Algorithms and Applications

The flows of fluids and gases occurring in nature are often very complex and chaotic. And consequently difficult to calculate. The laws of physics are simply too complicated. But a numerical approach is possible. And that is what the Numerical Algorithms and Applications Group does. Computers employ powerful mathematical techniques to calculate fluid flows around a ship or in a blood vessel or the air flow around an aeroplane. Numerical Algorithms and Applications thus plays a pivotal role at the Delft Centre for Computational Science and Engineering: it supplies the mathematical techniques with which the other research groups can make calculations for practical applications.

Large companies like Philips and Shell who require this specific know-how also know where to find Numerical Algorithms and Applications. And so do research institutions like NLR and Delft Hydraulics. They are often capable of solving their technical problems in two dimensions, but when it comes to three dimensions the calculation time is far too long or the computer memory too small. Using appropriate problem-solving methods for systems of equations, the Numerical Algorithms and Applications Group can dramatically reduce the calculation times. Weeks become hours and hours minutes.

With the tremendous increase in the computational power of even consumer PCs, calculating complex models is now also within reach of small companies. The group advises on the use of these calculation software packages. To mention one example, models of Numerical Algorithms and Applications were recently applied in a computer game in which a ship can be steered in a lifelike manner.

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Website: http://ta.twi.tudelft.nl/nw/main.php?item=0