Two UCL projects awarded supercomputer slots

Links:

phys.ucl.ac.uk/" target="_self">UCL Physics & Astronomy

UCL Chemistry

PRACE

Two research projects based at UCL have been awarded access to the fastest supercomputer in Europe.

Research led by Dr Jochen Blumberger (UCL Physics & Astronomy) and Professor Peter Coveney (UCL Chemistry) has been allotted time by the Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe (PRACE).

The PRACE Research Infrastructure (RI) provides a persistent world-class High Performance Computing (HPC) service for scientists and researchers from academia and industry.

Dr Blumberger's research group has been awarded 24.6 million core hours to simulate and study the transport of electrons in organic solar cell materials.

Organic solar cells are seen as a promising alternative to conventional silicon-based solar cells. They are cheap and easy to produce, light and flexible, and easily deployed on windows, walls or roofs. 

However, their small light-to-electricity conversion efficiencies and limited durability have prevented widespread use and commercialisation so far.

Professor Coveney's research group has been awarded 17 million core hours to apply a novel methodology that efficiently utilises high-powered computers to study turbulent fluids.

The challenge of predicting the properties of turbulent fluids is sometimes hailed as the last great unsolved problem of classical mechanics. 

It is of practical relevance in areas as diverse as weather forecasting, transport and dispersion of pollutants, gas flows in engines, blood circulation and cosmology.

For more information, follow the links above.

Image: Computer chips.

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