Scientific Research Through Simulation in Africa: Role of HPC in Computational Material Studies

Abstract

Africa is not investing much in computational materials research. Poor infrastructure in terms of electricity and internet connectivity has made research difficult for computational researchers. High Performing Computers and especially CHPC of South Africa have proven to be a better way of doing research in Africa. It has attracted many researchers in Physics, Chemistry and Biology just to name a few. In these initial studies, LaF3 has been presented as a case study currently being done in CHPC yet miles away from Kenya. With the actual speed achieved and resources used (e.g. twelve times speed and over 20 CPUs). For the lattice parameter for LaF3, the experimental work has given a value of 7.20 Bohr and 7.36 Bohr respectively while our computational results are 7.24 Bohr and 7.37 Bohr respectively. The deviation between experimental and computational proves to be small hence validating our computational research.