The Advanced Computing Tech Team is made up of representatives from DOE and its national laboratories who are involved with developing and using advanced computing tools.  The following is a list of some of those programs and what how they are currently using advanced computing in pursuit of their respective missions.

Advanced Science Computing Research (ASCR)

The mission of the Advanced Scientific Computing Research (ASCR) program is to discover, develop, and deploy computational and networking capabilities to analyze, model, simulate, and predict complex phenomena important to the Department of Energy (DOE). A particular challenge of this program is fulfilling the science potential of emerging computing systems and other novel computing architectures, which will require numerous significant modifications to today's tools and techniques to deliver on the promise of exascale science.

Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management (EM)

Advanced Simulation Capability for Environmental Management (ASCEM) is a state-of-the-art scientific tool and approach for integrating data and scientific understanding to enable prediction of contaminant fate and transport in natural and engineered systems. This initiative supports the reduction of uncertainties and risks associated with DOE EM’s environmental cleanup and closure programs by better understanding and quantifying the subsurface flow and contaminant transport behavior in complex geological systems. This includes the long-term performance of engineered components, including cementitious materials in nuclear waste disposal facilities that may be sources for future contamination of the subsurface.

Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative (FE)

Carbon Capture Simulation Initiative, an NETL-led collaboration of five national labs and five universities, is developing a broadly applicable multi-scale computational Toolset to accelerate the development of next generation carbon capture technologies. The CCSI Toolset will enable multi-scale modeling that ranges from the particle and film scales to device and process scales, considering uncertainty quantification, optimization and risk analysis. It builds on the capabilities of existing software that the industry is currently using, filling gaps where they exist, and creating entirely new classes of tools where required to achieve CCSI’s mission. CCSI has brought together a remarkably broad set of skills required for solving the problem. Although drawn from five national laboratories and several universities, the team has achieved a high degree of coordination and collaboration. The technical team is guided by feedback from a 20-member industry advisory board. In 2012, CCSI released the first version of the CCSI Toolset, a suite of 21 computational tools and models a year ahead of the original release date. The Toolset has been licensed by four of CCSI’s industry partners, and others are negotiating the licensing agreement. The CCSI team is initiating a CRADA with one of the industry partners to help scale up their carbon capture process.

Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (NE)

The Consortium for Advanced Simulation of Light Water Reactors (CASL) is the first DOE Energy Innovation Hub established in July 2010, for the purpose of providing advanced modeling and simulation (M&S) solutions for commercial nuclear reactors. CASL’s vision is to predict, with confidence, the performance of nuclear reactors through comprehensive, science-based modeling and simulation technology that is deployed and applied broadly throughout the nuclear energy industry to enhance safety, reliability, and economics. CASL’s mission is to provide coupled, higher-fidelity, usable modeling and simulation capabilities needed to address light water reactor operational and safety performance-defining phenomena.

Fuel Cell (EERE)

The Fuel Cell Technologies Office, of the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, supports the development of advanced technologies in the areas of hydrogen production, delivery and storage; and fuel cells for transportation, stationary and portable applications. Advanced computing plays a role in the technology development from the atomic scale level, such as understanding the performance of oxygen reduction reaction electrocatalyst, or discerning solid-state reaction pathways, or predicting the thermodynamics and kinetics of a hydrogen release reaction; to the macro system scale, such as understanding component interactions and heat and mass flows within a steam methane reactor, a materials-based hydrogen storage system, or a fuel cell membrane electrode assembly. Computational modeling enables rapid and efficient development and optimization of these technologies and systems.

Fusion Energy (SC)

The mission of the Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) program is to expand the fundamental understanding of matter at very high temperatures and densities and to build the scientific foundations needed to develop a fusion energy source. One of the key FES strategic goals is to advance the fundamental science of magnetically confined plasmas in order to develop the predictive capability needed for a sustainable fusion energy source. Advanced computing, mainly supported via the SC Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing (SciDAC) program and taking advantage of the Department’s investment in leadership class computational facilities, is an essential component of the FES strategy for developing such a predictive understanding.

Grid Modeling (OE)

The electric power industry has undergone extensive changes over the past several decades and become substantially more complex, dynamic, and uncertain, as new market rules, regulatory policies, and technologies have been adopted. The availability of more detailed data about system conditions from devices, such as phasor measurement units (PMUs) for wide area visibility and advanced meter infrastructure (AMI) for dynamic pricing and demand response, can be a great benefit for electric system reliability and flexibility. However, this large volume (and variety) of data poses its own challenges.

Shifting operational data analytics from a traditionally off-line environment to real-time situational awareness (e.g., visibility) to measurement-based, fast control will require significant advancements in algorithms and computational approaches. The Advanced Modeling Grid Research Program leverages scientific research in mathematics for application to power system models and software tools. In achieving this goal, the Program also fosters strategic, university-based power systems research capabilities.

Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS)

The Office of Nuclear Energy’s Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation (NEAMS) program produces new modeling and simulation capabilities to be used by researchers, designers, and analysts. It does not do the modeling and simulation for them, but rather it provides them with improved and advanced tools to conduct more powerful modeling and simulation activities. These advanced capabilities are delivered in the form of the NEAMS ToolKit, which comprises a suite of computational modules that rely on fundamental, mechanistic descriptions of the laws of physics governing the performance and safety of reactor systems and their associated fuels. It is contained within a framework that enables tight and full coupling when required, to afford the ability to predict the outcome of complex, often competing phenomena in operating reactor systems.

Vehicle Technologies (EERE)

The Combustion and Emission Reduction Program conducts R&D to advance the development of clean, high-efficiency engines for transportation. High performance computing (HPC) and high-fidelity simulations are critical to the mission. HPC combined with state-of-the-art techniques such as Large Eddy Simulation (LES) are used in a closely coupled manner with critical experimental research to expand the science-based understanding of advanced combustion strategies required for development of next generation high-efficiency engines. High-fidelity LES is also used in concert with experiments to provide the physics and chemistry details required to advance engineering level models used by industry for current engine designs. HPC and high fidelity simulation capabilities such as LES will ultimately become tools of choice in the hierarchy of computational tools used directly in the engine design process by industry.