FIELDVIEW-VISIT: A Modern Engineering Post-Processing System for Ultra-Scale Physics Based Simulations

US manufacturing has a clear need to use advanced computing to increase its competitiveness. The Department of Energy has performed considerable research and development of high performance computers and advanced parallel software that can tackle the most sophisticated physics problems. These advancements can be better utilized by American industry. The competitiveness problem is being addressed by coupling the widely-used commercial FieldView software with a scalable server from the advanced VisIt software, developed within the Department of Energy. This will serve as a conduit for productivity-improving research to show up in the hands of US manufacturers. Phase I research enabled the evaluation and mitigation of key risk factors affecting the integration of the FieldView Client (GUI and graphics core) with VisIt. The plan called for three primary research tasks, resulting in the development of two prototypes, all with the goal of understanding the best way to integrate the FieldView client with the VisIt server. Phase II research enabled successful, early integration of FieldView with the VisIt server, establishing a viable path forward while revealing additional complexities. Phase II also resulted in the creation of an in situ workflow that can accelerate simulation post-processing by creating extract databases for analysis in FieldView. These activities brought credibility when early adoptors were able to create faster workflows based on the developed technology. Phase IIB will address performance concerns in VisIt that could inhibit its ability to serve in a commercial environment where users must often do more with less and still make good decisions. VisIt will be enhanced in key ways that make it faster and more able to adapt to upcoming exascale architectures. Research from phase IIB will also address the user interface challenges associated with tablet and mobile computing. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits: VisIt performance enhancements will enable a growing group of companies to accelerate their workflows and get their products to market faster. A hardened version of VisIt will be made available commercially under a subscription pricing model.