CUGS Travel Report: Visit at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology,
Germany
Kristian Stavåker (MSc, Tech Lic)
Progamming Environments Laboratory (PELAB), Department of Information and Computer Science,
Linköping University, Sweden,
kristian.stavaker@liu.se
April 22, 2013
1.
Introduction
During a period of two and a half month, from mid-January
to end of March 2013, I was given the opportunity to visit
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Karlsruhe, Germany and the research group the Engineering Mathematics
and Computing Lab (EMCL). The group is headed by Professor Vincent Heuveline and the research spans the fields
of mathematics, computer science, and physics. The group
is particularly strong in computational mathematics, making use of parallel computer architectures. The reason for
my visit was multi-folded: to learn more about the finite
element method and numerical solving of partial differential equations; to advance my research and hopefully get an
additional publication; to acquire some international experience; and to spread the knowledge about Modelica and
object-oriented, equation-based modeling. This travel report details my visit at KIT but in addition to my research
work the report also describes the city of Karlsruhe and
the Bundesland Baden-Würtemburg where Karlsruhe is located. This Bundesland has a very exciting and fascinating
industrial history which I am excited to share in this report.
2.
Inspiration
What I gained from my research visit at KIT:
• I learned more about partial differential equations and
Figure 1. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus Süd:
Main Building.
how to solve them numerically (especially using Galerkin’s
and finite element methods).
• I made progress in my research, which is important if I
am going to be able to write a PhD thesis.
ness leaders (at least at engineering companies) have a
PhD degree in an engineering field.
• I established important research contacts for the future.
3. My Research Work
• I acquired some international experience and I got to
The Engineering Mathematics and Computing Lab (EMCL),
directed by Professor Vincent Heuveline, is particularly
noted for its openness to multidisciplinary research in the
field of engineering and scientific computing. The EMCL
currently pursues 5 major research themes: Computational
Mathematics, High Performance Computing, Cloud Computing, Scientific Visualization and Uncertainty Quantification. The group employs leading-edge supercomputing
technologies. I found the members of the group to be very
friendly and helpful. I liked the fact that there were a mix-
practice speaking German.
• I became inspired to continue pursue research and work
in the academic world. Partly because of the excellent
research environment and partly because academic titles
(and academic studies) are highly regarded in Germany.
I found an interesting book, “Mathematik - Motor der
Wirtschaft” [4], where several German business leaders
give their views on why mathematics is so important. In
Germany it is very common that CEOs and other busi-
ture of men and women in the group and that they had
knowledge in different areas: mathematics, computer science, physics, etc. In other words, it was a multidisciplinary
and excellent research environment.
At the EMCL they have developed a C++ library HiFlow3
[8] for modeling and solving partial differential equations
over a given mesh and with various boundary conditions.
At my research group PELAB I have been involved with
the development of the OpenModelica [2] compiler, an
open-source compiler for the modeling and simulation language Modelica [6]. The goal of my work at the EMCL
was to interface OpenModelica and its run-time system
with C++ components, written with the help of HiFlow3 ,
via functional mockup interface [3] import. This allows
for partial differential equation modeling in the context
of Modelica. We are going to submit a paper to a conference (SIMS 2013) later this spring. During my stay I held
two presentations for the group: one presentation at the
beginning of my visit and one presentation at the end of
my visit. The first presentatation was titled “Simulation of
Modelica Models on Parallel Architectures” and contained
three parts: “The Modelica Modeling and Simulation Language”, “The OpenModelica Development Environment”,
and “Simulation of Modelica Models on Parallel Architectures”. The third part was about my research and I had
also brought a few copies of my Licentiate thesis with
me. The second presentation was a demonstration of the
OpenModelica/HiFlow3 integration. I also attended several other presentations held by people from the EMCL
and visiting researchers to the department of mathematics
(to which the EMCL belonged). Some of the presentations
were in English and some were in German.
4.
Figure 2. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus Süd:
Office Buildings.
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
KIT was formed in 2009 as a merger between the staterun Karlsruhe University (founded in 1825 as a polytechnic school) and the federal Research Center Karlsruhe
(founded in 1956 as the “Kernforschnungszentrum Karlsruhe”). KIT is widely regarded as a leading university in
science and engineering in Germany and Europe. KIT is divided into two main campuses - Campus Nord and Campus
Süd - corresponding to the campuses of the two merging
parties. Many famous scientists and engineers have studied and worked here during the years, including Heinrich
Hertz, Karl Benz, and several Nobel prize winners. [7]
5.
Dr Karl Benz and the Automotive
Industry
Baden-Württemberg is widely regarded as the cradle of
the automotive industry. Dr Karl Benz was born in Karlsruhe and conducted basic engineering studies at Karlsruhe
University. In 1886 he was given a patent for a threewheeled carriage with a combustion engine (“the Karl Benz
Patent-Motorwagen”). Two other important inventors, who
operated in the region, were Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach. Benz, Daimler and Maybach are listed as
the inventors of the car (“erfinder des automobils”) at the
Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart (which of course is
Figure 3. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus Süd:
Heinrich Hertz Restaurant.
Figure 4. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus Süd:
Orientierungsplan.
Figure 6. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus Süd:
Steinbuch Centre For Computing (SCC) Rechenzentrum.
Figure 5. Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Campus Süd:
Fakultät für Maschinenbau.
Figure 7. Memorial at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
in Karlsruhe: “An dieser staette entdeckte Heinrich Hertz
die Elektromagnetischen Wellen in den Jahren 1885-1889”.
Figure 8. Memorial Plate at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Karlsruhe: “Dr. Carl Benz - Erfinder des Automobils”.
Figure 9. Poster in the Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart:
“Carl Benz - Ein Leben für das Automobil”.
somewhat biased). The wife of Karl Benz, Bertha Benz,
also played an important part of the story. Early one morning in 1888, when Dr Benz was still fast a sleep, she took
the car out for a test drive to visit her mother in Pforzheim.
Accompanying her on the trip were two of the couples’
sons. The purpose of the trip (which started at their home
in Mannheim) was to see how the car would coop on a
longer trip and after returning home she had several suggestions for improvements. Bertha Benz is regarded as the
first person to drive a car over a long distance. The “Bertha
Benz Memorial Route” was established in 2008 and it follows the path she took. Besides the Mercedes-Benz museum in Stuttgart there is also the Mercedes-Benz Museum
in Ladenburg (Baden-Württemberg) and the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart that one can visit to learn more.
6.
The Region
6.1 Karlsruhe
Karlsruhe is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, located on the eastern shore of the river Rhine. Karlsruhe
was for many years the state capital (of Baden) but lost this
status in 1952 to Stuttgart when Baden and Württemberg
merged. The Karlsruhe Palace was built in 1715 and the
town was initially planned and grew up around this castle.
The initial city plan was to let the city streets radiate fanlike from the castle, thus giving the city its nickname the
Fan City (“die Fächerstadt”). According to the legend, the
Margrave Charles III William went on a hunting trip, fell a
sleep under a tree, and dreamt of building a new castle and
Figure 10. Mercedes Benz Museum, Stuttgart.
Figure 12. Karlsruhe Marktplatz looking towards the Castle.
Figure 11. Replica of a Karl Benz Patent-motorwagen in
the Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart.
founding a new city around it. He, and several Margraves
before him, had been based in Durlach which is now a suburb of Karlsruhe (see below). The name of the city thus became Karlsruhe (“Karls dream”). The original castle was
(partially) built in woods and was destroyed in a fire. It
was rebuilt in stone in 1746 but was destroyed again during
World War 2. The castle was once more rebuilt and this is
the castle present today. The castle today hosts the “Badisches Landesmuseum” which mainly contains items from
Baden’s history. The Marktplatz is a beautiful square with
buildings (including the City Hall and main city church)
that has been rebuilt nicely. The square contains a tomb of
the city founder Charles III William, marked with a stone
pyramid. This pyramid has become a symbol of the city. [5]
6.2 Durlach
Prior to the founding of Karlsruhe, the town of Durlach was
the seat of the Margraves of the Baden-Durlach Margraviate. Today Durlach is incorporated into Karlsruhe and it is
easily accessible via the city’s tram system (for instance
from Marktplatz). Durlach is beautifully located below a
hill (“Turmberg”). A funicular railway (“Turmbergbahn”)
takes you to the top of the hill where an old stone tower
can be climbed for an outstanding view over Karlsruhe and
the valley. A funicular railway system has two wagons attached to each other and one of the wagons is going down
the hill and the other one up the hill (thus reducing the energy usage of the system). On the slopes of the hill some
vineyards can be found. A visit to Durlach is a perfect way
to spend a Saturday or Sunday afternoon strolling along the
Figure 13. Durlach.
old city streets, drinking coffee at the main city square (next
to the Durlach City Hall), and climbing the Turmberg. [5]
6.3 Baden-Württemberg
The state (Bundesland) of Baden-Württemberg is made
up of the two former states Baden and Württemberg.
Stuttgart, previously the state capital of Württemberg, became the capital of the new state. This meant that Karlsruhe lost its capital status and even today a certain degree of hostility can be found between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe. The Schwarzwald forrest (mostly known in Sweden
for the Schwarzwald chocolate cake) is located in BadenWürttemberg, south of Karlsruhe. Baden-Baden, a beautiful small town, is located in the Schwarzwald forrest
and it is easily accessible from Karlsruhe, either from the
train station (“Hauptbahnhof”) or directly from Marktplatz
(with a S-bahn train). Heidelberg escaped the World War 2
bombings and has an old town (“Alt Stadt”) that has been
left mostly intact and is definitely worth seeing. The city is
located in a valley with the river Neckar flowing through
the valley. On a slope overlooking the city, the Heildelberg
castle is located. The university in Heidelberg is the oldest
in Germany (founded in 1386). Besides the Mercedes-Benz
and Porsche Museums, Stuttgart city centre with its castle
and main city square is worth seeing. [1]
Figure 14. Vineyards in Durlach.
Figure 16. Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg: entrance to the University Library.
Figure 15. Turmbergbahn in Durlach.
Figure 17. View of Heidelberg from Heidelberg Castle.
Figure 18. Downtown Stuttgart.
7.
Conclusions
I have described my research visit to the Karlsruhe Institute
of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany. What I gained
from this visit is described in the section “Inspiration” at
the beginning of this report.
Acknowledgments
This research visit was funded by a travel grant from the
Swedish National Graduate School in Computer Science
(CUGS).
References
[1] Bundesland Baden-Württemberg.
http://www.baden-wuerttemberg.de.
[2] The Open-Source OpenModelica Development Environment.
http://www.openmodelica.org.
[3] The Functional Mockup Interface (FMI).
https://www.fmi-standard.org.
[4] Gert-Martin Greuel, Reinhold Remmert, and Gerhard Rupprecht. Mathematik - Motor der Wirtschaft. Springer Verlag,
2008.
[5] Stadt Karlsruhe.
http://www.karlsruhe.de.
[6] Modelica and the Modelica Association.
http://www.modelica.org.
[7] Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).
http://www.kit.edu.
[8] The HiFlow3 Multi-Purpose Finite Element Software.
http://www.hiflow3.org/.