Integrative HPC Framework for Coupled Cardiac Simulations (IFCCS)
Funded by The PASC (Platform for Advanced Scientific Computing) network 'Life Sciences Across Scales', Switzerland., 2014
This project aims to develop a versatile, community-driven high-performance computing (HPC) framework—IFCCS (Integrative HPC Framework for Coupled Cardiac Simulations)—as part of the PASC initiative Life Sciences Across Scales. IFCCS will provide a next-generation software library tailored for modern and emerging hybrid computing architectures. It will integrate advanced computational models for cardiac electrophysiology, tissue mechanics, and blood flow to enable comprehensive simulations of heart function.
A central focus of the project is the co-design and refinement of scalable preconditioning strategies, such as algebraic and geometric multigrid methods and additive Schwarz methods, which are essential for efficient cardiovascular simulations. The software framework will be explicitly designed to support hybrid parallelism—combining MPI, multithreading, and accelerator-based computing (e.g., GPU). Integration with widely used libraries such as Trilinos and accelerator-optimized toolkits like Nvidia’s AmgX will ensure performance portability across platforms.
Validation and benchmarking will be conducted using established production tools, including LIFEV and PROPAG-5, both known for their state-of-the-art implementations in multiphysics cardiac simulations. Given the heart’s inherently multiscale and complex structure, achieving efficient, high-fidelity simulations requires a careful blend of advanced numerical discretization techniques and optimized parallel solvers tailored for next-generation supercomputers.
The core objective of this effort is to design and deliver robust numerical solvers and a modular, extensible software environment that supports fully and partially coupled cardiac simulations—electromechanical, mechanical-fluid, or integrated electromechanics-fluid models. Ultimately, IFCCS will provide clinicians and researchers with flexible, validated computational tools to match simulation fidelity to clinical context and treatment planning needs.
Role:
Participated
Project Duration:
2014.07.31 – 2017.06.30
Funding:
Platform for Advanced Scientific Computing (PASC), Switzerland.
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