##  [FY2015 LDRD Annual Report](/archives/ldrd-annual-2015) 

 ![Fy2015 ldrd annual report cover](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/sites/ldrd_annual/files/2020-10/annual15_cover200_0.png "annual15_cover200.png")

## Science and technology for our national security mission

**[Science and Technology on a Mission](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/statement)**  
A foreword from the Laboratory’s director.

**[Overview](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/overview)**  
A broad description of the LDRD Program, highlights of accomplishments and awards for the year, program statistics, and the LDRD portfolio-management process.

**[Advanced Materials and Manufacturing](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/materials)**  
Meeting national needs for the rapid, cost-effective development of advanced materials and manufacturing processes and systems including innovative new materials and synthesis and characterization methods.

**[Bioscience and Bioengineering](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/bioscience)**  
Working at the interface of biology, engineering, and the physical sciences to address national challenges in biosecurity, chemical security, bioenergy, and human health.

**[Chemical and Biological Security](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/chemical)**  
Developing innovative systems and capabilities to rapidly detect and effectively respond to intentional use of chemical agents, pathogens, or natural outbreaks of pandemic diseases.

**[Cyber Security, Space, and Intelligence](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/cyber)**  
Providing national security in a highly networked world through situational awareness and predictive analysis of the behavior of complex systems through investments in developing sensors, information systems, and analytics.

**[Energy and Climate Security](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/energy)**  
Delivering transformational solutions for national energy security, a re-invented energy grid, improved understanding of climate, and better adaptation to climate change.

**[High-Energy-Density Science](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/hed)**  
Providing international leadership in studying the properties of matter under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure including plasma physics, equations of state, and radiation transport.

**[High-Performance Computing, Simulation, and Data Science](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/computing)**  
Providing expertise and capabilities in the technically challenging drive toward exascale-class computing at a quadrillion calculations per second for mission-directed programs.

**[Inertial Fusion Science and Technology](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/fusion)**  
Advancing fusion-related science and technology to meet a broad suite of national security needs and exploring the underlying science, technology, and engineering challenges for sustainable, intrinsically safe, carbon-free energy.

**[Lasers and Optical Science and Technology](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/lasers)**  
Designing, building, and reliably operating complex laser systems that dramatically advance the state of the art to meet important needs for defense, energy, and industry.

**[Nuclear, Chemical, and Isotopic Science and Technology](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/nuclear)**  
Providing a unique resource for chemical and isotopic analysis of samples in support of wide-ranging research in chemical threat analysis, nuclear forensics, nuclear threat reduction, stockpile stewardship, and fundamental science.

**[Stockpile Stewardship Science](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/stockpile)**  
Providing high confidence in the safety, security, reliability, and effectiveness of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile that forms the foundation of annual assessments of stockpiled weapons and their certification.

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**About the Cover**  
Simulation of a hydrodynamic instability computed with the BLAST high-order finite-element code using the Vulcan supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore. This problem tests the ability of a code to propagate shock waves over multiple-material regions and handle complex mesh vortex-induced motion. The high-order algorithms enable resolving the physics at much higher fidelity and efficiency than is possible with traditional second-order algorithms. The shape arises from the fact that the shock travels faster in lower-density regions, resulting in natural vortex motion at the point where three shock waves meet. Work was supported by the LDRD project [“Scalable High-Order Computational Multiphysics at Extreme Scale”](https://ldrd-annual.llnl.gov/archives/ldrd-annual-2015/computing/extreme) (14-SI-002).