Section: Partnerships and Cooperations

European initiatives

Molecular Simulation: Modeling, Algorithms and Mathematical Analysis (MSMaths) — ERC Consolidator Grant

Participant : Mathias Rousset.

January 2014 to December 2019.

PI: Tony Lelièvre, Civil Engineer in Chief, Ecole des Ponts Paris-Tech.

Note that $1/3$ of Mathias Rousset research activities are held within the MSMath ERC project.

With the development of large–scale computing facilities, simulations of materials at the molecular scale are now performed on a daily basis. The aim of these simulations is to understand the macroscopic properties of matter from a microscopic description, for example, its atomistic configuration.

In order to make these simulations efficient and precise, mathematics have a crucial role to play. Indeed, specific algorithms have to be used in order to bridge the time and space scales between the atomistic level and the macroscopic level. The objective of the MSMath ERC project is thus to develop and study efficient algorithms to simulate high–dimensional systems over very long times. These developments are done in collaboration with physicists, chemists and biologists who are using these numerical methods in an academic or industrial context.

In particular, we are developping mathematical tools at the interface between the analysis of partial differential equations and stochastic analysis in order to characterize and to quantify the metastability of stochastic processes. Metastability is a fundamental concept to understand the timescale separation between the microscopic model and the macroscopic world. Many algorithms which aim at bridging the timescales are built using this timescale separation.

Design of Desalination Systems Based on Optimal Usage of Multiple Renewable Energy Sources (DESIRES) — ERANETMED NEXUS–14–049

Participant : Valérie Monbet.

January 2016 to December 2018.

This project is funded by the ERA–NET Initiative ERANETMED (Euro–Mediterranean Cooperation through ERA–NET Joint Activities and Beyond). It is a collaboration with Greece, Tunisia and Marocco, coordinated by Technical University of Crete (TUC). The French staff includes: Pierre Ailliot (Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest), Denis Allard (INRA Avignon), Anne Cuzol (Université de Bretagne Sud, Vannes), Christophe Maisondieu (IFREMER Brest) and Valérie Monbet.

The aim of DESIRES is to develop an Internet–based, multi–parametric electronic platform for optimum design of desalination plants, supplied by renewable energy sources (RES). The platform will rely upon (i) a solar, wind and wave energy potential database, (ii) existing statistical algorithms for processing energy-related data, (iii) information regarding the inter-annual water needs, (iv) a database with the technical characteristics of desalination plant units and the RES components, and (v) existing algorithms for cost effective design, optimal sizing and location selection of desalination plants.