Argonne, DOT Open Transportation Research, Computing Center

25 March 2008

The US Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory, in cooperation with the US Department of Transportation’s (DOT) Research and Innovative Technology Administration, has opened the Transportation Research and Analysis Computing Center (TRACC) in suburban Chicago.

The new modeling, simulation and high-performance computing center will tackle a range of difficult transportation problems, including traffic congestion in major cities, the effects of stresses on transportation infrastructure and the crashworthiness of vehicles.

Simulations will allow researchers to study vehicle performance issues like aerodynamic drag, fuel-injector spray dynamics and under-the-hood thermal management, as well as road weather research.

With respect to their use in traffic modeling, TRACC simulations will closely resemble actual road conditions. TRACC’s models could allow transportation system planners and emergency planning specialists to develop alternative and contingency plans in advance.

Although TRACC models currently encompass only the Chicago area, they could be adapted for any metropolitan region.

At the heart of TRACC lies a 128-node, 512-core dedicated massively parallel computer. Remote access to the computing system will be available, both through Argonne National Laboratory, as well as at Argonne’s university partners, the University of Illinois and Northern Illinois University.