uFluids@home
uFluids is a project to model liquid-gas interface stability in both large (satellite fuel tanks) and small (10 micron channels etched in silicon) scales. OK... what does this mean? Well surface tension is typically a very small and ignorable force for most applications. However in space, these forces dominate and cause some very interesting behavior -- look at any NASA film. Also these forces dominate at very small scales and can cause problems filling very small (< 1mm) channels. We are using a code developed by Brakke to model different topologies and ultimately design better fuel tanks and MEMS (micro electro-mechanical devices).
The advent of the integrated circuit in 1959 led to the miniaturization and development of a plethora of commercial and industrial devices. However, these miniature circuits are no longer limited to transistors and capacitors. Motors, valves, and sensors can be combined with electronic components to form a complete system. Just as integrated circuits have revolutionized electronics, so MEMS (microelectrical-mechanical systems) will revolutionize medical devices, biosensors and consumer products of the future.
The status of the BOINC program: The actual computational aspect of the code is running very well. Suspend capability is a very distant future goal but is difficult because this project is based on a very large code that was transfered to the BOINC platform. Also the progress bar is the next step - expect in version 1.03. We also have a very nice GUI that is underway.
Status of BOINC: This is definitely pre-alpha. However we are getting results that are being used. We expect a signficient amount of work in the next 2 to 3 weeks. It will probably level off from then.
Current applications available are: Windows 95, 98, NT, 2000, XP on x86 platform