Tau3P-Based Interactive Design Automation Software

65194 Tau3P, a powerful electromagnetic analysis program recently developed by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, enables unprecedented detail and accuracy of accelerator component design calculations on massively parallel computers. However, the complex process of problem setup, job management, and post-processing of results requires the use of a variety of disjoint, difficult-to-use tools that severely limit the utility of Tau3P to the broader accelerator and microwave design communities. This project will interface Tau3P to an existing analysis package, known as Analyst, that provides comprehensive support for finite-element numerical software, including embedded computer-aided design software, automated meshing, sophisticated visual and numerical post-processing, and optimization capabilities. In Phase I, a prototype extension to Analyst was created that could write input files for Tau3P and translate output files into an Analyst project database. The Analyst post-processor was configured to display mesh and field data generated by Tau3P. A web-based client-server application was also created that could run Tau3P on a remote machine, with support for upload and download of solver-files, and return/display of solver console messages. In Phase II, further enhancements will allow the model preparation process to be vastly simplified, and its integration into the Analyst system will be improved. Tau3P also will be augmented with a new solver for unconstrained tetrahedral meshes and a powerful new capability for computing wake potentials on arbitrary beam trajectories. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The analysis package should make robust and accurate time-domain analysis capabilities available to engineers in the telecommunications and computer industries, providing a powerful new way to design broadband hardware. The Tau3P development also should further the science of numerical analysis, possibly leading to advances in other related fields such as computational fluid dynamics