Postgraduate Course: Computer Simulation using HPC: Techniques and Applications (PGPH11042)
Course Outline
School |
School of Physics and Astronomy |
College |
College of Science and Engineering |
Course type |
Standard |
Availability |
Not available to visiting students |
Credit level (Normal year taken) |
SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Credits |
10 |
Home subject area |
Postgraduate (School of Physics and Astronomy) |
Other subject area |
None |
Course website |
None |
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Course description |
The course will cover the most important algorithms and techniques used in modern HPC simulations, and illustrate them with specific examples. Students will run existing codes (either standard packages or ones pre-written by EPCC) and investigate how the speed or accuracy of a simulation is affected by the choice of method or algorithmic parameters, eg timestep, parallel decomposition technique etc.
The course will cover the the following topics:
? methodology of computer simulation
? time integration methods
? the molecular-dynamics algorithm (both short and long-range forces)
? integration of PDEs on a grid (eg fluid flow)
? monte-carlo methods
? optimisation techniques
? correctness and verification
For these topics, the basic algorithms will be described and different parallelisation techniques introduced
by reference to various real applications. |
Entry Requirements
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites |
Students MUST also take:
Applied Numerical Algorithms (PGPH11008)
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Prohibited Combinations |
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Other requirements |
Only postgraduates or final year MPhys students with suitable computational background, subject to space restrictions and agreement with relevant Programme Coordinator.
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Additional Costs |
None |
Course Delivery Information
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Delivery period: 2010/11 Semester 2, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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WebCT enabled: Yes |
Quota: None |
Location |
Activity |
Description |
Weeks |
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
King's Buildings | Lecture | | 1-11 | | | | 09:00 - 13:00 | |
First Class |
First class information not currently available |
Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course students should be able to:
- Explain why computer simulation is an essential technique in many areas of science, adn understand its advantages and limitations;
- Describe a range of fundamental algorithms used in large-scale computer simulations;
- Compare the strengths and weaknesses of different parallelisation strategies for different applications;
- Explain the trade-off between simulation speed adn computational accuracy inherent in most simulation techniques. |
Assessment Information
100% examination consisting of a two hour exam |
Special Arrangements
Not entered |
Contacts
Course organiser |
Dr Judy Hardy
Tel: (0131 6)50 6716
Email: j.hardy@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary |
Yuhua Lei
Tel: (0131 6) 517067
Email: yuhua.lei@ed.ac.uk |
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copyright 2010 The University of Edinburgh -
1 September 2010 6:29 am
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