Cloud-based simulation of the hydrodynamic behaviour of buoys

ALSEAMAR is a French SME, specialised in the design and manufacturing of radio communication systems for both surface ships and submarines. ALSEAMAR wanted to develop a releasable, communication buoy for submarines. This experiment aimed to design such a device using HPC-based CFD. ALSEAMAR needs to investigate the behaviour of a radio communication buoy released from a submarine. Numerical simulation is the only way to do this, because tests involving real submarines are almost impossible. This type of simulation involves large and fine meshes. Computations are required to run for multiple days to converge. To compute these cases in a reasonable timeframe, simulation software must necessarily be run on an HPC system.

K-Epsilon is a French SME which offers CFD consulting and the development of customised software. In particular K-Epsilon develops and markets the software package K-FSI which formed the basis for the simulation model used in this experiment. In addition to this, the role of K-Epsilon in this experiment was to support the partners in the simulation of a releasable communication buoy, using Cloud-based HPC, and to demonstrate the benefits of advanced CFD simulations. K-FSI and other supporting software has been ported to the BULL eXtreme factory HPC-as-a-Service, to create an appropriate simulation model. An online solution monitor has been integrated with the eXtreme factory web interface. Because end-users such as ALSEAMAR do not possess the skills to perform simulations of such complex cases, K-Epsilon makes use of the pay-per-use HPC cloud on their behalf. Specific workflows have been developed to reduce engineering time and to feed into the ALSEAMAR design cycle.