High Performance Computing Modernization Program

HPC Software Applications Institutes, or HSAIs, are cross-disciplinary projects funded by the HPCMP but executed in the DoD labs. The HSAI program both develops tools to solve important computational problems facing the DoD and build organic HPC expertise within the department.[10]

The High Performance Computing Modernization Program's (HPCMP) User Productivity Enhancement and Training (PET) program gives users access to computational experts with experience spanning a wide variety of HPC technical areas. The PET Team is available to help HPC users become more productive using HPCMP resources with the goal of expediting milestones and reducing overall costs related to technological development to DoD users.[11]

In addition to internal expertise, the PET Team also provides virtual training on effective usage of software, hardware, networking, data transfer, data storage, and visualization of data. PET facilitates and promotes the transfer of scientific and technical knowledge between HPCMP users and the broader computational communities, including DoD and other federal agencies. Help in specific Technical Thrust Areas (TTAs) provide a wide range of expertise including, but not limited to, new delivery methods, emerging hardware exploration, High Performance Data Analytics (HPDA), debugging software, performance improvement with user codes, scalability issues, and porting of software to emerging hardware.[11]

PET offers three modes of support depending on the type, duration, and level of user support required:

• Mission Projects (MPs): Mission Projects are designed to assist users with solving complex issues in mission-critical areas. MPs will last anywhere from 1 to 12 months in duration. PET Team scientists will advise and assist in developing, applying, and/or using algorithms and in maximizing usage of existing software.
• Special Projects (SPs): Concentrated efforts involving separately funded projects that may include PET Team support staff or other subcontractors for project/user specific challenges.
• Training: Trains the HPC community in applicable tools and technologies using the latest collaboration, distance learning, and training technologies.[11]

CREATE is a federated program approved in the DoD 2006 Program Objective Memorandum (POM) process, with funding starting in 2008. The CREATE Program is part of the Tri-Service Department of Defense (DoD) High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP). The HPCMP is executed by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) Information Technology Laboratory (ITL) in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

The charter of CREATE is to reduce the cost, time, and risks of DoD acquisition programs by developing and deploying multidisciplinary, physics-based software applications for the design and analysis of military aircraft, naval ships, and radio frequency antenna systems (expanded to include ground vehicles in 2012) by DoD engineering organizations.

The CREATE software product portfolio was established to enable physics-based virtual prototyping and testing analysis for major DoD acquisition programs and include the following program areas:

• Air vehicle design (AV)
• Foundational technologies (FT)
• Ground vehicle design (GV)
• Radio frequency antenna design (RF)
• Ship design (SH)
• Educational software (Genesis)

CREATE-AV – Air Vehicle Products

Kestrel – Fixed-wing Design and Analysis

High-fidelity, multi-disciplinary analysis platform supporting a wide range of coupled physics to include: aerodynamics, thermochemistry, structural dynamics, thermodynamics, propulsion and flight controls.

Helios – Rotorcraft Design and Analysis

High-fidelity aero-structural software for coupled CFD/CSD analysis of rotary-wing aircraft: aerodynamics, structural dynamics and trim, maneuver, interactional aerodynamics, and air-launched effects.

ADAPT - Aircraft Design, Analysis, Performance, and Trade-space

Multi-disciplinary Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) environment enabling designers to support DoD fixed-wing aircraft pre-program requirements development.

CREATE-FT – Foundational Technologies Product

Capstone – Geometry, Mesh and Attribution Generation

Software platform to create, modify, and query geometry mesh and attribution information to define a numerical representation (digital model) for physics-based simulation of complex engineering systems.

CREATE-GV – Ground Vehicle Product

Mercury – Ground Vehicle Design and Analysis

Integrates the physics domains of vehicle dynamics, powertrain, tire-soil and track-soil interaction, and driver and control models, enabling multiple performance tests such as ride quality, discrete-obstacle shock, soft-soil mobility, sand slope climbing, maximum speed, lane change stability, and circular turn stability.

CREATE-RF – Radio Frequency Antenna Products

SENTRi – Antenna Modeling, Design and Analysis

Modeling of complex structures, including highly heterogeneous material structures with multi-scaled features to include: dielectric, magnetic, impedance boundary conditions, and complex valued resistive sheets.

FLO-K – Antenna Rapid Design Tool

Rapid design tool for periodic structures such as frequency selective surfaces, phased array antennas and band gap structures, including full three-dimensional structures with dielectric, magnetic, and impedance sheets.

Aurora – Antenna Pattern Prediction Tool

Accurate prediction of antenna patterns for complex platform integration analysis.

CREATE-SH – Ships Products

RSDE – Concept Design

Concept design tool that allows for the assessment of a spectrum of competing performance parameters in ship design to include: range, speed, armament, aviation support, varying hull form size and shape, systems, structures, powering, and payloads.

IHDE – Integration, Design and Analysis

Enables the integration of a suite of hull form design and analysis tools for users to evaluate hydrodynamic performance (including visualization) in areas of resistance, seakeeping, hydrodynamic loads, and operability in the form of percent time operable (PTO).

NavyFOAM – Ship Modeling and Analysis

Enables high-fidelity hydrodynamic analysis and prediction of ship performance, including resistance, propulsion, maneuvering, seakeeping, and seaway loads.

NESM – Multi-physics Toolkit

Extends the Department of Energy Sandia National Laboratory’s multi-physics toolkit, Sierra Mechanics, to provide a means to assess ship and component response to external shock and blast.

ISDE – Structural Analysis

A multi-fidelity structural analysis environment to address the inadequacies in current structural design tools by providing a computational data-bridge between structural concept design, first order assessments, and detailed FEA while introducing the design capabilities needed for future Navy requirements.

CREATE-Genesis – Tool Suite for Aerospace Education

Genesis CFD – Fluid Dynamics Analysis

Provides basic computational fluid dynamics analysis capabilities to include: single mesh unstructured Navier-Stokes solver (core count constrained), motion (prescribed and 6-DOF), modal model based aeroelastic structures, and 0-D linear engine model for propulsion boundary conditions.

Capstone – Geometry, Mesh and Attribution Generation

Software platform to create, modify, and query geometry mesh and attribution information to define a numerical representation (digital model) for physics-based simulation of complex engineering systems.

ADAPT - Aircraft Design, Analysis, Performance, and Trade-space

Multi-disciplinary Analysis and Optimization (MDAO) environment enabling designers to support DoD fixed-wing aircraft pre-program requirements development.