USAF M&S Support to Aircraft/Store Compatibility, Certification, and Clearance: Status of Dedicated High Performance Computing Investment Project

The US Air Force SEEK EAGLE Office (AFSEO) and the Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) submitted a joint proposal to the High Performance Computing Modernization Program (HPCMP) for a Dedicated HPC Project Investments (DHPI) Project to support Aircraft/Store Compatibility, Certification, and Clearance beginning in FY09. As a result, the SGI ICE 8200 cluster was installed at AEDC in May 2009. Both AFSEO and AEDC have ported software with the latest monthly utilization topping 80%. Applications include time-accurate store separation simulations, modeling of facilities used for store separation testing, and investigation of the flow in the vicinity of flight test instrumentation. The hardware is also supporting the development of the next-generation software for fixed-wing store separation simulations as part of the Computational Research and Engineering Acquisition Tools and Environment-Air Vehicle (CREATE-AV) program and the Institute for HPC Air Armament Applications. This DHPI increases the combat capability, and reduces the acquisition cost and risk for current and future weapons systems of multiple services and agencies by providing time-critical numerical solutions in conjunction with US Air Force testing.