FLEX4H2 consortium partner SINTEF harnesses the power of Norway’s national high-performance computing (HPC) facility, Betzy, to run high-resolution simulations of hydrogen flames under realistic gas-turbine conditions, at high pressures and temperatures, where experiments are difficult and costly.
Operated by Sigma2 AS, Norway’s provider of national e-infrastructure for computational science, Betzy is one of the country’s most powerful supercomputers. It is named after Mary Ann Elizabeth (Betzy) Stephansen, the first Norwegian woman to earn a PhD in mathematics.
Betzy comprises approximately 170,000 AMD CPU cores distributed across 1,400 computing nodes. For a single Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of a hydrogen flame in a strongly turbulent flow, the numerical modelling team at SINTEF has deployed up to 60,000 cores simultaneously – nearly one third of the entire system – highlighting both the extreme computational demands and the ambition of modern combustion research. Within the FLEX4H2 project, numerical modelling has primarily relied on the Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) approach, typically using 2,048 to 6,400 CPU cores per simulation.
Below, a video featuring Andrea Gruber (SINTEF) offers further insight into Betzy and its role in FLEX4H2 and other cutting-edge research projects.
