

The simulation has to be distributed over the cores, and this is not easy for crash simulations because you’re subdividing the model on the different cores.” “There is more fidelity in the models, but if there are 500 or 1,000 cores, each core must work as hard as the others. “We have finite element models with 10 and 20 million elements,” Schramm notes. “We now have nodes with 192 cores.” And rises in computing power naturally enable more intricate simulation detail. “Development is mind-boggling,” says Uwe Schramm, chief technical officer at Altair.

Designed to do multiple highly complex calculations simultaneously, supercomputer hardware has evolved over three decades to the point where a typical OEM system has 256 cores. The ever-increasing power of supercomputers is making virtual crash test simulations more predictable. Automotive Testing Technology International takes a look at the technology and its growing influence on the crash testing process. Three decades after their introduction, supercomputers provide ever more powerful, reliable and time-saving virtual simulations.
