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Researchers working in the rather niche field of turbulence dynamics have set a new multi-core computing record, using a custom app to harness one million simultaneous processor cores to model supersonic jet sounds.
The million cores were provided by IBM’s monstrous Sequoia supercomputer, with a custom app developed by the Center for Turbulence Research combining the machine’s powerful processors to solve the complex fluid dynamics issue of jet engine noise.
And the picture above is the end result. The blue stuff is the calculated noise, the grey thing an engine nozzle. Adjusting the chevrons on the nozzle’s rim lets boffins adapt the sound output to suit. Also makes a pretty cool screensaver. [Stanford Engineering via The Register]
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That’s a milestone.
No, it’s a clearly a simulation of jet engine exhaust
In direction of Moore’s law
this is all CFD, don’t think it’s really that niche.
Exactly – there’s not many other uses for supercomputers. They’ve always been used for modelling, just now there’s probably more CFD and protein folding than nuclear reactions.
Sick, I’m doing my third year project on grid computing for tasks like CFD or FEM. Except I’ma use about 20 cores to test, not a million XD.