Stories

EuroCC Belgium met Marianne Ghyoot, Director of Research & Innovation at Biowin, the Health Cluster of Wallonia to talk about the strategic role of HPC in research, development, and production of innovative products. Discover the full interview of Marianne Ghyoot on our website 👉

Looking to cool off during a scorching heatwave 🥵? Head to the forest 🌳—it's not just beautiful, it's also cooler thanks to thermal buffering. But did you know traditional weather stations often miss these cooler spots? They typically generate macroclimate data and miss out on what is really important for many species living close to the ground (the microclimate). The research lab sGlobe (KULeuven) aims to unravel the drivers and impact of microclimate conditions. sGlobe combines big data with state-of-the-art modelling techniques like machine learning and species distribution models to study the effects of climate change on forest life. Dive into this user story and discover how supercomputing powers this vital research.

We are very saddened to hear about the passing of KULeuven professor Giovanni Lapenta. He worked on the largest supercomputers in the world and he was also one of the pilot users on the LUMI supercomputer with the LIFTHASIR project. Read our interview with prof. Lapenta

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.

Researchers at the University of Namur have simulated a section of a cell membrane with unprecedented fidelity using the LUMI Supercomputer. In this user story, discover how they used this simulation to better understand how to determine the cell composition using conventional spectroscopy.

Did you know mathematics and supercomputing can help treat burn injuries? Prof. Fred Vermolen (UHasselt) uses mathematical modelling to simulate changes in the skin caused by burn injuries. Discover more in this user story!

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.

In his PhD, Mats Denayer (General Chemistry Research Group of Vrije Universiteit Brussel) developed a new computer-based protocol to predict whether polymers will dissolve in certain liquids (solvents). Proven valid, the program can be used for polymer recycling. Mats' research fits within the context of transitioning to a circular economy through the development of (polymer) recycling processes.

Finding means to fight climate change is a major target of today's scientific research. To this aim, it is essential to limit greenhouse gas emissions, for instance by replacing fossil fuels with alternatives such as biogas or hydrogen, or by combining power and heat generation. Maintaining complete and stable combustion in such unconventional conditions is not straightforward. In this user story, Alessio Pappa explains how his research can help design better combustors for sustainable energy production.

Whether it's designing more efficient wind turbines ⚡, faster cars 🏎️, or more fuel-efficient aircraft ✈️, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is an essential tool for researchers. To obtain accurate results, it is sometimes necessary to describe complex structures with great precision, which can require very substantial computing resources; hence, the use of supercomputers. However, implementing CFD methods efficiently on HPC infrastructures is not straightforward, as a lot of communication is inherently required between the different processing units of the supercomputer. In this user story, Pierre Balty, from Ph. Chatelain’s lab, explains where this limitation comes from and how they work on efficient parallelisation methods, pushing back the limits of what is possible in CFD.