January 2007
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Sandia’s ASC Russia Program Hosts Russian Collaborators

Russian guests and hosts

The Russian guests and hosts posed outside the Combustion Research Facility. — Photo by Jeff Shaw

A group of Russian scientists from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Problems in Mechanical Engineering in St. Petersburg and its Institute of High Energy Densities in Moscow attended the first of two ASC-supported annual project reviews of the Russia Science and Technology Program.

Hosted by Sandia at its Livermore site from October 16–19, the eight visiting scientists and engineers from both institutes met with their Sandia collaborators E.P.(Tony) Chen (manager of Mechanics of Materials, Dept. 8776) and John Aidun (manager of Multiscale Dynamic Materials Modeling, Dept. 1435) and their respective staff. Technical exchanges included reporting on current projects: “Performance and Reliability Modeling of MEMS (microelectromechanical systems),” “Atomistic Study of Phonon Generation and Evolution by Laser Excitation,” and “Application of Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (NMED) Simulation Methods.” Additional technical exchanges explored directions for continued or new projects in the areas of atomistic materials simulation for improved understanding of a diverse range of material behaviors from solid mechanics fracture to non-equilibrium plasmas. All projects focus on the development and application of high-performance computing methods to advance predictive science and engineering capabilities, consistent with the goals of the ASC program.

The success of these technical exchanges has far exceeded one of the original goals of improving the communications between technical workers in the two countries. New ideas proposed are now leading to additional research projects that enhance ongoing work being performed at Sandia.