In order to overcome challenges in materials engineering, researchers at the Institute of Numerical Mathematics and Optimisation are developing highly parallel solution methods that can be used on the world's largest supercomputers. The rapid development of such computers makes it possible to carry out increasingly complex simulations and to design new materials faster and more efficiently. These high-performance computers are able to carry out calculations in the shortest possible time. As a result, materials research is also entering new dimensions. These mathematical solution methods are used in the development of new multiphase steels, but also fibre-reinforced materials such as carbon fibre-reinforced plastics. They help to take chemical effects into account in mechanics and open up completely new possibilities for the optimisation of materials and processes in metallurgy.

In a project initially funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research with two million euros until 2025, the University of Freiberg is working with partners from Dortmund, Jülich, Erlangen and Cologne to further develop existing software that enables flow simulations to be used on a new generation of supercomputers. The aim of these simulation methods is to mathematically simulate flows and flow patterns.

This allows these patterns, as well as flow paths, to be visualised and analysed without having to carry out an actual flow measurement. This makes development processes easier for companies. Components and systems are optimised on screen and virtual prototypes are developed. This makes it possible to find and improve critical areas as early as the design phase. This uses fewer resources and saves time and production costs. Suppliers in the automotive sector, manufacturers of batteries and fuel cells, but also chemical and medical sectors, for example, benefit from this. The funded project called StrömungsRaum is the methodological extension of a CFD software package already in use for the current generation of computers, CFD being the abbreviation for Computational Fluid Dynamics. Companies using the software can enter their parameters there and start the simulation for their respective areas of application.