{"686652":{"#nid":"686652","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Record-Breaking Simulation Boosts Rocket Science and Supercomputing to New Limits","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESpaceflight is becoming safer, more frequent, and more sustainable thanks to the largest computational fluid flow simulation ever ran on Earth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInspired by SpaceX\u2019s Super Heavy booster, a team led by Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/comp-physics.group\/\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESpencer Bryngelson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E and New York University\u2019s \u003Cstrong\u003EFlorian Sch\u00e4fer\u003C\/strong\u003E modeled the turbulent interactions of a 33-engine rocket. Their experiment set new records, running the largest ever fluid dynamics simulation by a factor of 20 and the fastest by over a factor of four.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team ran its custom software on the world\u2019s two fastest supercomputers, as well as the eighth fastest, to construct such a massive model.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EApplications from the simulation reach beyond rocket science. The same computing methods can model fluid mechanics in aerospace, medicine, energy, and other fields. At the same time, the work advances understanding of the current limits and future potential of computing.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team finished as runners-up for the 2025 Gordon Bell Prize for its impactful, multi-domain research. Referred to as the Nobel Prize of supercomputing, the award was presented at the world\u2019s top conference for high-performance computing (HPC) research.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFluid dynamics problems of this style, with shocks, turbulence, different interacting fluids, and so on, are a scientific mainstay that marshals our largest supercomputers,\u201d said Bryngelson, an assistant professor with the School of Computational Science and Engineering (CSE).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cLarger and faster simulations that enable solutions to long-standing scientific problems, like the rocket propulsion problem, are always needed. With our work, perhaps we took a big dent out of that issue.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Super Heavy booster reflects the space industry\u2019s move toward reusable multi-engine first-stage rockets that are easier to transport and more economical overall.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHowever, this shift creates research and testing challenges for new designs.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEach of Super Heavy\u2019s 33 thrusters expels propellant at ten times the speed of sound. As individual engines reach extreme temperatures, pressures, and densities, their combined interactions with the airframe make such violent physics even more unpredictable.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrequent physical experiments would be expensive and risky, so scientists rely on computer models to supplement the engineering process.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBryngelson\u2019s flagship\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/mflowcode.github.io\/\u0022\u003EMulticomponent Flow Code (MFC)\u003C\/a\u003E software anchored the experiment. MFC is an open-source computer program that simulates fluid dynamic models. Bryngelson\u2019s lab has been modifying MFC since 2022 to run on more powerful computers and solve larger problems.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn computing terms, this MFC-enhanced model simulated fluid flow resolution at 200 trillion grid points and one quadrillion degrees of freedom. These metrics exceeded previous record-setting benchmarks that tallied 10 trillion and 30 trillion grid points.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis means MFC simulations provide greater detail and capture smaller-scale features than previous approaches. The rocket simulation also ran four times faster and achieved 5.7 times the energy efficiency of comparable methods.\u0026nbsp; \u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIntegrating\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/arxiv.org\/abs\/2505.07392\u0022\u003Einformation geometric regularization (IGR)\u003C\/a\u003E into MFC played a key role in attaining these results. This new approach improved the simulation\u2019s computational efficiency and overcame the challenge of shock dynamics.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn fluid mechanics, shock waves occur when objects move faster than the speed of sound. Along with hampering the performance of airframes and propulsion systems, shocks have historically been difficult to simulate.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EComputational scientists have used empirical models based on artificial viscosity to account for shocks. Although these approaches mimic the physical effects of shock waves at the microscopic scale, they struggle to effectively capture the large-scale features of the flow.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInformation geometry uses curved spaces to study concepts of statistics and information. IGR uses these tools to modify the underlying geometry in fluid dynamics equations. When traveling in the modified geometry, fluid in the model preserves the shocks in a more natural way.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen regularizing shocks to much larger scales relevant in these numerical simulations, conventional methods smear out important fine-scale details,\u201d said Sch\u00e4fer, an assistant professor at NYU\u2019s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIGR introduces ideas from abstract math to CFD that allow creating modified paths that approach the singularity without ever reaching it. In the resulting fluid flow, shocks never become too spiky in simulations, but the fine-scale details do not smear out either.\u201d\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESimulating a model this large required the Georgia Tech researchers to run MFC on El Capitan and Frontier, the world\u0027s two fastest supercomputers.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe systems are two of four exascale machines in existence. This means they can solve at least one quintillion (\u201c1\u201d followed by 18 zeros) calculations per second. If a person completed a simple math calculation every second, it would take that person about 30 billion years to reach one quintillion operations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFrontier is housed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and debuted as the world\u2019s first exascale supercomputer in 2022. El Capitan surpassed Frontier when Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory launched it in 2024.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo prepare MFC for performance on these machines, Bryngelson\u2019s lab followed a methodical approach spanning years of hardware acquisition and software engineering.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn 2022,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/new-hardware-brings-students-closer-exascale-computing\u0022\u003EBryngelson attained an AMD MI210 GPU accelerator\u003C\/a\u003E. Optimizing MFC on the component played a critical step toward preparing the software for exascale machines.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAMD hardware underpins both El Capitan and Frontier. The MI300A GPU powers El Capitan while Frontier uses the MI250X GPU.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAfter configuring MFC on the MI210 GPU,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/group-optimizes-fluid-dynamics-simulator-worlds-fastest-supercomputer\u0022\u003EBryngelson\u2019s lab ran the software on Frontier for the first time during a 2023 hackathon\u003C\/a\u003E. This confirmed the code was ready for full-scale deployment on exascale supercomputers based on AMD hardware.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to El Capitan and Frontier, the simulation ran on Alps, the world\u2019s eight-fastest supercomputer based at the Swiss National Supercomputing Centre. It is the largest available system that features the NVIDIA GH200 Grace Hopper Superchip.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ELike with AMD GPUs,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/researchers-blazing-new-trails-superchip-named-after-computing-pioneer\u0022\u003EBryngelson acquired four GH200s in 2024\u003C\/a\u003E and began configuring MFC to the latest hardware innovation powering New Age supercomputers. Later that year, the J\u00fclich Research Centre accepted Bryngelson\u2019s group into an early access program to test JUPITER, a developing supercomputer based on the NVIDIA superchip.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/pancaked-water-droplets-help-launch-europes-fastest-supercomputer\u0022\u003EThe group earned a certificate for scaling efficiency and node performance\u003C\/a\u003E on the way toward validating that their code worked on the GH200. The early access project proved successful for JUPITER, which launched in 2025 as Europe\u2019s fastest supercomputer and fourth fastest in the world.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGetting the level of hands-on experience with world-leading supercomputers and computing resources at Georgia Tech through this project has been a fantastic opportunity for a grad student,\u201d said CSE Ph.D. student \u003Cstrong\u003EBen Wilfong\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cTo leverage these machines, I learned more advanced programming techniques that I\u2019m glad to have in my tool belt for future projects. I also enjoyed the opportunity to work closely with and learn from industry experts from NVIDIA, AMD, and HPE\/Cray.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEl Capitan, Frontier, JUPITER, and Alps maintained their rankings at the 2025 International Conference for High Performance Computing Networking, Storage and Analysis (\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/sc25.supercomputing.org\/\u0022\u003ESC25\u003C\/a\u003E). Of note, the TOP500 announced at SC25 that JUPITER surpassed the exaflop threshold.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe SC Conference Series is one of two venues where the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/top500.org\/\u0022\u003ETOP500\u003C\/a\u003E announces updated supercomputer rankings every June and November. The TOP500 ranks and details the 500 most powerful supercomputers in the world.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe SC Conference Series serves as the venue where the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.acm.org\/media-center\/2025\/november\/gordon-bell-climate-2025\u0022\u003EAssociation for Computing Machinery (ACM) presents the Gordon Bell Prize\u003C\/a\u003E. The annual award recognizes achievement in HPC research and application. The Tech-led team was among eight finalists for this year\u2019s award.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlong with Bryngelson, Georgia Tech members included Ph.D. students \u003Cstrong\u003EAnand Radhakrishnan\u003C\/strong\u003E and Wilfong, postdoctoral researcher \u003Cstrong\u003EDaniel Vickers\u003C\/strong\u003E, alumnus \u003Cstrong\u003EHenry Le Berre\u003C\/strong\u003E (CS 2025), and undergraduate student \u003Cstrong\u003ETanush Prathi\u003C\/strong\u003E.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESch\u00e4fer\u2019s partnership with the group stems from his previous role as an assistant professor at Georgia Tech from 2021 to 2025.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECollaborators on the project included \u003Cstrong\u003ENikolaos Tselepidis\u003C\/strong\u003E and \u003Cstrong\u003EBenedikt Dorschner\u003C\/strong\u003E from NVIDIA, \u003Cstrong\u003EReuben Budiardja\u003C\/strong\u003E from ORNL, \u003Cstrong\u003EBrian Cornille\u003C\/strong\u003E from AMD, and \u003Cstrong\u003EStephen Abbot\u003C\/strong\u003E from HPE. All were co-authors of the paper and named finalists for the Gordon Bell Prize.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m elated that we have been nominated for such a prestigious award. It wouldn\u0027t have been possible without the combined and diligent efforts of our team,\u201d Radhakrishnan said.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u2019m looking forward to presenting our work at SC25 and connecting with other researchers and fellow finalists while showcasing seminal work in the field of computing.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ESpaceflight is becoming safer, more frequent, and more sustainable thanks to the largest computational fluid flow simulation ever ran on Earth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInspired by SpaceX\u2019s Super Heavy booster, a team led by Georgia Tech\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/comp-physics.group\/\u0022\u003ESpencer Bryngelson\u003C\/a\u003E and New York University\u2019s \u003Cstrong\u003EFlorian Sch\u00e4fer\u003C\/strong\u003E modeled the turbulent interactions of a 33-engine rocket. Their experiment set new records, running the largest ever fluid dynamics simulation by a factor of 20 and the fastest by a factor of over four.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo construct such a massive model, the custom software ran on the world\u2019s two fastest supercomputers, as well as the eighth fastest.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team finished as runners-up for the 2025 Gordon Bell Prize for its impactful, multi-domain research. Referred to as the Nobel Prize of supercomputing, the award was presented at the world\u2019s top conference for high-performance computing (HPC) research.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Inspired by SpaceX\u2019s Super Heavy booster, a team led by Georgia Tech\u2019s Spencer Bryngelson and New York University\u2019s Florian Sch\u00e4fer modeled the turbulent interactions of a 33-engine rocket. Their experiment set new records, running the largest ever fluid "}],"uid":"36319","created_gmt":"2025-12-01 16:07:52","changed_gmt":"2025-12-08 20:29:59","author":"Bryant Wine","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-12-01T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2025-12-01T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"678734":{"id":"678734","type":"image","title":"SpaceX-Super-Heavy2.jpg","body":null,"created":"1764605279","gmt_created":"2025-12-01 16:07:59","changed":"1764605279","gmt_changed":"2025-12-01 16:07:59","alt":"2025 Gordon Bell Prize Rocket Simulation","file":{"fid":"262806","name":"SpaceX-Super-Heavy2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/SpaceX-Super-Heavy2.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/SpaceX-Super-Heavy2.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":116899,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/01\/SpaceX-Super-Heavy2.jpg?itok=1RgWJXGV"}},"678735":{"id":"678735","type":"image","title":"SHB-and-FS_SC25.jpg","body":null,"created":"1764605349","gmt_created":"2025-12-01 16:09:09","changed":"1764605349","gmt_changed":"2025-12-01 16:09:09","alt":"Spencer Bryngelson and Florian Sch\u00e4fer at SC25","file":{"fid":"262807","name":"SHB-and-FS_SC25.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/SHB-and-FS_SC25.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/SHB-and-FS_SC25.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":58329,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/01\/SHB-and-FS_SC25.jpg?itok=F_WZG0ey"}},"678736":{"id":"678736","type":"image","title":"Frontier-Hackathon.jpg","body":null,"created":"1764605398","gmt_created":"2025-12-01 16:09:58","changed":"1764605398","gmt_changed":"2025-12-01 16:09:58","alt":"Spencer Bryngelson Frontier Hackathon","file":{"fid":"262808","name":"Frontier-Hackathon.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/Frontier-Hackathon.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/12\/01\/Frontier-Hackathon.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":52329,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/12\/01\/Frontier-Hackathon.jpg?itok=fUbvKuxK"}}},"media_ids":["678734","678735","678736"],"related_links":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.cc.gatech.edu\/news\/record-breaking-simulation-boosts-rocket-science-and-supercomputing-new-limits","title":"Record-Breaking Simulation Boosts Rocket Science and Supercomputing to New Limits"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"654","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"166983","name":"School of Computational Science and Engineering"},{"id":"9153","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"10199","name":"Daily Digest"},{"id":"181991","name":"Georgia Tech News Center"},{"id":"3427","name":"High performance computing"},{"id":"168929","name":"supercomputers"},{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"190596","name":"space research"},{"id":"167880","name":"SpaceX"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39431","name":"Data Engineering and Science"},{"id":"193657","name":"Space Research Initiative"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EBryant Wine, Communications Officer\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:bryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ebryant.wine@cc.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}