Computational Fluid Dynamics

As part of our CFD work, we devise mathematical models, approximations, and parallel numerical methods for the numerical simulation of complex physical phenomena. Our attention currently focuses on the use of the spectral element method, which we have used to address diverse problems in microgravity, astrophysics, and fluid mechanics and heat transfer.

• Terascale spectral element algorithms: our high-performance fluid dynamics code achieved 380 gigaflops on 4096 processors on the ASCI-Red machine (in excess of one third of peak), winning a 1999 Gordon Bell Prize
• Geophysical Fluid Flow Cell experiments: our simulation results, which are in good quantitative agreement with the GFFC experiments, are important in understanding the deep atmospheres of planets and rotating stars.