pyRMG: A framework for high-throughput, large-cell DFT calculations on supercomputers

Exascale computing delivers the raw power to simulate ever larger and more chemically realistic systems, but realizing this potential requires codes that can efficiently use thousands of processors. Our real-space multigrid (RMG) density functional theory (DFT) code's grid-decomposition approach scales nearly linearly with the number of graphics processing units (GPUs), even for simulations exceeding thousands of atoms. This scalability makes RMG a compelling tool for high-throughput DFT studies of materials that would otherwise be bottlenecked in other codes (for example, by global fast Fourier transforms in plane-wave DFT). However, the limited workflow infrastructure for RMG has thus far constrained its adoption to a small user community. In this work, we present pyRMG, a Python package designed to streamline the setup and execution of RMG DFT calculations. Built on the pymatgen and ASE (Atomic Simulation Environment) computational materials science Python packages, pyRMG automates input generation and convergence checking, and it integrates with modern job schedulers (e.g., Flux) on leadership-class platforms such as Frontier and Perlmutter. We demonstrate pyRMG for a high-throughput study of strain effects in 2D 2L-Bi2Se3/2L-NbSe2 heterostructures, which offers chemical insights into this system and shows that RMG-based workflows can converge with limited user intervention.

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Publication Details

Journal
The Journal of Chemical Physics
Published
2026-02-06
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0304566
Primary Topic
Machine Learning in Materials Science
Type
article
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article

pyRMG: A framework for high-throughput, large-cell DFT calculations on supercomputers

Briggs Emil, Ryan J. Morelock, Wenchang Lu, Soumendu Bagchi et al.
The Journal of Chemical Physics
Machine Learning in Materials Science
article

pyRMG: A framework for high-throughput, large-cell DFT calculations on supercomputers

Briggs Emil, Ryan J. Morelock, Wenchang Lu, Soumendu Bagchi, J. Bernholc, Panchapakesan Ganesh
article en

Abstract

Exascale computing delivers the raw power to simulate ever larger and more chemically realistic systems, but realizing this potential requires codes that can efficiently use thousands of processors. Our real-space multigrid (RMG) density functional theory (DFT) code's grid-decomposition approach scales nearly linearly with the number of graphics processing units (GPUs), even for simulations exceeding thousands of atoms. This scalability makes RMG a compelling tool for high-throughput DFT studies of materials that would otherwise be bottlenecked in other codes (for example, by global fast Fourier transforms in plane-wave DFT). However, the limited workflow infrastructure for RMG has thus far constrained its adoption to a small user community. In this work, we present pyRMG, a Python package designed to streamline the setup and execution of RMG DFT calculations. Built on the pymatgen and ASE (Atomic Simulation Environment) computational materials science Python packages, pyRMG automates input generation and convergence checking, and it integrates with modern job schedulers (e.g., Flux) on leadership-class platforms such as Frontier and Perlmutter. We demonstrate pyRMG for a high-throughput study of strain effects in 2D 2L-Bi2Se3/2L-NbSe2 heterostructures, which offers chemical insights into this system and shows that RMG-based workflows can converge with limited user intervention.

The Journal of Chemical PhysicsVol. 164(5)
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US), North Carolina State University (US)
Industry, innovation and infrastructure
Openalex Percentile: Top 66%
Machine Learning in Materials Science
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pyRMG: A framework for high-throughput, large-cell DFT calculations on supercomputers — Briggs Emil, Ryan J. Morelock, et al. · The Journal of Chemical Physics (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS