Parallel FEM Software for CFD Problems

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Kačeniauskas, Arnas | Rutschmann, Peter

Affiliations: Parallel Computing Laboratory, Vilnius Gediminas Technical University, Saulėtekio 11, 2040 Vilius, Lithuania, e‐mail: arnka@fm.vtu.lt | Institute of Hydraulic Engineering, Innsbruck University, Technikerstr. 13, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria, e‐mail: peter.rutschmann@uibk.ac.at

Abstract: The present paper describes the development and the performance of parallel FEM software for solving various CFD problems. Domain decomposition strategy and parallel iterative GMRES solver have been adapted to the universal space‐time FEM code FEMTOOL, which allows implementation of any partial differential equation with minor expenses. The developed data structures, the static load balancing and the inter‐processor communication algorithms have been particularly suited for homogeneous distributed memory PC clusters. The universality of the considered parallel algorithms has been validated solving applications described by the Poisson equation, by the convective transport equation and by the Navier–Stokes equations. Three typical benchmark problems have been solved in order to perform the efficiency study. The performance of parallel computations, the speed‐up and the efficiency have been measured on three BEOWULF PC clusters as well as on the cluster of IBM RISC workstations and on the IBM SP2 supercomputer.

Keywords: parallel computing, domain decomposition, homogeneous Beowulf PC clusters, GMRES solver, finite element method

Journal: Informatica, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 363-378, 2004