Revolutions in energy through modeling and simulation

摘要

The development and application of energy technologies for all aspects from generation to storage have improved dramatically with the advent of advanced computational tools, particularly modeling and simulation. Modeling and simulation are not new to energy technology development, and have been used extensively ever since the first commercial computers were available. However, recent advances in computing power and access have broadened the extent and use, and, through increased fidelity (i.e., accuracy) of the models due to greatly enhanced computing power, the increased reliance on modeling and simulation has shifted the balance point between modeling and experimentation. The complex nature of energy technologies has motivated researchers to use these tools to understand better performance, reliability and cost issues related to energy. The tools originated in sciences such as the strength of materials (nuclear reactor containment vessels); physics, heat transfer and fluid flow (oil production); chemistry, physics, and electronics (photovoltaics); and geosciences and fluid flow (oil exploration and reservoir storage). Other tools include mathematics, such as statistics, for assessing project risks. This paper describes a few advancements made possible by these tools and explores the benefits and costs of their use, particularly as they relate to the acceleration of energy technology development. The computational complexity ranges from basic spreadsheets to complex numerical simulations using hardware ranging from personal computers (PCs) to Cray computers. In all cases, the benefits of using modeling and simulation relate to lower risks, accelerated technology development, or lower cost projects.