Research at the Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LabSC) is on topical problems of critical importance to industry, the economy and society, and as such much of our work is commissioned by industrial partners. Our niche is the implementation of the latest research directly into industrial applications, focusing on strategic technologies of direct benefit to the industrial partner.
This is achieved by employing and training HPC-literate physical scientists and engineers, who work closely with their industrial counterparts. To this end, office space for short visits or/and long-term secondments is available to participating companies.
In this way, methodologies that would otherwise take many years (or never) to be used by industry, are introduced in a relatively short time into operational software. Moreover, the facilitation of technology transfer from one scientific/engineering discipline into another, amplifies the effectiveness and cost-efficiency of this approach.
Depending on the nature of the project, work is commissioned either by the University’s Research Office or by Cambridge Enterprise (a wholly owned subsidiary of the University of Cambridge, which is responsible for commercialisation arrangements of University research).
Boeing Case study
LabSC has been working with Boeing since 2011 on a number of different projects including ultrasonic excitation of aerospace substrates (to prevent icing on aircraft wings), lightning strike on aerospace composites and on additive manufacturing (laser melt of titanium powders).
This work has been highlighted in an article by the university communications office regarding the 20th anniversary of the strategic partnership with Boeing, see https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/Boeing.
The research was also featured in a 10-page article (and on the cover) of Boeing’s Innovation Quarterly. For the full article see: https://www.boeing.com/resources/boeingdotcom/features/innovation-quarterly/2023/02/IQ_2023_Q1_021423a.pdf.
Tokamak Energy Case Study
Scientists at Tokamak Energy Ltd and the Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LabSC) have teamed up to work on the development of advanced high performance computational multiphysics algorithms for the numerical simulation of nuclear fusion reactors.
Tokamak Energy (TE) is a leading global commercial fusion energy company who are developing compact spherical tokamaks with the aim of reaching commercial fusion power generation. TE are pioneering the development of high-temperature, superconducting magnets for tokamaks, which makes the compact, spherical design a viable option for future power stations.
The project aims to generate computational models that can capture the complex interacting physical processes inside a fusion reactor across a broader range of temporal and spatial scales than current models, thus moving closer to an operational predictive modelling capability. This would be the first step towards a multiphysics computational software framework for integrated whole-system simulations of tokamak reactors.
If your company is interested to work with our Lab, please contact Prof. Nikos Nikiforakis nn10005 at cam.ac.uk