For scientists and engineers, the process of improving the performance of engines and fuels feels a bit like driving on a one-lane highway. They must often develop and test their designs and prototypes one at a time, which slows the pace of innovation.
Computers can accelerate the process by simulating how fuels and engine designs affect performance and emissions. Yet most computers can handle only a handful of scenarios at once — too few to create a full picture of fuel performance during combustion.
Now researchers at the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory have moved the development process into the passing lane. For the first time, Argonne’s scientists and engineers pinpointed engine designs for a given fuel using the Mira supercomputer at the heart of the Argonne Leadership Computing Facility (ALCF), a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Read more.