Frontier Supercomputer Enables Record-Breaking Jet Turbine Simulations

Researchers achieve unprecedented level of detail in modeling turbine blade degradation and its impact on engine performance.

Published on Feb. 11, 2026

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Researchers at the University of Melbourne, in collaboration with GE Aerospace, have used the Frontier supercomputer at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory to conduct high-fidelity simulations of high-pressure turbine (HPT) engines. These simulations, which can model up to 20 billion grid points, have provided unprecedented insights into how the surface degradation of turbine blades affects their aerothermal performance, a critical factor in jet engine efficiency and durability.

Why it matters

Improving the performance and efficiency of jet engines is crucial for reducing fuel consumption and emissions, as well as extending the lifespan of engine components. The findings from this research could help inform the design of more durable and fuel-efficient turbine blades, supporting national goals for energy efficiency and technological competitiveness.

The details

The researchers used the High-Performance Solver for Turbulence and Aeroacoustics Research (HiPSTAR) code, optimized for Frontier's AMD GPU accelerators, to conduct the simulations. These simulations revealed that the standard modeling approaches used for simpler geometries do not apply well to the complex environments of jet engines, where factors like the transition between laminar and turbulent flow play a crucial role in heat transfer and engine performance.

  • The project's findings were published in the ASME Journal of Turbomachinery in 2026.

The players

Richard Sandberg

Chair of Computational Mechanics in the University of Melbourne's Department of Mechanical Engineering, leading the research team.

Greg Sluyter

A senior engineer on the Turbine Aerodynamics team at GE Aerospace, collaborating with the University of Melbourne researchers.

Thomas Jelly

The lead University of Melbourne researcher on the project and first author of the published paper.

Kalyan Gottiparthi

A computational scientist in ORNL's Advanced Computing for Life Sciences and Engineering Group, serving as the scientific liaison for the project.

Paul Vitt

Chief consulting engineer for the Turbine Aerodynamics team at GE Aerospace.

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What they’re saying

“To capture their effects on the global picture requires very, very large simulations. Our cases are an order of magnitude larger than previous ones, and that's exactly why we need Frontier to do this. The reason why nobody has looked at surface degradation with this level of fidelity is because it just wasn't possible before we had machines like Frontier.”

— Richard Sandberg, Chair of Computational Mechanics, University of Melbourne

“Dr. Sandberg and his team's work is providing a step-change improvement in our understanding of these roughness effects and how factors such as the distribution of roughness levels affect the severity of these impacts. An end goal of this work is to design turbine airfoils that are more tolerant to surface roughness degradation.”

— Greg Sluyter, Senior Engineer, Turbine Aerodynamics Team, GE Aerospace

“Our data shows that the de facto standard modeling approaches that have been built up over the years are not applicable to these more complicated, industrially relevant flows.”

— Thomas Jelly, Lead Researcher, University of Melbourne

What’s next

The team is continuing its investigations on Frontier to further understand how cooling film interacts with degraded turbine blade surfaces, with the goal of developing better predictive models to inform more efficient engine designs.

The takeaway

The unprecedented level of detail and accuracy achieved in these simulations on the Frontier supercomputer is revolutionizing our understanding of how turbine blade degradation affects engine performance, paving the way for more fuel-efficient and durable jet engines that can support national goals for energy efficiency and technological competitiveness.