The GRACE Cluster
A Platform for Astrophysical Computations
GRACE is a new type of supercomputing specially tailored for
simulating astrophysical fluid flows including self gravity. The
architecture of this new computer is hydrid in the sense that it
combines special purpose computing boards (GRAPE -GRAvity PypE-
developed at the Univ. of Tokio, Japan) with reconfigurable hardware
(FPGA, field programable gate array) based on the recent mpRACE board
(developed at the Univ. of Mannheim). GRAPE, the world record holder
for the computation of long-range gravitational forces, shall be
combined with mpRACE, a platform which marries speed and flexibility to
compute intermediate range forces for a wide range of applications:
dense stellar systems and evolution of galactic nuclei (binary black
holes), dynamic of turbulence and star formation in interstellar matter.
