Web platform architecture for CFD simulations and real-time analysis on HPC resources

The availability and continued growth of High Performance Computing (HPC) is opening new avenues for complex physics based software simulations. The usage of HPC is particularly important in high-fidelity Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) a branch of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) of multi-physics engineering problems such as the development of more efficient and less polluting advanced energy technologies. While the usage of HPC is wide spread in LES research, its adoption in commercial industries is still hindered by inherent complexities in utilizing these software tools. Therefore, Cascade Technologies, Inc. is proposing the development of a user-friendly web-based platform for utilizing its LES software Charles in HPC environments. Charles is a code developed using turbulence modeling methodologies resulting from DOE/NNSAs Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program at Stanford University. The overarching objective of the proposed work through Phases I and II is to
develop a web platform architecture that accomplishes two goals: (1) provides immediate value to Charles usability through its support of stand-alone user interface tools and (2) creates an end-to-end simulation framework within the web interface. Initially user interface (UI) tools will tackle challenges in software deployment, simulation setup, and real time analysis. These have been identified as areas where UI tools will not only simplify the use of Charles but further enable users to take advantage of the power of LES. For example, during a simulation in progress, an innovative tool allowing the engineer to interactively inspect the intermediate results, much like a radiologist inspects MRI images, will provide greater physical insight into computations. Ultimately, combining these tools into a unified framework will allow end-to-end LES simulations and the resulting big-data to be managed with the web-platform. The architecture employed will provide a model for other HPC codes requiring improvements in usability.