New supercomputer opened at Cerfacs
16 May 2018
Since the beginning of May 2018, a new supercomputer named Kraken has been setup to reinforce Cerfacs' simulation capabilities. With a peak performance of 315 Tflop / s this new computer provided by Lenovo is now available to all of Cerfacs' researchers in addition to the Nemo computer. The Kraken cluster includes 119 compute nodes, each of them with two Intel Xeon Gold 6140 processors (18 cores skylake processor at 2.3 Ghz) and 96 GB DDR4 memory. This “compute partition” is completed by 3 post-processing nodes with 384 GB memory with a Nvidia Tesla M60 and one node with 768 GB memory used for large mesh generation. The interconnection network is a non-blocking Intel Omnipath Network.
Support activity on C3Sm interface system for combustion codes of CERFACS rated first by SAFRAN HELICOPTER ENGINES (SHE)
18 April 2018
Support activity on C3Sm, a software developed by CERFACS to use combustion LES codes has been rated first by an independent evaluation within SHE. This underlines the common work of SHE and CERFACS. C3SM was rated 70/70, far above the average value obtained by other tools used at SHE and especially well above commercial CFD codes.
The Combustion Institute Selection Committee has selected Dr Bénédicte Cuenot to receive the honorific title of Fellow of the Combustion Institute in 2018.
5 February 2018
Fellows of The Combustion Institute are members of the international combustion community recognized by their peers as distinguished for outstanding contributions to combustion, whether it be in research or in applications. Fellows are active participants in The Combustion Institute, as evidenced by the publishing of papers in CI affiliated journals, attendance at the International Symposia on Combustion, and/or attendance at CI Section meetings. See
Visit of Mrs Nadia Pellefigue
29 January 2018
Cerfacs was very honored to welcome Mrs Nadia Pellefigue, Vice-President of the Occitanie region in charge of Economic Development, Research, Innovation and Higher Education.
One of the 18 laureates of “make our planet great again” program will join Cerfacs
22 December 2017
Benjamin Sanderson (from the National Center of Atmospheric Research, Boulder, USA) has been selected as one of the 18 laureates of the priority research program « Make our planet great again » ( ), launched under the auspices of Frédérique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, and of Louis Schweitzer, General Commissioner for Investment. He will soon join the CECI (Cerfacs/CNRS UMR5318) laboratory to work on his successful « Risks and Uncertainties under Climate Change » (RISSCi) project for the next five years.
Ph.D. Students’ Day : Thursday March 15th, 2018
21 December 2017
Ph.D. Students' Day (JDD 2018) Thursday March 15th, 2018 9 am - 6 pm Cerfacs, Conference room JCA The 2018 edition of the PhD Students' Day will take place on March 15, 2018, in the JCA conference room at Cerfacs. The participation of 1st and 2nd year PhD students is mandatory except in exceptional cases. The day will include oral presentations of the 1st and 2nd year students, as well as a poster session with a prize for the best poster given at the end of the day by our jury. Agenda : Registration deadline: January 5, 2018 Abstracts (title, abstract up to 10 lines and image): February 2, 2018 Posters: March 2, 2018 Slides: March 7, 2018 Participation in the event is free of charge. However, for logistical reasons, registration is mandatory for PhD students by filling in the form below. External persons wishing to attend this day can register directly by email to brigitte.yzel@cerfacs.fr PROGRAM and ABSTRACTS Organising Committee: Svenya CHRIPKO Victor ROUSSEAU Brigitte YZEL
Invited communication to the BIDS'17 conference
12 December 2017
During an invited communication to the « Big Data from Space 2017 » conference, CERFACS presented the stakes and the perspectives of its strategic axis "Data Driven Modeling" from the point of view of the valorization of satellite data. For more details, see the article: Abstract: CERFACS has a long-established record of excellence in environmental and industrial Computational Fluid Dynamics for complex flow simulation on high-resolution grid enhanced by continuous developments in numerical models and in High Performance Computing. Data Assimilation of satellite data for ocean, atmospheric chemistry or hydraulics modeling is also one of its strong expertise domains. Uncertainty Quantification has become a developing field based on ensemble approaches and model-reduction objectives. Based on these expertise domains, a new challenge for CERFACS is to develop a Data Driven Modeling axis combining Data Science, Uncertainty Quantification and Data Assimilation. Reference: O. Thual et al, The stakes and prospects of “Data Driven Modelling” at CERFACS, 2017 Conference on Big Data from Space (BIDS’17), November 30th 2017, Toulouse,
One Cerfacs’ proposal accepted in PRACE 15th call
4 December 2017
This study focuses on Hall-effect thrusters, which were first invented in the 1960s. Although such systems have been extensively studied, the detailed physics of the magnetized plasmas in these thrusters is very complex and several plasma processes that have direct influence on the thruster performance and lifetime are still poorly understood. Therefore, the current design and development of Hall-effect Thrusters is still semi-empirical with long and expensive life qualification tests required. In the context of the ANR industrial chair POSEIDON (collaboration between LPP, CERFACS and SNECMA), a new numerical methodology is being developed to reduce the number of experimental tests in the develop cycle of future electric thrusters. The main goals of this PRACE project "UNPIC3D" are to better understand plasmas in realistic electric thruster designs, to develop a 3D numerical code for treating such problems, and to use this tool to improve the efficiency of existing products and in this way to provide the foundation for future thruster designs. 18 Mh have been attributed to UNPIC3D project on Curie in the frame of 15th PRACE call.
CECI Contribution to CNRS’ “Petit Illustré” on Complex Systems (CNRS Edition)
12 October 2017
CECI (Cerfacs, CNRS) and IMFT are both working on numerical modelling of the processes causing river flooding and their uncertainties. A common contribution on this subject, signed by Sophie Ricci and Hélène Roux, appears in Vol. 34 of the "Petit Illustré" collection, edited by CNRS.
CERFACS was present at the European Researcher Night 2017 at Toulouse
1 October 2017
"Can we get an engine, an airplane or the entire Earth into a computer?". Such was the catchy title of the CERFACS stand Friday September 29th, for the "European Research Night" whose theme was "Impossible". A hundred people at the "Quai des Savoirs" in Toulouse took a close interest in the scientific computing activities of the researchers at Cerfacs and many of them participated in the interactive animation prepared for this occasion. While a looped film showed visualizations of various numerical simulations (engines, floods, planes, climate, turbines ...), the researchers animating the stand brought the public into the world of supercomputers by asking questions of increasing difficulty. For more details, see the corresponding article in the "Media & Communication" section.
The first ERC (European Research Council) Starting Grant for a CERFACS PhD student
12 September 2017
The results of the 2017 ERC starting grant have been published (erc.europa.eu/sites/default/files/document/file/erc_2017_stg_results_pe.pdf). Dr Benedetta Franzelli has obtained one of these very prestigious awards. Dr Franzelli received a PhD from CERFACS in the field of combustion in 2011. She is working now as CNRS researcher, for the EM2C laboratory (Centralesupelec), where her ERC grant will allow her to study soot formation in flames. This is the first time that a CERFACS PhD student receives such a prestigious award.
