Computational Modelling Group

Advanced modelling for two-phase reacting flow

Edward Richardson (Investigator)

Engine designers want computer programs to help them invent ways to use less fuel and produce less pollution. This research aims to provide an accurate and practical model for the injection and combustion of liquid fuel blends.

B-meson coupling with relativistic heavy quarks

Jonathan Flynn (Investigator), Ben Samways, Dirk Broemmel, Patrick Fritzsch

We non-perturbatively compute the coupling between B* and B pi meson states relying on relativistic heavy quarks and domain wall light fermions. The coupling is of importance for an effective description of hadronic heavy meson decays.

Body Forces in Particle Suspensions in Turbulence

Gabriel Amine-Eddine (Investigator)

The behaviour of multiphase flows is of primary importance in many engineering applications. In the past, experimental observations have provided many researchers with the ability to understand and probe the phenomena and physical processes occurring in such flows. With advancements in modern day computational power, we now have the ability to gain an even greater wealth of knowledge, from what used to be a physical experiment, is now a virtual simulation.

Amine-Eddine, G.H. (2015) Body forces in particle suspensions in turbulence. University of Southampton, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, Doctoral Thesis , 283pp.

Cavity-Mediated Cooling

Peter Horak, Timothy Freegarde (Investigators), Andre Xuereb

Optical resonators enhance the interaction of light with matter while simultaneously acting as a temporal buffer. Both effects can be exploited to generate light-induced friction, or cooling, forces on atoms, molecules, or micromirrors. We investigate various aspects of these effects through numerical simulations, assisted by approximate analytical models, in this EPSRC and ESF sponsored project.

Cellular Automata Modelling of Membrane Formation and Protocell Evolution

Seth Bullock (Investigator), Stuart Bartlett

We simulated the meso-level behaviour of lipid-like particles in a range of chemical and physical environments. Self-organised protocellular structures can be shown to emerge spontaneously in systems with random, homogeneous initial conditions. Introducing an additional 'toxic' particle species and an associated set of synthesis reactions produced a new set of ecological behaviours compared to the original model of Ono and Ikegami.

Centre for Doctoral Training in Next Generation Computational Modelling

Hans Fangohr, Ian Hawke, Peter Horak (Investigators), Susanne Ufermann Fangohr, Thorsten Wittemeier, Kieran Selvon, Alvaro Perez-Diaz, David Lusher, Ashley Setter, Emanuele Zappia, Hossam Ragheb, Ryan Pepper, Stephen Gow, Jan Kamenik, Paul Chambers, Robert Entwistle, Rory Brown, Joshua Greenhalgh, James Harrison, Jonathon Waters, Ioannis Begleris, Craig Rafter

The £10million Centre for Doctoral Training was launched in November 2013 and is jointly funded by EPSRC, the University of Southampton, and its partners.

The NGCM brings together world-class simulation modelling research activities from across the University of Southampton and hosts a 4-year doctoral training programme that is the first of its kind in the UK.

Chip Implementation of a Signal Detector for a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Wireless System

Mark Zwolinski, Basel Halak, Mohammed El-Hajjar (Investigators), Ibrahim Bello

We implement an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) for the signal detection of a MIMO receiver.

Cosmological evolution of supermassive black holes in the centres of galaxies

Anna Kapinska (Investigator)

Radio galaxies and quasars are among the largest and most powerful single objects known and are believed to have had a significant impact on the evolving Universe and its large-scale structure. Their jets inject a significant amount of energy into the surrounding medium, hence they can provide useful information in the study of the density and evolution of the intergalactic and intracluster medium. The jet activity is also believed to regulate the growth of massive galaxies via the AGN feedback. In this project, through the use of numerical simulations, I explore the intrinsic and extrinsic physical properties of the population of Fanaroff-Riley II (FR II) objects, i.e. their kinetic luminosities, lifetimes, and central densities of their environments. This allows one to investigate evolution of these radio sources across cosmic time, and to discuss the significance of the impact of these sources on the evolving Universe.

Desiging Near-Capacity Quantum Error Correction Codes

Lajos Hanzo (Investigator), Zunaira Babar

Design efficient quantum error correction codes to correct the errors encountered in a quantum transmission; thus, increasing reliability and robustness of the future quantum systems.

Exploring Higgs Boson Physics Beyond the Standard Model

Alexander Belyaev (Investigator), Marc Thomas

The Higgs Boson has recently been discovered at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. The purpose of this project is to look for signs of physics beyond the 'Standard Model' of particle physics by studying properties of this boson.

Fluid Loads and Motions of Damaged Ships

Dominic Hudson, Ming-yi Tan (Investigators), Christian Wood, James Underwood, Adam Sobey

An area of research currently of interest in the marine industry is the effect of damage on ship structures. Research into the behaviour of damaged ships began in the mid nineties as a result of Ro-Ro disasters (e.g. Estonia in 1994). Due to the way the Estonia sank early research mainly focused on transient behaviour immediately after the damage takes place, the prediction of capsize, and of large lateral motions. Further research efforts, headed by the UK MoD, began following an incident where HMS Nottingham ran aground tearing a 50m hole from bow to bridge, flooding five compartments and almost causing the ship to sink just off Lord Howe Island in 2002. This project intends to answer the following questions:
“For a given amount of underwater damage (e.g. collision or torpedo/mine hit), what will be the progressive damage spread if the ship travels at ‘x’ knots? OR for a given amount of underwater damage, what is the maximum speed at which the ship can travel without causing additional damage?”

Hadronic structure on the computer

Jonathan Flynn (Investigator), Dirk Broemmel, Thomas Rae, Ben Samways

In experiments at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Geneva, the interactions that occur between the colliding particles (protons in this case) can be factorised into a simple scattering between two constituent particles, called quarks, followed by a hadronisation process, which describes the dynamics of forming the bound proton states. Quarks are particles within the proton that bind to form composite particles (hadrons) such as a proton. The scattering process can be computed relatively easily, but hadronisation is intrinsically non-perturbative and hard to calculate. Lattice QCD (computer simulation of QCD on a discrete space-time lattice) provides our only known first-principles and systematically-improvable method to address problems like hadronisation. This project uses Iridis to extract parton distribution amplitudes which are experimentally inaccessible, but needed to describe the quark structure of hadrons.

Hunting for Walking Technicolor at the LHC

Alexander Belyaev (Investigator), Azaria Coupe

Now that the LHC experiment at CERN has observed the Higgs boson, the final piece of the particle physics theory called the Standard Model, the focus of theoretical and experimental physicists shifts to what could possibly be discovered next. Phenomenologists, such as myself, straddle this line between theory and experiment, comparing the many theories of physics Beyond the Standard Model to whatever the LHC discovers, even drawing conclusions from what it doesn’t discover. I focus on a theory called Walking Technicolor (WTC), what the LHC would see if it were correct, and what the lack of discovery so far means for the fate of WTC.

Introducting Defects into the Ising Model

Benjamin Lowe

The well-known Ising model, a model of emergent critical phenomenon and phase transitions, was reimplemented and extended to incorporate the study of defects in the lattice.

Investigation into the Interfacial Physics of Field Effect Biosensors

Nicolas Green, Chris-Kriton Skylaris (Investigators), Benjamin Lowe

This interdisciplinary research aims to improve understanding of Field Effect Transistor Biosensors (Bio-FETs) and to work towards a multiscale model which can be used to better understand and predict device response.

It takes all sorts: the mathematics of people’s behaviour in financial markets

Valerio Restocchi (Investigator), Frank McGroarty, Enrico Gerding

Agent-based models provide a deeper understanding of financial markets than classic models. We model people's behaviour and use agent-based simulations to study financial markets. By analysing the emerging complex dynamics, we achieve a deeper understanding of market participants' behaviours, which are necessary for a deeper comprehension of financial markets themselves.

Kaon to two pion decays in lattice QCD

Jonathan Flynn (Investigator), Elaine Goode, Dirk Broemmel

We calculate kaon decay amplitudes on the lattice so we may compare the Standard Model to experiment.

Modelling Macro-Nutrient Release & Fate Resulting from Sediment Resuspension in Shelf Seas

Chris Wood

This study involves adapting a previously-published model to take into account the effect resuspension events (both natural and anthropogenic) may have on nutrient dynamics at the sediment-water interface, and hence produce better estimates for the total nutrient budgets for shelf seas.

Modelling micromagnetism at elevated temperature

Hans Fangohr, Kees de Groot, Peter de_Groot (Investigators), Dmitri Chernyshenko

We aim to develop a multiscale multiphysics model of
micromagnetism at elevated temperatures with atomistic simulations for
material parameter. The tool will be used to guide the development of the next generation magnetic data storage technology: heat assisted magnetic recording.

Molecular Fragments in Inhibitor Design

Jonathan Essex (Investigator), Michael Bodnarchuk

Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) has emerged as an important tool in the drug discovery process. Instead of screening entire drug molecules, FBDD screens molecular fragments; constituents which make up drug molecules. A computational approach to identifying fragment binding is currently being sought which also yield binding free energy estimation.

Multi-Scale Modelling of Composite Riser Systems

Adam Sobey (Investigator), Hossam Ragheb

There is an ever increasing interest in exploiting ocean resources at greater depths. At these depths composite materials have a larger separation, in terms of benefits, from traditional steel structures as they offer lower maintenance costs, low weight and high durability. However, there are limited current examples of using composites for these applications meaning that empirical knowledge and specific computational tools are limited. As an example of this lack of knowledge current design guidance gives fatigue safety factors in a range of 15-50. Development of more accurate computational tools will allow an increase in safety and/or reduction of the structure.

A key aspect to increasing the usage of flexible composite risers is the ability to assess the reliability of such structures. Importance Sampling Simulation is becoming the preferred method to assess structures which ideally requires a fast and accurate structural modelling method. Whilst Finite Element Methods can provide an accurate solution to these problems they are slow to run. It is therefore proposed to investigate the use of multiscale modelling to investigate the reliability of such structures. This will involve the development of: a full-scale model to be run in conjunction with fluid mechanics simulations, a higher resolution model to investigate the fatigue hotspot near the seabed and a more local model to simulate the fatigue growth.

nano-CMOS

Mark Zwolinski (Investigator), Michael Merrett

Modelling random device variations within systems using nano-CMOS technologies.

Non-Perturbative Renormalisation on the Lattice

Jonathan Flynn (Investigator), Dirk Broemmel, Thomas Rae

In this project we compute renormalisation factors for various physical observables in a non-perturbative lattice framework. Renormalisation hereby arises due to a fundamental scale dependence of the physical processes.

Nonlinear Optical Pulse Propagation

Peter Horak, Francesco Poletti (Investigators)

The work is concerned with the propagation of high-power short-pulse propagation in microstructured fibres or waveguides. Dispersion properties and optical nonlinearities are exploited for pulse shaping techniques in space, time, and frequency. Investigated microstructures include silica or soft-glass templates, gas-filled capillaries, and semiconductor-filled fibres, and optical wavelengths range from the X-ray to the mid-infrared regime.

Origins of Evolvability

Richard Watson, Markus Brede (Investigators), William Hurndall

This project examined the putative evolvability of a Lipid World model of fissioning micelles. It was demonstrated that the model lacked evlovability due to poor heritability. Explicit structure for micelles was introduced along with a spatially localised form of catalysis which increased the strength of selection as coupling between potential chemical units of heredity were reduced.

Porcupine Basin Project

Louise Watremez

The Porcupine Basin is a narrow failed rift, offshore SW Ireland, featuring extreme crustal thinning. The M61/2 survey (May 2004, T. Reston and B. O'Reilly) allowed for the acquisition of seismic refraction data across and along the basin, along 5 transects. The processing of the data along these transects will give us information about the crustal structure across the basin, faulting due to the crustal extension, nature of the upper-mantle, etc. This project is funded by Petroleum Infrastructure Programme (PIP).

Precision study of critical slowing down in lattice simulations of the CP^{N-1} model

Jonathan Flynn, Andreas Juttner (Investigators), Andrew Lawson

This project involves the study of critical slowing down (CSD): a property that may arise when taking measurements in Monte Carlo simulations. In order to study and quantify this phenomenon we have performed extensive simulations of the CP^{N-1} model. By studying the properties of the Monte Carlo algorithms in this model, we hope to make algorithmic improvements that can then be employed in simulations of physical quantum field theories, such as in lattice quantum chromodynamics (lattice QCD).

Prediction of orifice flow flooding rates through generic orifices

Dominic Hudson, Ming-yi Tan (Investigators), Christian Wood, Adam Sobey

This presearch concentrates on the modelling of compartment flooding rates following the occurrence of damage in a ship's side shell. Typical state of the art flooding models use Torricelli’s formula to calculate flooding rates using a constant co-efficient of discharge (Cd). Based on Bernoulli’s theorem, turbulence and viscosity effects are not included using a Cd independent of damage shape or size. Previous work indicates that this assumption over-simplifies the problem to an extent where the flooding rates used for calculation are in error. This project will use CFD validated by experiment to calculate flooding rates for a large number of cases from which a 'krigged' response surface will be generated. Validity of the subsequent response surface will be interrogated.

pyQCD

Matthew Spraggs

A basic Python package to perform coarse lattice QCD simulations on desktop and workstation computers.

Sediment Transfer and Erosion on Large Alluvial Rivers (STELAR-S2S)

Stephen Darby, Julian Leyland, Christopher Hackney (Investigators)

STELAR-S2S will provide the first comprehensive quantification of autogenic and climatic controls on riverine sediment fluxes for one of the world's largest rivers (the Mekong), leading to new generic understanding of the relationships between climatic variability, fluvial processes and sediment flux to deltaic zones and the ocean.

Simulating Household Decision Making in Rural Malawi

James Dyke, Kate Schreckenberg (Investigators), Samantha Dobbie

A scoping exercise to determine whether data collection tools of the social sciences can be used effectively in the construction of empirical ABM. Focus fell upon simulating drought coping strategies of Malawian smallholders. Model implementation enabled inferences to be made concerning the impact of drought and input subsidies upon smallholder food security.

Simulation of biological systems at long length and distance scales

Jonathan Essex (Investigator), Kieran Selvon

This project aims to shed light on cell membrane mechanisms which are difficult to probe experimentally, in particular drug permiation across the cell membrane. If one had a full understanding of the mechanism, drugs could be designed to target particular embedded proteins to improve their efficacy, the viability of nano based medicines and materials could also be assessed, testing for toxicity etc.

Skyrmionic states in confined nanostructures

Hans Fangohr (Investigator), Marijan Beg

An ever increasing need for data storage creates great challenges for the development of high-capacity storage devices that are cheap, fast, reliable, and robust. Because of the fundamental constraints of today's technologies, further progress requires radically different approaches. Magnetic skyrmions are very promising candidates for the development of future low-power, high-capacity, non-volatile data storage devices.

Supernova Rates in the Local Universe

Mark Sullivan (Investigator), Christopher Frohmaier

This project will calculate the frequency of exploding stars -- or supernovae -- in the nearby universe. We simulate a 'toy universe' by exploding billions of stars in a computer, and then artificially 'observing' these explosions by replicating a real astronomical sky survey, the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). The results of this simulation allows us to discover the rate at which supernovae occur in the local universe each year.

Sustainable domain-specific software generation tools for extremely parallel particle-based simulations

Chris-Kriton Skylaris (Investigator)

A range of particle based methods (PBM) are currently used to simulate materials in chemistry, engineering, physics and biophysics. The 4 types of PBM considered directly in the proposed are molecular dynamics (MD), the ONETEP quantum mechanics-based program, discrete element modelling (DEM), and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH).
The overall research objective is to develop a sustainable tool that will deliver, in the future, cutting edge research applicable to applications ranging from dam engineering to atomistic drug design.

The application and critical assessment of protein-ligand binding affinities

Jonathan Essex (Investigator), Ioannis Haldoupis

A method that can accurately predict the binding affinity of small molecules to a protein target would be imperative to pharmaceutical development due to the time and resources that could be saved. A head-to-head comparison of such methodology, ranging from approximate methods to more rigorous methods, is performed in order to assess their accuracy and utility across a range of targets.

The Higgs Boson at Future Colliders - an Explorative Journey Beyond the Standard Model

Alexander Belyaev (Investigator), Patrick Schaefers

It has been three years since the discovery of a Higgs boson at the CERN LHC and many new insights in Higgs physics were gathered since then. However, its true nature remains unknown to this day. This project aims at exploring the Higgs properties at Future High Energy Colliders beyond the Standard Model to help unveiling its secret.

Today's Computation Enabling Tomorrow's Seamless Communication

Lajos Hanzo (Investigator), Varghese Thomas

Radio Over Fibre (ROF) is a communication technique that aims to gainfully amalgamate the benefits of optical and wireless communication, while keeping the system cost low. This technique would support the next generation of wireless services.

Understanding Stochastic Processes in Interacting Spin Models

Oliver Laslett

Applying efficient computational models to compute Langevin dynamics and master equation equilibrium solutions for interacting magnetic spin systems.

Using computer intensive methods to produce small area estimates of poverty

Nikolaos Tzavidis (Investigator), Steve Donbavand

By using computer intensive methods this work compares, and suggests improvements, to existing methods for estimating poverty levels. These poverty estimates are used to produce maps which in turn help to target government policies.

Vortex Dynamics in High-Tc superconductors

Hans Fangohr (Investigator)

The dynamics of vortices in high temperature superconductors exhibits the complex and rich physics we expect from many body systems with competing interactions. Molecular Dynamics, Langevin Dynamics and Monte Carlo Computer simulations are carried out to understand this system in more detail.

Water Molecules in Protein Binding Sites

Jonathan Essex (Investigator), Michael Bodnarchuk

Water molecules are commonplace in protein binding sites, although the true location of them can often be hard to predict from crystallographic methods. We are developing tools which enable the location and affinity of water molecules to be found.