100th Researcher Logs on to Supercomputer

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA -- The super-fast, large-memory supercomputer named Denali, operated by the new Arctic Region Supercomputing Center, met its 100th user in June when Doug Goering logged on to study the simulated flow of fluid inside coiled pipe.

Math is the language of supercomputers, so after Goering describes the physical properties of fluid (speed, direction, pressure, viscosity) in computer language, then Denali will calculate the fluid's motion.

Fluid dynamics research requires lots of number crunching because computers understand fluids as cells -- not quarts or gallons. The smaller the cell the more accurate the research results and Goering has defined one-half million tiny cells of fluid. The supercomputer calculates the movement of each cell based on the movement of all the cells around it. Fluid in motion inside coiled pipe is turbulent like the eddies in a fast flowing river, Goering says.

Powerful supercomputers like Denali allow researchers to make computational models of real-world objects. A computational model of water flowing in pipe can be tested without having to build a real-world pipe that's filled with flowing liquid. Goering's research provides a better understanding of the computational modeling of fluids and of fluid dynamics.

Goering is Assistant Professor with the Mechanical Engineering Department at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The Arctic Region Supercomputing Center (ARSC) is a high-performance supercomputing center supporting Arctic science research with high-performance computational power, mass storage, and visualization capabilities.

The supercomputer Denali became available to researchers worldwide on December 28, 1992. The supercomputer is operating at nearly 100 percent capacity with the following scientific applications currently being supported: Arctic Ice-Ocean-Atmosphere Modeling, Global Climate Modeling, Polar Ice Sheets, Volcanic Plume Modeling, Solar-Terrestrial Physics, Arctic Engineering, Arctic Biology, Mechanical Engineering, and Computer Science.

The ARSC, located on the University of Alaska Fairbanks main campus, operates a 4-processor CRAY Y-MP M98/41024. The supercomputer Denali is now located in Eagan, Minn., and is accessible worldwide via the international computer communications network known as Internet. The supercomputer is scheduled to be relocated to the UAF main campus in September 1993 upon completion of the Butrovich Building.

Denali can perform over 1.3 billion operations per second and has over 8 billion bytes of memory. Denali is the largest memory supercomputer in the world.

Arctic Region Supercomputing Center
PO Box 756020, Fairbanks, AK 99775 | voice: 907-450.8600 | email:

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