VirtualLab_UCL

Modern scientific computing has undergone rapid evolution and increasing complexity, notably due to the growing gap between aging software infrastructures and the new computing paradigms enabled by heterogeneous hardware architectures. These architectures combine multi-core processors with graphics processing units (GPUs) or, in the longer term, quantum computing devices (QCDs).

Over the past decade, a widely adopted approach within the community has consisted of modularizing software in order to shield developers from the complexity of these architectures. However, such an approach has gradually led to less efficient software stacks, creating an urgent need today to develop computing tools specifically designed and rethought for these architectures, ensuring scientific computing that is efficient, sustainable, and high‑performing.

This observation lies at the origin of the VirtualLab_UCL project, conducted in collaboration with its partners within the VirtualLab portfolio. The VirtualLab_UCL project aims to design and provide a software framework for partial differential equation solvers that are fully adapted to new hardware paradigms, allowing optimal exploitation while ensuring portability, extensibility, and scalability up to the exascale.

In addition, the project aims to fully leverage the developed solvers to perform high‑fidelity simulations relevant to concrete industrial applications. In this context, UCLouvain focuses its work on the simulation of plasma flows.

The VirtualLab_UCL project receives financial support from the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF/FEDER) and the Walloon Region of Belgium. This funding demonstrates the European and regional commitment to enhancing research, innovation and advanced digital infrastructure. We gratefully acknowledge the European Union's and the Walloon Region's essential contribution to enabling the development of innovative and sustainable software solutions for high-fidelity scientific simulation. Further information on Structural Funds in Wallonia can be found on the official websites of the Walloon Government: https://europe.wallonie.be/ and https://www.enmieux.be/.