins Univ. engineer have resulted in the astonishing proof of "spontaneous stochasticity", which basically means that objects placed in a turbulent flow – even objects that are identical and which are dropped into the same spot – will end up in different places. The study also upended a long-held belief about the “flux freezing” of magnetic lines those same flows.
