IBM BlueGene/Q: Imploded bubbles can be harnessed for applications in healthcare and industrial technology.

This day marks another milestone for IBM and its set of partners. In fact, scientists at ETH Zurich, and IBM Research, in collaboration with the Technical University of Munich and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), have set a new record in supercomputing in fluid dynamics using 6.4 million threads on LLNL’s 96 rack “Sequoia” IBM BlueGene/Q.

According to IBM, the simulations resolved unique phenomena associated with clouds
of collapsing bubbles which have several potential applications including: 

•     improving the design of high pressure fuel injectors and propellers;

•     shattering kidney stones using the high pressure of the collapsing bubbles;

•     Emerging therapeutic modality for cancer treatment by using bursting bubbles to destroy tumorous cells and precise drug delivery 

Connectikpeople can observe that:

·        The team of scientists performed the largest simulation in fluid dynamics by employing 13 Trillion cells for flow simulations, 14.4 Petaflop sustained performance on Sequoia, 73 percent of the supercomputer’s theoretical peak.  

·        The simulations resolved 15,000 bubbles, a 150-fold improvement over previous research and a 20-fold reduction in time to solution.

Finally, Connectikpeople may recall that, these simulations are one to two orders of magnitude faster than any previously reported flow simulation. The last major achievement was earlier this year by a team at Stanford University which broke the one million core barrier, also on Sequoia.