Modelling the aerodynamic performance of race car geometries forms a large part of the computational workload of Formula 1 teams. The aim of a Formula 1 is to design a car with the best possible aerodynamic performance, and computational modelling of the car geometry is a key aspect here. The car geometry is represented as a complex mesh with many millions of cells – as a result, the meshes are large, difficult to handle objects that are resource intensive to manipulate, modify and display.
This project will investigate techniques for reducing the impact of storing and handling very large meshes. Approaches to reduce the footprint of meshes may include techniques to only store the difference between two meshes (assuming they are similar to a large extent), or compression techniques that can work on layers of increasing mesh complexity.
Manipulating very large meshes however is not limited to the storage aspects, but also to visualising the meshes. The resource intensive nature of mesh visualisation means that fast memory and storage media might offer new opportunities for loading and handling the data. Similarly, using an I/O multiplexing layer that could transparently support multiple storage backends, including streaming for in-situ data visualisation.
The student will be based at EPCC, the supercomputing centre at the University of Edinburgh. The project will be run in close collaboration with Renault Sport Racing. The student will have access to the wide range of HPC system architectures at EPCC.
This project is available with a start date between 11 January and 31 May 2020. Applications for a start date between 01 June and 31 July 2020 may also be considered. Please note your preferred start date in any correspondence and your application.
Student Requirements:
A UK 2:1 honours degree in a relevant subject such as computer science and informatics, physics, mathematics, or engineering. You must be a competent programmer in at least one of C, C++, or Fortran. Standard University English language requirements. For further information please see: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees/index.php?r=site/view&edition=2021&id=855Edinburgh
Student Recommended/Desirable Skills and Experience
- The following skills are a bonus, but they are not essential for a student to be considered eligible:
- Understanding of HPC programming concepts;
- Experience of using HPC systems;
- Application benchmarking and optimisation;
- Interest in CFD and meshing applications.