Acquisition of a High Performance Parallel Workstation Cluster for Research in Mechanics of Materials

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9871240BowerThis action is in response to the Major Research Instrumentation Initiative MRI'98 (NSF 98-16). The purpose is to add a cluster of high performance workstations to the Computational Mechanical Research Facility at Brown University. The cluster is connected to form a dedicated, high speed parallel computing environment, and is used to strengthen the activities of the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) at Brown University. The primary objective of MRSEC supported research is to develop and apply novel computational methods to understand how phenomena at the atomic scale (with nanometer dimensions) and microstructural scale (with micron dimensions) determine the mechanical, electronic and optical properties of materials. Several significant advances have been made towards this goal in recent years, including: development of the quasi-eontinuum method, which couples atomistic simulation techniques with adaptive finite element analysis; development of discrete dislocation models of plasticity; development of sharp interface and phase field models of microstructures evolution in stressed solids; development of finite element methods for computing strain effects on the electronic properties of semiconductors; and the development of physically-based models of fracture, which use microsructural properties of materials to predict the fracture resistance of structures. The facility is to be used to develop and apply scalable, parallel algorithms for simulating material behavior at a range of length scales and incorporating coupled physical processes. An immediate impact of the facility is to allow realistic three-dimensional simulations of material behavior to be run routinely. Further progress requires a systematic application of these techniques to explore fully the fundamental mechanisms of deformation and failure in materials. This facility provides the necessary computing power for this effort, and holds the promise of major breakthroughs in understanding the behavior of materials.