Our techniques for circuit simulation are being applied to simulating the electrical field in the human heart. There is particular interest in applying the latest in scalable parallel processors to achieve the above goals. Mathematical foundations are provided by research on numerical linear algebra and numerical solutions of nonlinear algebraic and differential equations. We are also involved in novel studies in computational biology, such as developing computational models for studying the effect of drugs on heart rhythm. The faculty in the Scientific Computing group are listed below.
More detailed information appears on subsequent pages.
Granular flow has long been the domain of engineers, but more recently it has been of interest in the physics community. Billions of dollars per year are spent in the US alone in processing dry granular materials, yet, the the physics of these materials is rather poorly understood. Research at Duke has focused on developing an improved understanding of the physics necessary to describe these flows. This work includes studies of fluctuations for granular flows, and their flow properties when they are subject to vibration. Possible examples include avalanches, earthquakes, charge-density waves, and financial markets.