Industry user story

Find out in this user story how Antea Group Belgium got jump-started on the Tier-1 infrastructure with an exploratory grant of the Vlaams Supercomputer Centre (this VSC grant offers companies the opportunity to test their software on the Tier-1 supercomputer and determine how much compute time to purchase.) Antea Group Belgium uses computer models to simulate rivers' hydrological, hydrodynamic, and hydro-morphodynamic processes. For example, through simulations, they study how the Barebeek, a small but essential river between Brussels and Mechelen, behaves and changes due to water movement and the shape of the river bed. Detailed projects like these show how river modelling can make a difference in protecting society, saving the environment, and keeping our infrastructure safe.

Dr Matthew Evans, BEWARE Research Fellow at UCLouvain & Matgenix, explains how they are numerically testing thousands of materials to determine their properties, based on target properties, without having to synthesize them. Combined with machine learning, these simulations can help to greatly accelerate the search for the best materials to achieve specific goals.

Matchmaking is one of the services offered by VSC: finding the right partner to help solve research questions of users. In this case, VSC introduced Puxano to the Data Science Institute of UHasselt (DSI). DSI brings together over 150 researchers working in the broad field of data science across faculties and research groups at Hasselt University.

Besides computing infrastructure, VSC also offers a wide range of services to its users. One of these services is helping users to improve their software so it can run more efficiently on the VSC infrastructure. In the case of Mpacts, VSC recommended sorting the particles so that particles close in (simulated) space are also close together in computer memory. This programming technique made the software more efficient and, thus, faster.

In 2012, defects in the vessels of the nuclear reactors Doel 3 and Tihange 2 were reported by the Belgian federal agency of nuclear control. Tractebel and Cenaero collaborated to conduct numerical simulations to assess the structural integrity of the vessels and determine if the reactors could be safely restarted.

Simulation software Mpacts simulates the behaviour of particles through machines. The designs of the machine can be tested and improved in a software environment without having to build the actual machine.