Running large‐scale CFD applications on Intel‐KNL–based clusters

Intel's latest Xeon Phi processor, Knights Landing (KNL), has the potential to provide over 2.6 TFLOPS. However, to obtain maximum performance on the KNL, significant refactoring and optimization of application codes are still required to exploit key architectural innovations that KNL features—wide vector units, many‐core node design, and deep memory hierarchy. The experience and insights gained in porting and running FEFLO (a typical edge‐based finite element code for the solution of compressible and incompressible flows) on the KNL platform are described in this paper. In particular, optimizations used to extract on‐node parallelism via vectorization and multithreading and improve internode communication are considered. These optimizations resulted in a 2.3× performance gain on a 16 node runs of FEFLO, with the potential for larger performance gains as the code is scaled beyond 16 nodes. The impact of the different configurations of KNL's on‐package MCDRAM (Multi‐Channel DRAM) memory on FEFLO's performance is also explored. Finally, the performance of the optimized versions of FEFLO for KNL and Haswell (Intel Xeon) is compared.     

Laser-shock-driven laboratory measurements of the equation of state of hydrogen isotopes in the megabar regime

Abstract

A high intensity laser has been used to shock-compress liquid deuterium to pressures from 0.22 Mbar, near the upper end of gas-gun shock data, to 3.4Mbar. Using a variety of diagnostics, the density, pressure, and reflectivity of the shocked deuterium were determined, culminating in a knowledge of the behavior of hydrogen isotopes along the principal Hugoniot into the Mbar regime. It was found that hydrogen isotopes become highly compressible near 1 Mbar as a result of molecular dissociation and simultaneous ionization. Reflectivity measurements confirmed that deuterium transitions from an insulating state to a conducting phase at pressures near 0.5 Mbar on the Hugoniot and appears to do so in a continuous manner. At pressures above 0.5 Mbar, the measured reflectivity of the shocked deuterium is characteristic of a liquid metal.     

Copper-catalyzed tandem conjugate addition-electrophilic trapping: ketones, esters, and nitriles as terminal electrophiles

Exposure of enone substrates 1a-18a, which possess appendant ketone, ester, and nitrile moieties, to Et2Zn in the presence of catalytic Cu(OTf)2/P(OEt)3 provides the cyclized products in good to excellent yields and diastereoselectivities. These results represent the first use of ketones, esters, and nitriles as terminal electrophiles in Cu-catalyzed conjugate addition-electrophilic trapping.