High Performance Computing for Manufacturing program awards funding to three LLNL-industry collaborations

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on Feb. 19 announced $4.8 million for 12 projects under the High Performance Computing for Manufacturing (HPC4Mfg) program, including three collaborations involving Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL).

The HPC4Mfg program is part of the broader High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (HPC4EI) initiative, which LLNL manages for DOE. HPC4Mfg connects U.S. companies with national laboratory expertise and computing resources to address complex manufacturing challenges using advanced modeling and simulation.

Under a Phase II project award with Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America, LLNL will apply high-performance computing (HPC) to advance the company’s innovative Li-ion solid state electrolytes (SSEs), which have the potential to enable scalable energy production of solid-state batteries. The project builds on earlier work that identified critical factors affecting the processability and performance of pristine SSEs.

LLNL is also partnering on two additional projects. The first, with Construction Partners, Inc., focuses on optimizing moisture management in hot mix asphalt production using high-fidelity modeling of coupled heat and mass transport. The second, with U.S. Green Magnesium, aims to enhance the carbothermal reduction process for magnesium production using computational fluid dynamics simulations to improve crystallization, metal recovery and energy efficiency.

The LLNL-led projects receiving funding this round were supported through DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation via the HPC4Mfg program. DOE is providing $400,000 for each project. LLNL’s contributions include expertise in high-performance computing, multiphysics modeling and advanced simulation workflows.

DOE selected nine additional projects nationwide under the HPC4Mfg program. For details about the awards, visit this link.

For more information about HPC4EI, visit http://www.hpc4energyinnovation.org.