Improving High Performance Computing (HPC) Adoption in Engineering Simulation

In recent years, a new business cliché has emerged: “To out compute is to out compete”. In essence, the use of high performance computers for engineering simulation can help speed up design turnaround times, reduce time to market and increase competitiveness. The purpose of this seminar was to help promote the adoption of high performance computing throughout the engineering supply chain, from independent consultants to SMEs and large firms. 

The day started with an inspiring keynote talk, reflecting on the positive impact of high performance computing in the UK automotive sector. This was then followed by a presentation about the European SHAPE initiative, set up to help SMEs adopt this technology. The rest of the programme put perceived barriers to adoption into a more positive light: cost of access, lack of skills in the workforce, cyber security and the performance of commercial software.

The UK government has recently made significant investments in academic facilities, funding a new network of computing centres that are distributed geographically in all regions of the UK. One of the talks described this infrastructure and another outlined recent political, economic and cultural changes that should help UK firms adopt high performance computing. 

In addition to the main talks, vendors were invited to give short presentations about new services that make it easier for non-specialists to use high performance computers and cloud computing facilities remotely from the windows desktop.

Presentations

pres_searle.pdf 
Driving Virtual Engineering with High Performance Computing
Andy Searle, Jaguar Land Rover

pres_acel.pdf
Vendor talk: Applied Computing

pres_requena.pdf
SHAPE : A Tailored Pan European HPC Enabling Programme for Increasing the Competitiveness of European SME
Stephane Requena, GENCI France 

pres_transtec.pdf
Vendor talk- Transtec

pres_richards.pdf
UKe-Infrastructure for Enabling Research through the use of HPC
Andrew Richards, Oxford eResearch Centre

pres_engys.pdf
Vendor talk - ENGYS

pres_lapworth.pdf
Large Scale Industrial Simulations on Leadership HPC Systems
Leigh Lapworth, Rolls Royce Plc.

pres_ceetron.pdf
Vendor talk – Ceetron AS

pres_jones.pdf
Promoting HPC for the Benefit of UK Industry with a View from a UK Government e-Infrastructure Leadership Council Member
Andrew Jones, NAG Ltd. 

Vendor talk - Siemens

pres_symington.pdf
NAFEMS HPC Performance Benchmarks Initiative
Ian Symington, NAFEMS 

pres_cloudsme.pdf
Vendor talk - cloudSME UG

Data Centric Systems(DCS): Architecture and Solutions for High Performance Computing, Big Data and High Performance Analytics for Engineering Simulations
Chris Thompson, IBM Research UK

pres_altair.pdf
Vendor talk - Altair