Science and engineering impact

Simulations carried out using Blue Waters have determined the structure of the rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV), which causes a highly infectious and often fatal illness in domestic and wild rabbits. This research, carried out collaboratively by researchers at the University of Illinois, the University of California-San Diego and several Chinese research institutions, has been published in PLOS Pathogens.

All-atom model of the hexameric form of the CA protein as found in cylindrical assemblies of HIV capsids in vitro. This model has been determined using the Blue Waters Early Science System, and experimental (x-ray and cryo-EM) measurements.
Read more about Blue Waters ESS results

The Type Ia supernova ignition point, which is converting large amounts of carbon-12 into heavier elements by nuclear fusion.
Read more about Blue Waters ESS results

The sustained-petaflop computing power provided by the Blue Waters project will allow scientists and engineers to make extraordinary leaps in knowledge and discovery.

Many research teams have already begun to achieve results using the Early Science System, 15% of the full Blue Waters system that was available for research use in spring 2012. Illinois biophysicist Klaus Schulten use the ESS to study the HIV protein capsid in atomic detail and reported that, "Not in our wildest dreams could we have imagined the greatness of the new...machine. We are sure Blue Waters will make science and engineering history." Read more about some of the outstanding results achieved using the Blue Waters Early Science System.

More than 30 teams with Petascale Computing Resource Allocations are preparing to use the full Blue Waters system. They will conduct petascale research aimed at gaining new insights into hurricanes and tornadoes, supernovae, the formation of galaxies, earthquakes, and more.

Sort teams by area of study:
Astrophysics/Cosmology | Biophysics/Chemistry | Earth Sciences | Engineering | High-Performance Computing | Physics | Weather and Climate | complete list

PRAC teams studying: Earth Sciences

Petascale research in earthquake system science on Blue Waters

Principal investigator(s): Thomas Jordan, University of Southern California

Read the Access story: Preparing for the big one

Enabling breakthrough kinetic simulations of the magnetosphere via petascale computing
Principal investigator(s): Homayoun Karimabadi, University of California-San Diego;  Kevin Quest, University of California-San Diego;  Amitava Majumdar, University of California-San Diego

Read the Access story: Understanding space weather with Blue Waters

Enabling large-scale, high-resolution, and real-time earthquake simulations on petascale parallel computers

Principal investigator(s): Liqiang Wang, University of Wyoming

Petascale design and management of satellite assets to advance space based earth science
Principal investigator(s): Eric Wood, Princeton University;  Patrick Reed, Pennsylvania State University