Simulation Tools
Unusual earthquake gave Japan tsunami extra punch
May 24, 2011 11:54 am | by Louis Bergeron | News | CommentsThe earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 were generated on a fault that didn't rupture in the usual fashion, according to a study by researchers at Stanford Univ. and the Univ. of Tokyo. The quake’s motion amplified fault slip near the surface, causing violent seafloor sediment deformations previously seen only in computer simulations.
COMSOL expands multiphysics with Version 4.2
May 20, 2011 1:37 pm | Product Releases | CommentsThe latest version of the COMSOL Multiphysics simulation environment was recently launched by Burlington, Mass.-based COMSOL Inc. According to the company, core multiphysics improvements have accelerated simulation performance across the platform, and three new applications modules have been added.
Study: Earth's core is melting and freezing
May 18, 2011 12:07 pm | News | CommentsThe Earth is cooling from the inside out, causing the inner core of iron to slowing solidify. But research have brought scientists to the realization that the core is also undergoing melting. Using a computer model of convection in the outer core, together with seismology data, researchers now believe they know how and why the inner core does this.
Accelerating simulations of thin film growth
May 18, 2011 5:06 am | News | CommentsA Toledo, Ohio, physicist has implemented a new mathematical approach that accelerates some complex computer calculations used to simulate the formation of micro-thin materials.
Computer synapse analyzed at the nanoscale
May 16, 2011 6:11 am | News | CommentsMemory resistors, or memristors, are a newly invented but long-theorized circuit that can “remember” the total electronic charge that passes between them. Hewlett Packard and UC Santa Barbara researchers have recently used x-rays to map out the nanoscale physical and chemical properties of these electronic devices in unprecedented detail.
Carbon, carbon, everywhere; but not from the Big Bang
May 11, 2011 7:14 am | News | CommentsAs Star Trek is so fond of reminding us, we’re carbon-based life forms. But the event that jump-started the universe, the Big Bang, didn't actually produce any carbon, so where did it—and we—come from? An NC State researcher has helped create supercomputer simulations that demonstrate how carbon is produced in stars, proving an old theory correct.
The big picture: proteins in 3-D
May 9, 2011 6:57 am | by Miles O'Brien | News | CommentsFor decades chemistry professor James Hinton has used nuclear magnetic resonance to look at protein structure and function. But communicating his protein discoveries to students was difficult. With help from the Arkansas Bioscience Institute, Hinton worked with Virtalis in the UK to create an immersive 3-D virtual reality experience for studying proteins. The results have been dramatic.
SB Microsystems becomes COMSOL Certified Consultant
May 6, 2011 5:03 am | News | CommentsCOMSOL, Inc., developer of the COMSOL Multiphysics modeling and simulation environment for scientists and engineers, announces that SB Microsystems has achieved COMSOL Certified Consultant status.
New reactor research center to increase safety, output of U.S. nuclear
May 4, 2011 12:28 pm | News | CommentsThis week, the Department of Energy dedicated the Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL), an advanced research facility that will accelerate the advancement of nuclear reactor technology. Supercomputer modeling will be used to study the performance of light-water reactors and accelerate upgrades at existing plants.
Lufthansa Technik AG leverages simulation software from ANSYS
May 2, 2011 6:09 am | News | CommentsLufthansa Technik AG is leveraging simulation software from ANSYS to simulate wear and tear of aircraft components, particularly in jet engines, to prolong service intervals and to create new ways to repair used parts.
Researchers build time machine that allows visual exploration of space and time
April 25, 2011 5:53 am | News | CommentsResearchers at Carnegie Mellon Univ.'s Robotics Institute have leveraged the latest browser technology to create GigaPan Time Machine, a system that enables viewers to explore gigapixel-scale, high-resolution videos and image sequences by panning or zooming in and out of the images while simultaneously moving back and forth through time.
Physicists discover new way to visualize warped space and time
April 11, 2011 5:50 am | by Marcus Woo | News | CommentsWhen black holes slam into each other, the surrounding space and time surge and undulate like a heaving sea during a storm. This warping of space and time is so complicated that physicists haven't been able to understand the details of what goes on. By combining theory with computer modeling, however, Caltech researchers have now found a way.
Researchers merge gaming, simulation tools to create models for border security
April 5, 2011 6:19 am | News | CommentsWith funding from the Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP), researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a high-fidelity simulation and analysis program that aids policy and decision-makers tasked with making key procurements and funding choices.
Too real means too creepy in new Disney animation
April 4, 2011 6:54 am | by Ryan Nakashima, AP Business Writer | News | CommentsThe new 3-D movie “Mars Needs Moms” offers some of the most realistic animation yet from Robert Zemeckis, a producer known for photo-real treatments. This verisimilitude may prove a little too close to the real thing, prompting negative reactions among viewers who find the human-but-not-quite-human characters “creepy”.
Thermoelectric materials: recycling energy
March 31, 2011 5:50 am | News | CommentsThermoelectric materials are a hot new technology that is now being studied intensively by researchers funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Frontier Research Centers. An Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher is using neutron scattering and computer simulation to investigate the microscopic structure and dynamics of thermoelectric materials so that researchers can make them more efficient for new, energy-saving applications.
New model of protein folding helps researchers handle genomic data
March 22, 2011 5:23 am | by Larry Hardesty, MIT News Office | News | CommentsIn a series of recent papers, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have demonstrated a promising new technique for modeling protein folding. While not as accurate as some existing techniques, it is much more computationally efficient. Sophisticated, atom-by-atom simulations that run on hundreds of thousands of computers might take months to model a few milliseconds of protein folding. The researchers’ new technique can model the same process in minutes on a single laptop.
Modeling accelerators at near lightspeed
March 18, 2011 5:12 am | News | Comments"Tabletop" laser-plasma accelerators like BELLA promise high energies in short spaces. Modeling the acceleration of electrons by a laser beam moving through a plasma in 3D, however, has until now been an impractical challenge even for supercomputers. Borrowin a page from Albert Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity, Berkeley Lab researchers have perfected a way to accelerate calculations up to a million times faster.
Basketball: Optimal aim points for bank shots
March 11, 2011 6:09 am | News | CommentsNew research by engineers at North Carolina State Univ. show that you had a better chance of scoring that particular game-winning bucket with a bank shot than with a direct shot.
Simulation model shows importance of toes in body balance
March 11, 2011 4:04 am | News | CommentsResearchers are using a new model to learn more about how toe strength can determine how far people can lean while keeping their balance. The results could help in building robotic body parts that will closely imitate human movement, and might lead to a new generation of advanced prosthetics.
Computer simulations help solve solar mystery
March 3, 2011 4:53 am | News | CommentsThe Sun has been in the news a lot lately because it's beginning to send out more flares and solar storms. Its recent turmoil is particularly newsworthy because the Sun was very quiet for an unusually long time. Astronomers had a tough time explaining the extended solar minimum. New computer simulations imply that the Sun's long quiet spell resulted from changing flows of hot plasma within it.
Computational scientists use supercomputers to explore ice sheet dynamics
February 28, 2011 4:59 am | News | CommentsRecently, Rhode Island-sized chunks of ice have separated from Greenland and Antarctica, garnering worldwide attention. And, although ice sheet models are already used, the models are not easily adapted for use in global climate models. To help with this issue, the Scalable, Efficient, and Accurate Community Ice Sheet Model project began on Jaguar at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Scientists work to make personalized genomics affordable for patients
February 25, 2011 3:16 am | News | CommentsUsing Oak Ridge National Laboratory's Jaguar, a team is developing a nanopore approach, which promises a drastic reduction in time and costs for DNA sequencing. Their research reveals the shape of DNA moving through a single nanopore. As the DNA passes through the pore, the sequence of nucleotides is read by a detector.
NIST researchers entice two atoms to swap smallest energy units
February 24, 2011 4:32 am | News | CommentsPhysicists at NIST have for the first time coaxed two atoms in separate locations to take turns jiggling back and forth while swapping the smallest measurable units of energy. By directly linking the motions of two physically separated atoms, the technique has the potential to simplify information processing in future quantum computers and simulations.
Researchers use Jaguar to shed light on the last major dark spot in astrophysics
February 24, 2011 3:56 am | News | CommentsScientists began investigating the mysteries of space plasma decades ago but are still at a loss to explain many aspects of plasma's behavior, especially the random, chaotic movements known as turbulence. However, thanks to the help of Jaguar, researchers have been able to shed light on this mystery.
'Fingerprints' match molecular simulations with reality
February 22, 2011 6:53 am | News | CommentsA theoretical technique developed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory is bringing supercomputer simulations and experimental results closer together by identifying common "fingerprints."
