BCAM is a world-class research center on Applied Mathematics with a focus on interdisciplinary research in the frontiers of mathematics, attraction and training of talented scientists, development of new numerical and simulation methods, interaction with industry, health and social institutions, and promotion of scientific and technological advances worldwide.
Aiming to strengthen the Basque Science and Technology System, BCAM was created in September 2008 by the Basque Government through Ikerbasque, the Basque Foundation for Science. The University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Innobasque (Basque Innovation Agency) joined BCAM as founding members and the Biscay Regional Government joined later as institutional member.
BCAM is part of the BERC (Basque Excellence Research Centres) network. In 2013 BCAM was accredited for the first time as a Severo Ochoa center of excellence by the State Research Agency for four years. This distinction, which recognizes the international relevance of the scientific research carried out, has been given to the center for the second time, during the 2017 call for proposals.
CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) research group at BCAM is involved in the Joint Research Lab on Offshore Renewable Energy with the aim of developing new mathematical methods and robust numerical massively parallel software to solve complex and large-scale challenging problems that rise from this particular sector. The methods are implemented in CFD platforms BBIPED (high order finite volume) and FEniCS (adaptive stabilized finite element methods) and Lagrangian particle-based software to meet the demanding industrial requirements in terms of accuracy, efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and user-friendly graphical interface.
Within the field of ORE, the following research lines have been followed so far:
- the steady state, inviscid flow in the Wells turbine investigation by means of numerical simulations
- the interaction of the sea flow with a semisubmersible floating offshore wind platform
- simulation of the HarshLab floating platform for offshore experimentation using FEniCS-HPC