DocumentCode :
1337875
Title :
Computational verifiability and feasibility of the ASCI program
Author :
Gustafson, John
Author_Institution :
Ames Lab., Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA, USA
Volume :
5
Issue :
1
fYear :
1998
Firstpage :
36
Lastpage :
45
Abstract :
The Advanced Strategic Computing Initiative aims to replace physical nuclear weapons testing with computer simulations. This focuses much needed attention on an issue common to all Grand Challenge computation programs: how do you get confidence, as opposed to mere guidance or suggestion, out of a computer simulation? Making the simulation of some physical phenomena rigorous and immune to the usual discretization and rounding errors is computationally expensive and practised by a vanishing, small fraction of the HPCC community. Some of ASCIs proposed computing power should be placed not into brute force increases in particle counts, mesh densities, or finer time steps, but into methods that increase confidence in the answers it produces. This will place the debate over ASCI´s validity on scientific instead of political grounds
Keywords :
digital simulation; military computing; nuclear engineering computing; program verification; roundoff errors; weapons; ASCI program; Advanced Strategic Computing Initiative; HPCC community; computational verifiability; computer simulations; discretization; feasibility; physical nuclear weapons testing; rounding errors; Computational modeling; Computer errors; Computer simulation; Error correction; Hardware; Military computing; Physics computing; Roundoff errors; Testing; US Department of Energy;
fLanguage :
English
Journal_Title :
Computational Science & Engineering, IEEE
Publisher :
ieee
ISSN :
1070-9924
Type :
jour
DOI :
10.1109/99.660304
Filename :
660304
Link To Document :
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