NCSI: Exploring Rayleigh-Taylor Unstable Flames using XSEDE

Status	Completed
Mentor Name	Elizabeth Peele Hicks
Mentor's XSEDE Affiliation	Research Allocation
Mentor Has Been in XSEDE Community	4-5 years
Project Title	Exploring Rayleigh-Taylor Unstable Flames using XSEDE
Summary	The ultimate objective of this project is to understand the physics of Rayleigh-Taylor unstable flames. Put simply, a flame is a thin, spatial zone which burns fuel into ashes. If the flame burns upwards in a gravitational field, cold fingers of dense fuel will sink and hot buoyant bubbles of ash will rise, stretching the flame front and increasing the flame speed. This enhanced burning not only drives the explosions of Type Ia supernovae, but also can be harnessed to improve the efficiency of gas-turbine aircraft engines.
Job Description	The student will gain experience with all of the steps of a computationally intensive fluid dynamics research project, from project conceptualization to visualization. The student will help to design a computational experiment exploring the dynamics of Rayleigh-Taylor unstable flames and then carry out that experiment on XSEDE resources.
Computational Resources	XSEDE resources: Stampede2, Ranch, Expanse
Contribution to Community	This project will prepare a student for a future in STEM and HPC-related fields. After participating, the student will have a good understanding of the scientific research process and an overview of the skills necessary to perform computationally intensive research. The student will be well-prepared to carry out additional undergraduate research projects using HPC resources and to apply to graduate school.
Position Type	Learner
Training Plan	A self-contained mini-project on the physics of Rayleigh-Taylor unstable flames will act as a framework for training the student on all aspects of scientific research using HPC resources. The student will get an overview of all of the skills necessary to conduct scientific research, including how to find and read scientific papers, how to design a computational experiment, basic parallel computing, managing data, analyzing data and visualizing data. The hands-on nature of the project will excite the student and motivate them to acquire new skills rapidly. The project will also including a substantial mentoring component with advice on time management, networking, and career paths.
Student Prerequisites/Conditions/Qualifications	The student should be curious about physics (and fluid dynamics) and excited by the idea of using supercomputers. The student should have basic programming skills (equivalent to an intro class sequence) and should have taken a calculus-based physics course.
Duration	Semester
Start Date	01/18/2022
End Date	05/31/2022