User story

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.

Photonics is the study of quantum light grains, the photons. Photonic devices can be designed using numerical simulations based on the equation of electromagnetism. But real systems are so complex that optimizing a device can be too computationally demanding, even for supercomputers. Fortunately, machine learning is a great help when it comes to optimization.

Did you know that supercomputing is used to improve chocolate? Fermentation is the first step in the production of chocolate. In this process, the activity of microorganisms contributes to the chocolate’s taste. The Research Group of Industrial Microbiology and Food Biotechnology (IMDO) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel deals with the qualitative and quantitative study of fermented food systems using methodologies including next-generation DNA sequencing. This technology provides unseen possibilities to investigate microbiomes involved in food fermentation processes but also implies growing datasets and databases, which in turn results in more computational requirements. For IMDO, the need for increasing computational capacity meant an informative journey from using their own cluster to using the VSC Tier-1 infrastructure. 

In a warehouse, orders have to be picked by order pickers. These order pickers have to visit the storage locations of the items on their pick list and retrieve the requested number of items. By combining similar orders on a single pick list, the travelling distance per order can be reduced. This increases efficiency and, thus, productivity.

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.

Over the last decades, the amount of CO₂ in our atmosphere has increased significantly. In the shorter term, one of these solutions is capturing CO₂ at point sources and converting the captured CO₂ into valuable chemicals. Prof. Kevin Van Geem and his team developed a gas-liquid vortex unit capable of that.

Galaxies are widely considered the basic building blocks of our Universe. Therefore, it is crucial to understand them to gain insight into the Universe. Cosmological hydrodynamic simulations are an increasingly popular method to study galaxy formation and evolution. In this user story Maarten Baes, prof. astrophysics at Ghent University explains how supercomputing is essential for their cosmological simulations.  

Martin Grignard (University of Liège) developed new simulation software, called Shamo. This package smoothly interfaces with existing tools to easily simulate the propagation of electromagnetic waves through the brain. Indeed, while this propagation is the basis of different medical techniques, interpreting the data correctly requires to take into account the complexity and uniqueness of each head.

Xavier Fettweis (University of Liege) developed a regional climate MAR model. In this user story Xavier explains how this model can be used on the CECI’s and Cenaero supercomputers to study the changes due to global warming, a challenging topic with extremely important implications.