Kitware to Develop Simulation Workflow for the Department of Energy
Kitware today announces $150,000 in Phase 1 SBIR funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. The funding will be used to enable widespread adoption of high performance computing (HPC) functionality for small and medium-sized manufacturing firms by providing a suite of open source applications that address the complete simulation lifecycle. The project will address current hurdles of technology integration, interaction, and scalability.
The manufacturing industry has benefitted from the use of computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) technologies in terms of reducing the time and cost of development, while also increasing reliability. However, its full potential has yet to be realized due to the high costs currently associated with end-to-end workflow systems that restrict the majority of small to mid-sized manufacturing organizations, and the systems’ non-intuitive nature for researchers who are not simulation experts.
Additionally, the complexity and scale of data within manufacturing domains require HPC techniques to get the most from simulations. Existing systems address part of the simulation lifecycle, but none offer a complete solution.
“Many of the current tools used to address parts of the simulation lifecycle are rigid, expensive, and cumbersome for non-simulation experts,” said Robert O’Bara, Principal Investigator on this project for Kitware. “Our open-source solution will make it more realistic for organizations of all sizes and budgets to use HPC.”
The funded project will address these issues and streamline manufacturing workflows by developing a suite of open source applications based on a flexible framework and built upon existing open-source, HPC toolkits such as CGM, OpenCASCADE, MOAB, Meshkit, and ParaView. This project will specifically target the field of computational fluid dynamics; however, the applications are interchangeable, customizable, and can be easily modified to address various vertical markets. A consistent, intuitive graphical user interface will be used throughout the different applications in the suite, making it easy to use by experts and non-experts alike.
For more information on Kitware’s high performance computing capabilities and how they can be leveraged into your workflow, please contact a representative at kitware@kitware.com.