Materials & aerospace
Quantum-Enhanced Turbulence ModelingMaturity: in development
Turbulence is the canonical unsolved problem of classical physics, and every practical method models the small scales rather than resolving them — the modelled part is where the error lives. We are testing whether quantum representations can carry sub-grid correlation directly rather than approximating its effect. The bar is a canonical benchmark flow first, then a Reynolds number where classical models are known to degrade. We are at the first, not the second.
in development — Actively being built or tested. Results are provisional.
What this is
The problem
Turbulence is the canonical unsolved problem of classical physics with immediate commercial consequences. Energy cascades across scales spanning several orders of magnitude, and resolving all of them directly is out of reach for any flow anyone cares about.
Where the current approach strains
Direct numerical simulation is exact and unaffordable. Large-eddy simulation resolves the big structures and models the small ones. Reynolds-averaged methods model nearly everything and are what industry actually uses. Each step down that ladder trades fidelity for tractability, and the modelled part is where the error lives.
What we are exploring
Whether quantum representations of correlated flow structures offer a different way to carry sub-grid information — representing the correlation rather than approximating its effect. This is the most active strand of the fluid-simulation programme, which is why it is labelled in development rather than concept.
What would have to be true
A canonical benchmark flow — channel flow, cylinder wake — where the method reproduces known statistics. Then a demonstration that it holds at a Reynolds number where the classical model is known to degrade. We are at the first, not the second.
The legacy site published runtime, accuracy and energy comparisons for this work. Those figures were withdrawn: no reproducible benchmark backed them.
Where it applies
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