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A system integration framework for coupled multiphysics simulations

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Abstract

Multiphysics simulations are playing an increasingly important role in computational science and engineering for applications ranging from aircraft design to medical treatments. These simulations require integration of techniques and tools from multiple disciplines, and in turn demand new advanced technologies to integrate independently developed physics solvers effectively. In this paper, we describe some numerical, geometrical, and system software components required by such integration, with a concrete case study of detailed, three-dimensional, parallel rocket simulations involving system-level interactions among fluid, solid, and combustion, as well as subsystem-level interactions. We package these components into a software framework that provides common-refinement based methods for transferring data between potentially non-matching meshes, novel and robust face-offsetting methods for tracking Lagrangian surface meshes, as well as integrated support for parallel mesh optimization, remeshing, algebraic manipulations, performance monitoring, and high-level data management and I/O. From these general, reusable framework components we construct domain-specific building blocks to facilitate integration of parallel, multiphysics simulations from high-level specifications that are easy to read and can also be visualized graphically. These reusable building blocks are integrated with independently developed physics codes to perform various multiphysics simulations.

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Acknowledgments

We thank many of our colleagues at CSAR, especially Damrong Guoy, Xiaosong Ma (now at NCSU), and Soumyadeb Mitra for their contributions to Roccom and service utilities, and Prof. Philippe Geubelle, Drs. Robert Fiedler, Luca Massa, Ali Namazifard, and Bono Wasistho for their input on the Rocman orchestration framework. The CSAR research program is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the University of California under subcontract B523819.

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Author notes

  1. Orion S. Lawlor

    Present address: Department of Computer Science, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Simulation of Advanced Rockets, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Xiangmin Jiao, Gengbin Zheng, Phillip A. Alexander, Michael T. Campbell, Orion S. Lawlor, John Norris, Andreas Haselbacher & Michael T. Heath

  2. College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332, USA

    Xiangmin Jiao

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  1. Xiangmin Jiao
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  2. Gengbin Zheng
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  3. Phillip A. Alexander
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  4. Michael T. Campbell
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  5. Orion S. Lawlor
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  7. Andreas Haselbacher
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  8. Michael T. Heath
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Correspondence to Xiangmin Jiao.

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Jiao, X., Zheng, G., Alexander, P.A. et al. A system integration framework for coupled multiphysics simulations. Engineering with Computers 22, 293–309 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-006-0034-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00366-006-0034-x

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