Search NASA⌕ Search

SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Computer algorithm”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,657 records · Page 92

Robust and efficient variational fitting of Fock exchange

We propose a new variational fitting approach for Fock exchange that requires only the calculation of analytical three-center electron repulsion integrals. It relies on localized molecular orbitals and Hermite Gaussian auxiliary functions. The working equations along with a detailed description of the implementation are presented. The computational performance of the new algorithm is analyzed by benchmark calculations on systems with different dimensionality. Comparison with standard four-center and three-center electron repulsion integral Hartree-Fock calculations shows an excellent accuracy-performance relation.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Nanothermodynamics of large iron clusters by means of a flat histogram Monte Carlo method

The thermodynamics of iron clusters of various sizes, from 76 to 2452 atoms, typical of the catalyst particles used for carbon nanotubes growth, has been explored by a flat histogram Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm (called the σ-mapping), developed by Soudan et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 135, 144109 (2011), Paper I]. This method provides the classical density of states, g{sub p}(E{sub p}) in the configurational space, in terms of the potential energy of the system, with good and well controlled convergence properties, particularly in the melting phase transition zone which is of interest in this work. To describe the system, an iron potential has been implemented, called “corrected EAM” (cEAM), which approximates the MEAM potential of Lee et al. [Phys. Rev. B 64, 184102 (2001)] with an accuracy better than 3 meV/at, and a five times larger computational speed. The main simplification concerns the angular dependence of the potential, with a small impact on accuracy, while the screening coefficients S{sub ij} are exactly computed with a fast algorithm. With this potential, ergodic explorations of the clusters can be performed efficiently in a reasonable computing time, at least in the upper half of the solid zone and above. Problems of ergodicity exist in the lower half of the solid zone but routes to overcome them are discussed. The solid-liquid (melting) phase transition temperature T{sub m} is plotted in terms of the cluster atom number N{sub at}. The standard N{sub at}{sup −1/3} linear dependence (Pawlow law) is observed for N{sub at} >300, allowing an extrapolation up to the bulk metal at 1940 ±50 K. For N{sub at} <150, a strong divergence is observed compared to the Pawlow law. The melting transition, which begins at the surface, is stated by a Lindemann-Berry index and an atomic density analysis. Several new features are obtained for the thermodynamics of cEAM clusters, compared to the Rydberg pair potential clusters studied in Paper I.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Toward a machine-guided approach to energetic material discovery

In this article, we trained a machine learning (ML) model to connect microstructural details of an energetic material formulation to its performance for the purpose of guiding the discovery of new explosive formulations. Our hypothesis was that the algorithm would robustly learn the training data and produce an accurate surrogate model. Specifically, the algorithm learned the relationship between details of the void size distribution (VSD), initiating shock pressure, and the energetic material performance. We used realistic constraints on the VSD and a range of cases were ingested by a physically informed reactive flow model working within a hydrodynamic solver running on high-performance computing resources. The ML algorithm produced a surrogate model that accurately predicted known test points around the parameter space. In addition to the utility of the model and the process used for its development, we noted interesting comparisons between what we, the authors—subject matter experts, would heuristically conclude from the training data and the surrogate model predictions. We detected nuanced details that were missed by the surrogate model; however, these details are not important to an energetic material formulator. We concluded that the algorithm did indeed robustly learn the training data and produce an accurate surrogate model. We further concluded that the surrogate model is a powerful tool to guide the formulator in the absence of subject matter experts and limited-access computing resources.

42 ENGINEERING↗

WE-AB-207B-05: Correlation of Normal Lung Density Changes with Dose After Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (SBRT) for Early Stage Lung Cancer

Purpose: To investigate correlation of normal lung CT density changes with dose accuracy and outcome after SBRT for patients with early stage lung cancer. Methods: Dose distributions for patients originally planned and treated using a 1-D pencil beam-based (PB-1D) dose algorithm were retrospectively recomputed using algorithms: 3-D pencil beam (PB-3D), and model-based Methods: AAA, Acuros XB (AXB), and Monte Carlo (MC). Prescription dose was 12 Gy × 4 fractions. Planning CT images were rigidly registered to the followup CT datasets at 6–9 months after treatment. Corresponding dose distributions were mapped from the planning to followup CT images. Following the method of Palma et al .(1–2), Hounsfield Unit (HU) changes in lung density in individual, 5 Gy, dose bins from 5–45 Gy were assessed in the peri-tumor region, defined as a uniform, 3 cm expansion around the ITV(1). Results: There is a 10–15% displacement of the high dose region (40–45 Gy) with the model-based algorithms, relative to the PB method, due to the electron scattering of dose away from the tumor into normal lung tissue (Fig.1). Consequently, the high-dose lung region falls within the 40–45 Gy dose range, causing an increase in HU change in this region, as predicted by model-based algorithms (Fig.2). The patient with the highest HU change (∼110) had mild radiation pneumonitis, and the patient with HU change of ∼80–90 had shortness of breath. No evidence of pneumonitis was observed for the 3 patients with smaller CT density changes (<50 HU). Changes in CT densities, and dose-response correlation, as computed with model-based algorithms, are in excellent agreement with the findings of Palma et al. (1–2). Conclusion: Dose computed with PB (1D or 3D) algorithms was poorly correlated with clinically relevant CT density changes, as opposed to model-based algorithms. A larger cohort of patients is needed to confirm these results. This work was supported in part by a grant from Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

X-ray computed tomography using partially coherent Fresnel diffraction with application to an optical fiber

A reconstruction algorithm for partially coherent x-ray computed tomography (XCT) including Fresnel diffraction is developed and applied to an optical fiber. The algorithm is applicable to a high-resolution tube-based laboratory-scale x-ray tomography instrument. The computing time is only a few times longer than the projective counterpart. The algorithm is used to reconstruct, with projections and diffraction, a tilt series acquired at the micrometer scale of a graded-index optical fiber using maximum likelihood and a Bayesian method based on the work of Bouman and Sauer. The inclusion of Fresnel diffraction removes some reconstruction artifacts and use of a Bayesian prior probability distribution removes others, resulting in a substantially more accurate reconstruction.

Levine, Zachary H. (ORCID:000000029928276X)↗

OpenMP Parallelization and Optimization of Graph-Based Machine Learning Algorithms

In this paper, we investigate the OpenMP parallelization and optimization of two novel data classification algorithms. The new algorithms are based on graph and PDE solution techniques and provide significant accuracy and performance advantages over traditional data classification algorithms in serial mode. The methods leverage the Nystrom extension to calculate eigenvalue/eigenvectors of the graph Laplacian and this is a self-contained module that can be used in conjunction with other graph-Laplacian based methods such as spectral clustering. We use performance tools to collect the hotspots and memory access of the serial codes and use OpenMP as the parallelization language to parallelize the most time-consuming parts. Where possible, we also use library routines. We then optimize the OpenMP implementations and detail the performance on traditional supercomputer nodes (in our case a Cray XC30), and test the optimization steps on emerging testbed systems based on Intel’s Knights Corner and Landing processors. We show both performance improvement and strong scaling behavior. Finally, a large number of optimization techniques and analyses are necessary before the algorithm reaches almost ideal scaling.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Application of Backward Differentiation Formulas to Neutron Kinetics Problems

The neutron kinetics equations belong to the class of stiff equations for numerical time integration schemes. In this work, the accuracy and speed of algorithms based on backward differentiation formulas (BDFs) are studied with regard to point and spatial neutron kinetics problems. Using a BDF algorithm with the automatic selection of time step and order, solutions to a number of model problems with both a positive and negative reactivity insertion are analyzed. Plots of numerical cost dependences on local and global errors are presented. The results indicate that algorithms based on BDFs are highly efficient and that their application to nuclear reactor simulation is justified.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

FAIR Data and Interpretable AI Framework for Architectured Metamaterials

Our interdisciplinary effort successfully generated FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable) benchmark datasets for mechanical metamaterials while introducing a novel Artificial Intelligence (AI) framework known as Learning Refined Compositional Rules (LRCR). This framework was specifically designed to bridge the gap across varying computational length scales and extract the underlying physical mechanisms that connect a material's structural geometry to its bulk acoustic properties. Historically, the discovery of such structured materials relied heavily on human intuition or opaque, black-box optimization algorithms that were difficult to generalize. By combining interpretable machine learning techniques with rigorous experimental validation, this project established clear, generalizable design guidelines for tuning wave dispersion and controlling vibrations. Ultimately, the public availability of these structured datasets and algorithms will significantly reduce computational costs and accelerate the design of advanced multi-functional acoustic devices, offering broad societal impacts across fields like aerospace engineering, telecommunications, and biomedical implant design.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Computational Strategies for Scalable Genomics Analysis

The revolution in next-generation DNA sequencing technologies is leading to explosive data growth in genomics, posing a significant challenge to the computing infrastructure and software algorithms for genomics analysis. Various big data technologies have been explored to scale up/out current bioinformatics solutions to mine the big genomics data. In this review, we survey some of these exciting developments in the applications of parallel distributed computing and special hardware to genomics. We comment on the pros and cons of each strategy in the context of ease of development, robustness, scalability, and efficiency. Although this review is written for an audience from the genomics and bioinformatics fields, it may also be informative for the audience of computer science with interests in genomics applications.

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES↗

Computation of magnetic fields from field components on a plane grid

An algorithm is presented to calculate the field components of the magnetic field [B x (x, y, z), B y (x, y, z), B z (x, y, z)] at a point (x, y, z) in space, from the knowledge of the components [B x (x, y) = 0, z), B y (x, y = 0, z), B z (x, y = 0,z)] on a “reference plane”, which is normal to the y-axis at . The algorithm, which is a general one and is not restricted to fields with mid-plane symmetry is based on the Maclaurin series expansion of the magnetic field components at any point in space in terms of the distance (y) of the point from the reference plane. The coefficients of the Maclaurin series expansion are expressed in terms of the on-plane field components and their partial derivatives with respect to spatial coordinates (). The field components are usually generated from magnetic field measurements on a rectangular grid on the plane. This algorithm was employed in 1986 in the RAYTRACE computer code to help calculate the optical properties of magnets and of the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron (AGS) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). Here, a general mathematical formulation of this algorithm based on the differential algebraic method was presented by Makino in 2011. This paper presents the step by step derivation of the algorithm and provides the necessary formulas to be introduced by the reader in any computer code which requires the field components generated by magnetic devices. In addition provides an example of the use of the algorithm and its limitations as applied to a Halbach type magnet with or without median plane symmetry.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Speeding up Particle Track Reconstruction in the CMS Detector using a Vectorized and Parallelized Kalman Filter Algorithm

Building particle tracks is the most computationally intense step of event reconstruction at the LHC. With the increased instantaneous luminosity and associated increase in pileup expected from the High-Luminosity LHC, the computational challenge of track finding and fitting requires novel solutions. The current track reconstruction algorithms used at the LHC are based on Kalman filter methods that achieve good physics performance. By adapting the Kalman filter techniques for use on many-core SIMD architectures such as the Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi and (to a limited degree) NVIDIA GPUs, we are able to obtain significant speedups and comparable physics performance. New optimizations, including a dedicated post-processing step to remove duplicate tracks, have improved the algorithm's performance even further. Here we report on the current structure and performance of the code and future plans for the algorithm.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Massive hybrid parallelism for fully implicit multiphysics

As hardware advances continue to modify the supercomputing landscape, traditional scientific software development practices will become more outdated, ineffective, and inefficient. The process of rewriting/retooling existing software for new architectures is a Sisyphean task, and results in substantial hours of development time, effort, and money. Software libraries which provide an abstraction of the resources provided by such architectures are therefore essential if the computational engineering and science communities are to continue to flourish in this modern computing environment. The Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) framework enables complex multiphysics analysis tools to be built rapidly by scientists, engineers, and domain specialists, while also allowing them to both take advantage of current HPC architectures, and efficiently prepare for future supercomputer designs. MOOSE employs a hybrid shared-memory and distributed-memory parallel model and provides a complete and consistent interface for creating multiphysics analysis tools. In this paper, a brief discussion of the mathematical algorithms underlying the framework and the internal object-oriented hybrid parallel design are given. Representative massively parallel results from several applications areas are presented, and a brief discussion of future areas of research for the framework are provided. (authors)

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Mesh-free data transfer algorithms for partitioned multiphysics problems: Conservation, accuracy, and parallelism

In this study we analyze and extend mesh-free algorithms for three-dimensional data transfer problems in partitioned multiphysics simulations. We first provide a direct comparison between a mesh-based weighted residual method using the common-refinement scheme and two mesh-free algorithms leveraging compactly supported radial basis functions: one using a spline interpolation and one using a moving least square reconstruction. Through the comparison we assess both the conservation and accuracy of the data transfer obtained from each of the methods. We do so for a varying set of geometries with and without curvature and sharp features and for functions with and without smoothness and with varying gradients. Our results show that the mesh-based and mesh-free algorithms are complementary with cases where each was demonstrated to perform better than the other. We then focus on the mesh-free methods by developing a set of algorithms to parallelize them based on sparse linear algebra techniques. This includes a discussion of fast parallel radius searching in point clouds and restructuring the interpolation algorithms to leverage data structures and linear algebra services designed for large distributed computing environments. The scalability of our new algorithms is demonstrated on a leadership class computing facility using a set of basic scaling studies. Finally, these scaling studies show that for problems with reasonable load balance, our new algorithms for both spline interpolation and moving least square reconstruction demonstrate both strong and weak scalability using more than 100,000 MPI processes with billions of degrees of freedom in the data transfer operation.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The Parareal Method for Solving Space-Dependent Neutron Kinetics Equations in Hexagonal-z Geometry

Neutron kinetics plays an important role in reactor safety and analysis. The backward Euler method is the most widely used time integration method in the calculation of space-dependent nuclear reactor kinetics. Xia (2006) used this method to discretize the derivative of flux, and adopted the analytic integration to discretize the delayed neutron precursor concentrations. Diagonally Implicit Runge-Kutta (DIRK) method owns high accuracy and excellent stability, and it was applied in the rectangle core for calculating core the nuclear reactor kinetics by Wenbo Zhao (2013). Recently, DIRK was applied to the neutron kinetics for hexagonal-z geometry application (CAI, 2016). As solving the neutron kinetics equations is very time-consuming and the number of available cores continues to increase with parallel architectures evolving, parallel algorithms need to be designed in order to effectively utilize the available resources. However, it is difficult to parallel in time axis because the later moment is strongly dependent on the previous moment. Some methods have been proposed to parallel in time algorithm over the last decades. One of the famous methods to realize time parallelism is the Parareal algorithm (Lions, 2001), which offers a promising approach to increase the degree of concurrency. More than one decade from this method first proposed, this method has been studied and applied in the many fields of applied mathematics, physics, chemistry, parallel computing, etc. Fischer (2014 applied the Parareal method in the field of the Navier-Stokes Equations. Baudron (2014) combined the Parareal method with finite element method to solve the neutron kinetics equations, where the Parareal method was implemented based on the implicit Euler method or method. In this paper, the Parareal method is studied in the hexagonal-z geometry with the help of DIRK developed for neutron kinetics equations (CAI, 2016)

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

Mapping Arbitrarily Sparse Two-body Interactions on One-dimensional Quantum Circuits

We consider an assignment problem arising in Fermionic-swap based mapping of the one-body and two-body interaction terms in simulating time evolution of a sparse second-quantized electronic structure Hamiltonian on a quantum computer. Relative efficiency of different swap networks depends on the relative costs of performing a swap layer and computing a Hamiltonian interaction term. Under the assumption that the interaction term cost dominates the computation, we develop an iterative algorithm that uses hypergraph optimal linear arrangement (HOLA) and partial distance-2 coloring to exploit arbitrary sparsity in the Hamiltonian for efficient computation using swap networks. Using a set of 122 problems from computational chemistry, we demonstrate performance improvements up to 100% relative to the state-of-the-art approaches for one-body terms and up to 86% utilization for two-body terms relative to a theoretical peak utilization. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to exploit arbitrary sparsity in orbital interactions for efficient computation on one-dimensional qubit connectivity layouts. The proposed algorithms form the basis for extension to map general k-body interactions that arise in other domains onto generalized qubit connectivity layouts.

quantum computing, Combinatorial Optimization, hyp↗

A probabilistic graphical model approach to stochastic multiscale partial differential equations

We develop a probabilistic graphical model based methodology to efficiently perform uncertainty quantification in the presence of both stochastic input and multiple scales. Both the stochastic input and model responses are treated as random variables in this framework. Their relationships are modeled by graphical models which give explicit factorization of a high-dimensional joint probability distribution. The hyperparameters in the probabilistic model are learned using sequential Monte Carlo (SMC) method, which is superior to standard Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for multi-modal distributions. Finally, we make predictions from the probabilistic graphical model using the belief propagation algorithm. Numerical examples are presented to show the accuracy and efficiency of the predictive capability of the developed graphical model.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Preliminary performance evaluation of P++ single event proton scattering algorithms on GPUS - 25688

A need has been realized for fast, accurate charged particle transport in a wide variety of domains. Utilizing hardware acceleration through GPUs now common in user desktops, speedups in simulation comparable to those found with HPC systems can be realized for a fraction of the price. Preliminary results on the P++ proton transport code developed by the Rensselaer Radiation Measurement and Dosimetry Group (RRMDG) are presented. The code has been validated for the 1 GeV to 1 MeV energy regime and is targeted to benefit application areas such as proton radiography, space radiation research, and clinical accelerator therapy. The code is notable for employing a single event, 'on the fly' cross section based transport algorithm rather than the traditional condensed history or step based method seen in many production Monte Carlo codes. Performance improvements for the P++ code have been introduced through MPI parallelization as well as a CUDA version of the transport algorithm capable of running on NVidia GPUs. (authors)

61 RADIATION PROTECTION AND DOSIMETRY↗

Accelerated kinetic model for global macro stability studies of high-beta fusion reactors

The field reversed configuration (FRC), such as studied in the C-2W experiment at TAE Technologies, is an attractive candidate for realizing a nuclear fusion reactor. In an FRC, kinetic ion effects play the majority role in macroscopic stability, which allows global stability studies to make use of fluid-kinetic hybrid (also referred to as Ohm's law) models wherein ions are treated kinetically while electrons are treated as a fluid. The development and validation of such a hybrid particle-in-cell algorithm in the Exascale Computing Project code WarpX are reported here. Implementation of this model in the WarpX framework benefits from the numerical efficiency of WarpX as well as its scalability on large HPC systems and portability to different architectures. Performance benchmarks of the new algorithm for large, 3-dimensional, full device simulations from the Perlmutter supercomputer are presented. Results of a series of FRC simulations are discussed in which the impact of two-fluid effects on the tilt-mode growth rate was studied. It was observed that, in agreement with previous Hall-MHD studies, two-fluid effects have a stabilizing impact on the tilt mode.

Physics↗