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Global Partnerships, Local Solutions
High Performance
Computing At UCT
From supercomputers to mobile technology, the field of High
Performace Computing has opened up a host of newpossibilities
for researchers, with some having played a key role in the
development of industry-standard computing languages and
software, and others contributing to emerging technologies in
taking healthcare to the next level.
H
igh Performance Computing (HPC) is an enabling technology that seeks to
improve the performance of computing applications. The interdisciplinary
nature of HPC research impacts on a wide range of applications; for example, a
carbohydrate simulation might be reduced from years to months, or digital 3D
content produced in real time rather than requiring minutes to generate. At UCT
there are number of researchers working on HPC, and a major theme of their
research is improving the speed of discipline-specific computational solutions.
The Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics (CERECAM)
has been in existence in various forms since 1981. During this period, it has grown
into a flagship research centre comprising 13 full-time academic staff members
from six departments spanning three faculties, and with networks across the world.
Consequently, inter-disciplinary thinking and activity have become firmly embedded
in the objectives of the centre.
The principal objective of CERECAM is to provide a coherent focus and point of
interaction at UCT for research and applications in the general area of non-linear
mechanics by promoting and supporting fundamental research, applied research,
and industrial interaction in the mechanics of structures, solids, and fluids. The
application of research that is facilitated through CERECAM is both broad and
varied: this ranges from the development and utilisation of HPC tools to study
the biomechanics of myocardial infarction (heart attacks) and the production
of biodegradable stents, to the computational aspects of flotation, leaching,
precipitation and crystallisation, which are important to the chemical process
industry, the mining industry and the environmental field.
Research areas of interest thus span a wide range that includes theoretical, computational
and experimental investigations in solid and fluid mechanics, with corresponding
research activities organised into a number of research programmes which range from
those of a fundamental nature to projects having a direct link to industry and other
applications. Areas of activity in solid mechanics include plasticity, structural mechanics
and fracture mechanics. In the domain of fluid mechanics, much activity is motivated by
problems in aerodynamics and in the mining industries. Beyond these traditional areas of
interest, biomechanics is a major area of activity, and particulate flow characterisation
has become established as a major focus in its own right.
During 2012, twelve postgraduate CERECAM students graduated, two of whom
were registered at the doctoral level. Thirty-three students continue their studies
through the centre, approximately two-thirds of whom are PhD candidates.