Frontier Supercomputer Achieves Record 35 Trillion-Point Turbulence Simulation
Georgia Tech researchers used the world's most powerful supercomputer to simulate 3D turbulence at 35 trillion grid points, enabling advances in weather prediction and engineering design.
- Georgia Institute of Technology researchers reported on February 9, 2026, that they performed the largest DNS of turbulence on the Frontier supercomputer, published in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics.
- To test longstanding turbulence theories, researchers aimed to refine models and probe extreme localized fluctuations to improve weather prediction and vehicle and engine design, P. K. Yeung said.
- Using a 32,7683 periodic cube, the team simulated 35 trillion grid points at Reynolds number 2,500, producing visualizations with 5x and 25x zooms showing tornado-like negative fluctuations.
- Some data are publicly available at the Johns Hopkins Turbulence Database, and Charles Meneveau, JHTDB principal investigator, said the dataset is attracting significant interest for future publications.
- Using a multiresolution protocol and an INCITE allocation, the team ran many short high-resolution bursts atop longer lower-resolution runs, and P. K. Yeung said `This is a scale that exceeds the capacity of any other machine in the world`.
5 Articles
5 Articles
Supercomputer simulations test turbulence theories at record 35 trillion grid points
Using the Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have performed the largest direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulence in three dimensions, attaining a record resolution of 35 trillion grid points. Tackling such a complex problem required the exascale (1 billion billion or more calculations per second) capabilities of Frontier, the world's most…
The New Frontier of Fluid Turbulence Simulations: 35-Trillion Grid Points
Using the Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have performed the largest direct numerical simulation (DNS) of turbulence in three dimensions, attaining a record resolution of 35 trillion grid points. Tackling such a complex problem required the exascale...
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